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AV ebaY Motors A Mess |
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13 Mar 2002
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With all the talk about eBay and all its problems, Lets talk about eBaymotors.com
I have been an automotive seller on ebay since Sept 19 1999. It was the best thing to come along I have ever seen. Then came eBaymotors and its sloppy programming. My sales literally stopped! I tried Yahoo for a while but eventually came back to eBaymotors.
eBay with its partners Manheim.com which owns Autotrader.com have saturated the market with a flood of cars & car dealers. Manheim through its wholesale dealer auctions has eBay/Autotrader selling booths at its over 100 dealer auctions hustling the dealers to sell on eBaymotors. One of these user id's is: manheimspaa.
There are so many comparable makes, models, mileage, colors, cars on eBaymotors that it has became a buyers market! And the buyers are getting smarter and are emailing or calling the sellers working us for the best price. I am guessing that less than 30% of the cars are reaching the reserve. Last month eBay raised the listing and final value fees from 25.00 to 40.00, BIN is 2.00 extra.
All theirekickback.com partners in eBaymotors hurt business as well. DAS is the highest priced shipper. The free warranty for some qualifying vehicles hurts the sale of others that do not qualify. Through their latest partner inspection solution, eBaymotors is recommending winners of vehicle auctions to order a Mechanical Inspection after the fact! I have no problems with inspections but I urge bidders to do so Before Bidding! An after the fact inspection will open the sale for price negotiation if something is found to be defective or suggested as a maintenance item.
There are lots of dirty tricks going on as well, Like dealers shill bidding a competitors vehicle with a bogus id, to draw the bidders to their vehicles at a lower price!
The whole site is a Sickening Mess!! I just closed up a climate controlled warehouse for my business at www.freshfloridacars.com. I don't know what I am going to do for a living just yet. The lack of sales, increased fees, And lack of support from eBay have just about put me out of business.
Sincerely Ed Koon
eBay Id: ed.koon@freshfloridacars.com
