eBay’s New Vehicle Transaction Experience – Would You Finance Over eBay?

[Brian Michael West]

eBay just rolled out a new “Secure Purchase” process powered by their acquisition of Caramel. It allows buyers and sellers to handle everything online, including financing, paperwork, title transfers, and even delivery. Buyers can apply for financing, sign all the paperwork digitally, and finalize the deal without ever stepping into a dealership.

For sellers, funds are released within a couple of business days once the title is verified, and for higher dollar vehicles there is a split payment system at pickup and after title confirmation. There is also DMV coordination, odometer verification, and options for protection products built into the process.

This brings up some big questions for us in retail automotive:

• Would you be comfortable offering financing over eBay’s platform?
• How do you see this impacting traditional dealer processes, especially when it comes to paperwork and compliance?
• Does eBay’s brand carry enough trust for a buyer to finance and sign contracts entirely online?
• What potential risks or opportunities do you see for dealers if buyers start expecting this kind of streamlined experience everywhere?

I’m curious how many of you think this could be a real shift in online retail, or if it is more of a niche tool for private-party transactions. Would your store embrace it or stay away from it?


What are your thoughts?

 

[kentmakishima]

I work mostly with dealers in the high-end/enthusiast space, a few avoid using Caramel due to titles getting lost and lack of communication with Caramel. You can see commentary for it in the Bring a Trailer groups, since they integrated it to their marketplace.

I do think this is the future of commerce and it won't be long there are more providers or till dealers can offer these services themselves. Having been approached to build digital dealer financing solutions, the technology is here, it is just integrating it to dealer workflows.