I had never placed an advert to sell a car on ebay before but placed on car advert in an auction on behalf of my husband. It was clearly a big mistake and I should have placed a classified advert ( as subseqently advised on this platform). I was also advised to let the auction run as I had to pay listings fee anyhow which I did but its been a waste of time. For all private car sellers via auction here is my experience so you know what you might experience and how it is very likley to be a total waste of time and money to advertise in this way:
(1) The top bidder placed his/her bid at 1.28 and requested to cancel the bid at 1.30 so no intent to buy. They had previously sought to stop the auction by making an offer pre auction so seems like stopping the auction was always the intent for some unknown reason. I asked for an explanation and received no reply.
(2) I sent a second chance offer to 2nd bidder - first question was, what is lowest amount I would accept ie no longer wanted to pay what was bid and were offering lower than 3rd place bidder so I said no and I would contact next bidder. Said they had lent money to a friend in difficulty so financial circumstances had changed since bid and could no longer pay amount bid
(3) Sent a second chance offer to 3rd bidder and first response was to comment on when MOT ran out (listed in advert) , small dent above wheel arch (shown in photos) and to ask various questions and then what is best price I would accept - I had already said I would ideally have wanted top price bid but in circumstamces I would accept price they had bid .
So ... It seems like bidders dont really expect to pay price they have bid and want to knock down price or drop out, even ahead of viewing the car, based on my experience
Also I have a question ... I put cash on collection for second chance offer I assumed that would be same payment terms , which I listed as cash on collection because I wanted them to see the car , make sure they wanted it before paying. Am i correct in think that second chance offers keep same payment terms as there was no info on changing payment terms etc ?
