This is the kind of negotiating that a car buyer could get used to. Through Monday, eBay is selling at least 10 new cars per day in a very unique way: The asking price for each vehicle starts at MSRP—and then drops by $500 every hour until somebody buys.
Starting on Thursday at noon ET, eBay Motors launched what it’s calling a “New Car Revolution Devolution Sale.” It’s an auction, though not like the typical eBay auction in which prices rise with each new bid.
Instead, prices get cheaper the longer the auction goes on. Each car is first offered at the sticker price, and each hour that passes in which no one purchases the car, the price is lowered by $500. The process continues until someone clicks the “Buy It Now” button. By 3 p.m. on Thursday, for example, a 2012 Ford Escape was listed at $24,452—$2,000 less than the initial price ($26,452)—because no one had bitten yet. (The Escape eventually sold for $17,952.)
A total of 11 vehicles were offered for sale on Thursday, and all sold — usually for $7,000 or more under MSRP. A 2012 Nissan Frontier pickup truck wound up selling for $16,796, or a whopping $9,500 less than the sticker price, while a Chevy Malibu sold for $10,500 under MSRP.
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