We use ebay very effectively. The majority of our inventory is listed and it accounts for a significant amount of our business.
When I started here we were running 7-day auctions with no Buy it Now option. We found running auctions generated a ton of emails and phone calls, but to call them leads requires a very loose definition of what a lead is. Our sales staff were working leads where people would end up offering 25% under MMR.
To improve lead quality I did a couple of things:
1.) Drastically improved our eBay listings. I bumped the number of photos from 25 to 40+ for each car. I paste a CarFax in every single listing as well as a build sheet showing warranty dates and options on the majority of our inventory. This gives the buyer a greater sense of ownership before they pick up the phone and call us. Plus it builds a greater value in the car.
2.) I then added a Buy-it-Now price to our auctions. It reduced the number of bottom feeders and has not seemed to alienate real buyers. The 'BIN' listing requires constant review of pricing to make sure we are on the money 100% of the time.
3.) Last year we switched from 7-day auctions with Buy-it-Now listings to 45-day Buy it Now (with best offer option). The general consensus from our sales staff is that lead quality has skyrocketed. We found we started to pick up customers who surf eBay because of available inventory but are not necessarily 'eBayers.' These customers do not want to sit there and bid. They fall into the ether of buying a car and like the ability to ride the high, call and buy.
I was never convinced as to why a 7- or 10-day auction would be successful if the average customer pulls the trigger in a much shorter time frame after initially contacting a dealer. I know I personally do not have the patience to sit there and bid on a car.
I should alsao mention the 45-day listings have dropped our eBay costs by about 40% per month. We ended up keeping the budget line the same for this year and listing twice as many cars.
