14 DAY TRIAL // A couple of months ago, eBay and General Motors launched a pilot program to sell new cars online through a dedicated site but also through eBay Motors, the auctions site's automotive arm. The program was limited to California and the scope was to find out if an online presence could boost the sales for local dealers. The test program has now concluded and the companies are keeping mostly quiet – not surprisingly, as it apparently proved to be less of a success than both parties would have hoped for despite managing to produce 15,000 sales leads.
eBay Motors is one of the more successful ventures for the auctions site. The site sells used vehicles in an auctions system and it was believed that its success could be extended to new cars as well. eBay partnered with GM to sell new models from its numerous brands either for the listed price or by allowing users to bid on a car, offering a price lower than the listed one. The site allowed users to select a model and the options they wanted and even make the purchase online but the actual sale and delivery would still be done through GM's dealerships in the state.
eBay claims the program generated 1.5 million pageviews and 15,000 sales leads though it didn't reveal how many of those materialized into actual sales. Judging by the companies' vague responses and the fact that the program won't be continued it probably wasn't a big number. Still, both eBay and GM tried to put a positive spin with eBay claiming that, despite not going forward with the program, it had a strong relationship with GM, while the automotive company said that it would apply the lessons learned to good use for its social media marketing programs.
Some 225 dealerships signed up, 95 percent of the GM ones in California, but most weren't too impressed with the new options and complained that most people used it to make low ball offers on the new cars. Apparently, this came as a big surprise to the dealers. "It was not a successful program, unfortunately," Peter Welch, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, which lists the dealerships that participated in the program as its members, told the L.A. Times. "I'm not sure whether their motivation was to sell cars or just create buzz."