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| December 2003 |
Deep within the beautiful rolling hills of West Chester, Pennsylvania, not far from Dutch Country you will find DoneDirect Motors.
Ed Kavetski and his business partners, Patrick Glean and Hugh Plumb founded DoneDirect Motors in April 2003.
Ed and Patrick have both been in the automobile industry for the better part of the last 20 years and Hugh is a professional racecar driver by trade. They witnessed a great many changes in the Automobile industry. Who ever would have thought one could continue to capitalize on their skills as a great car salesman from home, the grocery store, or just about anywhere his cell phone can reach.
As the company celebrates their first year in business, they also celebrated a tremendous success by having maintained a flawless feedback record with almost 200 feedback comments, and more than doubling their average selling price on the eBay Motors marketplace over the last year!
Ed began his career in the auto industry in 1983. His first car on eBay was a yellow Land Rover Defender 90...everyone always remembers his first! Ed knew that eBay was the way to capitalize on an untapped market of car buyers "after seeing the coverage, exposure and affordability [on eBay Motors], and the ability to include photos and unlimited text for less money than the local paper for only two lines of text.
Selling mostly late model European cars, today, DoneDirect Motors is selling more than 70 cars a month with a few nostalgic antiques thrown in the mix to keep things interesting. His constant supply of great cars and nostalgic wonders keep car enthusiasts of all kinds checking out his listings on a regular basi...just to see what he.s got next!
When asked what advice he could provide to current and future sellers on eBay Motors, Ed speaks to both the franchise dealer and the independent dealer.
His franchise tip is "to manage the turnaround time because it can take up to two weeks or more for a transaction to finally become complete after a 5 day auction. So, manage the process and just have the understanding that it will take time." Ed also adds, that "storage space can also be challenging and to make sure you have the room to keep the cars on the lot until the customer can take possession.
Individual sellers are minded to "make sure and disclose ALL faults on the car. If the car is truly a .no fault. car, find one anyway because you will lose credibility by not disclosing any shortcomings.
"You can.t tell me," he continues, "that a 40,000 mile car doesn.t have a stone chip...be honest about the small things and people will know you are being honest with your entire description of the vehicle. We describe everything.
As upstanding members of the eBay community, eBay PowerSeller and member of the Square Trade Seal and Seller Guarantee programs, DoneDirect Motors has found a success on eBay Motors. Not only has eBay Motors allowed them to capitalize on the internet.s market of car buyers as entrepreneurs, it has also allowed them spend more time with their families and focus on the important things in life.
eBay Motors has "allowed us to spend more time at home because I can manage my auctions and my business from anywhere...it has provided me a better quality of life."
Their quality of life shows in their enthusiastic approach to selling cars! Overall, DoneDirect Motors success is greatly attributed to the honesty and integrity they show all of their customers...shown obviously by their incredible eBay member feedback. We wish them continued success on eBay Motors!
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| September 2003 |
For 15 years, Ken Button (on the left), userid e-motorclassics (131), has been selling vehicles, most of them being classic cars. He started selling vehicles on eBay Motors at the end of May 2000 in an only-on-eBay transaction: Ken, who was in New Jersey at the time but lives in Indiana, got a call from an eBay buyer in Texas for a car that was in Florida.
Since then, Ken recognizes, as do millions of others, eBay is "the" marketplace on these old cars as well as the new vehicles. "It is an unprecedented marketplace that this world has never seen. With over 70 million registered bidders, we are selling cars left and right to people all across this great country, but better yet, we have sold fifteen cars to European countries this year alone. No more boundaries..."
Ken started listing on eBay Motors because his boss told him to do so. At first, Ken was skeptical to say the least... "There is NO way any of these vehicles are going to sell on the internet". This was the general consensus of all of the employees at the time whether they admit it or not. "I sold the first car I listed! There were only four photos, a little description and "only" 8-10 million bidders at the time."
Ken had worked for quantity-minded companies in the past long enough to realize that he wanted to be the best rather than the biggest. E-motorclassics runs between ten and fifteen vehicles weekly averaging around 50-60 vehicles each month. Their selling percentage is tremendous and probably one of the best in the business. Ken sticks to vehicles that are in high demand. Their top sellers have been 1963-1967 Mid-Year Corvettes as well as 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbirds. They sell approximately 90% of the Model T's and Model A's they list. "The nice thing about eBay is that with 70 million plus buyers out there, you can represent just about anything and find the demand that was literally unheard of prior to the existence of the eBay marketplace. We sold a 1967 VW Microbus for $28,500! I don't know for certain, but I would guess that is an internet world record on a Volkswagen Microbus. How long would that have taken to sell with a sign in your front yard? Or on the dealers lot? Well it took precisely seven days on eBay."
