Weblog army joins Californian's BMW bid
The automotive market has been buzzing about the new BMWs.
A couple of weeks ago, a posting on Autoblog described reports that the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe was hitting U.S. dealerships. One dealer raised the suggested price on one of these “Bavarian über coupes” by $30,000 to around $100,000.
Then Husker Auto Group of Lincoln displayed an M3 sedan on eBay — and didn’t set a reserve (a minimum bid).
Ken Tanisaka of Los Angeles bid $60,000 and won the auction. He was the only bidder.
But then, according to Tanisaka’s Web posting, Husker Auto Group balked at awarding him the coveted BMW, claiming the listing was a “mistake.”
“Anyone ever experience anything like this on eBay?” Tanisaka asked on the Web. “Please feel free to chime in.”
And all hell broke loose in the blogosphere Sunday and Monday.
His post drew more than 200,000 hits. Hundreds of people responded to him.
And mostly anonymous posters on a variety of sites trashed Husker Auto Group, speculated on the outcome, encouraged Tanisaka, interpreted eBay rules, offered legal advice and generally scalded the Web with high-octane outrage.
Even Tanisaka called it “very scary.”
As the invective mounted Monday, Tanisaka made a conditional deal with Husker Auto to get the car and tried to calm the storm.
In fact, he pleaded with the legions who identify themselves with names like “moosepoop” to lay off the dealer while he tried to settle details of an agreement he said he had reached, “with conditions.”
“... One thing that I would like to make everyone aware of is, BMW of Lincoln is proactively working to correct the situation that they screwed up,” he wrote on BimmerPost Monday.
“They are trying to do right, so please don't harass the dealership right now. No phone calls, threats, e-mails or fake sales calls.”
In an interview Tuesday, Tanisaka’s lawyer, Scott Tepper, said he couldn’t comment because discussions with the dealership were still going on.
Ryan Mathis, sales manager for Husker Auto Group, acknowledged Monday the dealership had agreed to sell the car to Tanisaka.
We didn’t have the reserve set properly,” Mathis explained. “We had a ‘buy it now’ at $67,800. It was an error by our eBay manager, $67,800 was supposed to be the reserve.”
His dealership’s service record is impeccable, Mathis said, and he doesn’t feel as though publicity from the Web commenters muscled him into anything.
“No, we’re just trying to do the right thing,” Mathis said. “We don’t legally have to do this. I’m getting a lot of publicity on it, maybe I’ll sell some more cars.
“These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this.”
Tanisaka acknowledged as much Monday on the BimmerPost.
“The past few days have been insane,” he wrote. “Just thinking about what has transpired, leaves you speechless really. How did this thing go from a M3post.com rant to what it became today? In 3 days, the site amassed 650+ comments and 200,000 page views, with people posting from all around the world, lending their support and help. That’s people I don’t even know!
“Amazing stuff, and probably the coolest thing I have ever been part of, leveraging the Internet in a way that I have never seen before.”
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com.
A couple of weeks ago, a posting on Autoblog described reports that the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe was hitting U.S. dealerships. One dealer raised the suggested price on one of these “Bavarian über coupes” by $30,000 to around $100,000.
Then Husker Auto Group of Lincoln displayed an M3 sedan on eBay — and didn’t set a reserve (a minimum bid).
Ken Tanisaka of Los Angeles bid $60,000 and won the auction. He was the only bidder.
But then, according to Tanisaka’s Web posting, Husker Auto Group balked at awarding him the coveted BMW, claiming the listing was a “mistake.”
“Anyone ever experience anything like this on eBay?” Tanisaka asked on the Web. “Please feel free to chime in.”
And all hell broke loose in the blogosphere Sunday and Monday.
His post drew more than 200,000 hits. Hundreds of people responded to him.
And mostly anonymous posters on a variety of sites trashed Husker Auto Group, speculated on the outcome, encouraged Tanisaka, interpreted eBay rules, offered legal advice and generally scalded the Web with high-octane outrage.
Even Tanisaka called it “very scary.”
As the invective mounted Monday, Tanisaka made a conditional deal with Husker Auto to get the car and tried to calm the storm.
In fact, he pleaded with the legions who identify themselves with names like “moosepoop” to lay off the dealer while he tried to settle details of an agreement he said he had reached, “with conditions.”
“... One thing that I would like to make everyone aware of is, BMW of Lincoln is proactively working to correct the situation that they screwed up,” he wrote on BimmerPost Monday.
“They are trying to do right, so please don't harass the dealership right now. No phone calls, threats, e-mails or fake sales calls.”
In an interview Tuesday, Tanisaka’s lawyer, Scott Tepper, said he couldn’t comment because discussions with the dealership were still going on.
Ryan Mathis, sales manager for Husker Auto Group, acknowledged Monday the dealership had agreed to sell the car to Tanisaka.
We didn’t have the reserve set properly,” Mathis explained. “We had a ‘buy it now’ at $67,800. It was an error by our eBay manager, $67,800 was supposed to be the reserve.”
His dealership’s service record is impeccable, Mathis said, and he doesn’t feel as though publicity from the Web commenters muscled him into anything.
“No, we’re just trying to do the right thing,” Mathis said. “We don’t legally have to do this. I’m getting a lot of publicity on it, maybe I’ll sell some more cars.
“These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this.”
Tanisaka acknowledged as much Monday on the BimmerPost.
“The past few days have been insane,” he wrote. “Just thinking about what has transpired, leaves you speechless really. How did this thing go from a M3post.com rant to what it became today? In 3 days, the site amassed 650+ comments and 200,000 page views, with people posting from all around the world, lending their support and help. That’s people I don’t even know!
“Amazing stuff, and probably the coolest thing I have ever been part of, leveraging the Internet in a way that I have never seen before.”
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com.
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