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I recently had my 57 for sale on BAT. It took much longer to get the car active as they have some pretty silly rules.They insist on have around 50 pictures for the car or they won’t list it. In my case there was no reason to have engine number pictures because my car doesn’t have an original engine. There were no real reason to have undercarriage pictures because it is a daily driver and not detailed. The written description was supposed to list it as a rust free alway sw states car but they just kept kicking that back. I have sold close to 5000 cars in my lifetime so I have a pretty good idea of how to write an ad. I sent them my ad I had previously post here on the forum and their “auction specialist” (I am thinking some mllinial that has never owned or sold a car of his own in his lifetime) just picked a few thing out about the car that you typically see in EVERY BAT description. Much of what the really important stuff about my particular car were overlooked and much of it was wrong. I had to correct their ad several times. They still wouldn’t list anywhere near the number of things that would be important to someone that would be truly interested in my car would want to know. I finally got them to accept a picture of a list of things that I had in a 3 ring binder but that was buried in the pictures. Finally got fed up with them and just “signed off” on what the seemed to want. They think they have a “secret sauce” formula that gets cars sold which might be ok for a numbers matching pretty original car but there are a lot more modified cars out there than originals that they need to think about. Much of their ad verbiage is the same for ever car. One of their favorites is “how the power is transferred to the rear wheels” as if any gear head in the world doesn’t know.
So my car did not sell on their site and I am not crying about it being their fault. In hindsight I should have included a walk around video with narration as well as with the car running. A car like mine need to have at least two bidders that understand the value of and WANT those things in a car. I set what I feel is a very reasonable reserve on the car based on what I have in it which is much more. I answered every question that people asked as soon as I saw them. It just was not my car’s day. From the email address I received from BAT the indication was that it was a DEALER from Australia that had the high bid of $66k.
So, the car is now on EBay with a Buy It Now of $70k so will see. That is the bottom line on the car. Many watcher but that means little as often those are just people studying the market, own a similar car or just plain voyeurs.
Interesting analysis, Darryl. At some point, the car will meet your reserve. The car has a lot going for it and I think the modifications you made are exactly what someone would want, while still retaining the original look of the car. This '57 is one of the nicer ones I have seen on the Forum.
I posted my car on classic cars for $89 and is there until it sells on classic cars, later that day they emailed me and wanted me to put my car on auto hunter, they wanted similar stuff as you, "68hemi" posted.
All i paid was the $89, the buyer was charged 6.5%...also, its on the site for 7 days only. if it don't sell on the auto hunter the car goes back to classic cars..
They transferred everything over to auto hunter, at no extra charge...they worked with me and guided me through this, as this was my first experience selling a car online...
Thanks for the insight into BAT. Also, their sales commission I have a problem with the high price that you would give up to them.
I don’t have a problem with their commission which is 5% of the sales price with a maximum of $5k. That is MUCH less than any live auction company and there is no % for the seller to pay.
I don’t have a problem with their commission which is 5% of the sales price with a maximum of $5k. That is MUCH less than any live auction company and there is no % for the seller to pay.
Great then.....just add 5% or $5K to what you want out of the car.
Sorry they couldn't get a deal together for you. BAT certainly has their way of doing things, and some cars/makes/models don't do very well there - vintage Corvette's seem to really be hit and miss there. I've bought and sold on BAT and have had some great success and a couple of failures. That said, it's still my "go-to" to list a vehicle for great exposure and a potential high sale. I have a 'custom '41 Harley Knucklehead that I'm hoping to get on there soon. The $99 listing fee is pretty tough to beat.
I have never sold a car on BAT but my friend has sold a number of both his and other peoples cars there.
He too has issues with how they do the write up (yes there are a lot of millennials working there, according to a guy I know who used to work there). He has also had cars not meet reserve, but most car selling professionals I know would claim that is the place to get top dollar for a car in excellent condition.
He would say one of the keys to his success is the pictures and the videos. He pays top dollar for a professional automobile photographer and videographer to take hundreds of pictures and multiple videos. (I see more and more people starting to do this.) He also has thick skin, especially on those cars that are not his, and does not try to argue or defend any critiques. He is honest as the day is long.
As you mentioned, all it takes is two people to make things take off, and he has had that happen on multiple occasions.
All the best with your sale.
Last edited by gleninsandiego; 12-06-2021 at 12:31 AM.
I recently sold a car on BaT and like the OP I went back and forth with the specialist who coordinated the sell. I was not allowed to list some of the attributes of the car with the pictures as original documentation was lacking but I did list them in the comments section during the banter. My experience was favorable... Al
I'm curious if any of you who've used BAT, had any issues with them over your reserve? A couple friends of mine have tried using them, and have thought they insisted on unrealistically low reserves.
I’ve sold two vehicles on BaT. My 1954 Studebaker Champion streetrod about 12 years ago and my 1988 LR Defender with L99 and 6L80 from a 2012 Camaro 3 years ago. I built both cars in my garage and the experiences were vastly different. I wrote the copy for the Studebaker and it was an easy sale getting posted one week after the ad was built. Selling the LR was very similar to your experience, but it did sell over the reserve and I made good money on both. I think BaT has suffered from growth and attorneys over the years and the experience is just not as great as it used to be. Good luck with the eBay sale. I have sold about a dozen vehicles on eBay over the years and while it has also changed, it can be very effective.
I was going to put this barn find 57 chevy BelAir on BAT until my wife told me of all the conditions and if they would even accept it or not. So Ebay it is. I also know how to sell a car without help.
I watch and critique but have not sold on BAT. what I do know is they have new owners in the last 12 +/- months and things are now different than before. I restore appox 3 cars a yr and sell most on Face book market place or ebay. Though ebay was always a buyer after the ad ran out. I did sell a 1 off car I had for over 20 years a RUF BTR C4 at RM Sotheby's Amilia Island auction as I had a difficult time selling it and tried everything over 3 years though not sure why it was so hard. I can tell you the total cost for me and the buyer at RM was over 50K on a 215K sale. I negotiated 8% to sell plus listing, plus there photo person and there hauler another 5 k total. I will never do that again. the last 10 cars were all FB market place and free. BAT tends to bring more money lately and buyers dont seem to care how bad the car is. I am a RR and Bentley specialist and when I find 10s of thousands of things wrong I get criticized for my comments and the darn cars sell way more than good cars. Im now mainly a watcher and say little. I have restored many cars many brands and know much but few seem to care. I guess I need to go back to the motto "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing". FYI: I just bought an all original 66 427 390 loaded vette that was parked in a heated garage 40 years I found on FB. I also list on Craigs list. 1 parting comment about BAT they have a huge backlog and items like special wheels they are frowning on lately and if they list they dont want any reserve.
BAT refused our car last year. Our Jaguar once had a Chevy engine and was drag raced. Despite photo documentation that it was returned to a finished state, they flat out refused to consider it. Here's an interesting side bar to this event - a famous collector who lives in Milwaukee (close to us) was listing a similar car at the same time. He spends a lot in the hobby and even writes for magazines and sites, doing road tests and everything. Coincidence or desire to limit very near by competition? Just offhand, I'd say our car was worthy...
12-05-2021, 07:55 PM
My personal selling experience wit BAT
