12,239 reviews
AI reviews summary
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Carsales.com.au provides a well-structured platform with secure payment integration and a broad audience, making it a convenient option for users who complete successful sales. However, experiences vary significantly, with a notable portion of private sellers reporting high upfront costs and limited genuine retail engagement compared to free alternatives. Additionally, some users encounter friction due to automated pricing suggestions, dealer-heavy enquiries, and strict website security measures.
Thought carsales would be better than FB marketplace.. wound up being a similar case of tyre kickers and low ballers .. much better options out there for quick and fair sales.
I advertised my motorhome to sell and couldn’t see my ad on their website. They don’t have phone help service on Wednesday and Thursday’s and only email support on these two days. I sent them 2 emails and didn’t receive and response. Be very careful to buy or sell from their website. Very poor and unreliable and unprofessional services. Do not recommend.
The Carsales recommended selling price was way off for the current market for petrol cars. At time of listing Carsales suggested my car be priced around $45k. I had an early offer of $41k that i subsequently rejected based on the estimated value. I had various offers around $40k and in the late $30ks, including an offer of $37k from a wholesaler.… Read more
As the weeks went by i was offed less & less to the point where the best i could get was $32k from a car dealer. If the Carsales estimated value was correct at time of listing I would have sold for the $41k. I've lost $9k on the sale of this car. Not impressed.
Reviews with attachments
I have had a Carsales account since 2011 and this is my second Carsales experience in 2026 and it is clear that Carsales has a wide reach able to bring in a serious buyer. Being able to advertise nationwide, then communicate, at first through the standard Carsales messaging system and then through SMS and email gave me confidence through multiple… Read more · 1
communications with the ultimate buyer. The "Pay Through Carsales" escrow system was the final icing on the cake - such a quick way of making the final transaction while sitting in the car. My cars have been somewhat niche (Cupra Born EV and Volvo V60) and this is why it took some weeks for the eventual buyer to appear, but this ok; the name of the game is patience. The initial fee is reasonable for access to a service that has nationwide reach and has advice on marketing and a mature financial transaction system. The experience has been good for me and I recommend it for anyone who is a seller with a genuine product and who wants to identify genuine buyers.
There are clearly plenty of buyers so it's a good place to advertise. The car was sold within 24 hours. I felt the basic $19 listing fee was sufficient and that proved to be the case. The first enquiry was in the first hour. There is a potential issue with the escrow service because 15 minutes is not long enough to do everything if the… Read more · 1
transaction is happening immediately.
The CarSales app should be available on older mobile phones, not just the most recent.
- +4
I got a lot of dealer offers, despite explicitly stating the price was non negotiable. Maybe that was my fault, I should have priced it above what I wanted originally. What I did was change the selling price $1500 above what I wanted and within 10 days, I had an acceptance and deposit paid. My feedback to Carsales is sellers should be… Read more
encouraged to overprice what they are selling, enabling them to reduce the price to any legitimate buyer. In addition: Add a box to check to warn "dealers" not to make such ridiculously low offers to sellers. It has actually given me a bad experience and probably would not recommend the site, at the least I would advise any seller to add more to the price to allow for flexibility.
Hey Chris, thanks for taking the time to share… Read more
CarSales gives you exposure to a large online marketplace with a wide variety of people who are looking to purchase a car. It is a fair and effective process for both the seller and the buyer. Show reply
SELLERS PAYING TO LIST ON 'CARSALES.COM.AU' BEWARE! NOT ALL BUYERS GET ACCESS TO YOUR LISTING. Carsales appear to be halfwitted in response, pathetically blaming Bot's or a plethora of other Internet related issues. Nonetheless the number of other similar complaints here on ProductReviewAU clearly questions the volume of otherwise legitimate… Read more
Internet traffic being selectively discriminated and 'BLOCKED' by carsales.com.au Meanwhile, until 'Carsales' can get this right, serious Seller's should obviously NOT waste their money on 'CARSALES.COM.AU' . Instead advertising their vehicles elsewhere.
