Anyone have experience in listing cars on Bring a Trailer?

[XS22J8R]

I have a somewhat high end (V code) Mopar I've have been trying to sell off and on for a number of years, and the experience has left me with a case of PTSD about trying to sell cars, due to the fact that 99% of the people who have ever contacted me about my ads are flakes, Richard Rawlings wannabees who want to make a lowball offer before even seeing the car, picture collectors who don't even respond after taking the time to send pictures and details to them after they contact me, etc.
So I've been in a quandary from feeling bad about having the car stuck away in a storage facility an hour away from me, rarely seeing it, and wanting to find it a better home, but at the same time wary of the stress and potential of being taken for a ride if I consign it to an auction or car brokerage.
Over the years I've had people recommend Bring a Trailer, and I finally decided to try that out. I submitted the car on their site with some pictures. They wanted my reserve lower, but after some back and forth, we met in the middle on that. So they accepted it and all was good to go!
Until we got caught up in the issue of pictures. Taking pictures of vintage cars is a hobby of mine, I have a Flickr account with over 25,000 pictures hosted in it, in albums, the majority of which are car shows and cruise ins. I get compliments all the time when I share the picture albums on sites like this one, and even have locals come up to me at car events and tell me they think my car pictures are great and professional, and some tell me I should send pictures to magazines.
So I spent hours over the weekend digging through my picture archives finding the best pictures I've taken of my car and uploading them on their site. I made arrangements Sunday to have the guy who manages the storage building to help me get the car out of it, I drove close to an hour out there, and he helped me pose the car as I took another close to 100 pictures, and I made a nice video of the car starting up and running, using my phone. Edited and uploaded the pictures and video after I got home. I probably spent over 8 hours of my weekend on picture issues for the listing.
Then I get contacted by someone at BaT who at first sounded nice enough, excited about my car and helping me get the listing written and pictures organized. But then he starts getting critical of the pictures, need more of this or that, a lot of these pictures are older, we really want pictures taken in the last few months and so on.
The logistics of getting at the car and taking more and more pictures just isn't going to work for me between my work schedule and imposing on the guy who manages the storage building to get it out again. My other vintage rides I have in my garage at home need to stay there for now, due to some upcoming late season shows and events. My plan was to swap the car out temporarily with one of my "keepers" when the listing went live so I can answer questions and take requested detail pictures members ask for in the comments. If it was at home now I guess I could carve out an hour here and an hour there repeatedly until I hopefully could compile pictures my friendly listing agent finds acceptable, but since the car is remote, that doesn't work.
So I was wondering if anyone has listed on BaT before and if so, did you have issues with them on getting photographs they find acceptable?
They have a optional service that costs over $300 where they send a photographer out to take the pictures, is this a ploy to wear car sellers down until they give up and ask to pay to have their photographer come out?
To add insult to injury, there is a large car museum/brokerage in my area who some of my car buds have used to sell their cars, and they said it has worked out OK for them. Unlike a lot of brokerages, I think they can be trusted. I sent info on my car to them a month ago and didn't hear back, so a week or so later is when I decided to submit the car to BaT. So yesterday I get a text from the local place asking me about my car, and I replied I've listed it elsewhere, sorry. Why did they wait a month to respond, I probably would have been better off consigning it to them!
I am thinking I'm going to have to cancel my listing with BaT and try to get my $99 listing fee back if they don't chill out with this pictures issue. I hope I didn't burn my bridges with the car museum, they may be my last hope of ever finding a buyer for my car!

 

[FJ6AAR]

List it here.

