Autotrader or E Bay Classified Add

[cliffords]

I have sold a good few cars on E Bay over the years , however not in the past 5 years .
I am just about to sell a Fiat Panda we have had in the family for many years a good little car , however of low value say £1500.

I have not used Autotrader before and have always had success with E Bay . I have met the scammers and even the oil in the header tank crew selling in 2021, so I am aware .

What do you think is least hassle of the two for a low value albeit very good little car

Thanks

[66HFM]

I think the Autotrader fees are banded dependant on the price of the car, under £1k always used to be free to advertise on Autotrader, not sure if they have upped the levels or not.
If I was looking for a car under £2k my preference would be elsewhere.
If you can make do with all of the idiots and crazy offers for a £1,500 car I would use FaceBook Marketplace first and then Gumtree followed by eBay / Autotrader.
It may come down how quickly you want to / need to sell it.

3 months time I would have been interested myself as eldest daughter is 17 at the start of September and she used to love our blue Fiat Panda we used to own.

[Sir Bagalot]

For £1500 I'd be using Facebook marketplace or Gumtree

Yes, you'll get the idiots, but they're easy to deal with.

Clearly state in Ad the mileage, number of owners and tell them it'sHPI clear (if it is)

[cliffords]

I don't use Facebook and never have Gumtree either. I don't think I can bring myself to use Facebook. Gumtree maybe a good call I have not considered before. Is Gumtree e bay anyway?

[MisanoPayments]

My go-to is Autotrader. Well, I say that - I've only used it about three times.

Sold a £4,000 TT 3.2 via Autotrader almost a year ago; second person to view, on day three of the ad, was the buyer.

[CrippsCorner]

cliffords said:

I don't use Facebook and never have Gumtree either. I don't think I can bring myself to use Facebook. Gumtree maybe a good call I have not considered before. Is Gumtree e bay anyway?

Gumtree is owned by eBay yes. I would personally just go with eBay as you get many more options.

I bought my last car off Marketplace, but I also don't use Facebook so probably wouldn't advertise.

I had my wife's car on AutoTrader for 6 weeks and had one email in all that time, feckin' useless in my opinion.

[OutInTheShed]

Gumtree worked for me.
I wasn't in a rush, so I thought I'd try Gumtree first as it's free.

I think lots of people look there for cars below a few £k particularly the kind of people who are happy to trade privately.
It seems to bias towards local searches, so if someone wants 'any small car' fairly locally, it's perhaps more likely to show them your car than ebay.

I use Facebook for a few things but only specialist buy-sell pages. I don't want punters knowing my social life or personal details. Gumtree is just a first name and a message service rather than bringing people to your FB page.

Ebay has usually worked for me, but the only car I've sold there, I got the princely sum of £10 for an Audi with a month's MoT.
To be fair it needed time or money spent on it and scrap prices were low back then!

[Tisy]

Whichever you use, be fully prepared for everyone to completely ignore everything you've written in the advert and contact you directly asking for answers to the questions that are staring them in the face.

"Fiat Panda 5-door, 2008, 123,000 miles, blue, manual 5-speed, full service history, 3 owners."

"how many miles has it done?"
"is it an automatic?"
"dose it have full servis historee?"
"is it 3 or 5 door?"
"what year is it?"
"how many owners dose it have?"
"swapz for a PS5 and cash my way?"
"250 TODAY"
"my daughter is disabled with autism. can i give you 500 and then the balance next month?"

[stevemcs]

I sold a Fiesta with a seized engine on Ebay a few weeks ago, i just listed it as buy it now £495 or best offer, it sold in 5 minutes, then they musty have read the bit that stated spares/trialer away and requested a cancellation. It sold a few days later for asking price, but I still got questions if it drove ok. So as above whatever you put in the description nobidy reads

[sixor8]

I've sold over 30 cars and motorbikes via eBay over the last 23 years. Sold one (a TVR Cerbera) via Pistonheads classifieds. I've given short shrift to stupid questions, and never had a 'timewaster' turn up, apart from one chap who looked at a Ducati Monster, but was just a REAL tyre kicker because he used to own it and just wanted to see it again .

I tend to write 'war and peace' when I do it. Always sold fairly painlessly, I don't miss anything out, be prepared to take photos of all flaws. The only option is 1. A Classified (fixed price and a bit of haggling), or 2. An auction which is expensive due to the final value fee but it definitely sells unless you set a reserve, which is another cost.

Edited by sixor8 on Tuesday 4th March 19:44

[Belle427]

Autotrader I find dreadful for selling, Ebay has not been any better either for me.
I would maybe just try Ebay but Facebook marketplace is worth a go just for the comedy value, free too unlike the above.
Ive sold 5 cars on Facebook with minimal fuss, just sit back and enjoy the experience!

