September 03, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
Last month, GM announced plans to run a pilot program via eBay to sell some of their new vehicles from various California dealerships online. Through the end of August the program resulted in over 1,000,000 visits to the virtual showrooms with about 4,000 potential deals taking place. GM has not confirmed any specific sales details for the program, but did report that they had a 41% sales increase in the West. GM has been so pleased with the buzz the program has created around their brand that it has now decided to extend eBay selling through the end of September. Awareness of the brand is a great thing to achieve, however it is not as important if you do not have the sales to back up all of your online marketing efforts.
The program has had some mixed reviews as many people prefer going to the GM dealership in person because they can negotiate face to face and get a great deal. While you can still “Make an Offer” on the gm.ebay.com site, consumer automotive site Edmunds.com reported that the average “Buy it Now” price was 2 percent higher than True Market Value price. In an economy where every penny counts, it is highly unlikely that anyone would just accept the “Buy it Now” price instead of trying to “Make an Offer” to get the best possible price you can. Edmunds also created a GM Ebay help page on their site in which they will publish specific vehicle pricing recommendations to help consumers make the most educated decision on how much to pay for their new vehicle.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
