Challenge

[Earunder 69]

So if you're interested in ensuring AT are pricing "evenly" / "justly" you will need to get people to obtain quotes on say a 50 car advertising limit with a premium tier package.  Or get quotes across the entire line:

50 Cars
Standard | Advanced | Premium

I'm no longer with them but I'm sure some dealers would be happy to get quotes.  I don't think you're going to bring anything up abnormal if I'm honest, but I'm always willing to be amazed and shocked.

[Arthur thicken 13]

The rep from AT called me today to see if she could do anything, talked all over me and didn’t listen, I said ‘you know I’ve cancelld, what do you want, why have you called?’ She said she’d emailed me the analysis template to complete. These people are in denial, they don’t listen. Whilst she was rambling on I said the only thing you can do is stop charging more to advertise less cars.. anyway I’m in Spain and a bit pissed so excause my shite post, hope you all have a good Easter weekend. Arthur Thicken driving the prices down (in Spain) 

[Earunder 69]

11 hours ago, Arthur thicken said:

The rep from AT called me today to see if she could do anything, talked all over me and didn’t listen, I said ‘you know I’ve cancelld, what do you want, why have you called?’ She said she’d emailed me the analysis template to complete. These people are in denial, they don’t listen. Whilst she was rambling on I said the only thing you can do is stop charging more to advertise less cars.. anyway I’m in Spain and a bit pissed so excause my shite post, hope you all have a good Easter weekend. Arthur Thicken driving the prices down (in Spain) 

You sound like the AT rep...  Get the quote Arthur 

50 Cars
Standard | Advanced | Premium

Edited March 30, 2018 by Earunder

[sparky 274]

I also had a meeting with my rep this week and as ever, I felt like I got something out of it and compared to previous reps, he actually gives a ****. Also, I've now got full i control on trial for two months which is a handy tool to have to work alongside good old fashioned gut instinct. Like Arthur, time will tell...

[Arthur thicken 13]

4 hours ago, sparky said:

I also had a meeting with my rep this week and as ever, I felt like I got something out of it and compared to previous reps, he actually gives a ****. Also, I've now got full i control on trial for two months which is a handy tool to have to work alongside good old fashioned gut instinct. Like Arthur, time will tell...

I would stick with your gut instinct, i control is a waste of time, will tell you to buy certain cars then tell you to reduce them every 5 minutes because someone else is ten bob cheaper. You’re either a car dealer or you’re not, if you need I control (which I’m sure you don’t) you’re in the wrong job. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by Arthur thicken

[sparky 274]

1 hour ago, Arthur thicken said:

I would stick with your gut instinct, i control is a waste of time, will tell you to buy certain cars then tell you to reduce them every 5 minutes because someone else is ten bob cheaper. You’re either a car dealer or you’re not, if you need I control (which I’m sure you don’t) you’re in the wrong job. 

I take your point. It will never stop me buying cars that fit my profile regardless of whether i control tells me they are good news or not but it may open my mind a little to stuff I wouldn't usually look at. It's buckshee so not much to lose IMO. Enjoy your San Miguel 

[Arthur thicken 13]

26 minutes ago, sparky said:

I take your point. It will never stop me buying cars that fit my profile regardless of whether i control tells me they are good news or not but it may open my mind a little to stuff I wouldn't usually look at. It's buckshee so not much to lose IMO. Enjoy your San Miguel 

Back home now, pissing down..

[EPV 631]

25 minutes ago, sparky said:

I take your point. It will never stop me buying cars that fit my profile regardless of whether i control tells me they are good news or not but it may open my mind a little to stuff I wouldn't usually look at. It's buckshee so not much to lose IMO. Enjoy your San Miguel 

I control and smart buying are best used when dovetailed in with your own experience. Relying on a computer to tel you to buy a certain make/model/derivative when it’s pink and hasn’t been serviced for 5 years is obviously illogical. As you are discovering, I Control opens your eyes to some things. 

[grant8064 219]

iControl keeps telling me I need to stock white Bentley GT convertibles...we're sticking with Fiestas and Corsas for now!

[Mark101 536]

1 hour ago, grant8064 said:

iControl keeps telling me I need to stock white Bentley GT convertibles...we're sticking with Fiestas and Corsas for now!

LOL

[MattR 177]

Yhink I need to have a discussion with my rep to see whats available on a free trial at the moment. Ive had retail check a couple of times, and do quite like it, find the desirability function useful. But it does need to be mixed with your own experience. Like everyone else, I've sold cars within days which are a 1 star desirability and had cars stick for ages which show 5 stars. Dont think i'll be stocking any bentleys, white or otherwise, in the near future!

