Oklahoma Nissan Dealers

Group 1 Turns to eBay's Daily Deals to Push Vehicles

Last week, eBay’s Daily Deal website featured more than the normal electronics, home goods and accessories one might expect to find. Deal hunters browsing the site were exposed to deeply discounted vehicles, as well.

Trying something new, Group 1 Automotive listed 28 vehicles on the site, including a Chevrolet Corvette offered for $60,305, a price which lands 15 percent below the vehicle’s sticker price.

Moreover, a Toyota Camry was offerred for $21,418, falling 19 percent below sticker. Other vehicles featured ran the price gamut, ranging from a $16,000 Scion to a $116,000 Corvette, and discounts ranged from 5 to 26 percent.

Participating Group 1 dealerships included stores in Oklahoma and Texas, featuring the Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan and Honda brands.

So, how did the special promotion turn out?

As of press time Group 1 Automotive representatives were not available for comment.

However, Famous Rhodes, senior director of eBay Motors, said it is too early to tell how sales for the Group 1 listings have fared because “sometimes deals can take days to close offline after a buyer and dealer make a connection through a listing.”

That said, one of the listed Corvettes boasted 11,000 hits within the first two hours it was posted and 46,000 hits by the end of that very same day. These numbers illustrate the inventory marketing possibilities for dealers, Rhodes stressed.

This is also only the second time eBay has offered vehicles on its Daily Deal site. In 2009, Wayne Ussery, Internet marketing director for Jim Ellis Auto, was approached by eBay representatives about piloting the Daily Deal promotion for new vehicles.

“I work personally with a lot of manufacturers, such as Kelley Blue Book, Carfax and eBay. eBay approached us knowing we were forward thinkers in the market, and this was something they hadn’t tried before. So, we were delving into it with them to see how it works, how a car would sell compared remote hard drive or flat screen TV,” said Ussery in an interview Monday with Auto Remarketing.