Is eBay a good place

[chockbic]

To flog a car?

As we've to sell ours after Xmas.

Yes if you are careful.

ONLY cash on collection

take LOTS of pictures and be as accurate and pedantic in your listing as poss

DO NOT end the auction early no matter what

allow people to book to view the car during the auction but make it VERY clear that the auction will run and that payment will be cash

be willing to deal with European buyers

Good advice especially about ending auction early

Do the sale under the Classified section and it will only cost you £14.99 (??) don't think it has changed and it runs again (??) for 28days,any other way will cost you more in final sellers fees.Cash on collection only always.!!
Never believe anyone who says they have paid into your pay-pal if they do refund them right away and insist on cash after inspection only.

Sold several successfully through the classified listing option mentioned above. Cash on collection only, the advert doesn't come down till you take it down and have the money in your hand. No 10% fees on sale, long listing that comes up in searches alongside auctions and buy it nows.

As mentioned above loads of photos on a nice day in a nice setting, i get a professional mini valet done first (only £15-£25 from most car cleaning places). Be honest in your description.

The car I sold was a non runner
it went for 6 times my estimate
to Belgium

the car my sis sold was a non runner
went to 2nd chance buyer
for expectation
to a Belgian

both were British classics

If you have a "normal" car, classified is great
for the surreal stuff, ebay auctions are the business

I recently sold some furniture on ebay and made both my buyers recall their paypals and collected cash
being a VERY old hand on ebay yes I am Talkinpeace from the Business board of old

^print two copies of the "order"
you sign one for them saying paid
they sign one for you saying received
then if any silliness goes on you have total protection

OK thanks.

Thought an auction might be better in case pricing isn't quite right

it can be very hit and miss. you can put it on a buy it now, but it may not sell. on an auction, it will sell as long as your starting price isn't too high. you might get less than you expected, or you might get more.

you can put a higher start price and / or reserve, but these can tend to put bidders off.

i'd advise you to put a buy it now with a "best offer" option.

as advised only accept cash on collection, NEVER paypal.

Gumtree is also worth a shot (and free) , but you get loads of would be scammers / timewasters (ie. people offering you ridiculously low amounts before they've even looked at the car), but as long as your car is realistically priced you usually get a serious buyer.

The Autotrader site is usually worth a bash too (think it's £30 for an advert), but you get a lot less time wasters in terms of people offering you 2/3 of the asking prices and will pay "cash". (tho ignore emails from scammers who will send you messages wanting to pay by paypal and send their mate /a courier to pick it up)

oh another tip is, I always put in bold, first line of the listing, the car location and making it clear that the buyer must collect within X number of days.

it never fails to astound me how many buyers bid on a car without checking to see where the car is then realising they're not prepared to travel from Cambridge to Glasgow to collect an X reg car worth £500!

H tried auto trader and got one response.

Autotrader was a total dead loss for the car I sold.
and for my Sis
and for a couple of others I've sold.

my oh and I have sold a couple of cars on AT over the years. to be fair though it's best for higher end cars than cheaper ones you would put on gumtree and the like.

We shall put our shabby old jalopy on eBay

Good luck.
Time it for a 10 day auction to include two weekends
and remember that 90% of the bidding will happen in the last 25 minutes.

Nerve wracking but fun.