eBay Motors: eBay's Most Profitable Department

There are car dealers whose business is primarily on eBay, like the seller of the Lexus below who states, "We are a licensed and bonded auto dealer in Florida, specializing in top quality pre-owned vehicles. We sell 90% of our cars and trucks on eBay, and our low overhead allows us to pass the savings on to you!"

The lure of savings, is of course, what brings buyers in droves to eBay. And it is a great boon to car sellers who don't have to spend large sums of money on salesmen or physical facilities.

We all know that money draws people in droves, including the less than scrupulous, which prompted the dealer to offer all his sales as private auctions: "We have started running our auctions as Private Auctions as many dealers have on eBay. Unfortunately dealers have been trying to skip the eBay fees and are emailing our bidders to the point of "harassment" trying to sell them other cars. The only way we can stop this is to run private auctions where they cannot see the identity of people bidding on our cars." In a private auction, only the seller can see the names and amounts of the bidders, thus preventing unscrupulous outsiders from making contact with bidders and luring them away.

This is truly an interesting business model for eBay sellers. One of my students got his dealer's license and bought cars at local auctions here in Atlanta which he and his wife then resold - very profitably - on eBay. Anything the seller can do to reassure buyers about quality will increase car sales, as the Lexus seller knows well. " I take the additional step, that you will see very few dealers do, of having an oil analysis done through a company here called MOTORCHECK on the engine, which will show up any unusual wear, and tell me the condition of the internal parts of the engine, including bearing wear, piston wear, cylinder wear, ring wear and tests for coolant leaks which could be caused by blown head gaskets, cracked heads etc."

eBay cars are great sellers, and anyone considering them as an eBay 'career' will do well, providing (s)he is able to offer high quality cars and below-showroom dealer prices.