A little background... About 6 months ago my father was given a 1964 Chrysler Imperial Convertible as a donation for a fund raiser for the State Park they are members of. He has the car running nice (a little tappet noise). Has a 413, PS, PB, PW, Cruise, top works fine. new carpet, new tires. My Father has about $2000.00 in it himself just trying to get top dollar for it. The body is spotless, no dents, all chrome in good shape, original paint. The interior is also in good shape, no cracks or rips in the vinyl (leather?) the padded dash is also in great shape. I can't get over there for a couple days to get photos, but i told him I would ask the experts on here what they thought. He is going to list it on ebay, and i want him to put a reserve on it, but have no idea what one of these cars go for. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Again all money raised from this goes to Harrison Lake State Parke in Ohio. Thanks!
You want to raise money for the State Park and you're thinking reserve? Well OK, make the reserve $2,000 so the old man gets his money back, anything over goes to the Park. Put on a big reserve --even if it's fair -- and what if it don't sell? How much the Park get then? **** it was GIVEN to him, don't get greedy.
Fenders, I'm not trying to get greedy, I don't however want him to get low balled, he has alot of free time as well as his money wrapped up in this. That way if the reserve is not met they can re-list it.
I've sold thousands of items on ebay (not cars, admittedly) and in my experience items started low get more bids and sell better than those with a reserve. Is it your father's car, or was it donated to the Park fund? If it's the Park fund's car, start it at $2,000 with no reserve. so what if someone gets a deal, as long as the Park get some $$.
I agree with fenders, set the reserve so your pops gets his money back and let her rip....I don't think you will need to worry about getting lowballed as long as you advertise the auction.
Old Cars Report Price Guide says #4 Good $9,200 #3 Very Good $20,700. For best results on an Ebay auction it pays to start low. Bids will build up fast once you get a few people interested especially the last hours and minutes. If you start too high you will never build up interest. Everyone loves to dream of a bargain, then they get caught up in the bidding wars. You can put a reserve on it if you like. It may be better not to mention the charity angle. If bidders find out it was donated they will not be inclined to bid as high.
I can't picture a boat like that in my head, and I'm not interested enough to Google a photo. Keep that in mind, who is interested in something like that? Hype the PARK maybe that will motivate some bids, the car doesn't interst me. Just being honest. I hope your Dad gets his money back. Bob
If you want to 'protect' your Dad's cash investment just start the Ebay opening bid at, or slightly above, $2000. That is low enough to be encouraging to bidders. I agree with the other posters that a "No Reserve" auction generates the most excitement and bids. Although I am a Mopar fan, that is a big boat, not to everyone's taste, and I wouldn't be too worried about trying to extract the last nickle from the sale........ Ray
I'm a big fan of early 60's Mopars, and that looks like a nice one, but I'd be surprised if you got more than 7 or 8K out of it. There's a pretty limited market for these cars and it's a buyer's market at this point. A reserve is a terrible idea, I won't even bother bidding on something with a reserve, but if you have to set a minimum for yourself, say $5000, just start the bidding there. If it doesn't sell, you can still relist it. If the reserve is $5K and there's a buyer willing to go as high as $6K, the bidding starts at $5K and he puts in his bid. Same buyer sees "reserve not met", figures the car probably has a $10K reserve, and walks away without ever putting in the bid. Happens every time. I'm just picking those numbers out of my ***, but I want to illustrate why a reserve is a bad idea. Start the bid at your minimum sale price and let it fly.
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