Making Searches on
eBay Motors
EBay Motors is a sub section of eBay where
you can search for anything vehicle related. Vehicles, parts,
ATV’s, boats, etc… The main page has a lot of categories that
can be specifically searched in but I generally like to search
inventory in the “Cars & Trucks” section and narrow my
searches down on my own. (eBay periodically changes the way
searches are conducted and categories so be aware that wording
may change from the quotations used) Buying cheap used cars for
sale on eBay can be
amazing since at any time there may be upwards of 35-45,000
used cars selling on eBay. WOW! Seems daunting, huh? That’s why
you are still reading on…
Keywords
Before we go over specific keywords, I
should be upfront about what you may expect to find when
searching cars for auction on eBay Motors. The more specific
you are in your searches, the less likely to get a deal you may
be. In other words, someone looking for a 99 Honda Prelude
Manual Shift VTEC with cold air intake and dual exhaust is a
lot less likely to get a good deal as opposed to someone
searching for a 02-05 sedan with 60-120K miles and four door.
There is nothing wrong with knowing exactly what you want, but
it may take longer to find or you may get less of a deal.
Still, you’ll end up paying less than a dealer. I have found
many of my deals because I am more interested in a good deal
than what vehicle I drive. This includes buying a vehicle as
close as 5 miles away or going all the way across the country,
literally, to Atlanta, Georgia. (Which also turned out to be
one of the best road trips I have ever taken) Ok, keywords: The
number one keyword (in my humble, experienced opinion) is “no
reserve.” Since most people don’t want to sell their vehicle
for less than a certain price, most vehicles (like 90%) will
have a reserve. When you search “no reserve” you won’t waste
your time on vehicles that people aren’t seriously trying to
sell. It’s not impossible to find a vehicle that has a
reasonably low reserve but from my years of researching
vehicles on eBay, I have never (and I said never) seen a
vehicle with a reserve that was reasonable to the price. People
will try and sell a vehicle that blue book’s at $5000 and have
a reserve of $4900 (hoping some idiot is stupid enough to bid
on it) and that’s why I rarely bother to spend my time
researching vehicles with a reserve. And always remember that
different styles of searches and keywords can be combined for
different results. This is essential to finding cheap used cars
for sale.
Specific
Searches
EBay has a “plethora” of available searches
that can be (and should be) used. Many of them are a complete
waste of time unless you are looking for a very specific
vehicle. (At the time of this writing) the left side searches
can be narrowed by make, model, year, transmission, color, etc…
As mentioned before, I would only narrow your choices by things
that are absolute must haves. For example, if you don’t know
how to drive a manual, search by “automatic” only. But more
importantly than vehicle option searches are the eBay auction
style searches. There are two areas of interest: In the bottom
left you search by “type” of auction. EBay has not only
“Auction” style bids but also “Classifieds,” “Best Offer,” “Buy
it Now” and other auction styles. NEVER
bother with anything besides the “Auction” category.
“Classifieds” might as well be your overpriced local newspaper
and “Best Offer” is more like “Hi, I’m asking too much for my
vehicle but you can waste your time making me an offer I won’t
accept” section. If you are really trying to find cheap used
cars for sale you must be looking in the “No Reserve” “Auction”
listings. Those are the so-called Golden Tickets. For example,
one of my most recent purchases of the 02’ Blazer was an
auction only, no reserve listing. Kelley Blue Book (we will
cover what this is and why important later) gave the vehicle a
“retail” value of over $8000 and a “private party” value of
$5500. My purchase price: $2200! No dealership
had one for less than $5000 within 500 miles! And most were in
the $7-8K range! Are you starting to understand the importance
of doing the right searches on eBay? The next type of search is
in the top right of the listings. There are categories such as:
“Time: Ending Soonest,” “Distance: Nearest First,” etc. These
are important to your searches depending on what your needs are
and also conveniently leads to the next subject.
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