eBay have seen surges in the number of customers buying vehicles on eBay with their smartphones and they’re not just buying relatively cheap old cars – they’re spending tens of thousands of pounds. Sales of as much as £40,000 for cars such as a Porsche 911 Carrera and Land Rover Evoque have been made via mobile.
Nearly 45,000 vehicles were bought on eBay via a smartphone in the first three months of this year alone, which equates to almost a fifth of all eBay vehicle sales. In fact, vehicle purchases made via a smartphone on eBay increased more than 120% between 2010 and 2011, and are on track to increase again this year.
The most popular car brands purchased via a smartphone include Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, BMW and Peugeot. Over 19,000 Ford cars were purchased on eBay UK between January and March 2012 – that’s one every four minutes and these are actual cars – not just parts and accessories.
eBay Motors iPhone app
In recognition of this trend for shopping for cars via a smartphone, eBay launched it a new dedicated eBay Motors iPhone app this week, which will make buying cars and parts and accessories via eBay on a mobile quicker, easier and more customisable.
The new eBay Motors app will make shopping for cars, parts and accessories through smartphones even faster and more convenient, and the new Vehicle Finder helps car buyers snap and search for their dream car the moment it catches their eye – It allows shoppers to snap a picture of the back of a car, and the app will do the hard work by searching eBay Motors listings and matching the photo to similar vehicles available on the site.
The new Motors app features a fully customisable home screen gallery of live listings and an interactive garage. The garage allows shoppers to save profiles of their favourite cars, and dream cars they long to own, and sharing features encourage users to email, tweet or share listings on Facebook for family and friends to see.
eBay Motors at the British Touring Car Championship
The new eBay Motors app will be showcased at the eBay Motors pop-up garage XP Zone this summer – a hands-on eBay Motors experience that will be activated at key British Touring Car Championship race weekends.