Classic Buys: Sight Unseen
April 1, 2005
If you are considering the purchase of a 1965 Silver Cloud III or a 1999
Silver Seraph, you are likely to give the car much more scrutiny than if you’re
visiting a Rolls-Royce dealer to select a new Phantom. Buying a previously owned
car—whether a classic or a more recent vintage—requires a spirit of caveat
emptor, and in the realm of high-end automobiles due diligence is especially
critical. So would you buy a car without seeing it for yourself? Believe it or
not, in the burgeoning online eBay Motors marketplace, that is exactly what most
buyers do.
Simon Rothman, the global vice president for eBay Motors, says his
division was actually the brainchild of eBay users. In 1999 the company noticed
that eBay sellers were using the model car section to peddle the real deal.
Rather than quashing the trend, eBay encouraged it by creating a designated auto
category that led to the launch of eBay Motors in 2000. If you haven’t visited
the site before, you might be surprised by the expansive selection of
automobiles and accessories—in the fourth quarter of 2004, eBay Motors generated
a gross merchandise volume of $11.1 billion.
It is an exponential growth
that even eBay didn’t expect, says Rothman. “If you look at the numbers, eBay’s
expectations for the Motors division were incredibly low,” he explains.
Admittedly, the idea of using a collectibles marketplace to sell cars seemed
far-fetched. “There were those,” acknowledges Rothman, “who asked, ‘We’re going
to go from selling Beanie Babies to Bugattis?’ But eBay has always been a
corporation that understands innovation, rewards and respects it.” Because of
eBay’s roots in collectibles, classic cars formed the core of early offerings,
but from rare, antique, and project cars, dealers and individuals expanded to
exotic models, and eventually delved into the sale of common vehicles and parts.
Now, a car sells every minute, a Mustang every 34 minutes, and a Corvette every
hour; sales growth means the company’s statistics must be continually
revised.
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