Ideas on how to sell a 7.

[jimrankin]

Josh from this forum has his 7 for sale and he had asked me this question and I had to admit that I didn't have much information to offer. With such a limited pool of buyers it all comes down to timing and exposure. Besides E-Bay and the 7's clubs what's viable? Paid advertising just doesn't seem logical unless it's on something like Hemmings or one of the established "race cars for sale" sites and even there your not getting a lot of people just 'looking" without a pretty fixed idea of what they want. Craigslist is easy and free but it doesn't have much in the way of getting your car noticed among the 50K used junkers listed every day.

At least it's already spring (in most places) so that's a help. Hard to sell a 7 to someone when it's too cold in the prospective buyers state to drive it.

What worked when you bought your 7?

Josh, clean out your message box so anyone with an idea can PM you.

[toedrag]

Josh from this forum has his 7 for sale and he had asked me this question and I had to admit that I didn't have much information to offer. With such a limited pool of buyers it all comes down to timing and exposure. Besides E-Bay and the 7's clubs what's viable? Paid advertising just doesn't seem logical unless it's on something like Hemmings or one of the established "race cars for sale" sites and even there your not getting a lot of people just 'looking" without a pretty fixed idea of what they want. Craigslist is easy and free but it doesn't have much in the way of getting your car noticed among the 50K used junkers listed every day.

At least it's already spring (in most places) so that's a help. Hard to sell a 7 to someone when it's too cold in the prospective buyers state to drive it.

What worked when you bought your 7?

Josh, clean out your message box so anyone with an idea can PM you.

 

Print out a flyer and drop it off at a local track? Head out to some local car shows like a Cars & Coffee and display a 'For Sale' sign. List on SCCA forums, any local car forums, trackjunkies.org, depending on the restrictions in their respective marketplaces. Just spitballin' here.

[Croc]

If you are in the market for a seven where do you generally head?

 

One of the forums is a good starting place - USA7s, Locost, Birkin Yahoo, Stalker group

 

If you are off by yourself with your friends in CA?

 

California Caterham Club (although they may be exclusively Caterham?)

 

If you want a broader audience?

 

Look at Ebay and Craigslist and make sure the ad is saturated with keywords so it comes up in searches.

 

Is it good for track or auto-x?

 

Then look at SCCA or NASA classifieds.

 

Want to be quirky?

 

Try to get the car on BringATrailer or Fast In Fast Out.

 

Is the seller a complete numpty on the internet and needs to follow traditional face to face ways of making a sale?

 

Better learn quick as the car market is now online if you want top dollar. I am sure the Daily Toilet Paper Classifieds in Bumfart Iowa will find someone eventually at 10% of a fair price for the car.

 

 

 

Toerag has a great suggestion on advertising at the track or auto-cross field or Cars and Starbucks.

 

Once you have an ad then it needs to be detailed with great photos intended to get people looking because they are interested. A reasonable price keeps them interested.

 

A well presented car in the photos always gets my attention. It shows a caring, knowledgable, owner with pride in his car.

 

I don't recall seeing this car anywhere for sale other than what you posted Jim. So I would suggest that a seller who is visible, keen and prominent will get attention. MIA suggests someone who does not care - not motivated. A full PM box would also stop a potential buyer getting in touch.

 

A person could have the best car in the world for sale but not following the above is a recipe for struggling to sell it. To get top dollar or even a buyer making a bid you have to make a market in the car. People have to know and want it.

 

Even with all of this you have to be patient. We have specialist cars. The pool of buyers is small. You have to work harder at finding them. My old yellow SV was for sale for over 12 months before I found it and bought it. The seller was clueless with sevens. It took 3 months to sell but a lot of that was timing over winter. Patience and knowing the market you are selling to is key.

 

Jim - Right now I don't think Josh wants to sell? He cannot be seriously wanting to sell as you are the only person out there flying his flag (with all credit to you as his friend).

Edited March 13, 2015 by Croc

[Kitcat]

I have bought and sold 3 se7ens, all on this Forum's for-sale section. Your asking price and bottom line will determine interest and likelihood of sale.

