time to sell?

mrobertbrown

mrobertbrown

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While it's been a blast being a part of the e9 community, I've come to the conclusion that it's time to sell my little piece of history. I've nosed around on some of the sites and feel that Bring a Trailer is a decent way to market the car. Do you have any feedback? Are there better ways to advertise and sell an e9? I'm located in So. Calif. if it makes any difference in your opinions.
Thank you in advance.
 
Absolutely, I would sell to other members. Part of my interest in getting more exposure is to help me price the car more accurately. It seems the pricing and condition of the cars I've seen online are all over the map. I'm looking to make a fair deal for both parties, in the interest of keeping the experience positive for all concerned.
 
I think there are plenty of well known members that can give indication of the value range of your car!

How long have you had the car? What year ? What color ? AC ? Automatic , 4 or 5 speed??
:)
 
What he said, plus what is the rust situation. Use a borescope or an iphone plus a skinny hand to reach up inside the wheel well and take some video of what is inside that hole at the top. You can see the underside of the front fenders all the way down. Then up under the dash, etc.
That's where the value is determined. Unless the car has been completely apart, I am going to assume it has rust, even if it lived it's whole life in sunnay California, Dubai, or wherever.
 
mrobertbrown said:
I've nosed around on some of the sites and feel that Bring a Trailer is a decent way to market the car. Do you have any feedback?
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Without getting into what your coupe is worth, or whether you should offer it first to the people on e9coupe.com...

A number of friends have bought and sold cars on Bring a Trailer - all have been quite satisfied. A few gotchas:

- You need thick skin. People will comment on your car who seem to know nothing about e9's or even cars in general. I suspect the serious buyers know what to read and what to ignore.

- BaT has become a victim of its own success. Many weeks there are so many cars listed that some just seem to get lost.

- You'll need to negotiate with BaT to achieve a reasonable reserve. BaT is far more interested in getting your car sold than in what price is brings. So they argue for low reserves. With the crowding issue mentioned above, some auctions don't generate much interest resulting in cars selling for << their value due to their low reserve. However, most BaT auctions bring terrific prices (at least from the seller's perspective).

- Selling on BaT does take some work. You will need lots of high-quality photos including some taken with the car on a lift. You also need a good write-up, though the editors at BaT will help with that.
 
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I sold a car on BAT about a year ago, and I agree 100% with jmacro's comments. Also, it took about 2 weeks from the time I submitted everything until it came up for the auction. I would not agree to their reserve price, wanted it about 15% higher, and they finally agreed. The car sold for about 50% above their proposed reserve.
 
I too agree with jmacro's and Gary's comments. I sold my 2002 on BAT last fall and was very happy with the results but it was a really good car with all of the right period correct mods, in the right color with NO rust at all. The whole thing cost me 100 dollars and I got way beyond the reserve price that I had to argue with BAT for in the first place. I think exceptional cars do well on BAT and all e9s that have been listed seem to generate a lot of interest. If you go with BAT, get ready because everyone on that site now is an expert on how rusty our cars can be and they are going to want to make sure everyone knows they know by making a comment.

The two keys things to remember as a seller- As jmackro said, take a ton of pictures of everything including as many of the underside as possible. Communication is key, answer all questions as quickly as possible.
 
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I may try other sites first before taking the plunge on BAT.

Ebay, Hemmings, and here. Ask top dollar and if no bites, then do BAT.

Unless you have a #2 car, anything less than that has not that sold well, if at all, on BAT. Plus you need to be on that site constantly answering questions.

Whatever site you sell on, take TONS of pictures! Host them on IMGUR or ImgBB. I've sold well on ebay because I'm very thorough and honest with both my pictures and descriptions.

Good luck!
 
Guys:
I really appreciate the thoughtful comments and suggestions about both BaT and selling in general. It shows that I need to do my homework before posting for sale. I’m finishing up the last of the projects I have agreed with myself to complete before starting the photo documentation. I’ll be sure to post here first to gauge the level of interest before casting a wider net.
 
mrobertbrown,

One way to get a feel for value is to list it on ebay (post links to various forums, like this one) with a very high reserve (expected selling price plus 60%). Doesn't cost much to list, and you'll get a lot of info about the car through the bidding and the feedback in forums. Just a thought!

Gary
 
jmackro hits the nail on the head regarding BaT.

Need to provide copious photos from rust abatement to the completed car to quell the peanut gallery comments. Best BaT auctions I have watched have very active owners answering questions.
 
My $.02. Go back and read the comments and bids for all the BAT e9 auctions. https://bringatrailer.com/bmw/e9/ I think the E9s get good attention even w more daily lots. The downside is there are a lot more commenters w questionable knowledge who are more than happy to espouse opinions. If
the car is rust-free I wouldn’t worry, but the crowd can slide from sage warnings to rust panic, and it’s hard to figure out when that will happen. However, BAT has a big BMW following and they’ve had some higher than market sales across the marque. I think it’s as good place to sell BMWs if they’ll give you a safe reserve. I overpaid for my car from
a BAT auction, and it didn’t meet reserve—plenty of idiots like me just wanting to get into an E9 & deciding to pull the trigger on risk to get it done.

Be careful about posting it elsewhere with high asking prices before BAT. Commenters will find it and post the high price in the comments and it can turn off bidders who then assume
you or your reserve will be unrealistic.

It’ll be interesting to see if more money will go into classics as cash is sidelined from equities. Or if losses and tighter financing will cool the car markets. There’s already belief in a growing class of new buyers who are pure investors, but they usually want something clean.
 
my advice is to post it here first as a precursor and get some positive comments built up - hopefully people will PM you with items that need attention. you might find a buyer here
 
rsporsche said:
my advice is to post it here first as a precursor and get some positive comments built up - hopefully people will PM you with items that need attention. you might find a buyer here
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Agree, start here, get a sense of market value, constructive criticism/suggestions. Lots of photos of course, you can't find a better start point.
 
somewhat true Rob, but there are some people here who have professed to be looking ... there is generally more guests on this site than members. it also depends on what the condition of completeness the car exists in - some people want projects or something mostly done to finish ... and some want perfect cars others want decent cars. BaT has done better with well documented perfect cars
 
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