Classic cars are also affected by e-commerce American auto auction websites swept the physical market.

Editor's Note: E-commerce originated in the United States and flourished in China. Amazon and Ebay were the earliest pioneers of e-commerce, and then e-commerce swept through various industries. With the rise of Taobao, the prosperity of JD.COM and the sudden emergence of melon seeds used cars, what we see is that the e-commerce model has brought great impact and changes to traditional retail in the past decade.

In foreign countries, cars have a long history and culture, and classic cars are collectors' favorite treasures. Now there is a family named Bring? Answer? Trailer (BaT) American classic car auction website has sprung up everywhere. In 20 19, the turnover actually exceeded $230 million, and the registered bidders exceeded 654.38+10,000.

Bring, an American classic car auction website? Answer? Trailer (BaT) has developed rapidly. Today, more than 654.38 million bidders have registered. Last year, there were 65,438+0.110,000 cars on the auction list, and 70% of the auctions were successful. More well-known physical dealers make profits through online auctions. The data shows that in recent years, the sales situation in the physical auction market is no longer beautiful, showing signs of cooling down.

Classic car auction website "BaT" became popular.

Many people will think that this small car is unlikely to become a hot spot for auction. After all, the old Austin Mini only has a pair of doors, the side windows can't be opened, and there is no car radio. Its small wheel is only 10 inch (25.4 cm), its seat is made of hard wicker, and its engine is about the size of a scooter.

However, this rare model is loved by many people in the industry because of its unique charm, and they pay more attention to its important position in the history of automobile development. Mary? Farway (Mary? Farway's father is a well-known European car dealer in Michigan, USA.

57 years ago, when Austin Mini was still in the early stage of production, their family had this car. Falvey's car still retains its original design. At that time, it was a promotional activity carried out by a British car company to increase Americans' interest in small cars. Only 14 vehicles were sold.

Falvey could have sold cars through traditional auction houses or well-known physical store dealers, but she didn't. She chose to hang this Austin Mini on the auction website Bring? Answer? In the trailer, this website is a popular auction platform for classic cars in recent years, with 2 million monthly visitors and 65,438+10,000 registered bidders.

Bring it? Answer? Trailers developed rapidly in 20 19, with total sales exceeding 230 million USD, up 4 1% year-on-year. Its founder and CEO Randy Nunberg (Randy? Nonnenberg) said that about 65,438+0.65,438+0 million cars were listed in the auction catalogue throughout the year, with an average of 275 cars per week, of which about 70% were successfully sold.

The physical auction market is no longer beautiful.

Bring it? Answer? The rapid momentum of the trailer is in sharp contrast with the recent traditional auction. California's annual Monterey Auto Week (Monterey? Cars? Week) has always been regarded as the weather vane of the classic car market, but according to Forbes data, the sales volume of this event dropped by 34% last year compared with 20 18. The average difference between high and low quotations is 16%, while the actual sales volume drops to 50%.

At an auction in Sotheby's, a Porsche Type-64 1939 was marked with a high price of 70 million US dollars (about 490 million yuan) because the English pronunciation of the Dutch auctioneer was not standard. Although it was finally revised to $6.5438+0.7 million, in the chaos, the bidders left angrily and the car finally failed to clinch a deal.

The 2020 Arizona auction season just ended last month. Although the sales volume increased by nearly 600 vehicles compared with last year, the revenue decreased by 3%.

Hagarty company was established in 1984. Its main business is to provide insurance services for vehicles, track and evaluate the collection value of vehicles, and it is also a famous classic car renovation studio. The report released by the company shows: "The car collection market has cooled down from the high point of the past decade."

The website was created "out of love"

Time goes back to 2007. When did you bring it? Answer? The founder of the trailer, Nonenberg, is just 30 years old and works in San Francisco. He is a product engineer at BMW. At first, he just wrote some articles, recorded some cars sold online, and then posted them on his blog.

In the evening, he will surf the Internet, paying special attention to some cool models appearing in advertisements of Yi Bei (a well-known online shopping website), Craigslist (classified information website) and auto clubs. As he himself said, "everything starts with a hobby."

Gradually, some sellers sell their cars through Nonenberg's blog. To thank Nonenberg for facilitating this online transaction, these sellers will also send him a small check symbolically to encourage this fledgling entrepreneur. Nonenberg said that this mode of operation was a bit different at the time.

But this does not prevent more and more buyers from paying attention to his blog and completing the transaction here. The number of clicks and comments on blogs is increasing. In Noonan Berg's view, the difference between his blog and other similar websites lies in his critical and cautious choice. "We must ensure that every car has its own unique charm."

