Just in case you were interested on how long it would take to sell a truck, I thought I would fill you in … I finished this transaction yesterday, but was too tired to comment on it … I chose the eBay method …
First you need to list the truck on eBay … I created a detailed listing and posted it with a Buy It Now of $7950 with a reserve of $6200 … Because I mentioned Octane in the listing, I informed them that I linked their site from my description … The drummer immediately bid $25 on the truck … Since the bidding start at $1.00, I didn’t know he only bid $25 until he was outbid … I also didn’t realize it was him until I thought about the winning bidder’s UserID some more … i41drums … I For One Drums … Octane’s song “I For One” has been in 94 WYSP’s rotation for what, two years now? Anyway, so then Alex bid a couple thousand and all bids were under the reserve … That auction ended with no one winning …
eBay has a second chance relisting deal where relisting the item is free if it sells the second time around … You list it exactly the same way … This time I actually asked Alex to bid just below my reserve so anyone bidding would be immediately outbid … I figured that since Alex was the winning bidder but the reserve was still not met, that people would be trying to outbid Alex first and then see where the reserve might take them … I even lowered the Buy It Now price to $6999 near the end of that auction … That auction ended with a higher lowest bid, but still the truck did not sell … So this was a period of about 14 days … eBay auctions are commonly 7 days long …
So I sat on it for a while … decided I wasn’t going to get what I wanted for the truck … I made individual offers to some of the people that had bid on the truck, and there was no response there either … One I had an exclusive offer (available through eBay) and they didn’t bite on it … It has to be an offer lower than the reserve, so I sent off a Buy It Now second offer to the highest bidder for $6150 … There was never a response there … So anyway, I decided that I shouldn’t have a reserve price … So off to list the truck for the third time … I started the bidding at $5000 and set a Buy It Now at $6500 … I didn’t realize this, but after the first bid, the Buy It Now goes away … Hassle … I would have preferred that at any time someone could have snatched the truck away … Since whomever bid would win the truck, I couldn’t have anyone beef up the bidding for me as they had done in the past … As soon as I listed it, a person who had bid on the truck each auction emailed me to make me an offer … I told them that since it was up for auction that they should make their offer there … So, this time there were bids and a definite winner at the end of the auction … I was hoping the price would go as high as possible obviously … It finally got up to $5700 … Someone had bid on the truck and then asked to come and see it before the auction was over … I told them why bother coming to see it when you’ve already bought it? May as well just come with the cash when the auction is over … They seemed upset by my response, but it was a fact … They didn’t have a winning bid to come see the truck, they had a winning bid to OWN the truck …
So anyway, that was what it took to sell the truck … $46 the first listing, $46 the second and $47 the third (I used Turbo Lister) … Then since it sold, a flat fee to eBay of $40 for the success … So $179 to sell it on eBay … I also had to perform some maintenance on the truck to feel confident about the sale … That was another $420 at a truck service station …
The buyer was going to drive to Philadelphia and pick up the vehicle … I called title places and found out that simply signing the title and giving it to the guy did not release me from ownership … The truck was mine until it was registered by the buyer … What each place told me (and I tried a few) was that I should go to his state and make sure the title is transfered … Okay, he was from New Jersey, so it was kinda close … He drove down Wednesday night and met me at the NJDMV on Route 70 … I left at 4pm, and he said he was leaving right around there … My wife, sick 3 year old and I waited in the parking lot for 3 hours … He didn’t get there to get into the NJDMV by 7:30pm … So, he got a look at the truck, I took him for a little drive and agreed to drive the truck up to him tomorrow … (My wife was not happy that we missed most of American Idol and didn’t even get rid of the truck. It also didn’t help that the results of Idol didn’t go her way either. I told her she shouldn’t have assumed and voted.) …
So! Off to Newark, NJ the next morning … I get directions via MapQuest … Guess what? When it tells you to get off and take the Parkway? No trucks are allowed on the Parkway, so I got lost … Finally found my way back to the Turnpike, and finally got the buyer on the phone … He wasn’t answering, and I was already late … This was making me nervous … Anyway, so finally met up with the buyer … Parked the truck in a suitable spot, money passed hands … and off to the NJDMV … Transfered the title, and we’re done … The little white Isuzu that I’ve owned for about 7 years is now off to Haiti … (While in line I got to talk to the buyer) … He’s from Haiti and they don’t manufacture trucks there, so he has to buy them and then ship them there … Whatever, he got a great truck … Seemed a little hassled about my persistence about getting it out of my name, but it had to be done … so, 5 hours Wednesday night with no results, and about 6 hours Thursday for a completed tranaction …
So this shows you, it takes about 21 days and 11 hours to sell a truck …