How to sell a Pagoda on ebay: 10 Tips

[Douglas]

This seems to be the formula that many sellers choose:

1. Park car in front of ostentatious house and take pix. (If owner of house objects, drive to neighbor's McMansion and try again.)

2. Describe the history of the W113 instead of the car for sale. You were always more of a Big Picture guy.

3. Photograph car exterior instead of closeups (See? It has 4 wheels.)

4. At all costs, do not show the engine bay! They should assume it has an engine.

5. Try to keep mileage at something that reflects average usage of 100 miles or less per year. (The total restoration was just for fun, not necessity.)

6. Don't be afraid of hyperbole like "Museum quality." You're not saying which museum, right?

7. Throw in the rust for free. That way you can honestly say it's "rust free."

8. Call the options "rare," no matter what they are. (Hey, the entire car is pretty rare!)

9. Show a stack of bills to imply years of proper maintenance. (Include your utility and phone bills in pile.)

10. Call Mom. Ask her to bid.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #018260

[mdsalemi]

Oh, Douglas you are SO funny.

We all know you can't have MOM bid on the car, that would be against the rules!

Part of the problem with eBay is that there are too many commercial and professional sellers out there, and they employ all the tricks.  One could not possibly buy a 113 w/o taking a good hard look at it or paying someone to do so.

It was quite funny, though, I'll keep it in mind.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[J. Huber]

I find #7 to be particularly annoying. It's amazing that sellers can claim "absolutely no rust" ... and then show close-ups with some sort of bubbly reddish corrosion-looking stuff taking over...

Another thing to watch out for: the proverbial statement of "Been in California for X Amount of Years"... Mine's been here in the Golden State for over 25 years. Its the prior 15 years in Northern Europe that worry me (if you get my drift...)

James
63 230SL

[64sl_robs]

you forgot 11 & 12
11.) have "friend" sell car for you

12.) owner and friends of owner can then bid on car

I purchased an SL on ebay. This was the situtation.
One of the other bidders was the owner as I found out later by searching feedback of other purchasers from same bidder.
ebay has eliminated this method of search now.
ebay is at least 80% dishonest sellers.
ebay= where the dishonest & deceitful sellers meet the trusting and honest buyers.

[Bob G ✝︎]

When My good friend Jackson and I whent out looking for a 280SL for him we must of gone through 25 to30 before we found a decent car that could be inproved without deep pockets. Some of the cars we looked at were bondo buckets with rusty floors and terrible Earl Scheib paint jobs* with little records to substantiate the owner's claims.
Bob Geco

*Admin note: The Earl Schieb company painted cars beginning in the 1960's for about $69 per car...cheap price, cheap paint job.

[n/a]

And 13)"concours winner" car...(Thank God this was the only contender at the concours)....!!!

However, you are referring to a good American marketing trick...just look around you in New York how many pizza places have signs saying "the best pizza in the world"...

Quick question, Doug.....How did you go to West Point???

Fabrice
Silver 1971 280 SL
New York City