Selling my bus :(

[DROdio]

Well, I've put 4 hard years of work into my bus conversion, but family circumstances are forcing me to sell my beloved bus.

It's a VanHool, if anyone would like to see the eBay posting, it's here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230040046356

If I can't get a decent price for it on eBay, i'll probably just part it out (ouch).  So if you're interested in any of the components, definitely let me know and I'll contact you if I'm going to sell things that way.

[H3Jim]

Sorry to hear this, I remember looking at pictures of your bus earlier this year.  You have put a lot of  marlvelous, creative ideas into it.  I hope you get enough for it on EBay, what a shame to have to let it go.  good luck to you.

[NJT5047]

Doubt you'll be parting the bus out.  Unless you just refuse to sell the coach, it's gone...No reserve and $9K??  Am I missing something?
Nice looking item!  Good place for an aspiring bus converter to start...lots of nice appointments already.
Hope life ain't treating you too badly.  Stuff definitely happens. 
If I didn't have one already, I'd bid right now.   
Be watching Ebay on that one!  If it was on the East Coast, I'd bid...be interesting to see how high it goes.
Best, JR
 

[DROdio]

Yeah started it at $9k because i don't want to deter bidders... but obviously i'm hoping to recoup as much of my investment as possible.... but i'm not expecting to get too close to the $$$ i've put into it!   It has been a marvelous project though.  *sigh*

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Daniel,

Wow, I'd hate to see you do this......  Even I have time invested in your bus.

But, I just hope everything is ok with your family.    Let me know if I can do anything for you.

Nick-

[NJT5047]

Looks like you have 12 bids already and another 5 days left.  It'll get on up there.  You'll have to watch for deadbeat bidders.  And scammers.   I'm sure you are familiar with the E-place "games" that are pretty common on high-end items. 
In any event, the serious bidding won't start until the last few hours...

Good Luck on your listing, JR   

[Len Silva]

Even though the bids are getting up there, I would have a friend ready to bid your minumum acceptable amount shortly before the bidding ends.  I know that that's shill bidding and against the rules and all that but you would protect yourself from having to sell at tens of thousands under your expectations

[gumpy]

  I know that that's shill bidding and against the rules and all

Not to mention illegal, unethical, dispicable, and several other things I can't think of right now!!

[belfert]

  I know that that's shill bidding and against the rules and all

Not to mention illegal, unethical, dispicable, and several other things I can't think of right now!!

We know nobody ever does anything like this on Ebay.  Never! 

Lots of people will run no reserve auctions and then pull the auction last minute saying 'Item no longer available" if the bids don't seem to be high enough.  Mysteriously, some of those items show up again later.

Shill bidding may be illegal, but I don't know that pulling the auction last minute is.  The only real way Ebay can stop the last minute cancellations would be to not allow cancellations at all.

I'm not recommending the OP try any of these stunts.  Just sell the bus for whatever it brings.

Brian Elfert

[Jeremy]

Actually, Ebay's systems prevent the seller pulling the auction at the last minute if bids have been placed. Quite right too.

Jeremy

[HighTechRedneck]

Actually, Ebay's systems prevent the seller pulling the auction at the last minute if bids have been placed. Quite right too.

Jeremy

I know it is supposed to, but there is a way to do it on vehicles to cover prior sale.  Many (most) vehicle listings openly state in the listing that it is subject to prior selling outside of the auction.  This exception is often abused by sellers dishonestly claiming the item sold to avoid selling below expectations.

Before I got my bus I had done some preliminary bidding (to find the reserve).  Then I went back to it in the final hours to prepare for the real bidding war.  On the last day of the auction the reserve had been met but the sellerwithdrew the item stating prior sale.  A couple days later it was up for sale again under a different seller name with identical photos and listing content/format.  This actually worked out for the best for me because I later found the bus I ended up getting and I love it.

[boogiethecat]

Naw, you can pull an auction any time you want to, bids or not.  If there's bids, the cancellation page has a button that says "cancel all bids and cancel the auction"

But  DRO did it right, low starting price and no reserve... on high dollar items those two in combination get greed into the equation and the end result for the seller is *usually* good.  People browsing see all those bids that were generated when the price was still low, compare that to all the other similar high$ starting auctions with only 1 or 2 bids  and internally their brains say "oh THAT"s the one I want, cause everyone else seems to think it's the best one" ..it's all a psychology game.
  The only goof DRO apparently made was this one- you should put  auctions up on Thursday, and for 10 days.  That way you get two weekends worth of attention instead of only one, that one bidder who may drive the price up and is on vacation for a weekend will still be able to see it.   Doing an auction for 5 days  or even doing a 10 day auction and starting on other than a Thursday or Friday limits the weekend exposure to only one weekend, and weekends are where most of the lookie-loos do their looking....

Cheers
G

[Len Silva]

Even though the bids are getting up there, I would have a friend ready to bid your minumum acceptable amount shortly before the bidding ends.  I know that that's shill bidding and against the rules and all that but you would protect yourself from having to sell at tens of thousands under your expectations

I went back and read eBays policies and I take it all back...shilling is a bad idea.

However, many busses and other big ticket items state that the item is available for sale locally and the auction may be cancelled.

[belfert]

Naw, you can pull an auction any time you want to, bids or not.  If there's bids, the cancellation page has a button that says "cancel all bids and cancel the auction"

I seem to recall that you can't cancel all bids in the last 12 hours, at least on general Ebay items.  I don't know about the Ebay motors items.  This whole talk about Ebay is getting way off the topic anyhow.

Brian elfert

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

When selling on eBay, I believe the best (and honest, legal, etc.) course of action is to have a reserve price that's the bare minimum you'll take for your item. And set a "Buy it Now" for what you'd really like to get for it. Nothing "dreamy and out of this world", but a realistic price on both items.

I sold my last bus on eBay by generating a lot of bids in the bidding-up process... and once it neared the reserve price, somebody pulled the "Buy it Now" because he feared a bidding war (which can go above Buy it Now, BTW). This taps into human nature, I guess. Also, I've always freely shared my reserve price when inquired... no sense wasting folks' time IMHO.

Gary's advice on weekend "traffic" is spot on. I've also found the best time to end an auction is Sunday evenings (when most folks are home and not doing much), sometime around 6pm Pacific time (9pm ET) if you're trying to cover all of the NA time zones.

As someone who's bought and sold on eBay for years, I'm very upset that someone here would suggest shilling as a course of action in getting an item sold. Wow! Shame...

bb