[Mark101 536]

Hi-jack Alert - sorry

Anyone know what the minimum package  AT will accept?

I am advertising a couple on AT but cannot link website or put our logo on the page - I guess you need to sign up for that.  

Rationale:  I'm thinking of continually listing 2-3 cars on AT and hopefully with a website link, some traffic will be directed to where they can find more.  Particularly good when you have multiples of a particular make/model.

A long shot but my fledgling business cannot carry big costs such as AT on a fixed term.

Thanks, Mark

 

 

[EPV 631]

12 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Hi-jack Alert - sorry

Anyone know what the minimum package  AT will accept?

I am advertising a couple on AT but cannot link website or put our logo on the page - I guess you need to sign up for that.  

Rationale:  I'm thinking of continually listing 2-3 cars on AT and hopefully with a website link, some traffic will be directed to where they can find more.  Particularly good when you have multiples of a particular make/model.

A long shot but my fledgling business cannot carry big costs such as AT on a fixed term.

Thanks, Mark

 

 

5+2 bonus cars so 7 in total. About £750pm

[Mark101 536]

2 minutes ago, EPV said:

5+2 bonus cars so 7 in total. About £750pm

Thank you EPV - Just looking at your website actually, looks fantastic!

[trade vet 697]

26 minutes ago, EPV said:

5+2 bonus cars so 7 in total. About £750pm

That’s disgusting !......I think that may be up 50% in less than 3 years....They are abusing their dominant market position.

[EPV 631]

31 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Thank you EPV - Just looking at your website actually, looks fantastic!

Thanks mate. 

[Mark101 536]

45 minutes ago, trade vet said:

That’s disgusting !......I think that may be up 50% in less than 3 years....They are abusing their dominant market position.

Well, they are not having my £750, that's crazy.

I can have their top ad on PAYG for about £60 3 weeks, I don't even have enough stock to reach £750.

And for comparison - what about Ebay - same sort of package please.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Mark101
Typo

[DBDlloyds 18]

38 minutes ago, trade vet said:

That’s disgusting !......I think that may be up 50% in less than 3 years....They are abusing their dominant market position.

Hope so Ian, I pay £43,70 for a 21 days on a pay as you go basic... This certainly doesn't give me priority viewing. 

I have sold more cars via EBay than Autotrader and at half the daily rate.

I am of course a very small fish with a small stock so I can understand it is a different story for the boys that have more cars. The thing is Autotrader is by far the best platform. It just isn't as attractive for me with my business as it is currently structured as I cannot enjoy all of the added benefits that a monthly package can give me. 

Cheers Dean.

 

[trade vet 697]

19 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Well, they are not having my £750, that's crazy.

I can have their top ad on PAYG for about £60 3 weeks, I don't even have enough stock to reach £750.

And for comparison - what about Ebay - same sort of package please.

Charging start ups that much could be considered an anti competitive practice.AT trade pricing  is all over the place when you consider some pay £3000 for 50,some appear to pay more and some a lot less for the same.I hope they get fined millions.

[EPV 631]

1 hour ago, Mark101 said:

Well, they are not having my £750, that's crazy.

I can have their top ad on PAYG for about £60 3 weeks, I don't even have enough stock to reach £750.

And for comparison - what about Ebay - same sort of package please.

£480 a month for 10 cars, 3 month contact. Cheaper if you have a years worth, about £325 a month I believe.  

Also, you can’t really compare AT and EBay. That’s like comparing Mercedes with Dacia. I’m not talking about whether you can make money from eBay advertising vs AT, plenty do well from eBay and power to them but AT get something like 9 million visits a month. eBay get a million or so. eBay “should” be half the price of AT. 

[EPV 631]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Charging start ups that much could be considered an anti competitive practice.AT trade pricing  is all over the place when you consider some pay £3000 for 50,some appear to pay more and some a lot less for the same.I hope they get fined millions.

I don’t really understand this viewpoint. AT hold the vast lions share of online visits per month. They charge what they think they can get away with, of course they do. That’s business isn’t it. The rep asks him/herself what they think their customer will put up with. This isn’t a cartel, like one motor insurance company having 80% of the market share and charging what they like knowing full well people HAVE to have insurance to get to work, to feed their children, to pick them up from school. This is a competitive market place they work in, it just so happens (by luck or hard work on AT’s behalf) that they have the ears and eyes of the large share of the car buying public. You want your car put in front of them? Ante up. 