 

[XS22J8R]

I listed it here a while back, if I recall correctly I got one picture collector response. It's on Moparts. It's on E bodies.org.
It's been discussed before on forums several times, and posters say its a beautiful car and priced fairly and baffled it hasn't gotten interest.
I had it on Cars Online for a while too in the past.
Online ads only seem to bring flipper types and picture collectors. As previously mentioned I have developed PTSD from my experiences trying to sell cars in recent years. Not sure what has changed, back in the 80s and 90s when I wanted to sell a car I'd advertise it, usually in the Tradin Times. I'd get a few time waster phone calls but after a week, maybe a month, a serious buyer would come out and buy it. I've only managed to sell one car in the last 10 years, my 09 Challenger, one owner, low miles, garaged, mint engineer/pilot owned that took me over a year to sell, well under what it should have been worth, to a local car guy I know, who took advantage of me to some extent as I was at risk of losing storage and getting desperate.
I don't want to rant again about trying to sell cars in the 21st century any more than I already have, but ads don't work now it seems. I am looking to try something else and BaT seemed promising. Maybe it isn't. There was a Mecum guy who gave a talk at a big Pontiac show here a few weeks ago, several people I know who attended told me the Mecum guy claimed only 40% of BaT sales actually go through as there are a lot of weasel clauses in the fine print that allow buyers to back out. Obviously Mecum is biased so that info may be exaggerated, but it wasn't encouraging to hear that.

 

[68BabyBlue]

I’m assuming the museum you’re talking about is the same one that recently sold my former A33 GTX, without a published price reduction. IMO they did an excellent job of marketing, nice photos, but they pointed out visible flaws in their description. I sold it through cars on line, has been flipped at least twice since.

 

[moparedtn]

Would I be over-simplifying things if I came away from that lengthy original post thinking that all BaT
was angling for was to get that additional $300 out of the OP?

 

[XS22J8R]

Volo is the museum I was referring to. They are about 20 miles from where my car is stored.
They have a little studio there, they detail the car, take lots of pictures, then one of the Gram family who own the place does a video extolling the car. Then it goes into their Museum. It's a neat place, lots of cars for sale, some permanent displays of cars and items not for sale. They have an antique mall there too. I have been there a number of times over the years, I need to get up there again someday. I never bought a car there, I assume they are skilled at emptying car buyers pockets like all car sellers do.
I am wary of brokerages, I have heard stories of people losing their cars after consigning to dealers, including a friend of mine who sold a car through a dealer, and 6 months later got a letter from lawyers or the state saying he had to return the money he got from the sale, as the place went bankrupt and through some quirk in the laws the money he got from the sale of his car, was now considered part of the bankrupt dealers assets!!!!!!!!!!! The dealer in question never even had the title to the car, he signed it and next dayed it to the buyer after the sale took place. If it wasn't a friend of mine, I'd never believe something like that happening is legal. Volo has been around forever though so I don't think there's any risk of losing a car consigned there.

 

[XS22J8R]

Would I be over-simplifying things if I came away from that lengthy original post thinking that all BaT
was angling for was to get that additional $300 out of the OP?

It hasn't got there yet, but I am wondering if that is where this badgering about my pictures the last few days is headed.
I am wondering if any members here have listed a car there in the past and if they ran into problems with their listing agent badgering them with complaints about pictures after uploading 100+ pictures to their site.

 

[moparedtn]

It hasn't got there yet, but I am wondering if that is where this badgering about my pictures the last few days is headed.

Yes, that part was specifically what I was referring to.

 

[XS22J8R]

Have you heard about sellers being pressured toward that service?
This car is actually hard to get prime photos of. It is GK6 Dark Bronze. Get it in the right light, the color looks gorgeous, wrong light, it looks like poo. I've photographed it many times over the years trying to get good pictures when the light is just right.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Have you heard about sellers being pressured toward that service?
This car is actually hard to get prime photos of. It is GK6 Dark Bronze. Get it in the right light, the color looks gorgeous, wrong light, it looks like poo. I've photographed it many times over the years trying to get good pictures when the light is just right.

Is this the car? If so, looks very nice to me.

