Cars On Line.com gets over 650,000 page views each day so a lot of specialty car owners would like to use it to sell their vehicle. Yet, our advertisers often have questions about how to place an ad on Cars On Line.com so we thought we would walk you through it with this helpful article.
Read on to find out answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about listing a car “for sale” in the Cars-On-Line.com network.
1. Starting on the Cars On Line homepage, click the “click here to submit ads” link.
2. Choose which type of ad you want.
- SLIDE-SHOW ads include 26 photographs that play in a viewer right on your ad page. The SLIDE -SHOW ad will run for 90 days. The cost is $65.
- RUN TIL SOLD ads include 4 photographs, a 100-word description and will run literally until the vehicle has sold. Cost is $45.
Additional photos will be included in a RUN TIL SOLD ad for an extra charge. You’ll see more on this in later steps. In our example, we’ll be using a RUN TIL SOLD ad.
3. Enter your e-mail address. Cars On Line.com will use this e-mail address to identify your account.
4. Choose the type of vehicle. You’re now entering a form, and your progress through the form can be measured by the track of the car at the top of
the page. Do not use your browser’s back button while navigating the form, as it may cause a conflict with some browsers. If this happens, call us at 1-800-880-5105 so that we can help you to retrieve any lost data. Rather you may use the BACK and NEXT buttons provided on the form.
The radial buttons on the left side of this page are used to select the category of vehicle in which your ad will appear on Cars-On-Line.com, i.e. Domestic Vehicles, Imported Vehicles, Motorcycles, etc. The Run Til Sold selection will already be preset for you.
5. Choose the year and make. In our example, we’ll be choosing a 1966 Chevy II.
Steps 6 through 13 can all be completed on the following page:
6. Choose the model of your car. Our example is using a Nova.
7. Additional series information can be entered. Our example is a Nova II.
8. Write a lead-in. This is a very short description, usually only 4-5 words that will appear in the list format of the Cars On Line.com catagory listings. Below is an example of how the lead will appear.
9. Enter a description of your vehicle. The first 100 words are included in the initial cost of the ad (in the case of a Run-til-Sold ad, that’s $45) and each additional 100 words costs $5. So a Run-til-Sold ad that has anywhere from 101 to 200 words will cost $50. A counter below the description box will keep track of how many words you have used. Remember to be as thorough as possible. Buyers tend to assume that nothing written is an indication that there’s nothing special about the car. It’s popular to write “too much to list” which is fine, as long as you have actually written some details about the vehicle. You have at least 100 words. Use them to help establish a connection to potential buyers.
10. Enter the price. Be sure to enter the price. When price is not included buyers assume you are asking too much and may not contact you. It does not cost any extra to lower your price during the run of your ad. By lowering the price you may attract buyers. Price reductions will be sent out to buyers through our weekly newsletter.
11. Make notations about the price. Notations like “or best offer” and “trades considered” can be entered here.
12. Fill out all of the required contact information, marked with a blue *. Only your location and phone number will be displayed in the ad. Your email address will not be shown so that scammers cannot get your email. However when buyers click the “Send Owner An Email” link they will be able to send you an email.
13. Choose how many photographs you want to add. A Run-til-Sold ad includes 4 photographs, while a SLIDE SHOW ad includes 26. The process for loading this photographs is the same in both cases. If you wish to add more photographs (for a Run Til Sold ad), use the drop down menu to select how many total photographs you want to include, as shown below.
14. Loading photographs. After choosing how many photographs you want to include, you’ll be brought to a screen where you can begin loading them to the ad. Click “Choose File” next to each photo slot to begin.
15. Photographs will need to be stored on the computer you are using to load them, and cannot be directly saved from your camera. In our example, we moved photographs from the camera to a folder on our desktop called “Chevy II.” Depending on the operating system you are using, this process could vary slightly. Find the folder your files are stored in, and open it.
16. Select the photograph you wish to load. You will need to select each file individually. After selecting the file, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to load the photograph, depending on how busy your bandwidth is, and how large the photograph is.
17. The photograph file name will appear next to the slot you have loaded it to. In this case, 66chev71340-1.jpg has been successfully loaded. When you are finished loading each of your photographs, click the “continue” button at the bottom of the page.
18. You will then see small thumbnails of the photographs you loaded. You can choose to change or add more photographs at this stage. Don’t worry about how the photographs appear in these thumbnails. Cars On Line staff will review each photograph and ensure that it is sized correctly and fits into our ad template. Click “submit” when you are satisfied that all your photographs are loaded.
19. Review the summary of fees accumulated during the creation of your ad. Click “Okay, charge my card” when ready to proceed.
20. Enter your credit card information. At this point, you’ll be redirected to our financial partner, First Data, and may receive a notification from your internet browser that you are entering a “secured site.” First Data is a reputable online financial institution whose business it is to keep your financial data safe. They run credit card authorization for Cars On Line and notify us when a successful payment has been made. Cars On Line does not keep the financial information on our servers, and never has access to your credit card information.
It should be noted that First Data will authorize a charge to your card before the actual charge goes through. This doesn’t mean your card has been charged yet. It’s simply a way for a credit institution like First Data to ensure that there are enough funds to cover the charge that will be made.
After you’ve entered your credit card information click “continue.”
21. Congratulations! Your vehicle will soon be on Cars On Line! You should receive a thank you screen from Cars On Line.com.
It takes up to 24 hours for Cars On Line staff to review and publish an ad. Check back after this time to see your ad.
If at any point in this process you have a question, please feel free to call our offices at 1-800-880-5105. We’re open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 AM-5:00 PM Central Standard Time.
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