Ok, let me be fair about this.
I actually sold a Porsche 928 over the internet in 1997. The service I used was Calling All Cars. They put it on their website with a stock photo and e-mailed the ad to a database of people interested in that model. They had developed this database through advertisements in local papers and car magazines like Road and Track.
I ended up getting two offers this way. The first stopped by to see it on a business trip. The second bought it site unseen. However, he was able to do this since I had a transferable extended warranty that covered any major problems. Still seems risky to me, but he got a great car.
So, does this prove that MLRE will work. No. The problem is profitability. CallingAllCars actually called me in response to an ad I put in the local newspaper. I paid them about $150 for their service. And they also had to pay for administration of their database. They probably make a little on advertising as well. Still, not a lot of margin in this given all the work they put in it. Oh, and I also considered using the Rob Report, but found it too expensive.
Now, lets look at MLRE. If they focus on high end, they eliminate the mass market (ie Yahoo, CallingAllCars). Thus they limit economies of scale. Next issue is insuring the quality of the cars they auction. If you notice, eBay just had to drop a user for fraud. To keep their customers safe MLRE would have to do their own inspection, thus more costs. I think putting the Rob Report online is a good idea, but I just don't think an auction format works for these kinds of cars. If it will work, a better market would be to auction Honda Accords and Jeep Cherokees first. So far, I haven't seen that on the internet.
Ok, this is just my opinion, but hopefully you will at least follow my arguments. Even if you don't agree.
Archer
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