The Last Word – October 2009

It would be difficult to find a net-savvy consumer who has not surfed his way to eBay. Since Pierre Omidyar created the site and secured his first sale-a broken laser pointer that fetched $14.83-eBay has become one of the most recognized brands in the world of e-commerce.

This is the first place to turn when you want to place a bid on everything from football tickets to the 1986 Jaguar that was once owned by country music’s Conway Twitty. A recent initiative at Penske Truck Leasing has left me wondering how many people will use the auction site to bid on something as important to their livelihood as a commercial vehicle.

The leasing giant that sold 23,000 pieces of equipment last year now has established a branded presence on eBay Motors, following a similar move by GM, which since Aug. 11 has been using the site as a sales channel for selected vehicles from California.
The moves will hardly replace traditional sales methods overnight. During one recent visit, Penske had listed no more than a single Freightliner chassis, three box trucks and two bucket trucks.

GM Vice President of U.S. Sales Mark LaNeve admitted in a conference call with journalists that his company’s eBay sales have not been significant, either. “We didn’t think it would be,” he insisted.

But while GM sold a mere handful of the vehicles through the online auctions, it reports that nearly 4,000 customers had entered into negotiations after spotting one of the listings. That probably explains why the automaker extended its experiment to the end of September, and was pondering whether to expand the initiative to include dealerships across the U.S.

The important thing to note here is that eBay is not being seen as a replacement for traditional sales channels. (Thoughts like that died along with the bursting of the so-called dot com bubble.) Instead, the auctions are rightfully being included as an important component of broader sales strategies.

There is no question that companies such as GM, Penske and other established dealerships have significant advantages over a private seller when trying to attract the business of an online customer. When it comes to a big-ticket item, a recognized nameplate offers a certain sense of security that an individual couldn’t hope to offer.

Businesses also are in a better position to enhance their preventive maintenance program or even download service history through the ServiceNet shop management system. Through some well-placed electronic partnerships, Penske has even been able to offer extended warranties from National Truck Protection, and financing options from netLoan.

Only time will tell how many vehicles-or even which category of vehicles-will prove to be eBay’s hottest commodities. But the chance to reach millions of the site’s users is just too valuable to ignore.

North America’s truck dealers should take note of these recent strategies, and begin to consider how they might want to add some listings of their own.