Half price listing on eBay Motors this weekend
November 25, 2008
eBay UK are running a 50% off insertion fee promotion for eBay Motors this weekend. Any vehicles listed as Auction, Auction with Buy It Now, or Fixed Price will will have the insertion fee reduced from £8.00 to £4.00 in qualifying categories.
Classified Ads are excluded from the promo which runs on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November.
Auction your car for free on eBay.ie Motors
October 3, 2008
For the entire month of October, eBay Ireland are offering free insertion fees for car auctions. The offer applies to the Cars subcategory of Cars, Parts & Vehicles, and to auction listings only. The basic auction insertion fee, normally €9, is being waived; all other fees apply as normal. BINs and classified ads are not eligible, though it’s not absolutely clear whether auction-with-BIN is excluded too, or whether those listings will just be charged the BIN upgrade fee.
eBay Motors Australia hooks up with drive.com.au
April 29, 2008
eBay Motors in Australia are partnering with Drive.com.au in a deal which will see eBay Motors listings appear on drive.com.au and vice versa.
Working with dealers to list their entire inventory on eBay is nothing new, the GM partnered with eBay in an agreement to list their entire inventory of used motors on eBay. This is the first time I’m aware of that eBay Motors has partnered with a classified site in a deal to share listings. I’m trying to imagine what eBay Motors UK would look like if they were to do a similar deal with Auto Trader - I imagine motors traders would be quite vocal about the influx of listings, although exposure on another site would be a bonus.
At the end of the day anything that increases exposure of the eBay brand, and of eBay listings has to be good news - partnering with classified sites is an interesting development.
To support the deal eBay Motors Australia are about to launch a revamped site which is currently in beta.
Hammond’s jet dragster selling on eBay
December 24, 2007
The Vampire jet dragster that almost killed Richard Hammond is up for sale on eBay. The car is the current each way land speed record holder at 301 miles per hour.
This is a 30 foot monster that could never be described as “road worthy”, but after Hammond got his hands on it truthfully it’s described as a “little worse for wear” (or in other words a total wreck). Mind you, they have a few spare parts so you might be able to get it running again…
All in all it’s not a bad motor considering it’s over a quarter of a century old. Even with the damage inflicted by Hammond it’s probably cheaper to get this one running again, than to build a similar vehicle from scratch.
Bidding on the dragster started at £2500.00 and has already climbed to almost £5000.00. The auction closes at 7am on 30th December.
A wheely good blog
October 21, 2007
If there’s one thing that gets a petrol head’s heart pumping it’s news of a new car, or in fact news of anything on wheels that moves on a road. That’s why I think eBay Motors Italy’s new blog is great! It was launched on the 12th November with the promise to deliver love for engines, cars, motorcycles, speed.
Italians love their motors, and rightly so - they have an impressive heritage. I once had a friend who worked for an Italian company who insisted their sales reps drove Italian cars, they wouldn’t supply a Ferrairi, he wouldn’t drive a Fiat, so he settled for an Alfa Romeo. And that’s what the eBay Italy Motors blog is all about. It’s not all supercars, it’s not all mundane motors but it does rave about the affordable but special Motors you could buy on eBay.
UK eBay users at risk
October 21, 2007
The Times today confirms that UK eBay users are increasingly becoming the targets for phishing and account takeovers. Unsurprisingly eBay Motors continues to be a major target due to the high ticket price of goods in comparison to other categories. It’s a mark of how well eBay have attacked fraudsters and educated their users that scammers are targetting the UK instead of the larger eBay.com market.
Much more worrying is a report on The Register that a new varient of the bayrob trojan has appeared. Previous version installed a webserver on the users computer which sent eBay pages to the users browser masquerading as the eBay website. The new version not only inserts fake eBay pages and supposedly gives a false increase to sellers feedback making them look more trustworthy, but it also spoofs other security sites.
Sites such as Carfax.com, Autocheck.com and Escrow.com that users may use to verify the authenticity of listings. Imagine finding a product to buy and using eBay recommended escrow.com to pay, and then finding not only were you on a fake eBay site but had also paid through a fake security site, even though both exhibited full security information! The trojan also appears capable of displaying false emails in My Messages, the only way to establish if they are authentic is to log on from an uninfected PC and they’ll disappear.
Antivirus companies will be updating their virus signatures to detect the new strain of the virus, but as always it is users themselves who can offer the most protection. The only way the virus can infect your computer is by an attachment to an email. Users should constantly be wary of email attachments, especially if it is unexpected and you don’t know what it contains. If you’re not sure what it contains don’t click and open it!
