Selling Cars on EBAY

I've never sold a Prius on Ebay, but I did recently sell my 1996 Saturn on Ebay to a local buyer. I had a set Buy it Now price, which he selected, then he paid the $500 deposit via Paypal and the balance in cash upon pick-up. The entire transaction, from listing the auction to meeting with the buyer, proceeded seamlessly for me and I would do it again in an instant.

I also helped to list and sell my dad's 1989 Bronco a couple years back, again to a local buyer who paid all cash at the time of the pick-up. That transaction went smoothly as well. I helped him to create an Ebay account and was responsible for creating the listing, adding pictures, etc. All my father had to do was provide his phone # so he could make payment/pick up arrangements with the buyer.

I think it helps to have a buyer who holds up their end of the bargain and doesn't back out of the deal or try to scam the seller.

 

I have had good experience on e-bay. I sold a car on ebay and was looking for a truck but found one via another web site. If you are careful...if gives you a LOT bigger audience.

 

:mellow: 18 months ago, I purchased my "slightly used" '04 Prius from an individual on eBay. It was a satisfactory transaction in every way. Both CarFAX and eBay provide some protections against fraud. The Prius had only 4,000 miles on the odometer and was virtually new having been originally bought for an elderly gentleman who passed away. There was a 6-day "bidding" period and through my use of "bid sniping" software, I successfully outbid a used car dealer and wound up paying slightly less than MSRP with my "penalty" being the 4,000 miles. CarFAX is worth the fee and I checked the VIN before parting with the Cashier's checks.

We caught a Southwest Airlines flight to the in-state city, closed the deal at Starbucks and drove her home. I have noted that some dealers will meet you at the airport or pay your cab fare to the dealership.

 

The Squid's Value Added:

Well, whatever you do, please look up your State's "Lemon Law" if they have one, and thoroughly understand it.

For example, here in MA, anyone who buys a used car from a non-dealership person must get it to pass MA State inspection within 7 days (assuming, of course, the buyer intends to register the vehicle in MA). If the vehicle doesn't, and the cost of the repairs to get it to pass exceed 10% of the purchase price, the buyer is entitled to a FULL refund....

I just sold my summer Mustang on craigslist.com (actually, check out craigslist.com, it's FREE, and within 48hrs, I had my car sold, cash in hand).

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

why go private sale if your trading for another Toyota ? For sure the dealer is gonna snap up yor trade and have wiggle room to move on your new purchase, one way or another. another make or model, sure ebay it..but a Toyota Prius for another Toyota hybrid vehicle @ a Toyota dealership is gonna get you the best price and ease of sale than any other ( unless your dealer tries to play ya )

 

I have bought cars/motorcycles on eBay (not Prii) in the past and had good experiences. Be very wary, though, of fake buyers, scams and escrow services.

I have also used craigslist. While it is free, easy to use and fast, it has not actually yielded a sale yet for me on anything.

Lastly, remember that whatever trade # your dealer gives you is actually compounded a bit by sales tax.

So for example, if the dealer offers you $20k as a trade-in, and your state sales tax is 6%, he is REALLY giving you $20k + $1200 = $21,200.

(This is because the trade-in # is deducted from the price of the new car prior to calculating sales tax.)

You should definitely take this into effect when comparing his offer to outside offers. I was better off trading in my 2005 Prius than selling it outright.

 

If you are selling rather than trading in, how do you get the timing right so that you aren't left without a car? The biggest reason we've always traded rather than sold is that it would be very difficult to be down a car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ggood @ May 10 2006, 11:08 AM) [snapback]252810[/snapback]</div>

I've listed a few cars on Ebay and managed to sell one this way. Yes, there was a lien on it and it was a huge pain and the stupid buyer had the cashiers check from her bank made out to herself (Wth). Most ebayers will lowball the crap out of you....even with a Prius. I've had waaaaaaay better results with autotrader.com selling cars.


Also, just a warning about CARFAX --- don't trust it 100% --- I know a buddy that has a huge body shop and doesn't report any details about the cars he fixes to CARFAX (he says he has no reason to, doesn't benefit him one bit).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ohgreys @ May 10 2006, 08:52 AM) [snapback]252797[/snapback]</div>

I listed my old Saturn on Ebay a couple hours before I headed to the dealer to pay for & pick up the Prius. As I was on my way home from the dealer, my husband had checked on my listing and called me to tell me someone had used the Buy It Now feature and already paid the deposit via Paypal. The guy picked up the Saturn the following evening.

Even if it hadn't happened that quickly and had to be relisted, that would have been fine with me because a) I didn't need the money from the sale in order to purchase the new car and b ) I had a place to store the Saturn for as long as I needed to, until it sold. I probably wouldn't have gotten much more than $1000 from the dealer for a trade in. I managed to get $1800 for it thanks to Ebay.

I had also listed the car in the classifieds section on Saturnfans.com as well as the local Craigslist classified page, but there were not even so much as inquiries from anyone, and I had a lot of pictures of the car on both sites. After almost a week with no activity at all, I went ahead and listed it on Ebay, my last resort. Wouldn't you know that as soon as it sold, I started getting emails from people from the Craigslist ad who were interested in the car.

My Ebay ad...
The sale of the Saturn helped to completely pay off a dental bill and put some additional $ in the bank.