Private classifieds too expensive
Discussion
Gone are the days when you could peruse pistonheads private classifieds perhaps with 50 or so new adverts every day, enthusiast cars like tvr, lotus, caterham etc etc, i used to get so excited every evening dreaming of catching my prize catch with some proper brilliant private sale cars of which is the only option for me, since they've been charging £30 to advertise your lucky to see an handful on a good day, I've purchased about 10 sports car's off here down the years of which i wouldn't of found anywhere else, i love the site but the classifieds have unfortunately died a slow death, the pricing as without a doubt killed it.
I don’t know about the pricing being the reason but I would agree that the choice / quality / pricing of the cars on here seems to have shifted over the years.
You used to find good stuff on here and if you did the same search at autotrader, AT offered a far far worse selection.
Nowadays strangely it feels like it is completely the opposite.
Search for 997 911s and AT has a better selection than PH for example (or at least it seemed to when I did this search a couple of weeks ago) That never used to be the case. (Where better for me means more choice at the lower end of the market)
You used to find good stuff on here and if you did the same search at autotrader, AT offered a far far worse selection.
Nowadays strangely it feels like it is completely the opposite.
Search for 997 911s and AT has a better selection than PH for example (or at least it seemed to when I did this search a couple of weeks ago) That never used to be the case. (Where better for me means more choice at the lower end of the market)
£30 isn't that much when selling a car for five, ten grand or more.
And it's better value than AT, which has the most cars for sale.
So I don't believe the price PH charge is the problem.
Ultimately, buyers browse where the ads are, and sellers advertise where the browsers are. It's called the network effect, and as with social networks it tends to lead to one single company monopolising the market - at present this is AT. See also eBay, Amazon, Facebook.
One way to thrive as a smaller player is to specialise and focus on being 'the place to buy and sell' a specific niche of vehicle. IMHO PH could do better to serve enthusiasts' needs with better search tools, flagging write-offs automatically etc.
samoht said:
£30 isn't that much when selling a car for five, ten grand or more.
And it's better value than AT, which has the most cars for sale.
So I don't believe the price PH charge is the problem.
Ultimately, buyers browse where the ads are, and sellers advertise where the browsers are. It's called the network effect, and as with social networks it tends to lead to one single company monopolising the market - at present this is AT. See also eBay, Amazon, Facebook.
One way to thrive as a smaller player is to specialise and focus on being 'the place to buy and sell' a specific niche of vehicle. IMHO PH could do better to serve enthusiasts' needs with better search tools, flagging write-offs automatically etc.
Ultimately it is the price, predominantly this site started out with Tvr and lotus and that's where they all used to be advertised like a community really as it was free and easy,since they started charging to advertise a few years back its dwindled to a trickle of cars barely making any cash from private sales, Autotrader as taken the majority of private sales now, but nobody knows anybody on there so it's not so personal, the original pistonheaders who used to get free classifieds as dwindled maybe moved on now so hardly anybody bothers now, it was an enthusiast's site originally but run to make a profit now, hence why it's died a slow death.
And it's better value than AT, which has the most cars for sale.
So I don't believe the price PH charge is the problem.
Ultimately, buyers browse where the ads are, and sellers advertise where the browsers are. It's called the network effect, and as with social networks it tends to lead to one single company monopolising the market - at present this is AT. See also eBay, Amazon, Facebook.
One way to thrive as a smaller player is to specialise and focus on being 'the place to buy and sell' a specific niche of vehicle. IMHO PH could do better to serve enthusiasts' needs with better search tools, flagging write-offs automatically etc.
Ultimately it is the price, predominantly this site started out with Tvr and lotus and that's where they all used to be advertised like a community really as it was free and easy,since they started charging to advertise a few years back its dwindled to a trickle of cars barely making any cash from private sales, Autotrader as taken the majority of private sales now, but nobody knows anybody on there so it's not so personal, the original pistonheaders who used to get free classifieds as dwindled maybe moved on now so hardly anybody bothers now, it was an enthusiast's site originally but run to make a profit now, hence why it's died a slow death.
I have no idea what would prompt someone to list here, rather than AT.
As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
Tough to know where to advertise these days, ive never had any success here or Autotrader but Facebook marketplace has been good to me.
Ebay is hit and miss too in my experience.