[Gad-Westy]

Tisy said:

Whichever you use, be fully prepared for everyone to completely ignore everything you've written in the advert and contact you directly asking for answers to the questions that are staring them in the face.

"Fiat Panda 5-door, 2008, 123,000 miles, blue, manual 5-speed, full service history, 3 owners."

"how many miles has it done?"
"is it an automatic?"
"dose it have full servis historee?"
"is it 3 or 5 door?"
"what year is it?"
"how many owners dose it have?"
"swapz for a PS5 and cash my way?"
"250 TODAY"
"my daughter is disabled with autism. can i give you 500 and then the balance next month?"

lol. So familiar. My wife tried to give furniture away a while ago on FB. As in completely free. Had a number of requests to deliver it to places hours away. We had someone ask ‘how much for cash?’ That’ll still be £0 please. People wanting to turn up at 2am. The lower the cost of something the more you seem to attract proper village idiots.

We have a similar problem to the OP though when I asked about this on here my post was removed because apparently it was ‘advertising’ to ask where to sell a car! In our case it’s the MIL’s 20 year old corsa. I haven’t got around to completing this yet but one of the local garages has offered more than scrap value for it so it will be going there with hopefully zero hassle. Unfortunately the utter pond life that have infested this end of the market have completely removed the appeal of selling any cheap car anymore. It’s a real shame.

[Tisy]

Belle427 said:

Autotrader I find dreadful for selling, Ebay has not been any better either for me.
I would maybe just try Ebay but Facebook marketplace is worth a go just for the comedy value, free too unlike the above.
Ive sold 5 cars on Facebook with minimal fuss, just sit back and enjoy the experience!

Don't forget the rule of selling cars on Facebook is that you must not have washed it wthin the last 12 months. It needs to be covered with filth to the point where potential buyers with start questioning what its true colour is and it also needs to be parked on muddy grass in your front garden. If you wash it and it's clean, then clearly it's a scam.

Other Facebook musts are not to post any info about the make, model, engine, fuel type, mileage, service history or anything important. Just "car for sale. £1000 or swapz. need gone".

[Gad-Westy]

Tisy said:

Belle427 said:

Autotrader I find dreadful for selling, Ebay has not been any better either for me.
I would maybe just try Ebay but Facebook marketplace is worth a go just for the comedy value, free too unlike the above.
Ive sold 5 cars on Facebook with minimal fuss, just sit back and enjoy the experience!

Don't forget the rule of selling cars on Facebook is that you must not have washed it wthin the last 12 months. It needs to be covered with filth to the point where potential buyers with start questioning what its true colour is and it also needs to be parked on muddy grass in your front garden. If you wash it and it's clean, then clearly it's a scam.

Other Facebook musts are not to post any info about the make, model, engine, fuel type, mileage, service history or anything important. Just "car for sale. £1000 or swapz. need gone".

You forgot to mention that the single photo that you upload of the car should be taken from inside your home through a unclean, rain soaked window ideally sometime after the sun has fully set.

[Tisy]

Haha. Yes it's true, the only photo must be taken in the dark.

[cliffords]

Well it's on Gumtree now and within two hours I have had three utter moron messages.
I must maintain my it doesn't matter attitude, rather than my dispair at human kind.

[Tisy]

cliffords said:

Well it's on Gumtree now and within two hours I have had three utter moron messages.
I must maintain my it doesn't matter attitude, rather than my dispair at human kind.

Gumtree always starts off with low-ball offers from dealers looking for stock. Also, NEVER put your real phone number in the contact details or ad body as they sell your details/scrape the ads and you end up with random marketing calls from utility companies trying to get you to switch. I know this for a fact I used a burner number on a couple of ads which stayed active for 6 months afterwards and I got several calls from British Gas, EE and a couple of others. The only place they could have got the number from was those Gumtree ads. Let them contact you via the messager and only give them your number once you've established they are serious.

[cliffords]

I will stop posting but have to report .
Remember I am selling a very cheap Fiat Panda. I marked the add no swaps or Part EX please.

Copied word for word:

Hi M8. I need you car for mi cistern. Fancy swap for Vxx Astra mapped.4## quick car all sound plus money mi way

I am pleased to report I have not added my phone number to my advertisement.

[Tisy]

[Gad-Westy]

cliffords said:

I will stop posting but have to report .
Remember I am selling a very cheap Fiat Panda. I marked the add no swaps or Part EX please.

Copied word for word:

Hi M8. I need you car for mi cistern. Fancy swap for Vxx Astra mapped.4## quick car all sound plus money mi way

I am pleased to report I have not added my phone number to my advertisement.

Someone who is obviously not feeling too flush... sorry