Finally the ultimate protection when buying a car on eBay is the same as if you were buying it from your local paper. Never ever hand over the cash or sent it though a third party payment method until you’ve seen the car in person. A little common sense can stop a conman dead!
Ten tips to avoid being scammed when buying a car
August 10, 2007
Car buyers in the Norfolk area have been called “Foolish”, having fallen for scams when buying classic cars on eBay. Police have issued a warning to buyers to check out car sellers prior to parting with their cash.
When faced with the temptation of a classic car at a knockdown price, normally around £1900.00, buyers have been falling over themselves to send money to the scammers. That’s the last they ever hear from them.
Now I’ve bought cars on eBay before, and it’s normally a trouble free experience. You bid, you win, you go to collect, you pay, you drive away! Although there are a small number of crooks who are looking to part you with your cash, the vast majority are honest traders or individuals selling their own car. The buyers who fall for scams are those who forget commen sense when faced with an offer which is too good to be true, and it invariably is too good to be true!
If you’re looking to buy a car on eBay follow the following steps:
- Never part with your money until you’ve seen the car and Never send money via electronic transfer services like Western Union
- Check your sellers feedback
- Check if they’re a Registered Motor Trader (If it’s a Classified Ad then they will be). Find out more about them.
- Ask the seller for a phone number and talk to them
- Although you can sometimes get a bargain on eBay remember if the price is too low it’s often a warning sign
- If the listing has an email address offering to sell off the eBay site it’s likely to be a scam
- Ask the seller a question, eg for another photo from a different angle
- Make sure the seller has the log book (V5 Vehicle Registration Document)
- Get a Vehicle Status Report
- Legitimate sellers will always be happy for you to view the car!
If you follow these tips your car buying on eBay will be as safe and secure as buying from your local paper. You wouldn’t send thousands of pounds to an email address in your local paper so don’t do it on eBay! A little common sense goes a long way.
How big is your ego?
July 10, 2007
So would you buy this for yourself or would a company buy it to inflict on their beloved leaders company car? The cherished number plates CEO1 and CEO2 are up for sale on eBay, CEO1 has already topped £150k but CEO2 languishes behind currently only at £10k. I guess if your ego is big enough for this plate it’s too big to be second.
The number plates currently adorn two E Type Jaguar belonging to Derek Clements from Barrow in Furness. The retired bank manager is selling the plates after deciding to scale down his classic car collection and is selling the Jaguars seperately.
Lewis Hamilton F1 sells kart for £42,100
June 19, 2007
Lewis Hamilton the F1 racing driver who has kicked off his debut season with podium finishes in his first seven races has sold one of his karts on eBay. Hamilton is a racing sensation with his last two races in Canada and the US being first past the post. He is set to be a contender at the end of the season for the Driver Championship and is currently 10 points ahead of his nearest rival Fernando Alonso. Alonso the more experienced driver is his team mate at the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team based in Woking.
Hamilton sold his cart, along with three chances to meet him in London and drive a kart, through eBay for Charity, on behalf of Tommy’s, a charity which funds research into the causes and prevention of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth.
The auctions were run to raise publicity for one of McLaren-Mercedes team sponsors - Vodafone, who launch their Vodafone Mobile Internet service on Thursday 21st June 2007 where the karting event will take place and the winner will be given one of the karts which launched Hamilton to fame.
In addition to the £42,100 raised for the Kart the other auctions raised £1,251.00, £1,171.00 and £1,169.00 raising a total of £45,691.00 for the Tommy’s charity.
Imported off road mini motorbikes under investigation
June 12, 2007
Coroner David Master is writing to trading standards condemning some off road motorbikes as lethal weapons that should never have been imported into the UK. The BBC reports a 110cc Loncin model burst into flames when it crashed, due to the substandard design, killing a teenage rider last September.
The motorbike in question was imported from China and sold on eBay, in fact several Loncin products are still up for sale this morning. Sellers should be aware that if they import goods other countries have different safety standards and it is their responsibility to ensure products meet with all UK regulations. Whilst there is always a demand for goods at competitive prices in this case tragically it cost a life.
Trading Standards are well aware of safety issues with mini motorbikes. A report by Tameside Trading Standards in August last year found every bike tested failed even the most basic of visual tests:
Any sellers supplying this type of product should ensure they meet with UK safety standards
Classified Ad format for Travel and Holidays
June 8, 2007
eBay Italy are running a summer promotion which allows Classified Ad format to be used in Travel and Discounted Holiday categories. Classified ads are normally restricted to eBay Motors and some Business Office and Industrial categories and allow a seller to advertise for direct contact from buyers.