The website is made in such a way that if you open two tabs of cars you get IP blocked and made to do a captcha every time. It is so unfriendly to users I can't think of a website that doesn't want you to use it more than Carsales.com. Seriously the worst user experience I've had on a website for a long time. I really hope another company takes over the used car market here because this garbage company clearly doesn't want us on their platform.
Hi Jules, Thank you for taking the time to share… Read more
Not impressed that you would take my personal data from previously selling a car to cold call my personal phone number to push a business proposition. Your employees found me on LinkedIn and searched your own data base to gain my personal number to attempt to sell the company I work for, business insights. Very unethical.
Hi Chloe, thank you for the feedback and we're… Read more
Pricing is a deadset scam. wanting over $420 to list my car. When will the public wake up and stop using them
I paid a premium to advertise my car on Carsales, expecting a platform that understands how to market vehicles properly. Instead, my listing appears to have been judged by what can only be described as a very confident but slightly dim algorithm. Within moments, my Audi ad was given a “37% rating,” which then politely informs buyers the vehicle… Read more
may be overpriced. An impressive conclusion, particularly given that the system appears to have ignored most of the information in the actual listing.
This isn’t a base model runabout. It’s a luxury Audi with documented servicing, new tyres, manufacturer warranty coverage, and several extras that add genuine value. None of that appears to trouble the algorithm in the slightest.
The system seems designed to compare basic cars against hundreds of identical listings and arrive at a quick price average. That might work perfectly well when pricing something like an old hatchback where there are fifty identical ones parked around the country.
Luxury vehicles, however, don’t work like that. Options, condition, warranty coverage, servicing history and additional features actually matter.
Apparently not here.
Instead, you pay a premium advertising fee only to have your listing immediately undermined by a generic label suggesting it’s overpriced based on what feels like the digital equivalent of shrugging.
Unsurprisingly, the result has been very few views. Carsales claims the rating doesn’t affect exposure, but when buyers are immediately shown a label suggesting the car is overpriced, the damage is already done.
As someone who paid a premium to advertise on the platform, it’s difficult to understand why the system is designed to actively undermine the seller’s listing.
For a platform that specialises in selling cars, it’s remarkable how little it seems to understand about them.
Thank you for taking the time to share such… Read more
Find out how Carsales.com.au compares to other Online Vehicle Sales Sites
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Costs a lot to advertise on the network. Had 5-7 leads on Car sales vs 35+ on a free platform. Sale came through Facebook marketplace
Their new and Expensive way of advertising your car is very cumbersome and not user friendly. Also they do not reply when wanting to ask questions. Advertised vehicle and like day 2 received all these offers under asking price you reply but then they dont. I believe this is carsales wanting to look like you getting interest as offers well below knowing you wont take them. Show details
Hi James, thanks for taking the time to share… Read more
I got dealerships offering me, even though I ticked I didn’t want that. Sold my car under-market on Facebook marketplace. Very little traffic on Car Sales, mostly time wasters/ low-ballers. Never, ever again
Latest follow-ups
After 4 weeks not 1 legitimate enquiry but plenty of scammers even though i liated at below Carsales recommendation. Too many cars listed to few geographical filters. Never again
Follow-up · Hi, see below for answers to your 3 queries: Abt 6-7 Audi Q3 in showroom condition Geographical filters need to be fine tuned so you can search by City/Region/Postcode It would be a good gesture to refund me part of my listing fee ! Cheers, [Name Removed] [Details Removed] [Number Removed]
Hi Johnny We're sorry to hear about your… Read more
Not worth it. Paid for premium advert, to only get 3 inquiries for a below market price, excellent condition car. 2 of the inquiries were from dealers trying to get it for super cheap. No retail buyers here anymore. The buyer I found was from FB… Read more
marketplace, then I ask to come to carsales just because he wanted to use the carsales pay feature (which again,is a joke given that all the authorized payments these days are instant with services like payid or osko)
I like the idea, but the exorbitant costs and dealers chasing you, making it not wirth it.
