I haven't sold anything on ebay ever. How do you take payment for something expensive like a car? Looks like paypal charges 2.2%. I just sold some front end parts and got popped for $23 on a $700 purchase. I'd hate to pay 2.2% on a 20K purchase. Is it better to take a wire transfer? Do you set up a new account for the wire transfer?

I use PayPal for the deposit portion. It's worth the 2.2% to give everyone involved an immediate sense of security and commitment.

When I sold my camaro on eBay (a $20K sale) the buyer sent me a $2K deposit thru PayPal,,,the remaining funds were sent with a bank check. Once the funds cleared I released the car. This was not an in person transaction as the buyer was in Alaska and I'm in NJ. I was very cautious and made sure my bank was involved in confirming complete clearance of the funds before releasing the car. (I have no ideal what he's going to do with a ragtop in Alaska!)

Similarly when I purchased my chevelle off of eBay I made $1K deposit thru PayPal and handed the seller a certified check the day I picked up the car.

Good luck,,go slow and use common sense.

Hey Davoaz...

Selll your car at Pavillions during auction week! Lots of buyers from the auctions are there...:thumbsup::beers:

I have sold many cars through eBay. I do not use PayPal for any part of the transaction. I state in my ad that a $500 or $1000 deposit is required within 24 hours via PayPal. Only reason I do that is because it deters the deadbeats from bidding. Once the auction is over, the buyer and I make contact and I tell him/her to forget about the deposit and to just send me the full amount via cash or check.

Has never failed yet. I get my $$ for the car , and everything works out well

Good luck on your sale

Which car is yours for sale? I want to make sure I take full advantage of a newbie!! :D

I haven't sold anything on ebay ever. How do you take payment for something expensive like a car? Looks like paypal charges 2.2%. I just sold some front end parts and got popped for $23 on a $700 purchase. I'd hate to pay 2.2% on a 20K purchase. Is it better to take a wire transfer? Do you set up a new account for the wire transfer?

I just sold a 1949 chevy truck for a friend of mine on Wed. night. I had the buyer pay a $500 deposit thru payapl which cost me $14.80 in fees. They are paying the balance via a direct bank transfer and that should clear in about 24 hrs according to the bank. That seems to be the easiest and safest way to do it since the buyer is from Maine and I am in Indiana. If he was coming in person I would prefer a cash transaction. My friend did not set up a new account for this. The bank said you would not be giving him anymore information doing it this way then you would be handing someone a check with you account number on the bottom of it. If it were me personally I would probably open a new account just to be safe. He is having a shipping company come pick it up and bring it to him. I have done this once before and everything went smoothly.
Also, when you are selling a vehicle, e-bay does not charge you a fee based on the final price. It is a flat fee of $125. They call it a successful listing fee.