Although each classified advert has to be for a specific product they are designed to solicit enquires from buyers for similar products the seller has for sale. With Classified Ads there is an insertion fee, but no final value fee, and in fact the actual transaction is carried out off eBay, with no feedback given.
Extending Classified Ad format into a new category on a seasonal basis is a new tactic for eBay, and one that they’ll be watching closely. If successful we can expect to see similar promotions on other eBay sites, in different categories, and at other times of year.
Free listing weekend on UK Motors
May 16, 2007
If you have a car, bike, van or ride-on lawnmower to sell this week, you might like to hang on until this weekend, as insertion fees will be free on eBay UK Motors. More details as we get them: I have a sneaking suspicion this might relate only to auction-style listings, so watch this space.
Updated to add: here’s the promo page; looks like I was wrong and it’s auctions *and* BINs.
How to sell my first item…
April 30, 2007
I had an interesting call from a friend tonight that wanted to list their first item on eBay. Their son’s car is up for sale and where better to advertise it than eBay for motors? Of course being the local “eBay expert” they asked me over to assist. First thing was to show them how to set up a “seller account” but amazingly although they profess a total ignorance in the ways of eBay they not only have an account set up, but they’ve at some time in the past set up a seller account and made previous sales!
As with many eBay accounts they have a “Family” account, it’s not used just by the account owner but the entire family use it for bidding and buying. Which one of them actually set up the selling account remains a mystery, but all that remained for me to do was to show them how to update their payment preferences to add a current credit card.
Listing the car (a Peugeot 205) was a snip - it’s a long time since I’ve used the SYI (Sell Your Item) form instead of TurboLister. It’s so much easier than when I listed my first item on eBay with the old SYI layout. The part of the listing that took longest was taking the photos, followed by composing the description, clicking the boxes for item specifics, price, payment and postal options (It’s a car…. payment on collection only!) was the work of seconds.
I left the family with the promise that they’d check their email at least daily during the course of the auction, and with possibly my lowest ever fee for consultancy - a couple of beers at the pub next week. The biggest thing I took away though was how the whole family were involved in listing the car, even if it was just looking over my shoulder at the screen amazed at how easy selling a car on eBay really is!
eBay Motors UK sells millionth vehicle
April 11, 2007
The Motors section of eBay UK has just notched up its millionth sale, a 1998 Saab to a buyer in Kent. Just five years after the site’s launch, senior manager Jody Ford said that it now sells a vehicle every minute. eBay say that Motors UK is the most visited automotive site in the country, averaging 3.5 million visitors every month.
I bought my lovely Fiat Barchetta on eBay, and Chris bought his white van from a Motors’ Classified. And when we wrote the Espace off on Monday, eBay was the first place I turned: I’m fairly sure my first purchase from Motors France will be happening next week!
The budget effect on eBayers
March 21, 2007
Gordon Brown presented his final budget as Chancellor before he’s expected to move into No.10 Downing Street as Prime Minister. We thought we’d take a look at how it might affect an average eBayer:
An important change to note is for people who complete self assessment Income Tax returns. You can still file your tax return online up until the 31st January, but if you send in a hard copy return it needs to be received by HMRC by the 31st October. This applies from 2008, for tax returns from 2006-2007 the January 31st 2008 date will still be the deadline for both paper and electronic tax returns. If you want HMRC to calculate your tax liability the date will move back a month to 31st October to match the deadline for paper returns.
One significant area of the budget aims to reduce the advantage of small limited companies compared to self employed sole traders. “The budget will raise the small companies’ rate in three stages from 20p this year to 22p in 2009″. This continues to reduce the advantages of an eBay trader as a limited company. With more accounting and reporting responsibilities as a limited company, being a sole trader looks more and more attractive.
If your turnover is approaching the VAT threshold there is a small increase from £61k to £64k before registration is compulsory. In reality if you’re that close the threshold a difference of £250 per month turnover isn’t going to give much room for manoeuvre. To combat carousel fraud more electronic goods are added to the joint and several liability list. Basically this means if VAT is reclaimed elsewhere in the supply chain all companies that handled the goods are liable outstanding VAT.
Many eBayers need to run larger vehicles to collect and delivery stock, it’s just not practical to do so in a small car. They’ll find an increase in car tax in the next year from £210 to £400 over the next two years. This will however only apply to the largest cars and 4×4’s purchased since April of last year. Fuel duty also rises 2p a litre from October with further rises in 2008 of 2p, and again in 2009 a further 1.8p.
