See my take below ⬇

Another Ferrari takeover this weekend, with the top three sales being Ferraris. We're busy crunching the numbers to provide you with an in-depth look at Ferrari's performance this year—stay tuned.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Collecting Cars for securing the top two sales, with the cars located in France and Switzerland. Check out the details below to see what's happening in Europe and the ‘competitor’ on the horizon for Collecting Cars.

Alright, let’s keep this short and sweet. The highest bid for this Bugatti was $1,310,000. Interestingly, our favorite buyer from last week, ‘foreginaffairmotorsport’ (who scooped up 6 cars last week!), was the second-highest bidder and decided to tap out at that price.

Now, some folks are claiming that Saturday was the reason it didn’t sell. Seriously? How many times have I told you about the incredible sales we've had over the weekends? About six months ago, Doug DeMuro was on a podcast saying cars don’t sell on the weekend, which is why Cars & Bids doesn’t end auctions then. If you remember, I dug deep into the stats to see if he was right. Spoiler alert: he wasn’t. I think Cars & Bids just doesn’t have enough vehicles to fill weekend slots and doesn't want to make their staff work weekends.

Anyway, one bidder on the Veyron auction voiced his opinion (entitled to it, but wrong!) about why it didn’t sell.

And someone clapped back with some facts!

On Saturday, BaT’s sell-through rate was 79%, which is consistent with the rest of the week. Looking back through the data, their Saturday sell-through rate is often higher than weekdays.

The real reason the Veyron didn’t sell? The seller wanted more—probably a lot more, considering it was recently listed on eBay for $1,750,000. There just weren’t any buyers on Saturday willing to meet that price.

Generally, Veyrons don’t sell well online. That’s why BaT still has some work to do, to bring in a broader audience, crazy as that sounds.

For context, the same year and model sold at RM Sotheby’s yesterday (with slightly less mileage) for $1.6 million (plus $150,000 in fees!).

One of the topics I keep getting asked about is how much money the platforms are making. Today, I'm going to draw back the curtain and let you know the specifics. For once, I’m going to take my car hat off and put on my financial hat to show you what's going on.

There’s no better place to start than with the actual numbers.

Let me explain what we're seeing. Bring a Trailer charges a buyer's premium of 5%, with a maximum cap of $7,500 and a minimum of $250. It's worth noting that this maximum cap was increased from $5,000 on January 29th.

The seller's fee is a bit more variable, as it depends on the package the user selects. To simplify the calculations, I've assumed an average seller fee of $99. This means that the actual revenues will be slightly higher than what you're seeing here, but without access to BaT's precise data, this estimate will have to suffice.

Key Insights:

1. Revenue Growth: Each month (aside from March to April when revenue went down very slightly) shows a steady increase in overall revenue, driven both by commission revenue and the additional seller fees.

2. Seller Fees Contribution: The $99 seller fee, when adjusted for total listings, adds a significant boost to the overall revenue each month.

3. Volume and Value: The growth in the number of lower-priced vehicle sales significantly drives up the total revenue, thanks to higher transaction volumes.

Monthly Revenue Trends and Insights

Lower Segments ($0-$20k, $20k-$50k, $50k-$100k):

• $0-$20k: We’re definitely seeing month-on-month growth here. Revenue jumps from $474,742 in January to $729,667 in May. This segment is on fire, and it’s clear that more lower-priced vehicles are being sold each month.

• $20k-$50k: Similar story here. Revenue climbs from $1,038,240 in January to $1,507,523 in May. Consistent growth, indicating a steady increase in sales volume.

• $50k-$100k: Holding steady with a slight upward trend. January starts at $960,968 and May hits $1,437,062. The mid-low range is also seeing growth, though not as rapid as the lower segments.

High-End Segments ($100k+):

• $100k-$250k: This category is pretty stable, hovering around $1.3 million each month. A slight dip in May, but nothing major.

• $250k-$500k: Some variability here. Revenue peaks in May at $307,500, showing occasional high-value sales.

• $500k-$1M and $1M+: These segments are consistent but not growing as rapidly. They add significant value when sales occur but aren't driving monthly revenue spikes.

Key Drivers of Revenue Growth:

1. Lower Segments are Booming: The biggest driver is the surge in lower-priced vehicle sales. The $0-$20k and $20k-$50k segments are growing consistently each month. This suggests a higher volume of transactions, boosting overall revenue.

2. Mid-Low Range Stability: The $50k-$100k range also contributes to steady growth, reflecting solid demand and consistent sales.

3. High-End Sales Consistency: While high-end segments aren’t showing huge growth, they provide stable and significant contributions to revenue. These segments add value without the same volume as lower ranges.

Summary:

• More Lower-Priced Vehicles: There’s a clear increase in the number of lower-priced vehicles being sold month-on-month.

• Steady $100k+ Sales: High-end sales ($100k+) remain steady, ensuring stable revenue but not significantly increasing month-to-month.

• Volume Drives Growth: The lower and mid-low segments are driving the most growth each month, with a noticeable increase in sales volume contributing to the overall revenue surge.

In essence, BaT's revenue growth is fueled by an uptick in the sales volume of lower-priced vehicles, while high-end sales continue to provide a steady, if not growing, revenue stream. This balanced approach helps maintain robust revenue growth month after month.

As I wrote above, at the end of January, BaT announced a commission hike to a maximum of $7,500. From what I can tell, there has been little to no blowback on this change. It's still a great deal for buyers and sellers, especially when compared to buying higher-end cars from a physical auction company.

Above, you can see what their commission revenue would have been like had they not changed the fee structure. The total difference for these five months is $1.7 million, which certainly pays a few salaries!

Here we can see that Friday is the king of revenue for BaT. The breakdown of price ranges for each day of the week reveals that while weekends have less sales, it's primarily because they list fewer cars. For instance, yesterday they listed 95 cars instead of the usual average of 125.

Summary:

Overall, BaT is averaging $156k in commission revenue every single day. We can project that their revenue from June to the end of the year will be around $33 million, bringing the total projected revenue for 2024 to approximately $57 million.

In a future post, we’ll dive into the actual vehicles sold, examining sales prices, insights, and trends.

Remember when we mentioned a few weeks ago that BaT was planning to expand globally? Well, they've just made their first move with a partnership in the Netherlands. Opting for local partners rather than establishing local offices is a smart strategy. If they can penetrate the European market deeply, they'll likely discover some spectacular cars, potentially increasing their listings to over 200 a day!

I bet that map is going to get a lot busier over the next 12 months. Read all about it here.

The big question is will this bring in new ‘online’ business for the whole market or will BaT take some of the European business from other platforms??

As they expand, my hope is that BaT re-jigs their website to make finding cars a lot easier than it is today. They’re going to get busier, no doubt, and a more user-friendly site will be key to handling that growth smoothly.

We all know there are plenty of car podcasts, likes Spike’s Car Radio, The Smokin Tire etc.. But also many of the online auction platforms have their own podcast.