I used to think people willing to pay to advertise their cars care a bit more about them but thats probably nonsense.
Ebay is hit and miss too in my experience.
I used to think people willing to pay to advertise their cars care a bit more about them but thats probably nonsense.
Jiebo said:
I have no idea what would prompt someone to list here, rather than AT.
As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
To counter, every car i've ever sold has sold via Pistonheads...As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
HiAsAKite said:
Jiebo said:
I have no idea what would prompt someone to list here, rather than AT.
As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
To counter, every car i've ever sold has sold via Pistonheads...As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
I first started reading Pistonheads as I thought the classifieds were the best place to find private buyers/sellers. I think it maybe still is with certain marques-for instance if you want a Caterham I think PH is still the place to find one.
But maybe specific owners forums and more often Facebook groups are better.
I'm trying to buy a 996 or 997 GT3 at the moment and I've had the best results from WANTED posts on Facebook groups. I do find you get a lot of "oh I could be tempted to sell" replies which invariably turn to nowt but the days of private sellers on PH seem to be a thing of the past now.
More and more it just seems to be dealers ticking every box of where they think eyes might be on their ads.
But maybe specific owners forums and more often Facebook groups are better.
I'm trying to buy a 996 or 997 GT3 at the moment and I've had the best results from WANTED posts on Facebook groups. I do find you get a lot of "oh I could be tempted to sell" replies which invariably turn to nowt but the days of private sellers on PH seem to be a thing of the past now.
More and more it just seems to be dealers ticking every box of where they think eyes might be on their ads.
Jiebo said:
I have no idea what would prompt someone to list here, rather than AT.
As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
I disagree having sold a few cars on PH over the years. It’s needs to be the right sort of car, though, generally. There are way more Lotus Elises, Caterham 7’s and TVR’s for example here than anywhere else. As a seller I would never do it, even when it was free I thought of it as a waste of time. As a buyer, I've never bothered to even look. If they want to compete there should be some unique selling point, there is literally nothing for PH.
Private adverts are down generally as car-buying sites have become more prevalent giving a decent result with less hassle. Last car I sold here was a £46,000 BMW 1M which went in about 3 weeks. If you listen to many on here they will tell you selling a car of that value privately is nigh on impossible.
When i were in the market for a TVR a few years back every week a wedge, s2, griff, chimp etc would be advertised privately allowing enthusiasts to swap and change, you can wait a year now for all of those to surface, I'm sad I've been looking every day for the last 20 years more like an hobby and looking for my dream potentially, if I've advertised anything on here and autotrader over last few year's autotrader and Facebook win every time, i just think it's a sad demise not really centering on the enthusiast anymore.
I noted a month or so back that PH was letting sellers advertise automatic cars as manual, leaving searching a real pain in the arse.
If a filter isn’t 100% then you ideally have to check every single advert to be sure.
Ie, SMG E46 M3s being listed as manual, or F1 gearbox F360 etc.
It’s stuff like that which PH needs to get right if there is any hope they’re worth looking for a car on, or trying to sell your car on.
I wouldn’t use PH because the owners forum is free and people who genuinely want one of what I’ve got will look there.
But yes PH is also just rammed full of trader stuff now… but that’s usually cloned to AT so you just see it there.
If a filter isn’t 100% then you ideally have to check every single advert to be sure.
Ie, SMG E46 M3s being listed as manual, or F1 gearbox F360 etc.
It’s stuff like that which PH needs to get right if there is any hope they’re worth looking for a car on, or trying to sell your car on.
I wouldn’t use PH because the owners forum is free and people who genuinely want one of what I’ve got will look there.
But yes PH is also just rammed full of trader stuff now… but that’s usually cloned to AT so you just see it there.
For what it's worth and the pittance they earn from private ads, why don't they go back to the original format with free ads for private sales, but obviously still charge for trade sales, it may just bring a bit more life into the site, and give us real enthusiast's the opportunity to find that unicorn car that a good deal of us crave.
eddietiv1 said:
For what it's worth and the pittance they earn from private ads, why don't they go back to the original format with free ads for private sales, but obviously still charge for trade sales, it may just bring a bit more life into the site, and give us real enthusiast's the opportunity to find that unicorn car that a good deal of us crave.
Its would just end up getting spammed to death though wouldn't it?Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff