Bring a Trailer — Local services in San Francisco

I never thought I'd have cause to post a single negative comment about these guys. I have been a user (and fan), of this website and marketplace since their early days, however I hadn't started buying/selling until just a few years back.

My experiences with them had been nothing but positive.. Right up until a troubling experience really put me in a bad spot and frankly I don't know how to deal with it.

Long story short.. I bid on and won a set of used wheels and tires for my Ferrari 458. The description seemed very honest and the photos posted didn't contain anything that I'd consider questionable, so I was thrilled to have won.

I contacted the seller and that's when something began to seem suspicious. The seller flat REFUSED to use any type of payment system that offered any buyer protection. I offered to pay both ends of any fees involved and was willing to use any service he wanted, as long as there would be SOME type of recourse offered by the system chosen, in the event that the wheels never arrived, were not as described in the sale, etc. I should also mention that this was going to be the very first sale he's ever had with BAT, and his demand of a wire transfer seemed pretty ridiculous.

While we were trying to get something worked out, I kept BAT in the loop and made them aware of the situation. They responded saying that I should continue to try to work something out with the seller before they got involved (or something to that effect).

The seller then sent me a video of the wheels to demonstrate how he was packing them up for shipping. In that video I noticed something disturbing. It appeared to show the powder coat finish flaking loose around the lug pockets. The photos in the ad didn't show this problem. I questioned him about this and he essentially said that this was normal and I was expecting too much from used wheels. Interestingly enough, this flaking is also occurring on my cars wheels and this is exactly why I was replacing them!

Again I kept BAT in the loop with very little help offered back from them. In the end, the seller reported me as a non paying bidder and BAT immediately took away my ability to buy/sell. I was absolutely floored by this! I was a responsible user with no history of problems and this guy didn't disclose this damage, and I'm still expected to buy regardless? The sale price was about $4500..certainly not "chump change".

I kept talking with BAT and their position was that I should have asked about the condition before buying the wheels. I responded saying that I was under the impression that if no damage is disclosed, a buyer should assume it's not damaged. Further, doesn't BAT do some vetting of the items being sold to assure buyers everything is as described?? Again.. Got nowhere.

In the end I was told that I could contact them in a few months and and ask about being allowed back on their site. That is literally what I was told. Like I'm sent to the corner for a "timeout" or something.

Truthfully I am so incredibly disappointed. It's just unfathomable that they could expect a buyer to move forward with a sale of an item with clearly, undisclosed damage. Furthermore, they took my $250 fee owed to them and refused to refund that. I even offered to pay that fee for their efforts, understanding that this wasn't their mistake either.

I really loved this site and model of this service they offer. So...

Disappointing experience listing a car for auction with Bring a Trailer at every step from start to finish. They argued with me about the reserve I required, rejecting my auction twice before eventually coming back and agreeing to a higher number each time, eventually agreeing to the number I presented as my requirement at the start. No purpose to the argumentative responses at all as to the reserve I needed. The next step was photography. I hired the professional photographer (about $400) that they recommended and one of the first comments in the auction was that “this car would really benefit from professional photography”. Hardly a rousing endorsement and such a terrible start. When a reserve is not met on a sale the high bidder and seller get one attempt each to come to an agreement. When my auction concluded and the highest bidder was debating coming up to my counteroffer, another comment comes over on the concluded auction that the high bid is the right value, encourages the buyer not to come up to the counteroffer and to just pass on the car. Bring a Trailer leaves that comment up and repeatedly takes down my response explaining the upgrades done that justify the value, despite my comments being respectful, free of any profanity, and having no contact information. No explanation, just wouldn’t accept my response despite allowing disparaging comments from people who took no part in the auction at all. The auction manager that was supposed to be there for support in the auction also took entirely too long to respond to questions in the closing hours of the auction. When there is only a few hours left in an auction with a deadline like that, you can’t take an hour to respond to messages from the seller. The only part of the process that had promise was the creation of a listing description, but even that required multiple corrections and was ultimately disappointing. Looking at other auctions in the site, it’s clear that snarky, rude, and disrespectful comments from bidders are ignored when reported as well. Unless you have something extremely collectible, just put your vehicle on Facebook Marketplace and save your money. You’ll end up with a better offer anyway, and every service that Bring a Trailer provides outside of their website for the auction is actually a third party service that you can replace easily yourself. You’ll also get better offers when the buyer doesn’t have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to Bring a Trailer for winning the auction. If you have something you need to sell in a hurry and you don’t care how much you get for it, just sell to Carmax and save the time and energy you’d spend on...

I had a very disappointing and frustrating experience working with Dave Duke from Bring a Trailer. As a seller, I came to this platform expecting professionalism, fairness, and transparency. Unfortunately, what I experienced was the exact opposite.

After listing my vehicle and paying the required fees, my account was suddenly restricted and my listing was taken down. The reasoning behind this decision was not related to my car, the accuracy of my listing, or anything connected to the actual sale, but rather because someone with a similar last name to mine was digging into my personal social media accounts. This is not only irrelevant to the auction process but also feels invasive, unfair, and unprofessional.

Bring a Trailer and specifically Dave Duke made the decision to cancel my listing and restrict my account without giving me a fair chance to address or resolve the situation. As a seller, I trusted this company to act with integrity, but once they collected my listing fee, it became clear that they were not interested in offering support or resolving issues fairly. Instead of working with me to find a reasonable solution, my emails have gone unanswered, and my attempts to reach out for clarification or assistance have been completely ignored.

This kind of behavior raises serious concerns about reliability and accountability. A professional auction company should have clear policies, fair dispute resolution processes, and responsive communication with its clients. Instead, what I encountered was dismissiveness, lack of communication, and an overall lack of professionalism. It is unacceptable to take a seller’s money, fail to provide the service promised, and then restrict access without addressing legitimate concerns.

My experience with Dave Duke and Bring a Trailer leaves me strongly questioning the credibility of this company. Sellers deserve to be treated with respect and fairness, not subjected to arbitrary restrictions and ignored when they seek answers. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Bring a Trailer to anyone who values professionalism, reliability, or transparency.

Until the company addresses how it treats sellers and improves the way it handles situations like mine, I would strongly caution others against relying on this platform for selling...