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Selling successfully on car dealer platforms: Tips for ideal photos and descriptions
Over seven million used cars change hands in Germany every year. The large, well-known dealer platforms offer many opportunities for professional car dealers. For as little as ten euros per vehicle, car dealers can reach millions of potential buyers. The enormous reach is the biggest advantage of the large platforms: Mobile.de records twelve million visitors every month, Autoscout24 over seven million. These are potential end customers and buyers from other dealers from all over Germany who are looking for their next vehicle there.
What's more, the major market leaders are far more than just classifieds exchanges thanks to their numerous functions and information for end users and traders. There are practical tools to create, analyze and manage ads, functions such as videos, 360-degree photos or the application features. At the same time, the competition there is enormous: the two largest platforms for new and used cars have around one million sales ads or more online at any given time. In other words, the popular platforms are a very large pond, but also full of fish.
Here we show you how to present your vehicles ideally on these large platforms and receive qualified purchase inquiries.
The costs for commercial offers
The platforms offer different prices, packages and options for dealers. On mobile.de, commercial listings cost from around 30 euros per ad. The costs for the dealer account are staggered according to the number of listings. The account costs from 60 euros per month. Autoscout24 has a similar price scale, starting at 39 euros for two vehicles. With high sales volumes, the price per vehicle drops to well under ten euros for both providers.
Advertise vehicles correctly
How can car dealers attract positive attention with their advertisements and convince interested parties to contact the car seller? Contacting people for simple inquiries only costs time; as car dealers, we want to make specific inquiries and arrange viewing appointments instead of constantly answering questions about the history and condition of vehicles. A good online advertisement for a vehicle fulfills two objectives: firstly, it is found in the first place and secondly, it draws attention away from the price and towards the vehicle. Why this vehicle and not one of the many comparable ones?
Doubts, unanswered questions and skepticism drive interested parties to other offers. We must actively avoid this.
An ad doesn't have to be perfect, but the aim should be to be more attractive and clearer than comparable examples.
Buyers - whether private or dealers - do not like surprises. Every unanswered question suggests a potential problem, reduces interest and lowers the achievable selling price. With the wide range of vehicles available on the platforms, there is always plenty of choice and the next ad is just a click away. The more detailed the ad shows the vehicle and the fewer questions are left unanswered, the more confidence potential buyers will have in the vehicle.
There is a lot of competition for offers on the major platforms. Dealers must stand out from the competition with their offers so that their own vehicles attract attention at more than just low prices.
Smaller portals as an alternative?
In addition to the big players, there are other auctions for used cars and search portals for used cars through which car dealers can offer vehicles to private customers. Examples include hey.car, juhu.auto and pkw.de. Comprehensive search portals such as 12gebrauchtwagen.de round off the options that buyers can use today to find vehicle offers. General portals for classified ads or auctions such as ebay, ebay Kleinanzeigen or Facebook complete the platforms on which vehicles can be offered. However, as a dealer who wants to achieve optimum sales, you should avoid classified ad portals. They often offer no added value through better service or smooth processing and only have a limited circle of potential customers.
Tips for the perfect vehicle photos:
Above all, it is important that you show the vehicle from its best side. This starts with the cleanliness and care of the vehicle itself, continues with the surroundings and the lighting of the pictures and extends to photographic tricks and the quality of the shots. For example, you should choose a green corner in the yard or a bright, spacious area inside as a backdrop.
Good photos create clarity and answer many questions. Bad photos sow doubt and raise questions.
Photo checklist
- Only ever use your own photos, no photos from the manufacturer, the Internet or the previous owner (copyright)
- The vehicle should be spotlessly clean. This applies to the paintwork, but also to the windows, brakes and rims
- Take photos at about chest height, no frontal views, but angled perspectives
- No photos with the winter steel wheels, even if higher quality aluminum rims are included. If steel rims, then always with hub caps
- No photos with mounted attachments and accessories, or only as additional photos: child seats, roof racks, cell phone holders or similar should be removed for the most important pictures. Buyers want to see the car
- No price tag on the picture, preferably no indication of the season (both are quickly out of date)
- The car should come to life in the detailed photos: Switch on ignition, switch on navigation/infotainment
The right image arrangement for sales ads
The sales platforms allow you to upload numerous pictures of a vehicle. Depending on the provider, the limit is around 15 images. If there is not enough space for all the important perspectives and equipment highlights, we have to concentrate on the most important features. But be careful: omitting always creates mistrust. If we show the vehicle from the right-hand side, we should also show the left-hand side, otherwise a prospective buyer might assume that there is a reason to omit this side.
