I see a lot of threads posted here either related to BaT auctions, or people inquiring about selling cars on BaT, or people selling cars and others suggesting they sell on BaT. I just sold my 95 Lexus SC400 on BaT yesterday so I figured I'd make a thread depicting my experiences.
Cliff notes: Was good, would do again
$99 dollars is what it costs for the basic listing. They have a 3 page process for you to fill out information going from the basics of make/model, and getting more granular like discussing issues, maintenance, etc. This is also the point you can set a reserve price or set as no reserve. When submitting my ad for approval I listed every bit of maintenance I did to the car and listed every blemish or fault I could think of. Honesty is a big thing when listing an auction through BaT.
Once the ad is submitted it takes about 3 business days for approval. I had someone from BaT reach back, I had asked for a reserve price of $7000, BaT wanted to run it as no reserve. I had read in the past that they will base reserve suggestions on selling data in prior auctions, most of the other SC's that have sold went no reserve, so I agreed and they approved my submission.
There is a big backlog at BaT right now due to how popular they are. I was told it'd be a few weeks for an auction writer to get back to me. I was honestly expecting a few months, so a few weeks wasn't a big deal.
The auction writer got back to me with a draft auction and all my photos. I was given the opportunity to review the draft and make suggestions including rearranging some photos. They like to keep photos grouped in sections (exterior shots, interior shots, engine bay, under carriage, etc). Once I approved the final revision, the auction was live in 5 hours (approved at 4am, listed at 9am).
The week long auction process went smooth, I didn't have much hullabaloo in the auctions (just one guy suggesting my wheels belonged on a Jeep, I let him know where his opinions could be stuck). I answered any serious questions with lengthy and serious answers. One thing I have learned from years of watching BaT auctions is honesty and transparency as well as interacting with the comments can make or break a sale. The guy who won my car noted on the phone that my transparency is part of why he was so comfortable bidding as high as he did.
The car made it up to $8000 early on in the auction and sat there for a while. It sat at that price until 3 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock, when $8100 came in, then $8250, then $8500. All of a sudden a bidding war broke out between 4 people. Usually activity on these auctions will pick up either within the last half hour, or the last 2 minutes. If a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes, the clock resets back to 2 minutes (this is to prevent ebay style auction sniping). A fifth bidder jumped in at the end and took the auction win at $11,000.
With the auction now over, BaT immediately emailed me the contact info for the winning bidder including full name, phone number and email address. I gave him a call and we talked on the phone for about 45 minutes. My buyer is north of Vancouver in Canada, this is the fourth car he's purchased on BaT. We talked out details of the deal and I fielded any other questions he had about the car.
BaT does not handle any transferring of funds for the deal. They accept your listing fee, the buyer pays the final fee when the car sells, and the actual transferring of funds for the car is left between the buyer and seller. In this instance, the buyer is looking into wiring me the funds or possibly sending a certified bank check. I emailed him a written bill of sale, signed, so he has something stating that I have sold him this car.
Things I've learned that I believe can make or break an auction experience
- Picture detail: I hired a local photographer to do a photo shoot with the car, I wanted really nice quality photos, better than any of the other SC's that have sold on BaT. My car was the highest mile one that has sold on the site, yet it brought more money than some examples with 40-50k less miles. I made sure to photograph blemishes, as well as post photos of the undercarriage on a lift to show how rust free and clean the car is underneath. I also attached a photo of included service records, all keys, and the owners manual (you'll see most ads include this).
- Information & Transparency: I tried to cover as much as I could in great detail in the listing. I talked about the work I did (even included a typed out maintenance log of all the parts I installed with respective part numbers). When people asked questions in the comments, I answered them as detailed as I could, even the usual "whats the reason for the sale" questions. My car has two minor incidents on the car fax, I made sure to include a photo of every VIN sticker on all the body panels to show that this car has had no major accident damage. As far as I could find, I was the only person who got under the car and posted the vin sticker on the rear bumper crash bar, showing anything that happened to this car was very minor. I did disclose that this car has had paint work on the rear, but made sure to emphasize that no major damage was found by posting the trunk vin sticker, as well as photos of the trunk floor (both under the carpet and from underneath) showing that nothing was wrinkled. I also posted five videos of the car including a cold start, warm idle, driving, walk around, and going through the features.
- Cleanliness: This one should go without saying but apparently some people overlook it. I've seen plenty of auctions with cars that don't even look washed, or dirty interiors. I spent weeks going over my car, including a 2 stage paint correction topped with ceramic coating. I did everything in my power and timeframe to clean the car up and get it looking good for the camera. Hell I even trailered it 110 miles home from my garage and washed it twice using a CR spotless DI water filter setup before the photographer did the shoot.
At the end of the day, the car sold for a very strong number and I am very happy. I think this is the first time I've sold a car as a car, not as a pile of parts, and came out on top. This is the process that worked for me, I've watched plenty of cars on BaT that should have been a home run sale end up hitting reserve not met because the seller didn't follow some of the things I've outlined above. I felt I was fighting an uphill battle since I was listing a car whose platform is in the early stages of appreciating, on an auction platform where I'll have the highest mile example and I believe the only one to date with any blemishes on carfax (might have been one other a couple years ago). I think all the work paid off in the end.
bringatrailer.com
If anyone has any questions about listing something on BaT, I'd be happy to answer based on my own experience.