 

[XS22J8R]

That's it. In the right light it looks great. Wrong light it looks mehhh like this picture. If they are angling to push me into their photography service, what are the chances they get out at a time when the sun is out and at an angle that brings out the color well? And the car has always been in dry storage and kept covered when not out briefly for a show or cruise, what difference does it make if pictures are 2 months old or 6 or 7 years old, nothing has deteriorated on the paint or trim, looks no different today than it did when I got it in 2010.
But we are speculating that trying to get me to sign on to paying their photographer is the scheme here. I'll find out soon after this evening when I reply to the listing agent and tell him we need to work with the 130 or so pictures I've provided already, or else I need to cancel this and get a refund, as I don't have the bandwith now to be getting the car out again and messing with trying to take 100 more pictures in hope they will be happy with them. I don't recall seeing anything when I signed up for this that all pictures had to be less than 2 months old.

 

[gtx6970]

I tried to buy a car at one of these big dealers in Texas a few years back ( before I bought my current car ) And IMO they try to get as much money out of the buyer as possible yet sticking it to the seller , with fees, trying to get them to take less and less , etc etc

 

[68BabyBlue]

Looking at what Volo did with the photos of my former car, and the price point at which it changed hands, combined with your proximity, seems to me like a good deal.

 

[Richard Cranium]

That's it. In the right light it looks great. Wrong light it looks mehhh like this picture. If they are angling to push me into their photography service, what are the chances they get out at a time when the sun is out and at an angle that brings out the color well? And the car has always been in dry storage and kept covered when not out briefly for a show or cruise, what difference does it make if pictures are 2 months old or 6 or 7 years old, nothing has deteriorated on the paint or trim, looks no different today than it did when I got it in 2010.
But we are speculating that trying to get me to sign on to paying their photographer is the scheme here. I'll find out soon after this evening when I reply to the listing agent and tell him we need to work with the 130 or so pictures I've provided already, or else I need to cancel this and get a refund, as I don't have the bandwith now to be getting the car out again and messing with trying to take 100 more pictures in hope they will be happy with them. I don't recall seeing anything when I signed up for this that all pictures had to be less than 2 months old.

View attachment 1714678

BAT seems to have changed whom they are marketing to & the cars that they list. I get their daily email with cars that are coming up to auction that day & there is rarely anything that interests me. There are very few muscle cars on there these days & I personally would be hesitant about advertising there.

 

[XS22J8R]

I tried to buy a car at one of these big dealers in Texas a few years back ( before I bought my current car ) And IMO they try to get as much money out of the buyer as possible yet sticking it to the seller , with fees, trying to get them to take less and less , etc etc

The way it works at Volo from my understanding, is that you tell them what you expect out of the car. If they accept that, they then price it at whatever they think they might get, and what they get over the price you set, is their profit. I suppose after it sits there long enough they must tell you to lower the price or get it out of their place.
One of my buddies tried to list a rare "unicorn" Pontiac on BaT last year, went as far as to hire a professional photographer to shoot it for him. Submitted it to BaT and they turned it down!
He then took it to Volo where it sat for 6 months and didn't sell, so he retrieved it this year. 68 Parisienne 2+2 convertible 427 4 speed. Factory Chevy 427. Canadian, one of 3 made. Volo had it priced at over 200K. I don't know how you price such a car as "comps" really don't exist. Well BaT wouldn't touch it but Volo did.
Anyway here is the video of it as an example of the video and marketing they do at Volo

 

[guy gadbois]