From 2009 higher rate tax will be payable on income over £43,000 pa. The 10% income tax band will be abolished and the basic tax rate cut from 22p to 20p but this won’t come into effect until April 2008. Sounds great, until you realise you’ll have to wait a year to benefit. It will also benefit high earners more than low earners! Low earners will effectively pay 20% of the first £2,230 earned (after personal allowances) instead of 10%. Perversely this won’t actually affect many people as if they have children working tax credit or child tax credits will kick in. The losers will be those without children who are part time workers, school leavers on low wages, and low earners. Of course this will often include eBayers just starting their businesses until they build up their income.
Finally anyone travelling from the UK to eBay Live will be pleased to know the chancellor rejected calls to add VAT at 17.5% to plane tickets on the basis that businesses would simply reclaim VAT anyway!
Buyers eye: Hooked on eBay
March 11, 2007
I spent most of this weekend driving around with my neighbour collecting his purchases from eBay. He’s what I’d describe as an avid eBayer and not only buys but also sells and has attained a feedback score of 30. He’s both bought and sold cars on eBay as well as a variety of other items. His daughter did all her family Christmas present shopping on eBay last year!
The thing I find interesting is what got him hooked on eBay. Sure he knows I make my living selling and he can always shout for help, (which he quite frequently does), but he loves the bidding. He’ll sit at his computer when he’s placed a bid refreshing the screen to see if he’s won. It’s even more exciting when he’s selling an item - when he sold a car a couple of weeks ago his whole family were watching the PC for the last half hour hanging on the edge of their seats as the bids came in.
I’ve always known in theory why eBay do their utmost to prompt buyers to sell at least one item. Refreshing the screen to see if your bid was successful and you’ve won an item is nothing compared to watching other people bid on your auctions. Selling an item builds much greater loyalty and turns a casual buyer into a committed eBayer. In general buyers who have sold an item will go on to purchase more on average, than buyers who have yet to make a sale!
So what were his purchases this weekend then? Well they were both from eBay Motors. On Saturday we drove south to collect a new rear axle and dashboard for his Triumph Stag. Today we went west up the M4 to pick up a scooter he’s just purchased for his son who’s just turned sixteen. Both are ongoing projects, he’s on the look out for many more parts for his Stag, and the scooter is missing the mirrors so he’ll be looking for them next probably along with a crash helmet.
The weekend was an important reminder to me, buyers are the most important people on eBay. Without buyers sellers would have no one to buy their goods. It’s not surprising eBay spend so much of their time advertising for new buyers and doing everything in their power to hook them into the site. The controversial Feedback 2.0 is intended to appeal to buyers and allow them to differentiate between sellers. Recent advertisements have aimed to attract new buyers and get them to sell a few items.
If eBay carry on attracting buyers like my neighbour I’m all in favour, if he wants something the chances are he’ll be looking to buy it on eBay. He may not buy what I sell, but somewhere out there is a buyer searching for just what I have listed!
Security threat to eBay motors
March 6, 2007
Symantec, a leading provider of security and anti-virus software, has warned of a new trojan designed specifically to target eBay.com Motors.
A trojan, called bayrob, is capable of presenting fake eBay pages even though you log into the real eBay site. It works by changing files on your computer so that when you click on a link on eBay it seamlessly directs you to a fake site. Users should, as always, make sure their anti-virus software is up to date and be cautious of clicking on links and attachments unless they are sure they are legitimate.
Read more
Positively pink? Think!
February 14, 2007
Continuing the pink theme for today, the original Pink Panther car is for sale on eBay.
With a £75,000 opening price, currently with four days left to go, the car has no bids, perhaps due to the listing’s desperate need for some paragraph breaks. For those who do wade through the block of text, terms like “as far as vat and duty is concerned regarding the car, depending on the final amount - should the car be sold - this MAY be included in the price” and (perennial favourite in eBay Motors) “the car has been advertised elsewhere and I reserve the right to withdraw the item” don’t exactly make your bidding finger itch.
Sellers, take note: your auction listings should be about positively communicating why your buyers might want to buy, *not* a whole list of why you might not want to sell. Put yourself in the shoes of a buyer reading your auction, and consider whether you might actually want to buy from your own sales.
Via Coolest-Gadgets.com.
Subscription instead of listing fees for eBay Motors
February 6, 2007
eBay motors in the US is to introduce a fixed monthly subscription for trade dealers. For $1000 a month they will be able to upload as many vehicles as they have in stock at a fixed selling price. This option could be taken in preference to the current listing fee of $40 per vehicle which would be paid for each listing period of no more than seven days. For each successful sale a final value fee would be charged at $50 per sale (up from $40).
