RKP Enterprises – dba “TopNotchStuff” on EBAY
Let Us Sell Your Vehicle ONLINE!
It’s simple. You can advertise your specialty vehicle in the newspaper here in Dallas, spend $100, and get maybe 100 people to see the ad (maybe 20, you’ll never know!), maybe 10 to call with really stupid questions, 2 to come to your place and kick tires and degrade your prize, and none to buy it.
OR: You can let Top Notch Stuff list your vehicle online through an international marketplace where folks with money to spend for special interest vehicles are watching daily for YOUR VEHICLE!
Top Notch Stuff has an established reputation and success rate on Ebay, an internationally renowned online auction medium. It takes experience to list items with high value to assure the minimum of false bids, eliminate deadbeat bid winners, ensure fast payment, and complete the transaction smoothly. We’ve sold vehicles successfully for over nine years on Ebay, and we have the formula and customer following that makes for high interest, visibility, and success rate in this marketplace.
Here’s how it works: Top Notch Stuff will visit you at an agreed-upon location with your vehicle. We gather the information about the vehicle, including service and damage history, options installed, current condition, exclusions, etc. We also shoot a large number of photographs of the vehicle for posting with the offering. When people buy online, they can’t usually come by to drive the vehicle, so the description and the photographs have to tell your whole story. We can’t omit important problems, hide damage, or falsify information. Instead, we make sure the potential buyer has everything he needs to know about the vehicle, so he can make an informed bid on it. If we get a bidder who wants to inspect the vehicle first-hand before bidding, we will arrange that meeting with you.
We compose an advertisement for your vehicle, including quality photographs that the bidder can download and examine at leisure. We describe what the vehicle is, and what it is not. We add a counter to the ad that keeps track of how many people took the time to view it. And we provide our contact information to answer bidder questions about the vehicle.
Your ad consists of a factual brief on what you’re selling, detail text written by us that describes the high points, and photographs that will clearly depict the vehicle.
We also manage the quality of bidders. If a bidder has a low Ebay Feedback Rating, we will contact the bidder to certify the bid is legitimate. If we cannot certify the bid over the phone, we may cancel the bid. We also have the option to accept a deposit from unrated bidders.
Once the bidding is over, if there is a winning bid, we will contact the winning bidder, obtain payment, which will be placed in an auction escrow account for your safety. This is required by law in the State of Texas for licensed auctioneers, and Ken Patrick of RKP Enterprises is licensed, TX #13322.
Once the money is collected, we will pay you for your vehicle, and you will sign the title over to the new buyer. We will never take title to the vehicle. We will either deliver the vehicle to a local buyer, or take it to a proper location for subsequent delivery to another locale.
Here are some Q&A:
What kinds of vehicles do you sell?
We are most successful with old vehicles (over 20 years), special interest models (limited production, custom, restored), or cream-puffs (usually with exceptionally low miles for their age, less than 8K miles per year). We’ve learned that average used vehicles do not generate much interest online if they are available at every local car lot, unless the price is drop dead cheap. And you don’t need us to sell a vehicle cheap!
Can you give me some examples? We’ve recently sold a fine-condition 1994 Ford 4x4 long bed pickup, a 1966 Ford Fairlane (MO $2,500), a 1979 Corvette with 100K miles (TX $6,150), a 1964 Falcon Pro-street dragster (NV $12,100), a 1980 El Camino with a 402 V-8 conversion (CA $3,000), a custom-painted 1983 Honda Aspencade road bike with trailer and only 75K miles (TX $3,650), a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible (WA $7,000), two Dodge Stealth Twin Turbos, and a 1951 Mercury custom Lead Sled, beautiful pearl orange, (IN $32,255). And yes, we sell junk and salvage cars, too! Our most recent: 1973 Datsun 240Z, not running, (AR $499), and a 1979 International Scout, not running, (TX $610).
How much can I get for my vehicle?
