So how do ya'll sell vehicles now?

Discussion in 'General Station Wagon Discussions' started by HotRodRacer, Apr 25, 2019.

  1. HotRodRacer

    HotRodRacer Moderator Staff Member Moderator

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    Many of you have seen my 71 Chevrolet truck I have posted on here in a thread. I have decided to sell the truck, and I have had it on Craigslist for a bit now. Apparently on April 15th they started charging five dollars per post for vehicles for sale by owner.

    Which got me to thinking, it that still the best way to get views on a vehicle for sale? What other avenues are there to use? I don;t mind paying if there is proven site traffic for the cost involved, but I once had a boat for sale and a dealer called me wanting to list my boat on his 10 websites for 300 dollars. I asked if he could show me traffic reports from the sites, and he started stammering. If you are running a website, you should have these metrics or analytics available to you.

    So anyway, back to the question - if you had a vehicle for sale now, how would you post it for sale?
     
  2. 59 wagon man

    59 wagon man Well-Known Member

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    Maybe cheaper to buy a subscription to a magazine like Hemmings which I believe gives a free classified ad or if you have a local car magazine which has classifieds
     
  3. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    When I found out about C/L charging, I was like "Really? Are you not making enough for what ads you do charge on?" So, FB Marketplace and OfferUp, it is, although OfferUp charges you after the third vehicle. Until C/L came along, there was only print media, and just about everyone charged. It was a damned hassle, and a lot of cars had For Sale signs in the windows. Now, even with good metrics, good cash flow, when the little guys like us need a free way to advertise, it gets taken away.
     
  4. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    I hadn't heard that CL was charging to list vehicles now. That explains why there seems to be way less inventory on there recently. I suppose it doesn't surprise me. Just one more way to make a few bucks.

    Honestly, the last few things I have sold online the buyers were from the Facebook Market place. I'm not on Facebook, but my wife is, so she listed them. I also placed ads on CL.

    It seemed all I got from CL was scammers and flakes. On the other hand the folks interested on the Facebook were always serious prospects.

    I still cruise CL for stuff on a regular basis, but I'm hearing more and more folks say they don't even bother with it anymore.
     
  5. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Yeah, the scammers are a pain, it's why I put disclaimers on my ads...must be in person to buy, cash on the barrel only, no guarantees or warranties, implied or otherwise, yadda yadda.
     
  6. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    We have a few free sites, besides ebay. I last used www.autoscout24.de. Maybe, you have something lsinilar to that in that format? In any event, depending on what you're selling, you could try using that link, in order to attract overseas buyers. Swedes seem to have deep pockets. Here's an ad where a Swede is looking for a '65 to '70 Cadillac, for example: https://www.blocket.se/skaraborg/Cadillac_65_70_cab_kopes_84698758.htm?ca=11&w=3 I need not mention that selling to them requires that the photographs should be professional looking, the vehicle should be tidy, displaying absolutely no clutter and filth, since potential buyers will be flying in. There's nothing wrong with tastefull customization, though

    [​IMG]

    Just for fun, I typed in 1950 to 1970 Cadillac, entire Europe, into the search engine of the site where I sold my wagon. I got more pages than expected: https://www.autoscout24.de/lst/cadillac?sort=standard&desc=0&offer=J,U,O,D,S&ustate=N,U&size=20&page=1&priceto=100000&fregto=1970&fregfrom=1950&atype=C&

    Cad_Ad.jpg
     
  7. SavoyPlaza

    SavoyPlaza Well-Known Member

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    I've had better luck the past few years with Facebook marketplace--it seems a little better to view a profile of someone inquiring about a car for sale; you can somewhat see who you are dealing with.
    CL has not been as good due to all the flakes and whatnot. It looks as though the $5 fees have culled all the chaff, which sounds like a good thing. And truly, $5 is pretty minimal for an ad.
    Pete
     
  8. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    I wish I could rid of the chaff around me for only $5 each
     
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  9. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    I just sold a car I had on an app called “letgo” and I had it on Craigslist, plus I would park it at the gas station and in the neighbors front yard. I was constantly getting low ball offers from people to which I would respond “sure if you can come out here and explain why you think it worth $1500 it’s all yours.” I got a lot of people wanting to negotiate over text or email which was interesting to me. How do you negotiate something you’ve never actually seen?? Eventually My neighbor found a buyer who came down from Kentucky. SOLD Get this, He met the guy playing some kind of online video game....the world is changing my friends
     
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  10. n2fordmuscle

    n2fordmuscle Well-Known Member

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    Facebook Marketplace gets my vote. Ebay too, especially on special interest, higher end vehicles.
     
  11. Jim 68cuda

    Jim 68cuda Well-Known Member

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    I expect the $5 fee will cut the fake scam ads way down.
     
  12. Darcane

    Darcane Well-Known Member

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    I get this a lot and I'm baffled by the logic. If they negotiate a lower price before looking at the car, does that mean they have agreed to purchase and we're just dickering on numbers? Seems like any time I talk numbers before they look at the car, they try to lower the price more after they look at the car too.

    I love Craigslist, but charging for the ads annoys me. Whether it's $0.05 or $50, it now means I have the added steps to make a payment to place an ad. And I suspect it will greatly reduce the number of low price cars on craigslist, which is what I find it most useful for.

    I find Facebook Marketplace painful to search through, but it's probably going to get more of the cheap cars in it, so I'll likely lean towards that in the future.
     
  13. Dieseltech20

    Dieseltech20 New Member

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    Sold one of my wagons last week through Facebook. I put it on the marketplace and posted it on a couple groups that deal with the 91-96 GM B Body wagons. It took a few days but sold to a member through one of the groups. Earlier that week I sold the remains of my parts car through the same group.

    I don't deal with lowballers and offer makers through email or text. They aren't going to buy the car anyways. I especially love the constant "is this still available" messages, smh. They just love wasting folks time for some strange reason. Once you are in my driveway looking at the car THEN we can deal.
     
  14. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    I agree. I always love the text messages that ask "Will to take $---- for it?" My response is always "Come and take a look at it, then we'll talk price." That usually eliminates them as a prospective buyer straight away.
     
  15. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    That's why I never use any of those social media formats. It's like buying and selling from a chatroom
     

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