Reuters report that eBay expect a significant jump in the number of vehicles listed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands as dealers rush to upload a listing for every car on their forecourt instead of cherry picking a few to list.
This news represents a sea change in eBay’s philosophy. Up until now eBay have staunchly defended the famed and fabled “Level Playing Field”, refusing to give discounts to larger sellers. Fees have always been the same for the small seller with one unwanted DVD to the largest media seller with thousands of DVD’s listed. This subscription listing fee is the first time eBay have effectively capped listing fees for larger sellers allowing them to upload unlimited inventory. You can argue that the playing field is still level, but the dealer that uploads 1000 motors will get much great overall visibility than the guy who just wants to offload his old motor.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and even more so to see if national chains upload inventory multiple times for each location on the grounds they are willing to deliver any of their vehicles “locally”, so they list them all multiple times with different stated locations. Suddenly your local dealer instead of listing a few hundred cars could be listing the same thousands of cars that every other dealer is listing too.
The big question is will we see subscription based listing fees in other areas of eBay in the future?
£100 VW Golf from eBay motors drives 5000 miles in desert
January 22, 2007
Rupert Gillingham and Sam Fenton purchased a sixteen year old car from eBay motors and drove from Plymouth to Banjul in Gambia. They were part of 200 cars entered into the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge 2007
Along the way they were robbed, had to bribe police checkpoints with sweets, hit by a bus on a ferry crossing and had to dig the car out of the sand in force 10 gales. However the trip did raise about £7000 for the Round Table Children’s Wish and Yorkshire Cancer Research charities - not bad for a hundred quid motor from eBay!
The tax man just bought me a new car
December 22, 2006
It’s not often I find something new to do on eBay, but I did this week. For the first time I purchased a motor from eBay.
As mentioned in our post Accounting for your accountant purchasing a commercial vehicle would be advantageous from a tax perspective. At the busiest time of year in sales there was no time for running around garages to choose a motor so eBay motors was an obvious choice. However the purchase was not made directly through eBay.
eBay recently introduced a new listing format specifically for eBay motors called Classified Ad Format. Classified Ad Format allows sellers to list vehicles for a 28 day period at a fixed price, but the sale is completed off eBay in the same way as if you were buying from a traditional newspaper advert. The big advantage is that it’s possible to search the whole country to find your ideal vehicle and that’s exactly what I did!
Crewe is the place I found it, and yesterday saw me spending three hours on the train (passing the time reading Ben Elton’s latest novel). The dealer collected me from the train station and after swiping my debit card (I’m sure that’s not the best way to pay for a car!) I was on my way back south.
You might think travelling a couple of hundred miles to buy a car you’ve never seen is a bit of a risk, and normally it would be. However eBay does give you a lot of peace of mind. Firstly the motor I chose was offered for sale by a professional vehicle dealer displaying the Car Dealer Icon shown on the right. Also with Classified Ad Format the only way of completing the deal is to talk directly to the seller enabling you to ask for additional information to satisfy you regarding the transaction. It’s not like bidding on an auction.
So the perfect motor for business use, plenty of space for stock or the odd delivery, still comfortable enough for long distance trips, and importantly seating for four! Best of all because this one was bought for business use the cost can be written off against tax
All in all a great buying experience, if you’re looking for either a car for personal use or a commercial motor, eBay motors is a great place to buy from.
Tuk Tuk or Tuc Tuc to a new motor on eBay
December 22, 2006
Tuctuc Ltd runs a fleet of twelve motorised rickshaws in Brighton. Routes cover the seafront from Hove to the Marina and into town to the train station. The twelve three-wheelers named after the distinctive sound they make (Tuc Tuc or Tuk Tuk) are now to be auctioned on eBay in the New Year and will be replaced with ten larger models.
This is a chance to own a really fun vehicle, perfect for dropping the kids off to school or a quick trip into town. Environmentally friendly running on natural gas they’re a snip to park in the smallest of spaces, much more practical than a motorcycle and a lot less effort than a bicycle. Bidding is expected to be in excess of £5000 for these must have motors.
CLD eBay.co.uk Motors 18th & 19th November
November 15, 2006
Well what a week for CLD’s as one finishes another starts! Free Listing all weekend on eBay motors. Ok so listing on Motors is only six quid, but six quids add up if you’re a trader with a bunch of motors to shift!
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