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Strange
but true; car dealers on EBay are selling more Lamborghini's and at a faster
pace than the Smart cars guys! The last Smart car to be sold on EBay was before
Thanksgiving.
EBay and the Smart Fortwo have always had a strange relationship.
A company on Alibaba.com, Falcon merchant group, who say they are incorporated in the United Arab Emirates are selling the Smart car with a picture of the Zap showroom and Sb-Enterprises out of Santa Ana, CA is also selling them. Read More
In 1999, when the
first Smart mcc (micro compact car) was posted on eBay, the Smart car and eBay
started a strange relationship.
Non-compliant
Smart's were first offered on the most successful online auction site to
American buyers, and in most cases, were taken down by eBay. This went on for
several years.
Finally, in
December 2004 the first not quite “modified Smart” was submitted for auction on
eBay. That auction, however, too was also removed by eBay.
According to a
Zap spokesperson, “Due to the high profile of this auction they (eBay) would
like to see the Americanization of the car completed before allowing it to be
sold.”
It was not until
June of 2005 that the first fully U.S. compliant and Americanized Smart Cars
were made available to the general public. It was a 2002 Smart Car ForTwo (right)
Cabriolet Passion and it sold for a whopping $35,350.
Since then many
things have changed. The Smart is now U.S. compliant and Americanized and you
can frequently find them for sale on eBay. The most was 20 cars for sale at one
time.
Although in many
cases, eBay is not the best yardstick for determining fair market value, in the
case of the Smart it just might be!
And there lays
the rub…
In our study, we
found two very interesting details concerning Smarts being offered for sale on
eBay. Primarily, the Smart cars are not selling, not at all! Over the last two months, only one Smart has
sold on EBay and most don't even reach their reserve pricing of at least
$26,000 plus.
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SMART Car News 