We can’t guarantee the selling price. We can provide some historical information for Ebay sales of vehicles similar to yours. You can set the starting price, and you can set a “Buy-It-Now” price that will end the auction immediately, if regular bidding has not begun. We can tell you that the vehicle will usually go over the average local price by a considerable margin. If it’s truly a collector item, people worldwide know it, and will bid on it! We find that a reasonable starting price will generate interest and produce higher ending price than an unreasonably high starting price. We recommend clean wholesale as a starting point for "common" vehicles.
Do you guarantee a sale?
No, we cannot do that. Even if the auction ends with a good bid, it’s possible for the bidder to back out. We make every effort to weed out these folks before the bidding ends. We have some Ebay Feedback Rating leverage, but we cannot enforce the sales contract. We do have a good success rate.
If the auction fails, what am I out?
EBay charges listing fee(s) and selling fee(s). If the vehicle does not sell, only the listing fees apply, and will be invoiced. If the vehicle sells, listing and selling fees due will be deducted at the final settlement, usually within 7 business days of auction end. In the event of a "no-bid" auction, you have the option to relist for $75 additional plus eBay optional listing fees, and if the vehicle sells the second time around, you'll get an eBay LIST fee rebate. Oh, and if the auction is won but the winner reneges, we'll pay the relist fees to get it back on the block.
What do I have to do?
There are several requirements:
- The vehicle must be available for a photo session during the listing visit.
- The non-refundable listing fee is due at the listing visit.
- The vehicle must not be offered for sale elsewhere during the auction period. Our reputation and yours are on the line!
- If your minimum price (or Buy-It-Now price) is bid, you must sell to the successful bidder thru TopNotchStuff.
- You must have a clean title for the vehicle, and provide it as escrow to TopNotchStuff during the auction. If the title is held by a lien-holder, we must have all the payoff information in advance.
- You must disclose all known service and damage history during the listing visit.
- You must certify the odometer reading with a State of Texas Odometer Affidavit, or declare it EXEMPT.
- You must provide a means of communication between yourself and TopNotchStuff. We will communicate with the bidders and those asking questions. We prefer prompt email or cell phone.
What will TopNotchStuff do?
- We will meet you at an agreed-upon listing time to get pictures and facts about the vehicle.
- We will agree upon offering base price, and the dates the auction is to run (maximum duration is ten days).
- We will process the photographs taken to be suitable for online use.
- We will compose an advertisement appropriate for your vehicle. These are usually one page or so in length, and include both positive and negative information. No secrets!
- We will list the ad at the appropriate time for the agreed-upon duration.
- We will follow the auction, and advise you of any significant bidding activity
- We will respond to email and telephone inquiries about the vehicle from potential buyers. We will contact you if we cannot answer specific questions posed.
- We will qualify bidders, obtain deposits and/or deeper identifications, and remove bids deemed false or otherwise worthless.
- At the end of the auction, we will notify you of the results.
- If there is a successful bid, we will contact the buyer to make payment arrangements.
- We will place buyer payment(s) in an auction escrow account
- When full payment has been received, we will settle the transaction with you, and obtain your signature on the title and a transfer form, and a Bill of Sale. You will get a copy of that form with the buyer’s information to provide you with legal proof of sale.
- We will either deliver the vehicle to a local buyer, or take the vehicle to an appropriate shipping depot.
How much will you charge me?
We charge a standard listing fee of $125. This covers the listing visit, the photo session, the preparation of the advertisement, and the Ebay listing fee. It does not include eBay listing options, like 10-day duration, "Featured-in-Category", or Hidden Reserve. Those fees would be added to our listing fee. This total listing charge is due at the listing visit. If the vehicle does not sell, that is all you pay. If the vehicle sells, we add a sales fee based on your selling price:
- Up to $8,000 - $350 flat fee (plus your listing fee)
- $8,000.01 up - 4% of selling price (plus your listing fee)
This works out easily:
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Selling Price |
Fee (including listing fee) |
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$4000 |
$475 |
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$8000 |
$475 |
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$12000 |
$605 |
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$16000 |
$765 |
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$23500 |
$1065 |
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$37500 |
$1625 |
If we sell your vehicle for $16,500, it would cost you $785. We charge $75 to re-list a car that does not sell, and refund $50 of that if the car sells on the relisted auction.
