craigslist or ebay to sell a classic car?

[SteveW]

Getting closer to a finalized plan on my trailer, but I need to clear out my former project before I can start the new one.



Anyone have any experience selling cars on ebay or craigslist? Would these be good sites for finding an appropriate buyer for a niche item like this or are there other sites I don't know about that I should utilize? What should I look for to avoid scam buyers?

[Gage]

I would research the market and then list it on ebay with a reserve. Too bad it's not an 'S', there is more demand than there is for a 'common' Mini.

[Evan Gaffney]

Post on craigslist, and the crazies will come to your door to lowball you. Put it on ebay, and at least they'll only do it by email. Ebay is a bigger market too, so more potentially interested buyers. Ebay also has more protection for you in place in case things go bad. Just my two cents. I was going to do a mini project a couple years back. Wanted to stuff a turbo honda v-tec in one, but went to do my first test drive and discovered that while the new 4-banger may fit... I didn't. Sometimes being 6'3" is a real liability.

[eamarquardt]

I looked on EBay and there are 1272 items that pop up under Cooper Mini. A lot of them are models but a lot of the items are full sized cars, mostly newer models.

Here's a link to EBay via searchtempest/autotempest:

http://www.autotempest.com/results/?mak ... saleby=any

Here's a link to searchtempest:

http://www.searchtempest.com/results.ph ... maxAsk=max

Depending on how much of a rush you are in and your location, I'd try Craigslist first as you'll most likely do business "eyeball to eyeball" and have more control over the transaction. Of course, if the buyer wants you to ship the car to Nigeria (or any other destination) I'd ensure that you have irrevocable (meaning your bank can't later determine a fund transfer or check was fraudulent and reverse it and deduct the money from your account) CASH in your hand, but even then I'd be suspect! If you don't have any luck, then I'd try EBay

The vast majority of cars on EBay have no bids on them. Tells you something about the success rate there.

There are probably lots of Mini clubs/sites such as this one:

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/fo ... forums-98/

Perhaps there is one in your area and you can reach out to potential buyers there.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[wired]

Sold my F250 4X4 Diesel on Ebay a few years ago. Everything went fine and it was pretty painless. Buyer turned out to be somewhat local (about 1.5 hrs away) so they did come up to look at the truck before actually handing over the money. I would not hesitate to sell a vehicle on Ebay again.

[Woodbutcher]

I sold an XKE several tears ago on Ebay. First time I listed it with a reserve. It did not make it to the reserve. A few moths later I relisted it with NO reserve. I sold for 2K over my original reserve price. My advise is do a no reserve auction with an opening bid that is the absolute minimum you would take. It could sell for that so be prepared. But with no reserve the bidders know it's going to sell. So your auction floats to the top above the reserve cars. Nothing is worse then following or bidding on a vehicle that has a high reserve that does not get met. Good luck!

PS. If you do chose Craigslist, put in a phone number to call. Say "I will NOT reply to any emails that do not have a contact phone number". Also helps to spell out a couple of the digits in your phone number. It will save you alot of scammers wasting your time. Anyone who is serious will want to speak with you. Craigslist is nice but you have to wade through a lot of crap to sell things.

[eamarquardt]

I sold an XKE several tears ago on Ebay. First time I listed it with a reserve. It did not make it to the reserve. A few moths later I relisted it with NO reserve. I sold for 2K over my original reserve price. My advise is do a no reserve auction with an opening bid that is the absolute minimum you would take. It could sell for that so be prepared. But with no reserve the bidders know it's going to sell. So your auction floats to the top above the reserve cars. Nothing is worse then following or bidding on a vehicle that has a high reserve that does not get met. Good luck!

PS. If you do chose Craigslist, put in a phone number to call. Say "I will NOT reply to any emails that do not have a contact phone number". Also helps to spell out a couple of the digits in your phone number. It will save you alot of scammers wasting your time. Anyone who is serious will want to speak with you. Craigslist is nice but you have to wade through a lot of crap to sell things.

Seems like sage advise.

Cheers,

Gus

[Verna]

I sold an XKE several tears ago on Ebay. First time I listed it with a reserve. It did not make it to the reserve. A few moths later I relisted it with NO reserve. I sold for 2K over my original reserve price. My advise is do a no reserve auction with an opening bid that is the absolute minimum you would take. It could sell for that so be prepared. But with no reserve the bidders know it's going to sell. So your auction floats to the top above the reserve cars. Nothing is worse then following or bidding on a vehicle that has a high reserve that does not get met. Good luck!

PS. If you do chose Craigslist, put in a phone number to call. Say "I will NOT reply to any emails that do not have a contact phone number". Also helps to spell out a couple of the digits in your phone number. It will save you alot of scammers wasting your time. Anyone who is serious will want to speak with you. Craigslist is nice but you have to wade through a lot of crap to sell things.

Excellent advice. One small addition: whether you're a male or a female, do NOT meet the seller by yourself. There's been some people injured or robbed when by themselves.

[rebapuck]

Are ther any mini forum sites that could give advice? Someone there may be interested.

[SteveW]

... but went to do my first test drive and discovered that while the new 4-banger may fit... I didn't. Sometimes being 6'3" is a real liability.

Seat extensions...

My buddy (6'11") in his Mini. He just passed away earlier this year. Miss you Big Norm.

[SteveW]

Thanks for the advice and feedback. I'm pretty active in the Mini/MINI community, so I definitely should post it up for sale within those groups first (a real "duh" moment...that should have been my first step). I posted it for sale with my local club, but they're more into the new BMW MINIs rather than the classics, as is http://www.northamericanmotoring.com, but mentioning that did remind me of a few classic Mini sites I used to frequent. Not in a HUGE rush to sell, so I guess posting it there for a couple weeks before going to ebay or craigslist can't hurt. Might even draw more motivated buyers.

[SteveW]

Sold through the local Mini community, which makes my son happy. He didn't want me to sell, but I promised him when he turns 15 (in 10 years) we'll shop for another that we can work on together. For now, we'll get to see it at some of the local shows.

In the meantime, the garage space is available again for my build, and a few parts are starting to find their spots. Almost time for a build thread!

[Forrest747]

As a rule never send money through western union and always see the car. I sold one one craiglist and bought my Jeep on craigslist. was very happy about it. my brother tried to buy a really nice 55 chevy sent a western union money gram and no car. it was a scam. certified funds or cash. also if they send youa check and want cash back that is a huge red flag.