GM's big eBay yard sale starts Tuesday

Today, bankrupt-but-bailed-out automobile company General Motors announced it will be attempting to sell cars on eBay in a move to reach out to new customers and possibly reclaim some market share.

Beginning tomorrow, approximately 225 California Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, and GMC dealerships will put some 20,000 cars up on a new dedicated portal (gm.ebay.com) with "buy it now" prices which are negotiable.

The slogan: "Our Best Cars, Your Best Offer."

GM's choice to use eBay to help re-vitalize the American car business is just too perfect. The former mother of all online auction sites has turned into e-commerce's equivalent of the dirt mall after a slow decline that has spanned more than five years.

No longer the premier site for trading rare and treasured goods, eBay is now a place where you can buy on the cheap. CEO John Donahoe said earlier this year that the site was beginning to concentrate more on "secondary market" goods, (i.e., liquidation and overstock merchandise) as PayPal becomes the main revenue driver for the company and Skype gets spun off.

Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of US sales, said today, "Together with eBay Motors, GM and our dealers are reinventing the car-buying experience for our California customers...As the dealer showroom expands from the parking lot to the laptop, this makes it easier for a customer to browse available new-car inventory, make an offer, buy it now, or send a message asking for more information from a dealer -- all at the customer's convenience."