Would I like it if it were cheaper? Sure, of course. 

I’m 6 weeks through an eBay package which has cost £650 to date. I’ve sold zero cars. By that same token, i’ve sold 6 cars through AT. How expensive is AT in my eyes? Not as bloody expensive as eBay that’s for sure! 

People make eBay work. How, I don’t know. When I market a car I do my Ad on AT. I then go to eBay and copy and paste the description, attention grabber etc from AT to eBay. So the adverts are ostensibly the same. Except eBay only let you have 20 images, so it’s an inferior advert. But make it work, people do. For me though, if I want to sell cars, as quickly as possible, there’s one place I can do that. It ain’t eBay, it ain’t motors and it ain’t car gurus. What they charge me is incidental. It works for me. 

[Mark101 536]

35 minutes ago, EPV said:

I don’t really understand this viewpoint. AT hold the vast lions share of online visits per month. They charge what they think they can get away with, of course they do. That’s business isn’t it. The rep asks him/herself what they think their customer will put up with. This isn’t a cartel, like one motor insurance company having 80% of the market share and charging what they like knowing full well people HAVE to have insurance to get to work, to feed their children, to pick them up from school. This is a competitive market place they work in, it just so happens (by luck or hard work on AT’s behalf) that they have the ears and eyes of the large share of the car buying public. You want your car put in front of them? Ante up. 

Would I like it if it were cheaper? Sure, of course. 

I’m 6 weeks through an eBay package which has cost £650 to date. I’ve sold zero cars. By that same token, i’ve sold 6 cars through AT. How expensive is AT in my eyes? Not as bloody expensive as eBay that’s for sure! 

People make eBay work. How, I don’t know. When I market a car I do my Ad on AT. I then go to eBay and copy and paste the description, attention grabber etc from AT to eBay. So the adverts are ostensibly the same. Except eBay only let you have 20 images, so it’s an inferior advert. But make it work, people do. For me though, if I want to sell cars, as quickly as possible, there’s one place I can do that. It ain’t eBay, it ain’t motors and it ain’t car gurus. What they charge me is incidental. It works for me. 

Have you taken the AT package as well James or do you PAYG like me?

Personally speaking, and this is in relation to the format not the number of viewers or the profile of viewers - Ebay may allow less pictures but it has limitless characters for the description whereas AT (only speaking from PAYG) is "almost" like the very old days of 27 characters or less - I haven't had to write PAS, EW, EM, RCL for years, I find that bizzare having to create acronyms nowadays.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Mark101
Typo

[EPV 631]

8 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Have you taken the AT package as well James or do you PAYG like me?

Personally speaking, and this is in relation to the format not the number of viewers or the profile of viewers - Ebay may allow less pictures but it has limitless characters for the description whereas AT (only speaking from PAYG) is "almost" like the very old days of 27 characters or less - I haven't had to write PAS, EW, EM, RCL for years, I find that bizzare having to create acronyms nowadays.

I’m on a contract. 

As for text vs photos, give me the photos all day every day. People buy things online from pictures and reviews. They don’t buy a car after reading a spec list, especially stuff that’s taken from granted like electric mirrors and power assisted steering. Does anyone under the age of 40 even know what that is, anyway? 

Just my opinion mate, i’m a complete novice in this game so what do I know.

[NOACROSS 414]

You can have as many high quality images as you like on ebay, if you use a program called Autavia (I think this is its name.)  A friend of mine always did it this way and when you open up the advert description, the extra pictures are there- but you get (I think) 20 anyway so that's enough for me). 

I see others using it quite often when I'm looking on there.

Just because a customer says they found you on AT, doesn't mean they actually did or started there.  We still get people telling us they saw us on AT and we've not been on there/with the robbing bastards for years! (broken record, sorry.)

[EPV 631]

41 minutes ago, NOACROSS said:

You can have as many high quality images as you like on ebay, if you use a program called Autavia (I think this is its name.)  A friend of mine always did it this way and when you open up the advert description, the extra pictures are there- but you get (I think) 20 anyway so that's enough for me). 

I see others using it quite often when I'm looking on there.

Just because a customer says they found you on AT, doesn't mean they actually did or started there.  We still get people telling us they saw us on AT and we've not been on there/with the robbing bastards for years! (broken record, sorry.)

You’re right, that’s why I use call tracking both for AT and eBay, gives me an accurate way of tracking where my leads and ultimately sales come from.