where is the best place to advertise a car these days?

[fab1975]

I sold a car last month using eBay (classified), whereas AutoTrader turned out to be an absolute waste of time and money. If you want to know the full story, you can read my old post below:

Hi All,

I have just sold my car at 11.5k, slightly below the initial asking price of 12k. The money is already in the bank and this has been a mutually satisfactory experience both for myself and the buyer.

For what it is worth, I have to say that based on my personal experience (the first as a private seller) I would definitely use eBay again and not even bother to give AutoTrader another try.

In fact, please find the final stats below:

- AutoTrader: Advert published on 10th April / price £ 45.95 / 424 views / 1 phone call / 0 emails / 0 appointments / 0 offers.
- eBay: classified advert published on 14th April / price £ 18.48 / 397 views / 5 phone calls / 14 emails / 1 appointment / 7 offers (from 4 different buyers).

Apart from the obvious differences in the interest that this particular advert has generated, which might be due to the specific car vs price combination, there are objectively at least 4 reasons for which I would choose eBay again over AutoTrader:

1) The fees are much cheaper. I could have paid even only £15.95 if I had not selected to have optional extras such as the subtitles and the big size picture in the search results.
2) For the above prices eBay gave me 4 weeks vs 3 from AutoTrader.
3) eBay allows you to create a much more customised advert, which gives you the option to emphasise any aspects of your car, whereas AutoTrader uses a very standard format. Using a bit of simple HTML coding I have even embedded a video of my car that I had posted on YouTube.
4) AutoTrader gives trade sellers the option to edit the headline of their adverts, but private sellers can only accept the standard format: In my case, AutoTrader forced me to choose the headline “Audi A4 AVANT 2.0 TDI S Line 5dr”, while eBay allowed me advertise my car as “2009 AUDI A4 AVANT S LINE 170 TDI LAVA GREY HALF LEATHER”, which sounded much more interesting.

I would still use AutoTrader as a buyer, but as far as I am concerned my experience as a seller resulted in a real waste of time (as well as money).

This is my 2p of wisdom for tonight anyway…

 

[dt4]

Thank you
Based on comments I have placed a classified ad with ebay
cheers

 

[dt4]

I've also put it on Gumtree as a free advert
Lots of views but only a couple of half hearted inquiries
Any advice how to increase appeal?
1994 MERCEDES SL320 5 speed AUTO SILVER 53000 Miles R129 classic convertible | eBay
Cheers

 

[automaniaman]

I've also put it on Gumtree as a free advert
Lots of views but only a couple of half hearted inquiries
Any advice how to increase appeal?
1994 MERCEDES SL320 5 speed AUTO SILVER 53000 Miles R129 classic convertible | eBay
Cheers

Lower the price...

 

[Meldrew2]

Take better photographs, some are too dark to see detail and background is distracting on some.

 

[greghm]

Lower the price...

agreed! By the way, do you get a lot of "offers" (I prefer to call it bids but it does seem to be only in financial markets)

 

[fab1975]

I've also put it on Gumtree as a free advert
Lots of views but only a couple of half hearted inquiries
Any advice how to increase appeal?
1994 MERCEDES SL320 5 speed AUTO SILVER 53000 Miles R129 classic convertible | eBay
Cheers

You should put more pictures showing the car from every angle. I am sure your car is spotless, but if I were I potential buyer I would wonder (for instance) why you did not put any picture taken from either the rear or the left. Just a humble suggestion ;-)
Good luck with your sale, anyway!

 

[mat8n]

Your ad sounds like you're a trader. To many quotes from different sources.

Personally i'd make it sound like it was my baby I was selling, and how I loved and cared for it, MY OPINION and not others. That way people will think/know the car has been well cared for. quoting specs and using dealer words makes it sound like its just a car that you've read up on.

That kind of car will be being bought by an entusiast who knows more or less everything about the model anyway so yur advert is 95% stuff they know.

Your car sounds like a really good car but personally i'd think you were a small time dealer and would be put off because i'd be thinking you've inflated the price to make a fast buck.

 

[dt4]

Thanks for the advice
I'll have a go at rewording the advert and take some better photos from all angles

Is it over priced?
I had a good look at other ads and tried to pitch it competitively for the mileage, the FSH and overall condition

 

[Seamster15]

Surprised not to see a mention of Pistonheads - any reason why?

Constant scammers with Pistonheads and Gumtree. Really annoys me so I pay the price of the Autotrader now.

 

[GLK]

I had my car for sale for 10 days, on eBay, Gumtree and Motors.co.uk

586 views on eBay, with 20 people watching (it's a classified)
92 views on Gumtree
14 views on motors.co.uk

Yesterday I killed off gumtree and motors - waste of time.

Quite a few enquiries from eBay, some nutters of course (a lady said she was told BY MECHANIC(!) that the car is "too good to be true" ... here's a solution: come have a look, oh, I forgot - she doesn't do motorways).

Anyway, met with a charming gentlemen this afternoon, test drive, etc ... he hopefully will be coming back tomorrow to pick up the car.

So, for all its faults, eBay wins.

 

[dt4]

I have revised and added extra photos
cheers

 

[greghm]

It does seem that the prices on eBay are higher than listed on Autotrader. I wonder if you guys intentionally put an offer higher than your trading level ?

 

[Chewa]

As someone who has just bought an R129,I can confirm I searched ALL the sites mentioned. If I was selling I'd probably use Autotrader, Car and Classics and Ebay classifieds.

 

[dt4]

Thanks Chewa

 

[jayaonline]

I sold a car last month using eBay (classified), whereas AutoTrader turned out to be an absolute waste of time and money. If you want to know the full story, you can read my old post below:

Hi All,

I have just sold my car at 11.5k, slightly below the initial asking price of 12k. The money is already in the bank and this has been a mutually satisfactory experience both for myself and the buyer.

For what it is worth, I have to say that based on my personal experience (the first as a private seller) I would definitely use eBay again and not even bother to give AutoTrader another try.

In fact, please find the final stats below:

- AutoTrader: Advert published on 10th April / price £ 45.95 / 424 views / 1 phone call / 0 emails / 0 appointments / 0 offers.
- eBay: classified advert published on 14th April / price £ 18.48 / 397 views / 5 phone calls / 14 emails / 1 appointment / 7 offers (from 4 different buyers).

Apart from the obvious differences in the interest that this particular advert has generated, which might be due to the specific car vs price combination, there are objectively at least 4 reasons for which I would choose eBay again over AutoTrader:

1) The fees are much cheaper. I could have paid even only £15.95 if I had not selected to have optional extras such as the subtitles and the big size picture in the search results.
2) For the above prices eBay gave me 4 weeks vs 3 from AutoTrader.
3) eBay allows you to create a much more customised advert, which gives you the option to emphasise any aspects of your car, whereas AutoTrader uses a very standard format. Using a bit of simple HTML coding I have even embedded a video of my car that I had posted on YouTube.
4) AutoTrader gives trade sellers the option to edit the headline of their adverts, but private sellers can only accept the standard format: In my case, AutoTrader forced me to choose the headline “Audi A4 AVANT 2.0 TDI S Line 5dr”, while eBay allowed me advertise my car as “2009 AUDI A4 AVANT S LINE 170 TDI LAVA GREY HALF LEATHER”, which sounded much more interesting.

I would still use AutoTrader as a buyer, but as far as I am concerned my experience as a seller resulted in a real waste of time (as well as money).

This is my 2p of wisdom for tonight anyway…

My experience was almost identical to this with autotrader.

Use eBay!!!!