Ken's tips for selling successfully on eBay are simple: "Photos, photos photos. Description description description. AND above all else, be honest and tell the good along with the bad. You must bring your buyer as close to the vehicle as possible. In the world of online auctions, confidence equals price far more than what the price guides or friends say it is worth. If that bidder doesn't feel as confident in the car as you do seeing the car in person, you will not manifest the most money out of the vehicle.
"Additionally, the buyer must feel that he can trust you. Become PowerSellers and a member of Square Trade to expound a tremendous amount of trust in your potential buyers that you are a good person and one they can trust. Without question, eBay Motors provides more buyers than any other "vehicle" for selling a car today period. The only question is your price and the confidence inspired within the auction. If you create the confidence in buyers across eBay that the car is what it is, and your price is reasonable, it will sell. Take the basic blocking and tackling fundamentals of traditional business and apply it to this phenomenon called eBay, and you will have the ingredients for success. Treat others as you would like to be treated."
Ken's last tip would be to surround yourself with talented team players. "If it had not been for the dedication of Joel Wilson, Jeffrey Paske, Philip Codding, Byron Bradley and my lovely wife Heather Button, this business would not be where it is today. These talented individuals have sound moral values coupled with a sincere desire to help people."
eBay has highly impacted the way Ken has done business. "I now do business nationally as well as internationally on a constant basis rather than flying to a local market and conducting a local market auction for these old cars." eBay has provided us tremendous exposure.
eBay Motors has had a life changing effect on Ken and his family. He went from being an employee with a "traditional" auction company, to being an owner of an internet company doing millions of dollars in sales in just under two years with six wonderful employees. "We did a quarter of a million in sales this past month and we have not even scratched the surface." The thing that he most enjoys about how eBay has changed his life is the fact that he does not have to leave his family each weekend as a traveling Auctioneer. "I will never again have to here Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" and feel like the music is a mirror."
"Zig Ziglar says you can have anything in life you want, if you simply help enough other people get what they want out of their life. I hoped I have helped someone out there with our team's success story. eBay has provided me the freedom I have dreamed about since I was a young child. I am certain it can do the same for you. email me at ken@e-motorclassics.com if you have any questions or concerns about selling vehicles on eBay Motors. I have honestly listed thousands of vehicles on eBay Motors and sold well over 15 million dollars in just three prosperous years. Do it eBay!"
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| Mike Gerber |
July 2003 |
Mike Gerber, mikegerberauto@aol.com has been selling cars for 35 years. Mike started working for Chrysler Corp. in Illinois as a welder and worked his way up to production control. After that he started selling cars and eventually became the general manager of a Ford dealership. He did this for 12 years then started his own business in 1980 and started selling on eBay April 1, 2002. Mike's wife Linda is also active in the car business. She's worked for Mercedes for over 20 years and is currently the assistant service manager at the local Mercedes dealer.
His first item sold on eBay was an MG sign that he had had for years. (It's no coincidence that these are also his initials.) After that he sold a few toy cars, salt and pepper shakers, and anything else he could find at the time. He tried his first car and it was magic. Before long Mike had a star next to his user ID and got the bug to go further.
What does he like to sell? "Anything cute." In reality he will sell most any car he feels he can make money on but leans toward the lower end of the spectrum. What are the best tips that he has for others?
- Tell the truth about your cars and don't bluff the buyers.
- Incomplete information will always come back to bite you.
- Learn and follow eBay's rules.
- Talk to your bidders BEFORE the auction ends.
- Encourage bidders to keep in email contact.
Lately Mike has taken to running no reserve auctions. He realizes that there is risk involved but it fits his overall business model for the moment. This also generates LOTS of bidding activity on his auctions.
Mike has found that he is now selling to a more educated customer and customers that believe in the eBay system. With eBay he is reconditioning his cars more thoroughly and is more honest and aware of how they are represented in his listings compared to his method of business only a few short years ago. He also LOVES the feedback system. He finds this the personal touch for his changed business and even thinks that all businesses should have a feedback system.
The largest effect that all these eBay transactions have had on his life is the communication with the bidders. When gathering information for this story, Mike had just gotten off the phone with a bidder in Switzerland. He's getting other eBayers writing him with nothing by brief compliments on his feedback. The camaraderie and communication with people from all over the country are and added benefit that Mike's enjoying very much, except that he's sending out a huge number of emails these days.
Mike has had recent plans to slow down a bit and has been toying with the idea of retiring. Sales on eBay are becoming a bigger and bigger portion of his business and he likes the successes he's having. I'm sure that new lake house he attributes to his increased eBay sales may have something to do with the fact that retirement is still far off in Mike's future.
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