BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : FEBRUARY 21, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESSWEEK INVESTOR Vroom! How to Sell a Mercedes Fast When my computer-challenged mother-in-law, Nancy Block, asked me if I thought we could auction off her 1983 Mercedes Benz 380 SL online, I said, ''let's give it a try.'' I sold her sporty little convertible on eBay (EBAY) for $14,375 over seven days in January. Unlike selling a car through newspaper classified ads, the online auction was actually fun. But having never used an Internet auction site, I had lots of work to do. While eBay is the biggest and best-known site, I wanted to make sure I chose one that would generate the highest number of bids. I found several other sites that had a section for cars, but either they had few Mercedes or too few bids. I could have gone to a dedicated auto site such as CarScene (www.carscene.com), but all I could see was the listing price, and not the auction in progress. I also couldn't find completed auctions to see if any similar cars had recently sold and for how much. So, given that car buying and selling on the Net is still in its infancy, I figured I would use the site that has the most traffic--eBay. The site also makes it incredibly easy for an online-auction neophyte. To find out how many similar Mercedes had sold in the last 30 days, I searched under completed sales. I found 100 Mercedes were listed between Dec. 24 and Jan. 1. More than a third of them sold, with an average selling price of $17,000. Those that received bids had about 20 each. To set a price, Nancy and I mulled over eBay's comparable sales data, and the listing prices on other sites. Another source of information is Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com), which can tell you a car's trade-in value. I was shocked to find that Kelley valued the Mercedes at only $6,050. That sold us on the auction process--and Nancy decided she wouldn't accept less than $14,375. We set that as her reserve price. If the bidding didn't reach that number, the auction would close without a buyer. We set an opening bid of $9,000 to initiate interest. Then there were the technical details. While eBay has a wonderful tutorial, putting photos online was labor-intensive. We wrote a title and description--''Sporty 1983 Mercedes Benz 380 SL, 47K Miles''--and decided on a few listing options such as a bold-faced title for $2 and showing a photo of the car in a special automotive section for $19.95. The total cost was $46.95--$25 to list and $21.95 in extras. That didn't include the $25 eBay collected once the car sold. We made it clear that the buyer would pay shipping, which would run $500 to $800, depending on destination. Once the auction started, I promptly answered e-mails. Many wanted to know the reserve price. Some online auction experts suggest posting the reserve halfway through the auction so buyers would know where they stood. Nancy, an artist and antiques dealer who often buys and sells at Sotheby's, was against that idea initially. But when our bidding stalled at $14,000 with a few hours to go, I talked her into divulging her price. Shortly after, a bidder hit the number. eBay lets you look up a profile of interested buyers and suggests calling the high bidder to chat before the auction closes to make sure the person is serious. I didn't know that detail, so I waited until the auction closed to e-mail our winner. Turns out he was as happy to get our car as we were to sell. By Toddi Gutner _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Going, Going...Click! TABLE: Selling on the Web Block Vroom! How to Sell a Mercedes Fast INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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