[ElectricTroy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=31839

Wow. He says the battery is in great shape... presumably because he barely used it.

 

[figgy]

That auction is going like crazy. 44 bids and already up to $4400 and 3 days left to go on it!

I think Insights are worth more than gold right now. Black gold that is, Texas Tea... Jingle jangle jingle...

 

[Yves M.]

I have no experience in these auction.
I find it bizarre that they start with a price lower than the reserve price. I do not see why they do not begin where they would like to sell.

At the end, they might not meet the reserve and everybody bids for nothing, too much effort. I do not see the reason for the above.

E.G. if the reserve is $10000 then start at that price, not $100

 

[Foxpaw]

I've wondered that myself, but I think the idea is, if they set a low starting bid with a reserve, they can see how much people are willing to bid up to, so they could consider lowering the price if and when they relist the item. If they start it at their reserve price and get no bids, they wouldn't know if noone was interested or if the price was just too high.

Pure speculation of course, I personally wouldn't use a reserve in that manner because eBay charges a fee for reserve auctions but you can set the minimum bid to whatever you want without any additional fee.

 

[Rick]

The idea with starting an auction out low is that your more likely to create bidding wars between two or more parties and in theory you should get a higher final price.

 

[ElectricTroy]

Also, listing at $1000 is cheaper than listing at $10,000.

EDIT: I just checked, and ebay charges the same amount for anything over $500. Oops.

 

[Yves M.]

Thanks, I get the idea now. Guess I am not very business oriented. Lurn somthin evryday

 

[ElectricTroy]

ME: "just curious: I own an Insight, but only 30,000 miles. How did you manage to put on 186,000 miles in only 4 years? Are you a traveling saleman perhaps?"

SELLER: I let my mother drive it to church on sundays.


A smart-*** response. I wouldn't bid for this car...

 

[Foxpaw]

Maybe his mother drives all the way to the Vatican for church.

 

[figgy]

If that truly was his respons, and it wasn't followed up by a detailed real answer, then I would have to smell a rat!

I just wonder why a rat would say it had 186,000 miles instead of saying it had 3 miles. Very odd response. Must have a secret desire to keep the car.

 

[SeanW]

Maybe, since Troy said he was already an Insight owner, he figured he wasn't a serious bidder and therefore, didn't give a serious answer! :roll:

 

[figgy]

Good suggestion. That's not a very wise assumption for the seller to make, as even an Insight owner might well be shopping for another Insight knowing how great a car she is... I suppose we could find out. We could also just post about it, which is a lot more fun than knowing! Whatever thoughts were going on, it's always safer as a seller to use the witty banter as the warm up and still include the close.

 

[jsanford]

Take a pass...

ME: "just curious: I own an Insight, but only 30,000 miles. How did you manage to put on 186,000 miles in only 4 years? Are you a traveling saleman perhaps?"

SELLER: I let my mother drive it to church on sundays.

A smart-*** response. I wouldn't bid for this car...

Neither would I. There's no such thing as a stupid eBay question and when I've fieled a few selling bike stuff. Noone wants to give a weenie money.

$10,000 with hail damage? Yeah right! :roll:

 

[ElectricTroy]

Yeah it amazes me that ebay buyers are willing to pay ~$5000 for a car that is almost dead (~250,000 miles is typical end-of-life). It would be smarter to buy an almost-new car (<50,000 miles) for $10,000

 

[figgy]

I agree, but rather than see them as crazy, I just look at it as a good thing for Insight valuations!

 

[commuter]

I just picked up my first Honda Insght. I have owned several Hondas over the years, the first was the 1974 Honda Civic 4 speed. If the Insight is half as good athe Civic was it will be awesome. I boughtthe 2000 Insight off of ebay. The auction just ended 11-8-04. It is being shipped from Houston, TX to me here in California. I drve 75 miles each way to work. I currently have a 2003.5 Infiniti G35 sedan with the 6MT tranny. I love the power, but the gas bill is killing me. The ebay transaction has been pretty smooth so far. I will keep everyone posted up until the car is delivered to me. BTW I paid $8409.00 plus shipping ($550). I was pretty happy with the price. Everything around here in the paper was going for around $10K. The car has 79K miles. I'm having Gillman Honda in Houston take a look at the car prior to sending the final payment. The car is VIN# 000562. Can't wait to start playing the MPG game to and from work.

Mike

 

[figgy]

I am sure you will be very happy!