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EBAY MOTORS TAKES ON AUTO TRADER WITH LAUNCH OF CLASSIFIEDS PACKAGE
18 July, 2006
eBayMotors.co.uk, the UK's busiest showroom, today announced its entry into the classifieds market, in a move expected to shake up Britain?s car trading sector. The new Classified Ad service is designed to compete directly with those from existing providers, offering dealers more choice in a market which was worth over £262m last year*.
As part of the new Classified Ad service, eBay is introducing a new bulk listing tool called 'eBay Motors Pro'. The new Classified Ad service and eBay Motors Pro have been developed specifically with professional dealers in mind so they can put their cars on eBay?s site alongside existing Auction-Style and Buy-It-Now formats. Set to go live in mid-August, the new service will enable car dealers to put their stock quickly and easily in front of the site's 3.7 million* potential buyers and includes a two-month free trial.
The launch of Classified Ads on eBay Motors meets a surge in consumer demand for cars on the site. A vehicle now sells every minute, a car every two minutes and a motorbike every four minutes. Over half a million vehicles and £1bn worth of vehicles, parts and accessories were bought and sold on the site in 2005, doubling figures from the previous year.
Doug McCallum, MD for eBay (UK), comments: "The Auction-Style format remains at the heartland of what eBay Motors does but our strategic move into classified advertising is a natural and timely response to extensive demand from the UK's professional dealer community."
The launch has been welcomed by several of the UK?s largest dealer groups who are keen to exploit this rich online trading territory.
Mahmoud Nafousi, Managing Director of Hartwell, comments: "We've been keen to boost sales through online trading for quite some time now and eBay Motor's entry into the classified market is remarkably good timing for our business. eBay brings massive consumer traffic and motoring expertise to the auto classifieds sector, both of which should benefit the UK's dealer community significantly."
"There's little risk to trial given that the first two months are free so we're excited about road testing this new eBay Motors Pro tool and seeing just how much of an impact is has in terms of directing traffic from online through to our forecourts."
Doug McCallum continues: "We can now offer our users an improved range of vehicles and, at the same time, give dealers a chance to boost sales through improved access to our core audience of 3.7m potential buyers. The UK classifieds market has long been in need of more competition and given our massive site traffic and global motoring expertise, eBay Motors is perfectly placed to bring about real change."
Buyers interested in vehicles listed within the Classified Ads will communicate directly with the dealer using the contact details listed in the Ad and, in line with normal practice, dealer and buyer will subsequently organise payment terms and conditions.
More on the new Classified Ad service and eBay Motors Pro
The new Classified As service and eBay Motors Pro offer dealers the following benefits:
- Access to over three and a half million unique visitors per month** via Classified Ads
- Free for dealers to trial in the first two months and live to site in Mid-August
- Dealers can pre-register now on www.ebaymotorspro.co.uk and will be able to put as many as 100 of their cars on the site at any one time.
Once the free trial period is over, the service will cost just £150 per month. For the vast majority of dealers, the new Classified Ad service and eBay Motors Pro are considerably better value than Auto Trader and provide a more cost effective way for them to manage their marketing budget.
eBay Motors Pro is compatible with many third party management tool providers such as Portfolio and HPI Exchange. Full instructions will be available on www.ebaymotorspro.co.uk to explain how dealers can enable their management tool to send Classifieds Ads on their behalf to eBay.
-ENDS-
* Internet Advertising Bureau 2005 online ad spend figures for classified advertising
** Neilsen NetRatings May 2006
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