The Official Bring A Trailer (BaT) Thread

[TexaZ3]

That guy sounds like a whiney dipshit tbh. BAT pays their writers a massive fee of $100 per listing. So if you think they give a flying fuck about you, or the details of your car, you’ve got another thing coming.

Lol @ calling Rob Siegel a dipship. The guy is a legend. Oh and I will sign under every word he says about BaT.
Their descriptions are atrocious, their "writers" don't know shit about the subject and they don't make any effort to learn, their work ethic is questionable, and as a result the end product is half-ass POS. Oh, and it takes them 3 months to list the car. While constantly trying to coerce you into lowering the reserve or list at no reserve so they can make some extra buck at your expense. No thank you.

[Albino09]

Lol @ calling Rob Siegel a dipship. The guy is a legend.

Once more for the people in the back.

[BlueBimmers]

TexaZ3 - and yet cars sell for a premium on there. The question is how long will it take for all those things reduce BaT's popularity and reduce the supply of cars coming to them. C&B's interface is so much better, I'm surprised they don't copy some of it. Maybe now that Hearst owns it they just don't care, or things take way too long.

[TexaZ3]

TexaZ3 - and yet cars sell for a premium on there. The question is how long will it take for all those things reduce BaT's popularity and reduce the supply of cars coming to them. C&B's interface is so much better, I'm surprised they don't copy some of it. Maybe now that Hearst owns it they just don't care, or things take way too long.

They sell for premium because its an established, trusted platform, but mostly because people have too much free money and are lazy to look elsewhere.

[maw1124]

I don’t think the platform or writer copy have anything to do with it actually. People know the cars they want to buy, and these “descriptions” aren’t all that helpful (except to call out modifications, which Cars and Bids does better to me).

I think what we’ve observed in general is if you want to buy a car to drive, you go to Cars and Bids; if you want to buy a car that will hold its value or appreciate, you go to Bring a Trailer. If you want the car to move, you list on Cars and Bids (or Craigslist if you must); if you want to maximize sales price, you go to Bring A Trailer (or “pristine example dot com” as someone here famously coined it).

I don’t think it started that way, but with the Free Money Fed the last 10 years, that’s certainly where we’ve ended up, which is what gave rise to Cars and Bids (and TheMBMarket, and Classic.com and PCarMarket and Marqued and whatever else you can think of). Ridiculously rising prices = ridiculously rising commissions. All these later auctions are because BaT and CnB can’t handle the volume fast enough — that is, the rush for the exits has begun. At these prices, everyone is a seller, and now everyone knows these prices won’t last long.

This will all settle out as borrowed money starts to look and feel like borrowed money again. When cash appreciates at 8%, you’ll see fewer people “investing” in cars.

maw

EDIT… sample Marqued listing… https://marqued.com/listing/bc5c58d3...riolet-6-speed

[05CherryM3]

shockingly good outcome imo

I assume you mean for the buyer? That is one extremely clean example with some very gentle 39k miles. I would think it would sell in the 50s. If it had slightly less miles, EAG would sell it for 70k somehow. Lol

[maw1124]

shockingly good outcome imo

I feel like that traded about where it should have, actually. But 10 years from now, I think eyes will water at what a car like that goes for. Buy it now, drive it and care for it like an adult, sell later and feel like you had a free M3 — I feel like this was the last “homologation car” (from BMW anyway) even though technically that’s probably not true.

maw

[COVID-19]

Going to try and list my M3 on BAT hopefully they accept it

[BlueBimmers]

I assume you mean for the buyer? That is one extremely clean example with some very gentle 39k miles.

I think the sentiment is - It sold for only $38K in Jan. 2021 and with all the talk of a cooling market surprising it went higher now. Very good presentation no doubt helped, still nice pickup for new owner.

[Nate047]

Lol @ calling Rob Siegel a dipship. The guy is a legend. Oh and I will sign under every word he says about BaT.
Their descriptions are atrocious, their "writers" don't know shit about the subject and they don't make any effort to learn, their work ethic is questionable, and as a result the end product is half-ass POS. Oh, and it takes them 3 months to list the car. While constantly trying to coerce you into lowering the reserve or list at no reserve so they can make some extra buck at your expense. No thank you.

Yea but dude... It's Hearst who owns and operates BAT. The writers themselves make the same shit pay regardless of what the car sells for. Honestly think about what $100 means to you. Then, think about how many listings those dues have to write a day. Then think about how many different kinds of cars get listed on BAT. Then think about how many pain in the ass owners they have to wrangle every, single, day, who all think their car is the most special car ever to grace god's earth. Do you REALLY think those super underpaid staff writers who FOR SURE wish they had a better job, should learn all the ins and outs of all those different cars, not to mention specific details of every single example sold on BAT? There are like 5 or 10 guys writing those auctions and like 60+ auctions closing every single day. Long story short guys, manage expectations.

[TexaZ3]

Yea but dude... It's Hearst who owns and operates BAT. The writers themselves make the same shit pay regardless of what the car sells for. Honestly think about what $100 means to you. Then, think about how many listings those dues have to write a day. Then think about how many different kinds of cars get listed on BAT. Then think about how many pain in the ass owners they have to wrangle every, single, day, who all think their car is the most special car ever to grace god's earth. Do you REALLY think those super underpaid staff writers who FOR SURE wish they had a better job, should learn all the ins and outs of all those different cars, not to mention specific details of every single example sold on BAT? There are like 5 or 10 guys writing those auctions and like 60+ auctions closing every single day. Long story short guys, manage expectations.

This response is a good example why American society is where it is. Love the job you do, and do it well, or don't do it at all. If you wish you had a better one, well - get a better one instead of whining and being atrocious at what you do simply because you THINK you deserve better.
Oh, and "underpaid staff writers"? If they truly have 5 guys writing 60+ listings a day, that's 10-11 listings @ $100 a pop per day. In what world a $1000 per day/$24k per month per is underpaid? Even half of that is incredible earnings for what they do. Its a copy paste with few details sprinkled in.

[Nate047]

Ok the “if you don’t like your job get a better one” discussion point isn’t going to be pleasant or be car related so I’m good here

[maw1124]

Ok the “if you don’t like your job get a better one” discussion point isn’t going to be pleasant or be car related so I’m good here

Well this is actually on point. People on other Boards have reported BaT sending EAG type "can we sell your car again for a commission" emails.

No, they don't want to write a new description for your 150k mile baby. They want to use the SAME description that they used to sell another car last time, to earn a SECOND commission by selling it again this time.

That's all...

maw

[BlueBimmers]

I've lost the thread here, so I'll just post the latest beauty from 1600veloce. This should be interesting - LS, super low miles and a conversion done by EAG - will that be the usual penalty or not? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2002-bmw-m3-240/

[Tbonem3]

It sold for 35k in 2019 with 13k miles and now someone is going to pay $80k? LOL