What do I gain by selling thru TopNotchStuff?
We have a high Ebay customer Feedback Rating, we are experienced in this medium, and we know what works. We'll weed out the riff-raff, the bogus bids, and answer the dumb questions (politely) for you. You get far more than any newspaper classified ad, local consignment lot, or even an auction house can provide. We provide one-on-one attention, competence and experience, presented for up to ten days in an international marketplace, professionally handled, and no fuss to you.
How to I get my vehicle listed?
Call Ken Patrick at 972-734-2392, or email us at kenp@topnotchstuff.com.
Listing Log
Seller Information:
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Date of Listing |
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Seller’s Name |
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Seller’s Address |
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Seller’s City ST Zip |
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Seller’s Primary Phone |
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Seller’s Secondary Phone |
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Days to List (1,3,5,7,10) |
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Date to Start |
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Minimum Bid Price $US |
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Buy-It-Now Price $US |
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Vehicle Information:
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Year |
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Make |
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Model |
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Line |
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Body Style |
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Other Identification |
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Exterior color(s) |
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Interior color(s) |
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Odometer miles (or “exempt”) |
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Automatic or Manual |
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Number of Cyls & Displacement |
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Fuel Delivery (Carb, Fuel, Turbo) |
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Title Clear? |
(examined) |
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VIN (match against title) |
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Special Interest information
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Options and Accessories:
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SAFETY |
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Driver’s Airbag |
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Pass Airbag |
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Side Airbags |
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Keyless locking |
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Alarm System |
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ABS |
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On*Star |
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SEATING |
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Bench |
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Bucket |
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Split Bench |
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Leather |
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Console |
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Power Driver’s |
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Power Pass |
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CONVENIENCE |
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Power Mirrors |
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Power Windows |
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Power Locks |
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Mobile Phone |
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DRIVABILITY |
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Power Steering |
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Cruise Control |
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Traction |
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4 Wheel Drive |
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APPEARANCE |
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Tire Type |
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Wheel Type |
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Sunroof |
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Hatch/Canopy |
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Moonroof |
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ENTERTAINMENT |
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AM/FM |
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Cassette |
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CD |
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DVD |
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Television |
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GPS |
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OTHER OPTIONS |
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Condition:
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Overall Mechanical condition
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Overall Accessory condition
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Overall Paint & Trim condition
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Overall Interior condition
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Known problems
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Vehicle Auction Agreement
I, ____________________________________, hereby agree to designate Kenneth A. Patrick, dba TopNotchStuff on Ebay, to represent the vehicle described above for the time period described above. I affirm that the information provided on the attached forms is correct, to the best of my knowledge. I agree to provide additional factual information to Mr. Patrick during the offering period as required. I agree that this is an exclusive offering for sale, and that I am bound to sell the vehicle to Mr. Patrick’s bidder, if my minimum bid is met, and that I cannot sell the car otherwise during the listing period without Mr. Patrick’s consent. I agree to the initial, non-refundable listing fee of $_______ in advance. I understand that neither I nor my representatives may bid on this Ebay offering. If I fail to complete the sale, I will provide restitution to Mr. Patrick and the successful bidder to their satisfaction, limited to a dollar value not to exceed the selling fees that are due. I understand that should the vehicle sell, the funds for the sale will be deposited in an Auctioneer’s Escrow Account, and I will receive a check for the sale amount less sales fees, drawn upon that account as payment in full for this vehicle, and will sign over the title at that time.
Seller: ________________________________________ Date: ___________
______________________________________________Date: ____________
Kenneth A. Patrick, Texas Auctioneer #13322
470 Christi Lane
Princeton TX 75407-4404
972-734-2392
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