eBay Motors Sales Best Practices: Expanding Your Reach

eBay Motors Sales Best Practices: Expanding Your Reach: Expanding Your Reach Last year, 75 percent of vehicles sold on eBay Motors were interstate transactions, where the vehicles were delivered t...

Expanding Your Reach

Expanding Your Reach

Last year, 75 percent of vehicles sold on eBay Motors were interstate transactions, where the vehicles were delivered to buyers outside the state of the sellers

When setting yourself up to sell on eBay Motors one of the first things to do is make sure you are able to handle sales to customers in different states and/or countries.  Each state has different laws when it comes to title and taxation so please make sure you are up on the law.  Most state DMV websites have this information.  Also check with your lenders to see if there are any special requirements when selling to buyers in different states.  Usually you can achieve most of the paper work via mail, but make sure and verify this.  

When you look at 75% of the vehicles sold on eBay being interstate transactions you also start to recognize that a significant number of your buyers are going to purchase your vehicle sight unseen and reliant entirely on your pictures and descriptions, along with phone and email communication. 

How do you sell a vehicle to a customer sight unseen and make a reasonable gross profit on the vehicle.  The word is transparency and it leads to trust.  A customer on eBay bids on your vehicle auction and when they win they send you a deposit as they finalize their paperwork.  Once the paperwork is done they either fly in or have the vehicle delivered to their dealership.   Dealers who do not do a great job with merchandising or communication are usually the ones who say they do not sell many cars on eBay.  Sit in the buyers shoes for a second.  If you saw a car you were interested in on eBay 2000 miles away and the listing had 6 pictures and the salesperson never called you back.  Would you buy this vehicle?  If you did I bet you would bid low.  The customer is thinking “I will buy the car if I get the best deal ever, but I am not comfortable enough to offer closer to retail.   They may low ball you but why would they pay full price if they have unanswered questions or concerns?

What we need to do is paint a picture for the buyer where they see our listing and trust that the vehicle they fell in love with on eBay is the same vehicle that is delivered to their house 7 days after they buy it. 

When you create a listing that engages the buyer, gives them a great feel of the vehicle and its condition and then follow that all up with great customer service you make the process convenient and safe. 

Success Drivers

This class is going to answer many questions for you.  We are going to tell you how many pictures to take, what pictures to take, how to write a description, how to price your vehicles and etc.  Long term success on your part is determined by how well you handle the variable success drivers.  These success drivers are Inventory, Training and Process. 

Inventory

What inventory will you sell on eBay?  You should start with your core inventory as these are the best vehicles to sell on eBay Motors.  From there decide if you will sell trade-ins, aged inventory or niche type vehicles as well.  Anyone can sell the Bat Mobile.  But, the good dealers can sell any and every car on eBay Motors.  If you are going to have consistent and long term success on eBay Motors I highly recommend setting up an inventory strategy.  Proper inventory selection is critical to your success and we will cover it in depth in this class. 

Training

Training is equally important.  eBay Motors is different that you’re other lead providers.  We are running auctions and nationwide listings.  The questions and daily assignments are a little different and with that someone at your dealership should be your eBay Champion.  eBay Motors is a transactional site meaning you are not getting leads asking “Do you have this in yellow?”  Your bidders are essentially making cash offers on your vehicles and with that comes a little more in depth sales process. 

Process

Process is key.  What are you r goals and how are you going to accomplish them?  If you list a vehicle on eBay Motors and it sells what do you do?  What will you do if a listed vehicle does not sell?  And so on.  Write out your processes and make sure everyone is on the same page. 

Success on eBay Motors comes through a proactive approach.  This is not a set it and forget it system.  Success on eBay Motors takes work.  You are managing auctions, answering questions, creating listings and managing feedback all at once, but you are also hitting a buying audience that would otherwise not be considering your dealership.  Setting up specific processes will help get you started and help ensure long term success on eBay Motors. 

For more information on eBay Motors, along with a vast array of training and support opportunities, please visit our new Dealer Hub.  http://www.dealerhub.motors.ebay.com/

Digital Dealer Blog Post - Mobile Commerce

Mobile commerce takes center stage with auto consumers - Digital Dealer Blog Post

http://dealer.gcnpublishing.com/index.php?id=662 

F&I Showroom just ran an interesting article on eBay Motors Sellers

http://www.fi-magazine.com/Article/Story/2011/06/Making-a-Bid.aspx

eBay Motors

What are the main reasons a shopper goes online for their vehicle purchase decisions?

Why do buyers go online when searching for a new vehicle?  Well there are a number of factors leading to this. Let’s take me for example.  I live in Reno and we have one dealership per franchise in the immediate area along with a handful of independent dealerships.  When I begin shopping for a new vehicle my choices are inherently limited by what the inventory in Reno.  This doesn’t mean the exact car isn’t there but when we shop we like choices and comparisons to make sure we get the right car at the right price and from the right place.  Now in the old days we might have driven to Sacramento or picked up the phone and called around Reno, Sacramento and Las Vegas.  But I believe the main reason we now see a majority of our buyers online is convenience.   Yes, they go online looking for the perfect car at a great price, but we could still go about this the old fashioned way if the Internet didn’t bring all of this information to our fingertips.

The 3 areas that drive convenience are Selection, Price and Trust. 

For Selection: Let go back to me as an example.  Let’s says I am shopping for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade.  There may be a handful in Reno, but when shopping eBay I see 125 of them from sellers across the country.  I can look at the vehicles and find exactly what I am looking for.  Each listing has pictures, descriptions, and a variety of VIN information as well as an Auto Check History Report.

Then I can look at price.  I firmly believe that every pre-owned vehicle is a niche vehicle.  In eBay I can look at each of the vehicles for sale and match price to selection.  I can decide the tradeoffs I want to make.  Do I want to stay low miles and pay a little more or am I ok with a little higher miles to get a better price or extra options. 

This is what buyers do when they shop online.  They are just able to go a little deeper when they do this on eBay because they are comparing real cars that are for sale across the country. 

On eBay we see other reasons for a buyer to shop.  They are part of the eBay community and like to handle their shopping there.  With protections in place like feedback and the Buyer Protection Program along with an Auto Check Vehicle History Report included in each listing for free, eBay allows buyers the most convenience possible.  On eBay Motors buyers have access to inventory from buyers across the country.  This supply, along with the quality of the listings, allows them to make buying decisions right from their computer by doing their own research. 

 If you could sit on your couch, shop vehicle selection and price for dealers across the country, find and buy it without ever physically going to the dealership and then allow the vehicle to be delivered directly to you, would you do it?  Of course you would.  Now it is not as simple as all of that.  And, of course as there are a number of variables in between, but with over 13 million unique shoppers coming to eBay Motors each month there is clearly high demand for this type of shopping experience.

Trust is key.  It doesn’t matter how convenient you make it, nor how great your selection or price is.  If they buyers do not trust your or the process then they will not buy from you.  On eBay we have a number of pieces in place like feedback, the Buyer Protection Program and Auto Check Vehicle History Reports to help, but when it comes down to it the most important part is do they trust your dealership. 

How well you present your dealership and your inventory online? 

How well do you help the buyer though the transaction? 

Convenience, Selection, Price and Trust are the heart of the online shopping experience.  Spend time making sure that you properly represent yourself, your dealership and your inventory to help you stand out online and ultimately cater to the needs of the buyers while also helping your dealership meet its revenue goals.    

For more information please check out our Dealer Hub.  www.ebaymotors.com/training