GM ends eBay sales test
Posted
Sep 30 2009, 02:27 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
General Motors turned to eBay (EBAY) last month in a desperate attempt to sell more cars, hoping for a new sales channel as it shuts down dealerships across the country.
It didn't work. After just seven weeks, GM has decided to end the online program. Dealers say it didn't help them sell more vehicles -- in fact, buyers started lowballing them for better deals, The Wall Street Journal reports.
"We thought the program was successful but that this was not the right time," GM's sales chief told the Journal. GM said it would try again with eBay next year. If GM does revive the effort, it will have learned plenty of lessons.
The program allowed people to submit an offer for a car online, and wait for a dealer to respond. But dealers reported that people were sending in ridiculously low bids, and it became a waste of time to try and sort through silly offers that would probably never amount to anything.
One person offered $2,500 for a $40,000 car, the Journal reported.
Which is not to say that there isn't a future for buying cars online. Many buyers have found success shopping for cars on eBay and other sites. But in this economy, and with GM's well-publicized bankruptcy, the conditions were not right for a GM-eBay alliance.
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