Bring a trailer
 

https://bringatrailer.com/

Anyone here ever use this auction site to sell their car? If so was it the experience you expected? Any problems?

I follow a lot of sales through to their end by using the watch feature. It's pretty cool that there is an on-going dialog between buyers, watchers, and the seller. Pretty transparent procedure and the vehicle is fully discussed by the end of the auction - and both good and bad features are made known. Prices seem to be on the high side which is good for the sellers, but then again most of the inventory is above average. Having attended Barrett Jackson and worked at Mecum for several years, I would trust Bring a Trailer to get me a higher sales price.

I appreciate the feedback.

I have seen people do pretty well with it. I would use it,

I have some friends that have done extremely well selling cars on there. I believe it does a better job of showing true market value over any of the other auctions.

I tried to use them when I wanted to sell my 63 Tempest convert.They would not let me put my reserve on it,thought it was too high.Sold it local for more than what the reserve would have been.Tom

BaT limits the number of vehicles they have on auction at any given time. And I suspect the exploding popularity of the site means they get far more requests from sellers than they can accept. Which allows them to be picky about reserves to help ensure their "sell through" rate is good.

Still better than Barrett-Jackson's big event -- if you want to sell there, you will probably need to offer at no reserve.

Bring a Trailer
 

I have followed this site since they started. A year ago I purchased a 66 LeMans convertible "GTO Clone" and was very happy with the transaction. Yes you have to submit your vehicle and be accepted. If you are accepted you will be assigned a auction specialist who will assist you with your ad and photos. $95 for a 7 day listing. For an additional fee they will do the photos in selected locations. If you are a buyer the commentary plus and minus can be very helpful. The seller is able to respond to questions and comment at any time. Sniping is impossible as everyone has 2 minutes to raise the last bid before the sale is final. The last 10 minutes cost me 10K. In my opinion it is far superior to an auction such as Mecum. If my car were at a typical auction I would have never known the history of the restoration prior to bidding.

Thanks for all the information. I'm considering putting my TA up for consideration. They might not even want it because my reserve will be fairly high.

Critter,

I just went through the reserve stuff with bring a trailer. Believe me they will undercut the reserve submitted. In fact, if you don't go with their reserve they will not auction the car. I'm trying another way and seeing if it works. I'll PM you the results. Might take a while.

Jim

Prices seem pretty strong generally IMHO on BAT. I believe the no reserve brings out the buyers. The more competition, the higher the price. Who wants to invest time learning all about a car, making a bid, and then finding out the sellers reserve is above market?

I do appreciate it. I'm not in any hurry to sell. Kinda been thinking I need to let the whole virus thing and markets settle a bit before I try.

My problem is know what "market price" is for my car. Obviously it shouldn't fetch SD prices as it's no longer got the SD drive train but all of the custom bits should increase price. I think something in the $40K range is fair but, hey, I'm the seller, not the buyer.

Have 10-12 really high quality photos with your initial submission along with facts about the rare features. You need to convince them that your car is not just a average TA.

Like the Blue vinyl top, 1st year for the 2nd Gen TA?


:)

My cousin had exactly the same problem with them. He has a spectacular 1970 Mach 1 and he wanted to reserve it below both the NADA and Kelly Bluebook classic car valuation (which were within a couple hundred dollars at around $35,000) They allowed no higher than a $25,000 so he told them no. He wanted to reserve it at $30,000, which I thought was more than fair.

They want to boast a high sell-through rate, so they keep reserves down. They have every right to make their own rules and he had every right to not accept them. It did bother me though, as they seemed more concerned about their stats than customer service and he wasn't being unreasonable by any stretch.

Don,
It's not really about "stats". It's about making money.

BaT only lists so many cars at a time (a few hundred?), and the ones that sell produce much more profit than the ones that don't.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Their prices make it look like a site frequented by drunken trust fund babies. Good place to sell.

You are correct. A No Sale grosses them $95 and a sale is 5% of the winning bid. In my opinion now is a great time to list a car. Many of the high quality dealers report their inventory is running 30-50% of normal because of high sales volume

Their money is a good as anyone's

Since March first the Fed/Gov has pumped 7 trillion dollars into the economy by printing money. Since March 26 the stock market is up almost 30% and commodities are surging. We are going to see a large inflation spike as a result so if you have cash invest it in something real. Have you watched beef prices lately? Just my opinion and I have been wrong before.