Nutbeem

I love to buy cars, but I hate to sell them. I pay too much, and sell them for too little, and I hate the whole process of selling a car private party, but I would never trade it in at a dealer, so I deal with it. I've done it many many time, but this one was international - and interesting, so I share it for the cumulative knowledge of all.

After 2 years and 6000 miles, I decided to sell my 2002 C4S. I originally bought it in Philly and had it shipped here to LA, where it sat more than it drove. Wanting to expand my real estate portfolio while the housing market tanks out here, I figured I'd free up some cash.

Ebay has always been good to me - I've bought both my Porsches on Ebay, and it's been a good experience. I posted my first add in September, with a $53.5k reserve, and no buyers. I reposted it again for a $51.5k reserve, and got TWO guys from Norway interested in the car. I went back and forth with them for a while, and one of them agreed to take the car for $51k.

I'd never done an international sale before, but he said he'd pick up the shipping charges, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. I emailed him a bill of sale and my bank info, and he wired in the money about 3 days later. I had to apply for a duplicate title which took 3 weeks, but once I had that, the shipping company sent me a "dock receipt" and I drove it down to Long Beach Harbor, into a massive warehouse FULL of Porsches, Benz's, Bimmers, and other interesting cars, all bound for Europe.

So, all in all, it was a great experience - I got my money, didn't have to drive people around or worry about getting carjacked, and my car is going to Norway.

All this to say, if you're selling your car (Tim!), stick it on Ebay, make sure it's showing up in Ebay Europe, and let the strong Euro do it's thing.

For now, I bought a 2002 540iT to cruise in while I plan my next Porsche (997 GT3 anyone?), which is the Porsche of wagons, the only way to go.

zicoramone

Right now American Market are becoming an incredible oasis to Europeans. The natural place to a Norwegian find a good Porsche should be Germany. But you know your car was bought for an unbelievable price of 34,800.00 EUR (the price of a 993 C2) (minus VAT).

JBRipps

And from what I understand....Porsches in Norway are VERY expensive. I have a colleague that advised me that my '85 would sell for the ekuivalent of approx. 30K U.S. in Norway.

J

J

slaaw

Nice tip. I'll consider that when I'm ready to unload my C4S.

Barn996

Sounds like a good adventure selling overseas in this case. You are smart to never trade a car in, it just costs too much when compared to a private sale, and the difference comes out of your pocket when you trade.Nice job.

Nutbeem

It was an adventure. Now, if I could just reverse my equation, and buy low, sell high, I'd have a nice little side hobby.

The funny thing was, the guy who ended up buying the car, emailed me for days asking about every little feature of the car. He had me take a picture of the option code sticker, a close up of the center console, the wheels, blah blah. Then he says, after all this, "You have convinced me to buy the car for US$48,000.00.

I said "You're killing me, after all that, you LOWBALL me? But he had a good sense of humor, and I worked him back up to the $51k.

I live in LA, so I'm sure I could have sold it locally for more, (cars like mine with more miles were going for $57k at the dealers), but I hate setting up test drives, tire kickers, and the whole deal. This was a piece of cake.

screameleons

The weak dollar is more than likely making the used car market attractive. When I had mine on the market I had quite a few inquiries from Norway. Anybody think this would be a good business opportunity?

B R

I'm selling a nice 2004 C4S Cab right now for a friend. I have listed it on a couple of forums & websites, but not Ebay yet. I'll take your advice & put it up there if it isn't sold in a week or two.

viprklr

Nutbeem,
How did you make sure the car was showing in the Euro section. I am a big Ebay'r but wasn't sure if there is something specific you need to do. I will be selling my 2003 C4S shortly to replace it with a 2002-2005 Turbo/X50.
Thanks for any advice and the story too.

Mfletch

Rick, congratulations on your sale. I just sold one of my Porsches on ebay. I'm very happy it's going to a good home. We are finalizing the shipping arrangements now. I need to sell one of the two Range Rovers (05 & 99) that I currently have. I thought about trying to sell internationally (the one I really want to sell is very unique..a supercharged 99). How do you list to sell internationally? Thanks.

Nutbeem

Sorry guys, was away for the week for the holiday.

Essentially what I did was to enable "international bidding" and allow "worldwide shipping". I also noted to prospective buyers that I would drive the car to the harbor for shipping, saving them several hundred dollars. viprklr, not sure what harbor you could take it to, so you might have to eat the shipping cost to get it to a port for shipping, or lower the price enough to pay the difference.

These guys were trolling the US ads for bargains, but you also may want to try ebay.co.uk and ebay.eu for sale options.