10 replies to this topic

[lordyoung1980]

More of a rant than a topic but here goes.
My Dad asked me to sell his kit car for him and as he's a pensioner he's not savvy online. So I decided I would advertise it for him. I tried another forum I'm on but got no where. Then I went on Facebook marketplace, once you get past the 'is this still available?'Ghosts. You then get the people who think it's worth naff all and come up with insulting low ball offers with PlayStations as currency. Then when you do get a viewing set up they don't show up only to message you days later with a crap excuse, annoying especially as you know they saw your message but didn't bother to reply at the time. So where do people sell stuff that mouth breathers don't go?

[MiniFanGraham]

I hear your pain, currently selling one of my cars, been through 2 auctions via fleabay - loads of views, watchers, questions - no bids
doing one more auction on fleabay with a different strategy now and it is getting bids, so hopefully will sell if it gets to high enough bids
others I would consider would be carandclassic site or maybe matthewsons
cannot comment about faceache as I'm not on it and never will be

Edited by MiniFanGraham, 08 June 2025 - 05:34 PM.

[Aridgerunner]

Try Bring A Trailer. I know it's an American site but recently there have been more European/English sellers showing up. If you put the car on there you for sure get some action and if you can mentally handle some criticism the car will sell. Unless you set a reserve that is way to high. And usually Bring A Trailer advisors won't allow an excessive reserve.

Food for thought?

[Shooter63]

I'm not usually a big ebay seller but I've recently had really good luck, I sold a spaceframe chassis within 4 hours at full asking price and the same with a gearbox which was pretty specialist which sold within 24 hrs. I tried FB I found that was a total waste of time, it's just full of muppets. Specialist forums the same, full of yeh ill have it, then its the old " ill have to ask the wife/girl friend/ partner crap.

Shooter

[beardylondon]

Carandclassic.com

Sold a few vehicles and motorcycles through there (as classified not auction), it’s free and no messers thus far.

Edited by beardylondon, 08 June 2025 - 09:25 PM.

[Spider]

If you want to remove as much riff-raff as is possible on-line you need to pay to advertise. It removes some of the tyre kickers.

I had a few things I'd like to sell, including cars, but the way things are on-line, I won't list them anywhere, I usually wait until I see a genuine 'wanted' somewhere and work from that. It's slow (I'm in no rush) but less painful than wading through endless 'it's not worth that' posts from people who aren't interested in buying.

[68+86auto]

One problem I find is getting commenters who seem to not realise that it's not 1980 anymore.

I was selling an MGB for someone else. One guy turned up and tried to offer well under half the advertised price. I don't know what he expected. He tried to claim that it's not worth it since he bought an MX5 for the same price. I don't see how that is supposed to mean anything. He also went on about how much he paid for his last MGB (decades ago). He tried to show that he was some British car expert however he didn't know what a Rover mini was and couldn't identify another British car that was next to the MG.
 

The comments were crazy too, apparently it was just scrap metal. This was a running and driving car with rebuilt suspension and brakes. It really wasn't that rusty.


Eventually I had a second guy turn up who was happy to buy it at a reasonable price. Unfortunately months later he did list it for sale for the same price using my photos and description but removed anything saying about issues.

[panky]

I had a good experience on Auto Trader. Advertised my Mini on there, had a few calls and sold it within a week to a very nice chap for the asking price. I picked a nice sunny day at a pleasant location getting a few of the local landmarks in the background for the pictures, not the cheapest place to advertise but very happy with the outcome.

[JXC Mini GT]

I sold a Mini Cooper S using the Car and classic auction site whereas when I advertised the car previously in the free Car and Classic for sale section I only received stupid offers and time wasters.

I have also used Gumtree to sell some Mini parts with some success, I usually sell on a collection only basis to avoid buyers claiming that the item was damaged when they received it

[lordyoung1980]

I've still got this for sale, and the list of Muppets grows by the week. One guy mortified that there was no warranty. One guy asked how hard it was to look after,which in itself is not a dumb question I thought. However, he had never checked the oil on a car in his life. And then asked if it could just be driven. I asked what he meant, he told me that all the cars he had told him what they needed. I stopped talking to him. Then I've had 4 people tell me they are dying and how much could I knock off. The saga continues.

[sonikk4]

Having just been through all of this with my lad selling Erm, if you have a price in mind, stick to it. Yes there will always be messers and detractors but any serious buyer will make the effort.

 

The problem is now certainly with Social media the amount of scammers, spammers, bell ends etc really puts you off. Marketplace is certainly one of those areas where they proliferate.

 

Ebay although better to a degree will rip your pants down with their fees.