BaT Auction for a 2027 Corvette Grand Sport Canceled After Readers Noticed Shady Bidding

Bring a Trailer is one of our favorite auction sites, and one reason is the effort it makes to protect the integrity of its auctions.

That commitment was put to the test recently when BaT shut down an auction for a brand-new 2027 Corvette Grand Sport after determining that the Missouri seller had used another account to bid on its own car.

For those of you who don’t think like a criminal, that’s called shill bidding — placing bids on your own vehicle in an attempt to drive up the selling price.

And BaT wasn’t amused.

Users began raising questions about suspicious bidding activity surrounding the Grand Sport, which carried a hefty $109,845 MSRP. After looking into those concerns, Bring a Trailer pulled the plug on the auction rather than allow it to continue.

“Upon further review of the comments and the seller’s information, it has come to light that this seller has used an alternate account to bid on their own auction,” BaT said. “As you all know, we do not allow users to bid on their own cars and the integrity of our marketplace is more important than allowing this auction to close.”

BaT also restricted the seller’s accounts and said it would investigate whether other accounts were connected to the seller.

“One of our top priorities is to ensure that bidders are not placed into a bad position,” BaT said. “As this seller has demonstrated they are not willing to play by the rules here, we have restricted the seller’s accounts.”

Based on the bidding activity described in the listing discussion, the last apparently legitimate bid was $87,500 — more than $20,000 below the Corvette’s sticker price. Any bids after that are now clouded by BaT’s finding that the seller was bidding through an alternate account.

That’s a shame because this auction could have provided an interesting early look at what buyers are actually willing to pay for Chevrolet’s new Grand Sport. Just last month, the first 2027 Grand Sport offered on Bring a Trailer was a no-sale after falling $22,000 short of its original MSRP.

This Corvette in question didn’t need any shady help. The 2LT Z52 coupe is finished in Black with an Arctic White heritage center stripe and Torch Red heritage hash marks. With only 29 miles showing, it’s essentially a brand-new Corvette.

The Grand Sport also features staggered 20- and 21-inch forged wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, Brembo brakes and an Adrenaline Red interior with heated and ventilated GT2 bucket seats. Other equipment includes a Bose Performance Series sound system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Interestingly, despite that $109,845 sticker price, it doesn’t have the available front-axle lift system.

But the equipment list isn’t what people will remember about this particular Grand Sport.

Instead, it’ll be the auction that ended prematurely because the seller apparently couldn’t resist trying to influence the bidding.

And that’s where Bring a Trailer deserves some credit. Rather than simply allowing the auction to reach its conclusion and collect its fees, BaT shut it down once it determined its rules had been violated.

After all, an online auction works only if bidders believe they’re competing against other people who actually want to buy the car — not the person who’s trying to sell it.

The Grand Sport’s auction comments are still up so if you want a play-by-play accounting of how it went down, Click here and scroll down to the comments section.

In this case, BaT admirably decided protecting that trust was worth more than finishing one Corvette auction.

Source:
Bring a Trailer via AutoEvolution

Related:
[VIDEO] Tennessee Man Scammed Out of $38K by Fake Online Auction Website
[VIDEO] California Man Loses Thousands on the Sale of his C5 Corvette And Warns Others About this Scam
Experts Say Beware of Counterfeit Corvettes and Other Classics

Subscribe Now: