LS6 ebay Bull!!!

[Zedder]

I don't do ebay often, so this was quite a shock to me and I thought I would post the info for other ebay rookies. I was bidding on the black LS6 that was on there tonight, but backed out after it went above $20K with no cowl tag etc. Anyway, bidder 1 is the high bidder at about $22,000 with half an hour to go. Then bidder 2 comes in and bids enough to become high bidder at $26,600...so we know that bidder 1 bid $100 less than that as his max bid. A minute later, bidder 2 retracts his bid and a few minutes later bidder 3 shows up and bids $26,390. This leaves bidder 1 the "Winner" at $10 less than his maximum bid. I spoke on the phone with the winner and he was pissed. Obviously, the owner of the car had 2 buddies work the auction so he would get the maximum from bidder 1 that he could Man, do I miss the days when someone advertised a car with a price and you took it from there!!! Ebayers beware...

[Mr70]

I thought you couldn't retract any bids in the last 12 hours of any Ebay auction?

[GaryH]

Can you post the auction number? I missed that one some how.

[KNAPPY]

Mark I think the days of buying a car off e-bay and not getting screwed around are gone, too many people know how to abuse the system.

Any news for Rochester?

[Zedder]

Gary, the auction number is 2479805780 (sorry, I don't know how to link it). Click on the bid history and you'll see how the whole thing played out. I can't believe someone would have the balls to move the winner's bid to $10 from his maximum - how obvious can somebody get?

Steve, I have to agree with you. As much as I think ebay has provided access to some really neat parts and cars, I would really rather buy or sell something the conventional way. I have had good experiences on ebay, so I'm not saying it is all bad, it's just getting very risky in my opinion.

I had contact with the guy in Rochester a couple of times yesterday and am helping him figure out a few things with his car. It is pretty neat and very well optioned. It's Nantucket Blue, which is a color I have yet to see on a '67 Z. I really don't think it will change hands anytime soon though. I made a very generous offer, but he didn't bite...yet Seems like a nice guy.

[MotownMadman]

Being a broker, I have sold a lot of collector cars using Ebay. I dont use Ebay however as a viable means of closing the sale using the auction process, I always have a buy it now or clearly state the right to end the auction at any time. Many of my buyers have been people who would not have bought the car if forced to use the auction process, solely due to all the problems and imperfections that process has. Ebay is a wonderful marketing tool as far as exposure and advertisment, the sale after that can be conducted by the seller and buyer off line. As for Ebay's auction process, I think it can still work well for smaller less expensive items like parts, it has been a blessing in that regard as what used to be a several month or longer swap meet search for that "Special" part, can now be located in a day.

The exposure and advertisment can be seen right here on this board, not much gets by this crew, good or bad. It also can help a new person to the hobby that may not know if the car they want is correct or a good buy, automatically they have the resource of many knowledgable consultants who usually come to a group conclusion as to the validity of a car. As with anything else, using caution, Ebay can be a thing where you take the good and leave the bad behind.
Motown

[MikeA]

ebay LS6

[MikeA]

I agree it is not right if the seller had his buddies run the price up but the buyer was willing to go $26,500. He should not be too surprised about the purchase price.

[mmcporter]

I agree with a lot that Matt L has said. Of course, there are red flags on Ebay that you should watch for (i.e. seller has a "0" rating, meaning he's new or a scumbag that assumed a new identity). I, like Matt, see Ebay as a great marketing tool for musclecars, parts, etc. Many of my closed deals on the sell or buy side never come from a bid being made. People buy these things after speaking with and establishing the credibility of the seller. That's something that's always been true in all forms of buying and selling. Anyone who bids on a car without seeing it first hopefully knows the seller; otherwise they are taking a huge risk.

Looking at the bid history of this auction, it looks fishy to me.

[Jeff H]

Definitely somethins suspicious going on there. You can't retract a bid with less than 12 hours left so the seller has to cancel it for you. So the one guy places the wrong bid amount twice in the last 10 hours of the auction and the seller cancels them. Sure looks like shill bidding.