AMES, Iowa -

A new website called Trading-in.com could be beneficial to both consumers and dealers via its trade-in vehicle listings.

At the request of the consumer who owns the vehicle, Trading-in.com allows dealers to list a vehicle and its given trade-in price plus any repairs, overhead and certification costs at the website.

Listings are posted for three to seven days, during which the vehicle stays on the dealer’s lot and consumers and dealerships can place private online offers via Trading-in.com.

“Dealers benefit in many ways from Trading-In.com,” said Nathan Braymen, business analyst for Trading-in.com and among its co-founders. “We have dealer-exclusive wholesale listings so dealers can wholesale directly to other dealers.”

Vehicles can be listed in three ways at Trading-In.com: as wholesale for dealers only; trade-in open to all; and for-sale-by-owner open to all.

Depending on the price point at which the trade-in sells, dealers share with the seller 5 to 50 percent of any profit over the original trade-in price. The higher the vehicle’s selling price, the more of that profit is shared with the trade-in customer, Braymen explained.

“Dealers can use Trading-In.com as a show of good faith to help seal the deal,” Braymen said. “If the car sells via our website, the customer will get a check for extra cash. If not, it shows the customer that the original trade-in amount was close to its true value.”

Braymen says car salesman in the Des Moines, Iowa, area which the company consulted report that dealerships send about 70 percent of trade-in vehicles to wholesale auctions rather than selling them on their lots, at a cost of $250 to $300 per vehicle.

By listing trade-ins at Trading-In.com, he said dealers instead could generate lot visits from multiple interested buyers.

Also, as those buying via the website may have their own trade-ins to offer, car sales teams have the potential to create high-turnover chains of trade-in sales, Braymen noted.

Trading-In.com registration is $100 per year; the first 25 dealerships to register by the end of May can have that fee waived for life. For others, a free 30-day trial period is offered.

For more information, visit www.trading-in.com.