My First Ebay Motors Sale Was a Gas (No Pun Intended)

I've sold items for other people, but when my Chiropractor asked me to sell his Porsche Boxster S several months ago, I was intrigued.

Since I only see him as a patient once a month, it wasn't until my third visit that I found out that he had listed it in the local paper, again ... and on Craigs List, again ... with no results. Actually, he had been trying to sell it for 2 years without success.

By the time I saw him in late May, he was ready for action and anxious to see if I was all talk and no action when it came to selling things on eBay. I had told him in previous visits that I was teaching "How to Sell on eBay" and mentioned some of my more amazing sales, so he was interested in finding out if I was just blowing smoke or if I was telling the truth.

He wasn't the only one interested in finding out about just who was blowing smoke, because I wasn't willing to waste time doing research if he was going to sell it out from underneath me.

I had already started my research and had discovered that there were a lot of Porsche Boxsters for sale. Most located in Texas and California. Many had less mileage than his. But I was confident that I could sell it.

When I attended eBay Live in Chicago I sought out someone from eBay Motors and asked their advice. I discussed my idea of a shipping incentive and they liked that idea and they gave me some other ideas as well. As a matter of fact, they were a gold mine of information.

So when I got back from Chicago my chiropractor and I set a date and I went over to his house on a Monday night and sat down to list his Porsche Boxster. We set up all the features in a point by point format. We had a nice, descriptive couple of paragraphs and had a $300 shipping rebate if the car required shipping in the lower 48 states.

We added that it had never been smoked in or partied in, that it had lived in a garage and had been covered the entire time and had never been driven in bad weather. That it had been regularly maintained by foreign car specialists and had a custom cover and other custom features.

But I think that adding "in the Midwest" to the title might have been the deciding factor because it was a gentlemen from a town a mere 30 miles away that ended up buying the car.

We also put a reserve on the car and a Buy It Now. Within the first day the soon-to-be new owner posted a question asking if he could drive in and check out the car and have it inspected. I posted the question and answer with the listing so any other prospective buyers could see the affirmative answer.

Within days the reserve had been met and the car successfully sold. At the time of the sale I would estimate that there were about 10-12 other Porsche Boxsters up for bid that didn't successfully sell.

What did I learn ... you can't send an invoice to your buyer within eBay Motors when you're dealing with a car. Had to use Live Help! for that one.