What's up with this? (selling car)

[DeltaMustang65]

Sorry for the double post but, you don't have stock in Ebay, do you?

[Unit 5302]

No stock in ebay. As I noted above, I don't like them as a company. You've heard horror stories, I've heard horror stories. I've also purchased vehicles on ebay before, and I've purchased vehicles locally through classifieds. If you buy a classic car on ebay without asking for any pictures of the common problem areas, and you don't review the sellers feedback, you're opening yourself up to problems. However, it is the normal reaction of irresponsible people in our society to place blame on somebody else. Ebay in this instance. Ebay doesn't give a crap about you or anybody else on their site, but people also fail to take responsibility for their own actions.

I can tell you right now that I nearly bought a 1970 Mercury Cougar off ebay on Friday. It was a rare local car, and I went to view the vehicle. If it were not for the pre-disclosed title issues, I would have purchased it. It was in excellent shape for a 70 Cougar. The underside was amazingly clean, the trunk was nearly spotless, and the floor panels had only minimal rust. Also as disclosed, the landau roof had held some moisture and rusted the roof a little. Nothing major. The car was better than described, an awesome project car to be sure. For every horror story you hear about on ebay there are probably 1,000 good stories.

You are right about one thing though, you usually get what you pay for on ebay. Which is why you don't see many '65 Coupes with a relatively common 289 selling for $20k. Ebay is not deflating the selling price of classic cars. If anything, it's inflating the price by making them available to FAR more people who are interested than ever before. If you're basing your idea of what a car should sell for on a Barrett Jackson TV show, I could see how your logic might be working. Let me assure you, Barrett Jackson should not be used as a realistic source for classic car selling prices. The people that attend those auctions are looking for the best of the best, and they have insane amounts of money to spend. They don't want to drive around and call around looking for cars. They want the cars to come to them, and they're willing to pay A LOT to avoid the hassle of car shopping.

If you thought you were going to turn a profit on restoring that car or even breaking even, you probably chose the wrong project car. There are very few people that make a profit on selling repaired/restored cars, historically speaking. The cars those sellers make money on are almost always rare or very coveted. A '65 Coupe is neither. That's why you're getting offers for less than what you have in it. The harsh truth is that people don't give a crap how much money you have in it. They care about how much the car is worth in terms of the market price. I can spend 20k restoring a 1977 Mustang II, but would I expect to be able to sell it for that? Of course not. The market won't support a $20k Mustang II.

The only reason I was recommending ebay was if you're not asking more than your car is worth, it will probably sell. Based on what I saw on ebay after reviewing several auctions with sellers who have excellent feedback ratings, including dealers, your asking price is way too high.

BTW, I'm not all bent out of shape, I'm just answering your question "What's up with this?" , and providing you with valid advice. I did get a little annoyed when you insulted buying/selling on ebay because that's an indirect slight to me. I apologize you don't like the answer.

[DeltaMustang65]

Thanks again for the wealth of info, but I already understand everything you've just said. You're treating me like I'm an idiot and it's getting old. You totally missed the point with the ebay prices driving down offers on CLEAN, NON-RUSTBUCKET cars, as well other points. Please, just stop. I wasn't looking for this when I made the topic. Does ANYONE else have anything to contribute? Constructively, maybe?

[Hethj7]

Originally Posted by mattgoveiagt

Thanks again for the wealth of info, but I already understand everything you've just said. You're treating me like I'm an idiot and it's getting old. You totally missed the point with the ebay prices driving down offers on CLEAN, NON-RUSTBUCKET cars, as well other points. Please, just stop. I wasn't looking for this when I made the topic. Does ANYONE else have anything to contribute? Constructively, maybe?

Chill out man. I think Unit is trying to be helpful and you are taking it as an attack. And he may be right, you may be overpriced. Just because you have 20K invested doesn't mean you'll get 17 or anywhere near that. I had probably close to 14 or 15K invested in my 1990 Stang and sold it in two days using AutoTrader for $5,500. I may have been able to squeek a little more out of it, but I also wanted a quick sale. I'm not in touch with the classic car market, but it sounds like you may need to research your pricing a little more and adjust accordingly for the market. Or, be willing to wait until a buyer is ready to pay something near your asking price.

[DeltaMustang65]

Wow, chill out, huh? Ok.

Yeah, believe me, I'm willing to wait until someone is willing to pay near what I'm asking. Key word here, "asking". I repeat, "asking". I'm willing to take about a $5,000 loss on this car. I'd really rather not sell it, the ONLY reason I'm selling is because the money would be helpful to pay for college. If someone made me an offer around $15,000 I'd sell it. Trust me, I'm not being a nutjob about this. I'm just not in a hurry to unload this car because it's not a piece of junk.

P.S. This is a '65, so your comparison does me no good, but thanks for trying. What in God's name has happened to these boards...