GM Launches EBay Car Sales

GM is hoping to boost its sales in California with a trial program selling new cars and trucks on eBay, AP reports. Most of the company's dealers in the state have signed up for the program, which will let buyers haggle over the price of new vehicles and determine online whether they qualify for "cash-for-clunkers" using a microsite designed in partnership with eBay Motors.

Customers will be able to buy the vehicles at a fixed price or submit a bid. The trial program will run for a month. Execs hope to expand it nationwide if sales take off in California. Dealers—whose participation in the program is voluntary—say the move is long overdue, while eBay spokesmen say it fits the trend of people becoming more comfortable about making big purchases online.  "New cars are like the next frontier of that," said an eBay Motors spokesman.
(More eBay stories.)