Autotrader..are they themselves scammers?

Ash_Vanguard

i have had my car on autotrader for over 6 weeks now, each 2 weeks costs £35, every single time the advert is about to cease i get a call from an 'interested' party who say they definitely want the car and are 'surprised' it has not been sold yet. the 'interested' party then proceeds to never get back in contact..this always happens on the last day of the listing and as such prompts me to list it again. am i being paranoid or are they really out to get me?

johnson293

Last few cars I've sold privately, I've sold on/through Ebay - Costs a max of £35 in sellers fees (less if car is below certain value). You also get 12 photos on the listing included in the £8 listing fee.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/motorfees.html

Haven't used AutoTrader to sell a car for years - got tired of the canvassing calls, and little other response, whereas through ebay it always gets attention, and like I say I've now sold 3 cars either directly off the listing, or to a bidder after it ended (off ebay which saved the seller fee).

Try Ebay Motors - you can put it on with a buy-it-now or best offer price, which is what I do - if people think the buy-it-now price is realistic, they can go for it, but also lets them throw offers at you, if you are prepared to take a bit less. And you don't have the auction situation of the price being too low, as I have found putting a reserve on items can deter bidders too.

Ash_Vanguard

its on Ebay..is ebay motors and ebay the same thing?
what do you think of the ad/price?
got 7 wathcers and i swear most of them are my friends being nosey
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120625869497&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

johnson293

Yeah, Ebay and Ebay Motors are the same.

Ad looks fine - all I would say is if you would be happy with min. £1200, then I would have listed it for slightly more, but as a buy-it-now or best offer - then someone may pay the bit more, or actually offer you £1200.

But I wouldn't readvertise it in the Trader to be honest, if you haven't had much positive response up to now.

cardinalbiggles

Sold my last car on Gumtree, within a few hours of posting. First person who came to see it wanted to buy it, paid there and then and were on their merry way.

BenL

The 1st thing I do when looking at the adverts is cross reference to get a ball park comparison to parkers used car prices.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=18184&plate=66#amount=2000&years=3

Original Price £7,960 Independent Dealer £1,125 Private Good £855 Private Poor £410 Part Exchange £470
This is for 90,000 miles though

Strider590

Ash_Vanguard wrote: »

am i being paranoid or are they really out to get me?

I don't know about this, but AT do place fake ad's in order to boost the ad count so that people don't feel ripped off by the £5 (???) price tag.
This was especially true when the recession was in full swing and nobody was buying/selling cars.

The tactic you describe would not surprise me, but I can't speculate....

Was it always the same number that called you? or was it a hidden number?

Ash_Vanguard

different number and different person/actor or i suppose it could have been one very good impressionist
sucks really as i love the car but for some unknown reason my insurance has nearly tripled in the last year..and yes i have shopped around etc.

harveybobbles

Seems ok on price, but to be honest as its not the most interesting car out there, most people with with that sort of money to spend on a small ish car would probably buy a Focus or an Astra.

Stick it on at £1295 or Best Offer.

10JH

I'd put it up for sale on Pistonheads.

It's free, and gets a lot of traffic, so will still be seen by lots of people.

p00hsticks

Ash_Vanguard wrote: »

every single time the advert is about to cease i get a call from an 'interested' party who say they definitely want the car and are 'surprised' it has not been sold yet. the 'interested' party then proceeds to never get back in contact..this always happens on the last day of the listing and as such prompts me to list it again.

I don't understand - if you thought you had a buyer lined up wouldn't that make you LESS rather than MORE likely to relist the car any further ?