Two or three years later, his blog grew and developed. In 20 10, Nunberg decided to quit his job and concentrate on running this website. "I said to myself at the time: Let the idea become a reality. I know this is a viable business opportunity and I can support myself by it. " Nonenberg recalled.

That's it, July 23, 20 14, bringing it? Answer? The trailer website came out, and the positioning was the car auction website. Only three cars were sold on the original website, namely, a 1970 Ford Mustang Boss, a 199 1 BMW M3 and a 1964 Alfa Romeo sports car.

In the following years, this website developed steadily. Last spring, with? Answer? Trailer launched an advanced service to attract cars with special significance to join the website. It was this service that caught Farway's attention, and she immediately put her little Austin on the website.

The principle of "comments first" attracts car lovers.

At the beginning, brought it? Answer? Since its establishment, the trailer has formed differentiated competition with competitors such as Yi Bei. The reason is that it has attracted many car enthusiasts who come to comment spontaneously. They all have some opinions about cars and are willing to communicate, and then gradually formed a vibrant community.

Mike Baum from Los Angeles is one of them. His job is a manager of Microsoft. Does he come often? Answer? Participate in some heated discussions about trailers. Of course, he will only express his opinions when talking about the types of cars he knows best, such as early Porsche, old Citroen and those "fashionable models specially made in Italy".

"I have been fascinated by old cars since I was a child," Baum said. When BaT makes comments, he will try not to talk about some topics that are meaningless to him. "Who cares if there is any flaw in the chrome plating on the door handle? I think we should discuss the characteristics that make a car unique. This is what really matters. "

And these comments will further lead to a lot of discussion, so that the characteristics and shortcomings of a car can be well displayed in these rich dialogues. Those bidders may never test drive the car or even see it with their own eyes, but they can have a thorough understanding of it and finally buy it. In the eyes of some people, this is an important change in the collection car market.

In the eyes of BaT operators, these car lovers who come to comment spontaneously are very valuable resources. So last year they also held a barbecue dinner for some loyal users who often contributed comments, thanking them for their efforts.

Low cost and high return swept the physical market.

Bring it? Answer? The auction business of the trailer is mainly owned by Howard, the company's partner? Swiger (Howard Swiger) is in charge of supervision. All cars hanging on this website must be carefully checked: are the mileage and owner's identity accurate? Can the seller provide maintenance records? Does the vehicle have a rare special design? Can the owner provide detailed photos?

Bring it? Answer? There are about 24 staff members in the trailer. Their task is to help sellers write more attractive product descriptions and dig out more details. The founder said that this is not to make the product description hype, but to be responsible to the buyer and improve the actual transaction rate.

Any details discovered by employees may have a significant impact on the transaction. Baker diefenbach (Baker? Diefenbach) is ▲? Answer? When an employee of the trailer company handled the ATV in Farway, Baker found that the right-hand version of the car had been given to Queen Elizabeth. This little detail greatly increased the attraction of the auction.

If it's just an auction, just tell Bring? Answer? The trailer pays the basic fee from $99. The website will charge an additional fee of 5% of the final transaction price, with a ceiling of $5,000. Other optional services include professional vehicle photography, digging up the details of bidding products and polishing the language of product description.

At present, the most expensive car sold through this website is a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL? Gull wing was sold in February last year at the price of 1.2 million USD, and the seller's expenses were less than 1% of the final price.

In contrast, the basic expenses of the traditional auction market may include prepaid expenses and the premium between buyers and sellers based on the transaction price.

Even like California fantasy? Physical store dealers like Junction have also started in Bring? Answer? Cars are sold on trailers. Last year, fantasy? Junction earned nearly $3 million in sales through the website, including a Porsche racing car 1987, which sold for $960,000.

Ordinary auction products expire within 7 days, and you can stay for up to three weeks after the opening of supporting advanced services. Ensure that all potential buyers have the opportunity to buy and bring? Answer? The trailer requires at least two minutes before the transaction officially ends. As time goes by, the bidding tends to become more and more intense, and the comments will become more vivid and interesting.

Farway's Austin Mini rose by $65,438+034,000 in less than an hour, attracting more than 500 comments and more than 65,438+0,000 people. Finally, this small ATV was sold to a collector in Munich for $230,000. He said Falvey could drive this car at any time in the future.

"Have you brought it? Answer? The trailer turned my farewell to this car into a wonderful experience, and it felt like sending my beloved child into a beautiful family. " Farway said.

Author Zhang Wenyu, Xu Xiaohan,

Editor Qian Yumeng

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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.