Selling project car on ebay?

[Wall]

Is ebay the way to go when trying to sell an unfinished project car? If not what is the best route to go?

[instro84]

post in for sale section in this site.

[BMR Sales]

post in for sale section in this site.

I Agree!
at least it's free and it will probably go to a better home

[Wall]

I will definitely try here first. I still have a few things to finish up but hope to have it ready to list in a few weeks.

[TheJDMan]

In addition to ebay, I would also list it on http://www.racingjunk.com/

[vintageracer]

Project cars are ALWAYS tough to sell.

Half finished projects DO NOT sell for half price. They sell for A LOT LESS!

Unfortunately most all project cars when selling are worth more in pieces (parted out) than they are worth as a whole. What you have SPENT, Not Invested, has no real relevance to what your project car is worth. The old selling technique of "I just want to get my money back" is BS as the buyer really does not care if you get your money back since they want the project for nothing or as close to nothing as the buyer can get! Besides whenever ANYONE tells you what they have SPENT on a car to justify their asking price they are LYING! Just another BS selling technique that NEVER works! EBAY can be a good avenue to sell/advertise a project car for sale just remember the above.

An EBAY buyer has costs associated with with buying on Ebay such shipping/pickup of car, travel and all the other stuff that goes with buying a NONE RUNNING PROJECT CAR that most likely will NOT be "local" to the buyer. After all that's why you advertised the car for sale on EBAY so you can get a broader national/worldwide market to sell to. Ya I know you don't care about all that stuff however the buyer sure as Hell does and WILL factor those COSTS into their top bid price. Location Location! You hear that term a lot in real estate. It is the same for cars. Where you are located also dictates how much your car will sell for. If you are in the middle of Kansas you better bend over and grab those ankles as your project car is worth a Hell of lot LESS than if the car were located in SoCal in the middle of the car hobby.

I consider EBAY to be a GREAT advertising tool and nothing more. Rarely have I sold cars on EBAY through the auction however I have sold LOT'S of cars because of EBAY. Buyers saw the car for sale and made the purchase after the auction. I suggest you consider all the National car advertising websites the same way as EBAY. A great place to advertise your project! YES it will cost YOU money to advertise your project to get it sold. IF you only want to consider FREE advertising to sell your car chances are GREAT if will take a longtime to sell your car. Craigslist is OK for local advertising. Yes I know and also I do search Craigslist nationally for cars I want with the available CL search engines however with project cars it better be a GREAT DEAL or very rare car to get any national interest on CL.

With few exceptions "I" think advertising on marque specific enthusiast websites is a waste of time and actually HURTS/HINDERS the sale of a Project Car. Most people on a website like this one Pro-touring already have a cars. They are generally NOT looking to buy another one just talk about the one they have or comment on cars other people own. That's the problem. It's the "comment on cars other people own" or have FOR SALE. EVERYONE seems to have an opinion on a car that's for sale that they have NEVER SEEN yet they sure can post a lot of BS negative comments about your project with absolutely NO INTENTION of buying the project car. That's one thing the internet does just as I AM DOING RIGHT NOW and that is posting my opinion. In this situation YOU ASKED for opinions and your NOT SELLING anything yet! People see ALL these BS comments and form an opinion of your project car condition wise, location wise and price wise BEFORE they or anyone in most instances has ever seen the project in person. ALL this does is POISON the potential sale of your project in most instances.

The single BIGGEST factor in selling your PROJECT on EBAY or anywhere else is this. DOES YOUR PRICE MATCH THE CONDITION OF THE CAR??? Make sure you post an asking price in all your ads wherever they may be. The one exception may be EBAY if you run an auction. If you do not know how much you want for your project I sure as Hell do not know what you want for your project and WILL NOT contact you about finding more information about your project. No price in an ad usually means the price is TO DAMN HIGH! Most folks "I" know will NOT call on an ad that does not have price listed in the ad.

Most project cars for sale today are WAY OVERPRICED! Many project cars for sale today could be FREE and a potential buyer STILL could not afford to build the car. Keep this REALITY in mind when pricing your car. REMEMBER once again whatever you have spent on this "Project" car has absolutely NO bearing whatsoever on what the car is worth on the open market.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures along with a great verbal description sell project cars. You should spend a good amount of time crafting your ad for the best exposure no matter where you advertise. Make it EASY for prospective buyers to contact you. That also means putting a TELEPHONE NUMBER in your ad. NO you are not going to sell your project car through text messages or email! Sooner or later you WILL have to TALK to the potential buyer so why not make it easy to do that from the get go!

Once again EBAY is a great advertising tool and just a part of what should be on your part a complete & coordinated "Selling" plan YOU develop to SELL your Project Car for the most money in shortest amount of time.

Time for you to get to work and have some fun on that advertising and marketing plan!

[Wall]

vintageracer thanks for your insight. I do agree with a lot that you said. I can't stand when I look at an ad and there is NO price listed or the pictures are low quality or there are too few pictures.

I don't have high expectations on selling this car and I know I won't get my money back out of it. That being said I think it will be a good start for someone that wants to build a car. I have been looking around at unfinished 67 firebirds for sale to get an idea and most of the stuff out there seems to be priced pretty high IMO.

I have noticed most of the firebird projects I see on ebay are just unrestored with rust issues that may or may not be in primer. I think I've only seen one that was a unfinished project that someone had done metal replacement on.

The car I'm going to sell is a 67 firebird roller with shaved drip rails and a smooth firewall so I think it could possibly sell on this forum but who knows. The car isn't perfect but not hacked together either. Like I said I think it would be a good start for someone wanting to build a descent driver that isn't stock.

[RMMiller]

Project cars are ALWAYS tough to sell.

Half finished projects DO NOT sell for half price. They sell for A LOT LESS!

Unfortunately most all project cars when selling are worth more in pieces (parted out) than they are worth as a whole. What you have SPENT, Not Invested, has no real relevance to what your project car is worth.

Isn't that the truth! In 08 I sold my 68 GTO project. I tried to sell the whole mess for $5k on ebay, the car, numbers matching drive train and a tone of extra parts. Listed it twice and got nothing! At that point I was frustrated, I decided to sell all the extras and then decide what to do with the car. Over the next couple months I sold 20 years of parts hoarding for a couple hundred more than I wanted for the whole mess. I was now left with a roller that had all the parts, a powder coated frame with all new suspension and rear end and a decision to make. I ended up putting the car back on ebay and sold it for $2,800. I thought for sure the car would bring more but man was I wrong.

[Wall]

Well I sold the car for $4k to a guy at work. My buddies tell me that I gave the car away but I am good with it. I could have tried to get more but I am about to move and starting a new job so I just wanted to get rid of it so I wouldn't have to transport it back to Alabama. I have another 67 firebird I am keeping and I don't have the time or money for 2 projects. Anyway just figured I would update this thread and post some pics. Thanks for the help.

[snappytravis]

Nice, I heard the definition of a good deal, When the buyer and the seller are both happy!

[Wall]

Nice, I heard the definition of a good deal, When the buyer and the seller are both happy!

That is a pretty accurate saying, both parties being happy is definitely the best way it can work out.