I’ve bought once on BAT and attempted to sell once on BAT. Buying was easier than selling. BAT requires a lot of details and photographs, which is great, but they take a lot of time to put everything together. The finished product for my listing looked really good, and I was happy with it. However, for the $100 listing fee, you still have to put a lot of your own work in.
When the listing goes live, that is when the fun begins. The car will be listed for a week before auction closes. During that time, you have the fun job of fielding everyone’s questions, dealing with the critics and “experts”, and anxiously awaiting bids.
I was happy with the direction my auction was going at first. A few guys who seemed genuinely interested kept outbidding each other. At the very end of the auction, a dealer from the United Kingdom placed one bid and was the top bidder. The auction then ended with the top bid a little under my reserve. With that, BAT gets you in contact with the top bidder only. At that point, you can try and work out a deal. The UK dealer failed to communicate with me any further, which was fine, because I was not thrilled about working with someone overseas to get the car shipped to them. However, one of the guys who consistently bid on my car expressed he had an issue with the site at the end of the auction. BAT has this sort of thing happen fairly frequently. Despite this, BAT would not let me or the prospective buyer communicate or exchange information.
That same night, I listed my car on Craigslist for 5 bucks which took all of a few minutes. Within less than 24 hours, my car was sold locally for asking price (which was $2,500 more than my reserve on BAT). I had cash in hand, didn’t have to worry about working with shippers, and had a flawless in person transaction.
BAT customer service was poor and they were not helpful. If your car doesn’t sell, they don’t care and don’t help you get in contact with people who are interested. This is because if the auction doesn’t meet your reserve, BAT doesn’t get their 5% fee the buyer pays.
Take it with a grain of salt, as my experience is just one. My recommendation would be to try and sell locally first. If that doesn’t work, then maybe consider paying the $100 listing fee, putting in a lot of work, and anxiously waiting for an extended period of time. It is a grueling process. If the end result isn’t what you hoped for it is very disappointing too. I had BAT delete my account and let them know I won’t be doing business with them in the future. I haven’t looked back.