We recommend arranging the pictures logically: first a tour from all sides around the car from the outside with four or more pictures, then the details from the interior. This gives prospective buyers a feel for the vehicle and allows them to view it almost as if it were real. This includes showing important equipment features: Convertibles should be shown with the roof open and closed. Variable interiors such as a fold-out third row of seats or front/rear armrests should also be shown in action.
Optimize the key image
The first image is the key image that appears in the search results. This is therefore the most important of all images. It should show the car as a whole, typically from the front at an angle. The aim here is to be able to clearly recognize the vehicle model even in the small preview view. Detailed photos, on the other hand, are not well suited as key images. A photo showing our car from the front at an angle has proven to be the best.
Logos and text on images?
With lettering on the key image, the offer could stand out among all the search results. "Free two-year inspection", "New MOT" or "1st hand" could be good arguments, depending on the vehicle segment, as to why your own offer is better than the competition and increase the click rate on the offer. A logo of a brand representative can also create trust. Care should be taken to ensure that the lettering is large enough to be legible in the small preview size and at the same time does not obscure the vehicle image.
However, the problem here is that the dealer platforms do not like this. Autoscout24 prohibits the uploading of photos with logos in the terms of use. Instead, only the vehicle should be shown. In practice, this is tolerated as long as the logos do not obscure the car. At mobile.de, the rules are somewhat more relaxed - logos, picture frames and lettering are also tolerated here.
Conveying information with images
Many car dealers rely on inserting general information about the dealership as images in each picture gallery: The location of the dealership on a map, photos of the contact person from the sales department or service awards from the dealership. This can help to create recognition value and make the dealership's brand better known. For actual sales, however, this plays a lesser role compared to car photos. When in doubt, actual photos of the car are more important.
A well-designed collage with general information and pictures of the house can help to create trust. Especially if it shows that it is a large house with high-quality fixtures and fittings. Pictures can show even more than the car or the dealer's business: photos of the checkbook and invoices for major repairs can also ensure that prospective buyers find our offer more trustworthy than others.
Simple mistakes to avoid:
1. poor photos (too dark, out of focus), lack of perspective
2. do not list important equipment features
3. upload equipment lists as images only
4. publish advertisements without (complete) photos ("Pictures to follow")
The right title
The free text search helps users to find exactly the right vehicle variants and equipment. If we already use these in the ad title, our ad will appear there in the results. However, space is limited, as there is only room for one or two special features in the title. Few kilometers, sports package, new timing belt? Focus on the really important aspects suitable for the model and age, the rest can be found in the description.
Be found: Description and optional extras
Incomplete descriptions make bargains possible, we want the opposite.
Commercial buyers look for good opportunities in certain vehicle segments. They also often work with automatic notifications for suitable segments. For example, vehicles that are poorly described, but where the expert eye recognizes attractive features. Or vehicles that need work that depresses the value but is easy for the dealer to calculate.
Private buyers, on the other hand, often use very specific search criteria such as the age, model or even special equipment features they are looking for. Here, car dealers' descriptions cannot be too detailed. If poor, incomplete descriptions make bargains possible, professional dealers should do the opposite.
For maximum visibility and attractiveness, all relevant features should be included in the ad. This helps you to be found via the search function and attracts prospective buyers who are looking very specifically for features, color and equipment packages. At the same time, meaningful descriptions reduce inquiries, which can cost a lot of time. Private buyers are interested in more than just the key data; they weigh up several examples of the desired model against each other.
Professional car dealers must not make the mistakes of many private sellers: These often do not know the specific equipment or do not perceive interesting extras as something special. Even experienced car dealers often do not have an eye for the specific details of a model: Is this the standard seating that has been delivered millions of times or is it the rare comfort seats?
If such details are not apparent from the existing documents, a VIN query can provide specific information about the standard and optional equipment of a vehicle. This means that dealers do not miss any details of the equipment. After all, rarely ordered optional extras can significantly increase the value or attractiveness of a vehicle and thus reduce its service life. Even the specific factory designation of the color variant helps to leave no customer questions unanswered.
Dispelling final concerns
When prospective buyers are interested in a particular model, they have often already researched many details. What are the typical weaknesses, what should you look out for, what expensive maintenance might be due? Classics such as timing belts are a matter of course, but the connoisseur will have identified much more specific problem areas and will be concerned about them.
The profit lies in purchasing
As the old saying goes, the greatest profit potential lies in the right purchase. Both the purchase price and the difference between the target and actual condition play a role here. At CarOnSale you can buy objectively tested dealer vehicles at favorable prices. Register free of charge and start shopping carefree via CarOnSale today.
