I have had 445 transaction on eBay including selling my 96 Eagle Talon Tsi to a guy on the east coast. Only had one bad transaction in all those 445 and that was because the buyer was an idiot.

 

I bought an Infiniti off Ebay, and my motorycle off Ebay. Didnt have any problems with either... if it is a dealer, I feel like you have some protection. If it is a private seller, make sure they have been an ebay member for a long time, and have very good feedback.

Also, remember ebay protects buyers. If you purchase a vehicle, then fly out to see it--and its a piece of crap, you can decline to purchase, and ask Ebay for your money back. you will need to document and tell them why this vehicle was NOT like the one described/shown in the ad.....but ebay will protect you and give you money back.

 

I just bought my beautiful 02 Convertible off ebay. I have bought and sold over a dozen cars on ebay and only had issues with one but that one was a very expensive lesson. It was a 97 Viper GTS with only 7000 miles on it. It was over 2000 miles away so I dealt solely with trust, pictures and listening to what the seller said about the car. It was almost $5k cheaper than what GTS's of that year and model were going for. It was my first Viper, I really wanted one and I figured with only 7K miles on it, it had to be as perfect as the pictures and what the guy said about it. One of the red flags I should have seen was it had 5 owners before me, so it wasn't a toy someone bought and loved. The car showed up and wouldn't start, there was a hole in the seat, holes in the carpet, smelled like cigarettes, brakes were bad, it would run right after we got it started and the underneath looked like it had been run through a field. Scratched all over the under panels, just a mess. When I called to talk to the guy about it he would never answer the phone. I got it all fixed up but it left such a bad taste in my mouth I hated that car. I had sold a beautiful 02 Z06 with 6000 miles on it to buy the Viper and wish I had never done it. Have a good friend that has a Viper that handed my Z06 it's butt so I had to have one. They are a very cool car and I sold that one and bought a perfect 02 GTS FE. Gave both of them away. Lost a ton on both of them. Never buy cars thinking your buying it to make money. A couple years ago I'm sure I could of made a lot more but with today's economy, cars have tanked and it's a buyers market. Just check it out real good and fly over or have someone check it out for you if you can.

 

Bought my first vette off of ebay. I've sold a couple of motorcycles on ebay. Never had a problem.

 

You're mistaken about the Ebay Fees.

You can sell up to 4 Vehicles per year with NO Insertion Fee and only $125 fee if your car sells. Only $60 if the final price is less the $2k.

If you list more then 4 you pay $50 insertion and NO Final fee.

I don't think $125 or $50 is a "Very Large Portion" of the sale.

When I'm looking at vehicles on Ebay I use the "Distance Nearest" in the search criteria. The more expensive a car is the further from home I will go. To buy a $3k car in Florida and ship across country for $1200 or more kills the deal. If the car is $50K then the shipping charge is acceptable. (can also be used as point in negotiation)

I rarely just do the bidding thing. I always contact the seller to get more info and a better feel for the seller and make a deal direct.

If the seller wants to let the auction run then I'll tell him to let me know if it doesn't sell and "we'll talk".

The few times that I do bid I send the seller an Email telling him I have bid on his car and that if I win the auction my bid is subject to a final inspection of the vehicle. If the seller doesn't like it then I retract my bid.