BringATrailer.com - has it gotten too big for its britches?
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:09 pm
I'm a huge fan of BringATrailer.com. I've sold 2 cars on it: a kit car in 2016 and a 2000 Jaguar XJR in 2017. Although good (not great) results pricewise, I really like the format, that the buyers are legit and that the car gets sold in 7 days. I did both of my previous auctions as "no reserve" because I was confident that BaT would get me market price - you just don't see cars go dirt cheap on there. The cars always bring right around what they should bring because they have a good base of knowledgeable buyers.
Last Friday, I submitted my '87 Bertone X1/9 for sale. They have sold several on there before and they currently had an X1/9 auction live. Although not perfect and with matte (rather than shiny) paint, my X1/9 is a nice little rust-free California car and I spent a lot of time over the summer sprucing it up. I submitted several pics and info on the recent maintenance and info on the car's history (accident free and owned by the same guy in California for 26 years). I told them it was nice enough to have been on display at the auto museum and it would come with a reader board from when it was on display at the museum. I said I'd list it as "no reserve". I pointed out that I had successfully sold twice previously on BaT, and that I have a dealer's license so that I'm licensed, bonded and insured. Easy, peasy - I'd get my spot in line and probably have a mid-November auction date.
About an hour later, I get a rejection notice. Hmm, I thinks to myself, that's odd. X1/9s may not be the hottest car on the block, but they have gotten pretty rare, and this one's pretty decent. So, it shouldn't be the car. I've sold twice before on there without incident, and was pretty easy to work with (I think), took good pics, was responsive to comments during the auction. My buyers were happy. I was fine with going no reserve.
So, what the heck?
I went online and did a search. I found this article: https://www.guyswithrides.com/2019/05/0 ... the-story/
According to that article, BaT turns down 400 submissions per week. Apparently, they have increased to running 200 auctions per week, but still get 600 to 700 submissions per week. Wowza! Seems to me that there's a business opportunity there. I know that another guy tried to start a similar auction website a few years ago, www.seconddaily.com , but it doesn't appear to have ever gained traction. But if there's another 400+ classic cars available each week, I'd think someone could start a competing website and skim off the best 100 or 150 of them.
Back to my little X1/9, I suspect that they simply have bigger fish to fry. I don't see a whole lot of sub-$10,000 cars on there anymore. The X1/9 that was live last week sold for $4,500. It had some needs and a dent in the passenger door, but I felt like it should have sold for around $6,00 or $7,000. Even at that price, however, why would they accept a $7,000 car for one of their 200 weekly slots when they've got 400 other cars that will all probably sell for more? It's too bad though because I think much of the fun and appeal in the non-snooty collector car market is finding an affordable classic. Those days may be gone at BringATrailer. As for me and the X1/9, I suppose I'll go the regular route of Craigslist, cars.com, ebay and various other internet classifieds. Frankly, it may not make any sense to even try selling it until March. We have Mecum coming to town in December, so maybe I'll give that a shot.
Last Friday, I submitted my '87 Bertone X1/9 for sale. They have sold several on there before and they currently had an X1/9 auction live. Although not perfect and with matte (rather than shiny) paint, my X1/9 is a nice little rust-free California car and I spent a lot of time over the summer sprucing it up. I submitted several pics and info on the recent maintenance and info on the car's history (accident free and owned by the same guy in California for 26 years). I told them it was nice enough to have been on display at the auto museum and it would come with a reader board from when it was on display at the museum. I said I'd list it as "no reserve". I pointed out that I had successfully sold twice previously on BaT, and that I have a dealer's license so that I'm licensed, bonded and insured. Easy, peasy - I'd get my spot in line and probably have a mid-November auction date.
About an hour later, I get a rejection notice. Hmm, I thinks to myself, that's odd. X1/9s may not be the hottest car on the block, but they have gotten pretty rare, and this one's pretty decent. So, it shouldn't be the car. I've sold twice before on there without incident, and was pretty easy to work with (I think), took good pics, was responsive to comments during the auction. My buyers were happy. I was fine with going no reserve.
So, what the heck?
I went online and did a search. I found this article: https://www.guyswithrides.com/2019/05/0 ... the-story/
According to that article, BaT turns down 400 submissions per week. Apparently, they have increased to running 200 auctions per week, but still get 600 to 700 submissions per week. Wowza! Seems to me that there's a business opportunity there. I know that another guy tried to start a similar auction website a few years ago, www.seconddaily.com , but it doesn't appear to have ever gained traction. But if there's another 400+ classic cars available each week, I'd think someone could start a competing website and skim off the best 100 or 150 of them.
Back to my little X1/9, I suspect that they simply have bigger fish to fry. I don't see a whole lot of sub-$10,000 cars on there anymore. The X1/9 that was live last week sold for $4,500. It had some needs and a dent in the passenger door, but I felt like it should have sold for around $6,00 or $7,000. Even at that price, however, why would they accept a $7,000 car for one of their 200 weekly slots when they've got 400 other cars that will all probably sell for more? It's too bad though because I think much of the fun and appeal in the non-snooty collector car market is finding an affordable classic. Those days may be gone at BringATrailer. As for me and the X1/9, I suppose I'll go the regular route of Craigslist, cars.com, ebay and various other internet classifieds. Frankly, it may not make any sense to even try selling it until March. We have Mecum coming to town in December, so maybe I'll give that a shot.
