One reason sellers can easily fix.
If you’ve ever submitted your car to BringATrailer.com, got rejected, and wondered why, one (or both) of these reasons is probably why. The Smoking Tire recently had BAT’s co-founder Randy Nonnenberg on the podcast to talk about anything and everything cars and in the middle of their conversation, Nonnenberg revealed two obvious reasons cars are turned away.
Check out that bit of the conversation below.
Here’s what Nonnenberg said verbatim.
“People ask us all the time what are the main reasons cars get turned away and two of the big ones are it’s a bad car, it’s not something you’d want or it’s way overpriced.
And frankly, if either of those showed up in a classified it doesn’t really solve it, then you have a bunch of overpriced cars that sit there forever.”
And if you think about it, Bring A Trailer does a balancing act of creating the right mix of supply and demand.
First, there’s the demand addressed by Nonnenberg above. Bring A Trailer is known for their curated and diverse mix of automobiles ready to bid on at any one time. Their curation team is not going to approve a car that there’s no demand for. Also, they won’t approve a car overpriced that, even if there is a demand, it’s not going to work out.
Then, there’s the supply which is something Bring A Trailer does well and is a clue how to grab the curation team’s attention.
Towards the end of the podcast a listener asks,
“What’s your strategy for balancing high dollar items versus lowish dollar submissions? Does site traffic alone correlate what gets accepted or denied?”
to which Nonnenberg replies,
“We don’t shoot for only high-dollar, we don’t shoot for firmly low dollar, we shoot for a good mix.
We like a mix. As you can see around me I’ve always liked cars that are $10,000 and I’ve always liked cars that are $80,000 and it’s just like there’s kind of something for everybody.
So, the main curation mantra for us is interesting stuff.
It’s not related to cost necessarily.
We like to have a great mix and that’s good for traffic, that’s good for interest level, and that’s good for the long-term health of the site.“
Knowing these reasons, how can I improve my chances to get on Bring A Trailer.
First, as Nonnenberg said, bring something interesting to the table. While a bog-standard Ford Maverick sedan with a three-speed automatic might not be approved, a Grabber edition coupe in excellent condition might squeak by.
And the easiest one way to improve your chances is being flexible with the price. You might have one of five special edition Acura Integra Type Rs, but if you ask for a million dollar reserve and are unwilling to budge, you’ll be rejected for sure.
Randy is full of c***. I’ve submitted highly desirable items only to be rejected. These same items that other people have sold on BaT. When I ask for a reason I get no response. BAT is an overpriced elitest bs auction site.
They rejected my 2008 Porsche Cayman with 15,000 miles like new and they told me on the phone it is an automatic and it is and entry level Porsche. They said they only want standard and the high level options. I was pissed.
I spent $2000 getting it ready and submitted 120 pictures and a video.
I will never buy a vehicle there nor will I list a vehicle for sale.
When I told them I have a 2000 Mustang Cobra R #15 they said sell it. I said no way.
They are narcissistic.
Hey Michael,
Would love to list anything you have on DreamCars.com
My email is tom@dreamcars.com as well!
Sounds like you have a great collection.
Got rejected on an ultra low mileage MT Audi. A local Audi dealer offered me $36000, so you know it’s got value. My reserve wasn’t high.
There has to be something else to BaTs denials. I am guessing they are going heavy Dealer submitted cars because they make more money off them. I get it, but just be up front on it.
I’ve been rejected on three straight submissions. I too spent a lot of money, a years worth of labor, and prepared a great submission on a car that is in great demand and I’ve got a low mileage California legal creampuff. Rejected in 10 hours, done. I was wondering if I’ve made some ‘don’t do business with this guy list?’ This is all after many years and 7-8 successful sales on my great long time owned cars. W*f makes zero sense.
BaT rejected my Shelby GT500 mustang. They said it wasn’t what they were looking for even though I have seen many sell on their site. I sold it for $4k over the proposed reserve in just one day with another auction service. Their loss my gain.
what other auction service did you use to sell the GT500?
I also had a beautiful, excellent condition car rejected by these MFs. F this K run company!
Agree with the all of the above. The same car as mine sold 2 weeks before I was rejected and sold for more than 5k of my reserve price.
Have a ’22 Charger Jailbreak with 32 miles that was just rejected. From what I’ve been able to find, only one other is listed in the US and ask is 5k more than my desired reserve. Absolute joke. Won’t ever be buying or selling on BaT.
ya bat just rejected my show quality vespa with no reserve as one just sold for 17,500 BAT is a joke i have so many collectibles and now i will go to another auction as Bat is absolutley a bunch of iiots