 

I typically established a price based on a rough look at the market and advertised for that but set a bottom line price a coupla thousand lower.

 

As Croc said: photos, photos, photos. And, spend some time. Don't do it in front of your garbage cans. Find a neutral background (wall) somewhere nearby. Don't use the photos that turned out fuzzy. Photograph everything, undercarriage, engine bay, chassis, top up, top down lights on/off, etc. Photos will sell your car because some one will see them and fall in love. If you cant handle a camera, use a friend who is handy with one (As a reward take then for a ride with the top down, they mite buy it:)).

 

Is price your only sales criteria? I sold my Caterham and my Birkin for less than I really wanted and less than I thought I could eventually get because I thought the buyers would give then a good home (they were car nuts, se7en nuts, mechanically inclined, happy to spend a week, or a year, tearing things apart).

 

Be patient with prospective buyers. Some seem to have no serious interest in your car, they just love to talk and ask questions. Others think a se7en is just a sportier car than a Miata, they have no idea what they are getting in to. So you have to be willing to educate them (will they even fit for instance?).

 

Prime time to sell-at least in the northern climes is Springtime-we all get a bit irrational as spring fever hits after 4 -6 months of cabin fever.

 

Finally-the big one:is the wife/girlfriend/significant other on-board? Have they really been asked or it is just an assumption?. I took buyers more seriously when the girlfriend/wife showed up for the test drive-and loved it:).

Edited March 13, 2015 by Kitcat

[MoBoost]

i put a bunch of photographs and a video on Flickr and an ad on this site with a link to the photos.

A quick, successful sale was the result. Ebay and others draws a lot of tire kickers. The folks here know what the car is and what they want.

[jimrankin]

I think Josh is looking for about $24K for a well sorted and good looking Ultralite with a low mileage drive train and some extra goodies. I know he was hoping to sell it "locally" to someone, especially an autocrosser who might get more use out of it then he was getting. I think it was posted on here already, or at least shown in a link on the "cars for sale" section. I had suggested to him that winter was not going to be the time to sell and to put it off till warmer weather. Some good ideas suggested. Unfortunately around silicon valley and Santa Cruz just about no one lets you put up flyers. Would be a great to have a flyer at Starbucks saying "Get some Adrenalin with you Caffeine, buy this 7".

[xcarguy]

Hey, Jim,

 

 

 

I'm a bit late for the party, but just to reiterate (in short) the obvious of what’s already been well stated here, I can’t stress enough the importance of presentation. Good, high-quality photos of everything, including underneath the car if possible, are a must. Depending on the ad, both sides of the car, as well as the front and the rear, should be presented from various angles. One of my personal pet peeves regarding photosis an ad that does not provide photos of both sides of the car. Photos revealing engine bay and interior detail are a must as well.

 

The write-up needs to be detailed; the more detail, the more interested a perspective buyer will be. In the past, when I decided to sell a car, I would open all the doors, the hood and the trunk. I would then take a note pad and, starting at the front of the car and working my way to the rear, take notes regarding things such as the nose, tires and wheels, engine bay, mirrors, etc. Once finished, I would then do my write-up based on my notes. In ads that would permit me to do so (such as eBay, for example) I would try and arrange the photos so that they would flow with, and complement, the write-up. In the past, this has worked well for me.:cheers:

[rnr]

Has he posted to the GGLC newsletter? I beleive ads are free for members though the next one will be in May

[Anaximander]

I may be stating the obvious but why hasn't Josh posted his car over on the Cars for Sale forum? I suspect that others as well as myself would love to see some pictures of his jewel of a car.

[Jesse D]

From the other side . . . . . When I got the hankering to buy a Seven last summer/fall I started on the internet looking for a dealer, as I'm not knowledgeable about these cars, just wanted one since 1964 and finally getting around to it. Found Chris at Sevens and Elans so proved that there was someone who could take care of my car for me, but he had nothing suitable for sale. A little more internet work got me to this forum and the car I bought. I would absolutely get a good description and pictures going on this site.

 

My concept was buy in November, sell in May, so this spring I will be on the opposite side, trying to sell the pristine BMW that started this whole thing for me. I will try for BringATrailor or sell it locally.