Jay187

Introduction and advertising platforms

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Hello everyone, I’ve been following this forum for a few month’s and thought I would finally join in!! So a brief description on me and my business.... I have been a doorstop trader for about 7-8 years in the past until about 4-5 years ago, and i have now decided to get back into the car sales business a long side a vehicle rental business i also run. I currently stock around 8-10 cars and I have only got back into the trade since just before Christmas, have quite a good pitch near a town centre but currently no car sales signs yet as its also my rental business site. Even though we’ve only had 4-5 cars advertised since Mid December and only on AutoTrader it just seems ridiculously dead, hardly any enquiries at all and all my cars are pretty much on low price markers. Maybe it’s just the time of year? But when i use to sell cars years ago, I was use to selling all my vehicles within 2-4 weeks and the majority of them within 2 weeks really.

So what I am considering to do is also advertising on Ebay Motors Pro/Gumtree/Motors (forgotten what the package is called haha) and i would like to know what success anybody has with this new Ebay Motors Market Place thing whatever its called and what sort of money are you paying for the packages? Just so i know what prices to expect when the reps start calling. 
Thanks in advance for your help! And look forward to being more involved in the forum!

Its probably worth mentioning i am based in Bedfordshire, if that helps (maybe its just quite here haha)

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It won’t cost much to advertise half a dozen on Ebay etc.If I was located where you are,I would specialise because all the best auctions are not far.So whether you want to sell Avants with nav and leather to ice cream vans or WAV’s,you are well located to acquire stock.I think if you can make a living doing car rental which I understand is now very hard to do,you should be OK so Good Luck.

 

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The rental business is getting difficult at the moment, hence the reason of slowly moving back into car sales as the site has lots of potential. 
Can anyone help with costs of the new Ebay/Motors package? And also is anyone solely just using Ebay/Motors and how are you getting on with it?

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Welcome!

If it's any consolation, December was awful for us - hardly any leads, and sold 3 all month with 18 in stock. We've also had a slow start to January.

We have Ebay/Gumtree package without Motors for all of our stock (up to 25 cars) which costs £260 p/month and then AT for part of our stock (8 slots I think) which is 895.92 + VAT.

We're a fairly new site (opened just over a year ago with limited funds) and still building on our stock levels but tend to do better from AT, definitely more consistent sales and less time wasters than other platforms.

I'd also recommend looking at Facebook (both business marketplace and building an audience on a business page) - there are lots of time wasters on there but we tend to do at least 1 or 2 per month with very little spend.

Just remember what works for one person may not work for everyone else and there is a reason AT is much more expensive that it's competitors. That being said, there are dealers on here that have binned them off altogether and still run a good business.

Best of luck!

-Kelly

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Thanks for the great reply, im hoping the lack of sales is down to time of year. I think we will look to get a Ebay/Gumtree package to help. And I’ve tried to list a few cars on FB marketplace, you are right about time wasters and best pricers!! 

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dont expect it to get any busier

i started six moths ago and have lost thousands already, mainly to autotrader who told me month by month you need to be buying high forecourt desirability cars so take our app which i did,buying them at 3 hundred or so over cap clean.they then bring in the price indicators making all my cars high price.thanks for the education AT a complete waste of time and money still at least they have done alright out of me.

i only have low mileage fsh mint cars with retail check readings over 70, no one is interested

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1 hour ago, beckly car sales said:

dont expect it to get any busier

i started six moths ago and have lost thousands already, mainly to autotrader who told me month by month you need to be buying high forecourt desirability cars so take our app which i did,buying them at 3 hundred or so over cap clean.they then bring in the price indicators making all my cars high price.thanks for the education AT a complete waste of time and money still at least they have done alright out of me.

i only have low mileage fsh mint cars with retail check readings over 70, no one is interested

Rely on no man. Put your own money where your own research is. Ignore all these guides, iControl, Retailchecker etc do your own thing.    @David Horgan  @Nick M.K. both are consistent. Neither of you 2 use these things do you?  Time and time again I see traders who use i Control retail check struggling. Honestly better off buying stuff you want and winging it adding £2k / to the invoice price from auction that using these guides.

Edited by Rory RSC
error

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34 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

Neither of you 2 use these things do you? 

Your correct there Rory we certainly don't use those sort of systems , certainly the best way to lose thousands . If only it was that simple eh . 

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19 hours ago, David Horgan said:

Your correct there Rory we certainly don't use those sort of systems , certainly the best way to lose thousands . If only it was that simple eh . 

Agree with @David Horgan @Rory RSC@Nick M.K. the so called 'data and 'icontrol ' is sure way to blow your brains out. #MyThoughts 

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14 hours ago, D... said:

Looking to shift stock to trade to free up some capital. Any recommendations? 

You got any Nissan Jukes for sale?

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On 1/12/2020 at 12:11 PM, beckly car sales said:

dont expect it to get any busier

i started six moths ago and have lost thousands already, mainly to autotrader who told me month by month you need to be buying high forecourt desirability cars so take our app which i did,buying them at 3 hundred or so over cap clean.they then bring in the price indicators making all my cars high price.thanks for the education AT a complete waste of time and money still at least they have done alright out of me.

i only have low mileage fsh mint cars with retail check readings over 70, no one is interested

What sort of stuff did it tell you to buy?

Would be interested to see your stock.

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On 1/12/2020 at 1:30 PM, Rory RSC said:

Rely on no man. Put your own money where your own research is. Ignore all these guides, iControl, Retailchecker etc do your own thing.    @David Horgan  @Nick M.K. both are consistent. Neither of you 2 use these things do you?  Time and time again I see traders who use i Control retail check struggling. Honestly better off buying stuff you want and winging it adding £2k / to the invoice price from auction that using these guides.

i have quit my autotrader contract and will just be placing a few ads with more money spent on SEO

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