OK... allow me to post my humble opinion, with some factual/experiential evidence to back it up.
BAT got bought a couple of years ago by hearst media. It has become one big used car lot. I mean seriously - look at some of the junk they post - 10 year old tojos?!?!?!? Over half of the krap on BAT is 3 or 4 year old nothing special German or japanese sedans. The new owners are diluting 'the brand' so bad that before long it will just be another 'Autotrader'. BAT about half pisses me off most of the time. Used to be that you had to 'apply' to get the car accepted; have a friend who wanted to list several nice old cars and BAT only wanted to take a few of them to achieve 'balance' er somethin... it used to be pretty good.
HOWEVER... I have purchased 2 cars over the years off that site. Granted, it was before the buyout, but still... and the guy at mecum is full of krap. [imagine that...] It is very hard to back out of buying what you bid on and won. Simply read the auction agreement. AND , like em or not, BAT probably has the biggest audience in the world now to showcase your car. Plus... people on BAT are nuts - the money things bring sometimes astounds me. Even with all the garbage on the site these days, they still have [probably] the most interesting cars on any widely viewed platform stuck in there. If I had a nice old car to sell, thats where I would go. In fact, I fear Im fixin to have to do just that.
Used to be that Hemmings was the place to get nationwide exposure for nice and special interest cars, and its still probably alright in some instances and the place for parts other than marque specific boards like this. However, look at how poorly their 'auction site' does. BAT is the 800 lb gorilla imho.
As for consignments... the horror stories are numerous. I did such once about 10 years ago and it worked out fine. I will say this - and I will say it VERY carefully to avoid any potential libel suit in case certain people might look at these boards - there are certain 'big' classic car dealers that should be avoided like the plague. We all know the major volume players by looking at ads and sites all the time... One of the ones that I personally - as well as a couple folks I know - look past and won't even open the ad may have been mentioned above due to seeing cars that allegedly came from that particular vendor being abject junk of questionable heritage, foisted upon an unsuspecting/unknowledgeable buyer. This does NOT mean that the possible business does not sell really good cars or that said enterprise would knowingly pass off bad cars and concours prices, it simply means that in the opinion of some experienced people, they will not even consider a vehicle displayed/for sale by this particular group due to past experiences given their view of the vehicle. Which is opinion and subject to dispute.
There.
Personally, I am just passing along information.

 

[copper67sat]

A good friend of mine sold his 68 Dart GTS conv. on BaT about a year and a half ago. They talked him down a bit on his reserve and it sold a little lower than he wanted, but overall was happy. There were 2 bidders battling over it in the end and the loser contacted him afterward and said he was prepared to bid more, but lost his internet connection and the auction ended.

He sent in a lot of photos, both new and old, including a lot of pics of the resto from the early 90's. He didn't mention any issues.

 

[Cop car wagon]

I have commented before that BaT is no place for mopars.
Unfortunatly, I feel that the endless listing on Ebay gets the most eyes on it.
With a buy it now price.

Its a beautiful car. Lighting makes all the difference. BaT's photo service is costly and random quality, depending on the photog in your area. Do you trust random?

 

[Runcharger]

IMO: No experience with them but you've made an informed decision to use BAT and are more than halfway there. I'd probably hold firm on not paying the $300 for their photographer and explain to them why. Then I'd probably go through with trying to list it there if they accept your reasoning. The $300 looks kind of like a bait and switch deal and they're probably just trying to make some more money on you without having skin in the game. The worst that can happen is it sells for your reserve. If it doesn't it might be a good thing and you've had the exposure for the car. I know if I was serious about it and it didn't sell on BAT I would be watching for it to be listed after the non-sale. A person can't buy a car if they don't know about it, but once they know about it, they will look for it. Right now BAT is the way Ebay used to be, for exposure that can't be achieved elsewhere.

 

[XS22J8R]

Well I replied to their agent with a “dear John” (actually Jeff) response that if all the pictures I’ve provided aren’t acceptable that I’m not going to get a chance to swap the car out of storage with one of the “keepers” in my garage in order that I can go get at the 71 constantly to keep taking more pictures until he’s finally satisfied, until after Moparty, and the timing if I do that is pushing things out too far. So unless they can use the pictures I’ve provided, we’re going to have to cancel this for now.
I tried to be diplomatic and say I didn’t understand pictures had to be under 2 months old and will be more educated in the future if they’ll still consider dealing with me then.
We’ll see if they relent and accept my pictures, and if not if they refund my $99 or if I will have fight about it.
I’m bummed, I spent probably close to 10 hours last weekend digging through all my photo archives seeking the best shots I’ve taken of the car over the years, then traveling an hour out to see the car Sunday, and imposing on the storage place manager to get the car out for me so I could take a bunch more pics and a couple videos, all while getting attacked by mosquitoes from the adjacent woods.
This sucks… trying to sell cars sucks!