BrianV

Where would you think it'd sell the best at?
Ebay is like $85, Autotrader is like $55, my local newspaper is like $100, and here is free, but a completely limited amount of buyers are present.

Any advice?

mikhailw

While there are a lot of people who ask too much money on Autotrader, they don't sell their car for the amount they are asking. If you call one of these people, they had car for sale for months or sold it much cheaper. E-bay shows real prices for these cars, because you see how much people are paying, and not how much is asked. I know dealers who ask $10K below Blue Book value on 2000 Lexus, and they had this car for at least 7 months. In these market conditions, cars are sold for much less than BB or EDMUNDS.

Your car has more than 100K miles. On e-bay, there was a 98 GS400 with 110,000miles, and it got sold for $15500. Who would pay $15 for a 8 years old car with 100000miles. LEXUS 1998 with 60Kmiles is being sold for ~$18000. There are some of us who paid too much money at dealership. There is no way we will get nearly as much for our cars. Lexus dealer: 98 LS400 - $25k, private party - $17-19K.

In conclusion, if you check prices for 95 with 100K miles, you will see that cars are sold ~$8-10K on E-BAY. You may decide to keep this car, but in a year it will be even cheaper.

mikhailw

To prove my point a 96 LS400 with 95K was sold for $12500.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2414435005

A 94 with 69K miles sold for $11K

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ory=14240&rd=1

BrianV

Cars are weird on Ebay though. I sold my 300zx for $3g's more then I bought it from on Ebay, while I've had friends get robbed on Ebay. The final price of those auctions is often not what it goes for. It might of been the original seller winning his own auction to prevent it from being sold for even less. Ebay tends to sell at wholesale prices for any non-rare car. The Lexus appears to be quite cheap on Ebay, I would probably not try and sell it there for those reasons.

I've noticed though that the same LS400's are on ebay like 10 times in a row, even though someone won them. When I bought mine, there was a gold one in Houston, the auction kept ending at $11-12k but then it'd be abck again, I asked the dealer what was up, he said he won't sell it for less then $14,500 no matter what, he'll keep putting it on. I don't know if he was in cahootz with all the high bidders or whether he was just telling the winners that they were SOL unless they're gonna front more.

It took me three times to sell ym 300zx, both times the high bidders backed out, third time was the charm. All three times the price was pretty close.

mikhailw

Brian, I agree that e-bay is very strange. A lot of car are sold with reserve price, and what about private auctions? How stupid do they think we are? They bid on their own cars to increase the price, and they don't want us to see that the same person is bidding on all cars from this seller.

There was a car in Texas that I was planning to place a bid. Dealer would cancel his auction 5 seconds before the end if price wasn't high. He did this about 5 times on the same car.

BrianV

Exactly, it all depends on the company though. Some companies buy their cars SO discounted that they make money no matter what. Anyone who does there research can tell what any given car can go for on any given day on Ebay. With that in mind they can purchase cars that work with their formula.

Unforuntately, the LS does not appear to be a car that is sold often on Ebay. I've seen the same LS's on Ebay time and time again, which makes me think that the sellers are getting low-balled excessively. Ebay is a great place to sell certain cars, but if the car is not in demand you will lose out.

Car's that are excellent to sell on Ebay:

Any exotic (Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.). The newer the better. These limited production vehicles are very hard to find new, so hard that rich people will pay more for a slightly used car just so they can have it in a timely fashion.

Any discontinued car that is extremely popular, extremely desirable, etc: Supra and NSX come to mind here. 1991 NSX's are going for $40+K, that's amazing, considering 5 years ago they could be had used for $25K. 4-5 years ago a Supra TT could be had for $17-18k, now add $10k to that for a decent one.

Cars that don't sell too well on Ebay: Common cars that aren't hard to find. Cars like the Camry, Corrolla, etc fit into here. Even the Lexus is in this category.

Some of my friends and co-workers said the newspaper is the only way to go in Austin, TX.