On eBay, cars are going fast

eBay Philippines now provides Filipino car dealers a new avenue for buying and selling used cars.

BANKS AND companies wanting to dispose of their used car fleets faster and more efficiently now have a new backyard to showcase their wares—a backyard that can be accessed in a matter of seconds via the digital world.

eBay Philippines, which operates the largest e-commerce marketplace in the country, recently upped the ante once more when it launched eBay Motors, providing Filipino car dealers a new avenue for buying and selling used cars.

Muralikrishnan B, eBay Philippines country manager, told the Inquirer that eBay Motors is a high velocity transaction platform where banks and companies can liquidate their used vehicles inventory.

“We enable a very transparent and very efficient process for them to sell their inventory online,” Muralikrishnan explained.

In the Philippines, Muralikrishnan claimed that eBay has found an opportunity to put up eBay Motors due to difficulties faced by banks and companies in disposing used vehicles.

“In an online auction, where we aggregate demand among various buy-and-sell dealers, the company or bank selling a car gets a much better price and the entire process is shortened,” Muralikrishnan further said.

One platform

Muralikrishnan explained that eBay Motors will pool together a list of all the cars that will be put up for sale by banks and companies, while gathering all interested car dealers through a single online platform.

The company will provide an auction mechanism, which he assured to be “efficient, transparent and also extremely convenient to use since it’s done online.”

Dealers will also be allowed to physically inspect the vehicles prior to the auction.

“Our teams from the Philippines directly contact the banks, set up meetings, sell the concept of b2b motors platform and then get them on board,” he said.

eBay Motors, Muralikrishnan noted, is now working on partnering with as many banks and companies as possible.

Muralikrishnan confidently assured possible buyers that there would be no “hot cars” on the list since all vehicles would legitimately come from banks and companies.

He also pointed out that individual sellers cannot participate in eBay Motors and, instead, he advised them to conduct their trade via the regular eBay ecommerce marketplace.

“We believe eBay Philippines marketplace is a better option for individual sellers. But for banks and companies, the b2b motors platform is the best way to do it,” he said.

Ebay Motors would be the company’s third business venture in the Philippines, following its entry in the local marketplace back in 2004.

“The Philippines presents a very exciting opportunity, very high consumerism, rapid growth of the Internet and we believe that with our portfolio of businesses, we’re in the best place to lead the growth of e-commerce in Philippines,” Muralikrishnan said.