Cliff notes: Was good, would do again
$99 dollars is what it costs for the basic listing. They have a 3 page process for you to fill out information going from the basics of make/model, and getting more granular like discussing issues, maintenance, etc. This is also the point you can set a reserve price or set as no reserve. When submitting my ad for approval I listed every bit of maintenance I did to the car and listed every blemish or fault I could think of. Honesty is a big thing when listing an auction through BaT.
Once the ad is submitted it takes about 3 business days for approval. I had someone from BaT reach back, I had asked for a reserve price of $7000, BaT wanted to run it as no reserve. I had read in the past that they will base reserve suggestions on selling data in prior auctions, most of the other SC's that have sold went no reserve, so I agreed and they approved my submission.
There is a big backlog at BaT right now due to how popular they are. I was told it'd be a few weeks for an auction writer to get back to me. I was honestly expecting a few months, so a few weeks wasn't a big deal.
The auction writer got back to me with a draft auction and all my photos. I was given the opportunity to review the draft and make suggestions including rearranging some photos. They like to keep photos grouped in sections (exterior shots, interior shots, engine bay, under carriage, etc). Once I approved the final revision, the auction was live in 5 hours (approved at 4am, listed at 9am).
The week long auction process went smooth, I didn't have much hullabaloo in the auctions (just one guy suggesting my wheels belonged on a Jeep, I let him know where his opinions could be stuck). I answered any serious questions with lengthy and serious answers. One thing I have learned from years of watching BaT auctions is honesty and transparency as well as interacting with the comments can make or break a sale. The guy who won my car noted on the phone that my transparency is part of why he was so comfortable bidding as high as he did.
The car made it up to $8000 early on in the auction and sat there for a while. It sat at that price until 3 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock, when $8100 came in, then $8250, then $8500. All of a sudden a bidding war broke out between 4 people. Usually activity on these auctions will pick up either within the last half hour, or the last 2 minutes. If a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes, the clock resets back to 2 minutes (this is to prevent ebay style auction sniping). A fifth bidder jumped in at the end and took the auction win at $11,000.
With the auction now over, BaT immediately emailed me the contact info for the winning bidder including full name, phone number and email address. I gave him a call and we talked on the phone for about 45 minutes. My buyer is north of Vancouver in Canada, this is the fourth car he's purchased on BaT. We talked out details of the deal and I fielded any other questions he had about the car.
BaT does not handle any transferring of funds for the deal. They accept your listing fee, the buyer pays the final fee when the car sells, and the actual transferring of funds for the car is left between the buyer and seller. In this instance, the buyer is looking into wiring me the funds or possibly sending a certified bank check. I emailed him a written bill of sale, signed, so he has something stating that I have sold him this car.
Things I've learned that I believe can make or break an auction experience
- Picture detail: I hired a local photographer to do a photo shoot with the car, I wanted really nice quality photos, better than any of the other SC's that have sold on BaT. My car was the highest mile one that has sold on the site, yet it brought more money than some examples with 40-50k less miles. I made sure to photograph blemishes, as well as post photos of the undercarriage on a lift to show how rust free and clean the car is underneath. I also attached a photo of included service records, all keys, and the owners manual (you'll see most ads include this).
- Information & Transparency: I tried to cover as much as I could in great detail in the listing. I talked about the work I did (even included a typed out maintenance log of all the parts I installed with respective part numbers). When people asked questions in the comments, I answered them as detailed as I could, even the usual "whats the reason for the sale" questions. My car has two minor incidents on the car fax, I made sure to include a photo of every VIN sticker on all the body panels to show that this car has had no major accident damage. As far as I could find, I was the only person who got under the car and posted the vin sticker on the rear bumper crash bar, showing anything that happened to this car was very minor. I did disclose that this car has had paint work on the rear, but made sure to emphasize that no major damage was found by posting the trunk vin sticker, as well as photos of the trunk floor (both under the carpet and from underneath) showing that nothing was wrinkled. I also posted five videos of the car including a cold start, warm idle, driving, walk around, and going through the features.
- Cleanliness: This one should go without saying but apparently some people overlook it. I've seen plenty of auctions with cars that don't even look washed, or dirty interiors. I spent weeks going over my car, including a 2 stage paint correction topped with ceramic coating. I did everything in my power and timeframe to clean the car up and get it looking good for the camera. Hell I even trailered it 110 miles home from my garage and washed it twice using a CR spotless DI water filter setup before the photographer did the shoot.
At the end of the day, the car sold for a very strong number and I am very happy. I think this is the first time I've sold a car as a car, not as a pile of parts, and came out on top. This is the process that worked for me, I've watched plenty of cars on BaT that should have been a home run sale end up hitting reserve not met because the seller didn't follow some of the things I've outlined above. I felt I was fighting an uphill battle since I was listing a car whose platform is in the early stages of appreciating, on an auction platform where I'll have the highest mile example and I believe the only one to date with any blemishes on carfax (might have been one other a couple years ago). I think all the work paid off in the end.
No Reserve: 1995 Lexus SC400
Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 1995 Lexus SC400 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #64,192.
bringatrailer.com
If anyone has any questions about listing something on BaT, I'd be happy to answer based on my own experience.
