[BruceK]

Looks like things are going to get silly for a while.

Here's an eBay auction for a place in line on a dealer's list to purchase a new MINI Cooper.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=599075023&r=0&t=0

The auction starts at $5,000 (about £3,500 or AUS$9,700) and is in addtion to the MSRP of the car.

 

[KarmanS]

that fellow must be crazy trying to reap in so much profit when the exact date of the delivery date in is not even known yet!

I am sure there will be more like him as the spring/summer approaches... these people are just taking up people's spaces in lines...

 

[MINIAC]

In the auction description, the seller writes:

I guarantee to sell the vehicle to you at MSRP, plus the price of this auction. After I recieve the money agreed in this auction from the winning bidder, the winning bidder will be able to choose the Mini Cooper in any trim that is available. I will not place a special order until this money is recieved.

Sounds to me like the seller isn't selling his actual spot, but will front the money for a car ordered per the winning bidder's specs, and then turn around and sell it to the winner. If the winner bails on the deal, the seller will have the MINI plus amount of the winning bid.

Seems to me it would be a lot easier to just auction off the rights to the waiting list spot, and then let the winner take over ordering and receiving the car. Maybe the dealer is not allowing wait listers to transfer their rights.

Think I'll keep tract of what happens on this puppy

 

[skip]

Looks like things are going to get silly for a while.

Here's an eBay auction for a place in line on a dealer's list to purchase a new MINI Cooper.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=599075023&r=0&t=0

The auction starts at $5,000 (about £3,500 or AUS$9,700) and is in addtion to the MSRP of the car.

Ha Ha! This is typical of the rabid nature of ebay, I mean,
kidneys were going for like only $US20k!

Skip

 

[rdcrdc3]

First of all which dealership has a list of 700 people waiting on cars. And if this is so are they going public, i want to invest. Second the launch date is in March. So how is he able to get a car in Febuary. This seems all a bit to fishy to me.

 

[BruceK]

The other thing to realize (as I understand it) is that the "winning" bidder will fork out the more-than-$5000 in funds to the person auctioning this "service" , and then, with fingers crossed, will wait (for months? ) while the MINI is configured , is ordered , is built , is shipped , is dealer-prep'd , is delivered , then is handed over?

 

[Cape Cod MINI]

This is ridiculous! I wonder if this guy is a regular poster to any boards and if he would own up to it. Of course, if it works we'll all be putting up our numbers for bid. What a way to finance your new MINI!
It'll be interesting to see if anyone bids on this. I sure as hell wouldn't.
Hey, I drove my Cooper S all around London today. What a blast! I snuck the Xbox out and played with the Project Gotham Racing game. Not bad. They do put the MINI as the lowest tier car (slowest, worst handling, etc.), but still loads of fun.
Now I have to get it back in the box the right way before Christmas!

 

[BruceK]

Well, to no one's surprise, the auction is now over having received a grand total of ZERO bids.

 

[Garfield]

What's funny is that he use the number "700", but it's likely none of those people have deposits on cars. The list I'm number one on, I was number 43. Then, they asked for money. It's amazing how quickly a list shrinks when money is asked for.

 

[Dogger]

What's funny is that he use the number "700", but it's likely none of those people have deposits on cars. The list I'm number one on, I was number 43. Then, they asked for money. It's amazing how quickly a list shrinks when money is asked for.

..it's also a common marketing trick and one that I'm guilty of myself.. In my part-time job as a freelance cartoonist, when I need to number a sequence of cartoons to send off for submission I start at #29 to make clients think I'm busier than I might actually be..

 

[BruceK]

More eBay madness.

Now that launch day in the US is approaching, it looks like a car dealer (note: not a MINI dealer), rather than a greedy individual is selling a spot on a MINI waitlist:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1812272377&r=0&t=0

And, as of this writing, 23 people have bid for it and the bidding is over $2,000!

 

[Clutch Cargo]

There's a sucker born every minute.

 

[noahe]

Aw, that's crap. I think it would be funny, if BMW changed it's policy at the last minute, and instituted the same 'first right of refusal' policy as they have in Canada.

With less than 2000 units comming to Canada, we have to sign a non-exportation agreement, saying we won't sell it to anyone in the US.
We have to give BMW first right of refusal to any sale in the first 12 months, very probably with a capped maximum at MSRP.
I have heard SOME dealers are asking very careful questions of people placing the deposit, telling them that if THEY put down the deposit, THEY must buy the car... Not your brother, spouse, dad, anyone. Name on the waiting list must be the same as the name on the final purchase agreement.

 

[smiffy]

They should introduce a world wide law to stop this
If you want a car bad enough join the que like the rest of us I mean, you wouldnt pay more to be the 1st in the que at the bank now would you

 

[normalizer]

I don't see any problem with it at all, it's called capitalism and if someone is willing to pay to jump ahead in line at a dealer that is allready stating that they will NOT sell at MSRP let them do so. Supply and demand at it's finest. Regardless, I know a good bit about Global, have friends that worked there in management, and I'd never buy a car or bike from them

BUT - the auction is in violation of multiple ebay rules and I just reported it to safeharbor for them to investigate. To sell an item on ebay you must actually HAVE the item to sell, this auction is for something that doesn't exist. It also requires the winning bidder to make an additional purchase thus avoiding ebay fees.

The car can quite legitimately be listed and sold AFTER it has been purchased by GoldStarAuctions, but only if the winning bid price pays for the car (minus taxes and such.)

I'll be watching the auction in any case, will be interesting to see what bidding reaches before the auction is ended by ebay tomorrow. Will be a good barometer of what I could expect to sell my #11 spot for.

(Opening bid for my spot is $5k btw, if anyone is interested I accept PayPal.)

 

[Garfield]

Interesting, I have THREE spots, all lower than the auction spot, including a #1. Should I just sell these for a FREE car, and just wait until next year?

 

[normalizer]

If I had my name on more than one list I'd do it in a heartbeat. hmmmm.....

 

[billkrz]

I'm #8 at one dealership and I have another dealer (whose list I am not on) calling me about the availability of cars coming in. This allocation thing is really strange!

 

[karmuze]

I'll see your 100p and raise you 50p

Ooh! Ooh! Wow it's up to $1 already. O.K.--I'll bid $1.50.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1812272377&r=0&t=0

I guess the risk is worth it at that price, to have a vaporware MINI Cooper to go next to my 1:18 Maisto model on my desk. Only its a CVT transaxle--oh well, I can probably do a Photoshop erase and replace with Getrag 6-speed.

 

[jailed]

The action has be cancelled due to "The seller ended this listing early because of an error in the listing".

probably due to Ebay rules violation or the seller would have relisted this spot on the list