Follow-up · Car was sold on FB marketplace
Hi Sam, Thank you for taking the time to share… Read more
No decent offers through carsales. Facebook with boosted ads was way more effective and WAAAAAY cheaper. Based off experience I'd never use carsales again to sell a car.
Follow-up · Through Carsales.com.au, i received two lowball offers and a few intro/ghost messages along the lines of "does it have two keys and service history". I sold a White 2021 Toyota Yaris Cross with a Rhino Rack and Toyota-installed tow bar. I was asking $27k (Carsales.com.au suggested $27.2k) and was offered $22.8k subject to inspection as the highest offer. I ended up selling privately on Facebook for $26k.
Positive reviews
The car is sold. Your platform worked for me, so I consider it good enough to recommend, although I think your selling price advice can be a little low when the car has so many extra features. Show reply
I never tried selling my car through other platforms because selling a car is already difficult enough. It's hard to achieve the price we want, and it also costs a lot of money to prepare the car for sale. Despite these challenges, I still believe that Carsales is one of the best platforms to sell a car. Show reply
Very impressed with how easy it was to place the Ad, and the supporting information for sellers, good response from a number of potential buyers, highly recommend
Find out how Carsales.com.au compares to other Online Vehicle Sales Sites
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Negative reviews
Found site really over price for what you get and only people that were interested were dealers literally harassing me with bogus sales talk, so from a website point of view very poor, i didn't even get the vehicle sold on the site but sold on a free site. To others learn from my mistake.
Hi Bruce, thanks for taking the time to share… Read more
Waste of money! I spent like $150+ for a car sales ad, got 1 person messaging and it was a scam. Posted the same exact ad to Facebook marketplace place got thousands of views, 30-40+ different inquiries and sold the car via Facebook marketplace. Don’t waste your money on this platform
Hi, we're sorry to hear that your experience… Read more (+1 reply)
Car sales is a complete con, they have taken away your ability to see the selling dealer so you can only contact the seller via the carsales system - controlling con job. Plus they have remove vehicle number plates so you can’t check vehicle history; very suspicious operation if they need to hide important vehicle information
Hi, thank you for your review. We're sorry to… Read more
Recent reviews
For the money and effort spent in getting an ad up there and editing and updating it to get no enquiries. I have the same as on Facebook and have a buyer. This is now the second time I've advertised and Facebook has worked better and I've had nothing from car sales audiences. I would not bother going through car sales again for private selling.
Hi Rachael, thanks for sharing your feedback.… Read more
Pretty disappointing experience with Carsales. Paid their high fees for even the most basic ad and got zero genuine inquiries — only one wholesaler tyre-kicker who wasted my time. Ended up listing it on Facebook Marketplace for free, sold it straight away to a genuine buyer for the price I wanted and was way less hassle. Carsales wouldn’t offer… Read more
any real promotion without trying to nickel and dime me either.
Probably won’t waste my time with Carsales in future - not for the price.
We're sorry to hear that your experience didn't… Read more
Complaint CarSales Scam-Alert Very disappointing experience with CarSales. After paying to advertise a vehicle, I expected to have the option to leave the ad active if I decided not to sell immediately. Instead, I was effectively forced to either proceed with the sale or remove the listing, with no reasonable option to simply pause or wait. If you… Read more
change your mind, don’t find a buyer, or decide to keep the car, you may have to pay again if you later want to relist it. In my view, this feels unfair to sellers who have already paid for advertising.
CarSales should provide customers with a reasonable option to pause an advertisement rather than forcing them to cancel and potentially pay again.
Think carefully before paying to list your car, and make sure you understand the cancellation and relisting conditions. Greedy Carsales
We're sorry to hear you were disappointed with… Read more
overall less exposure than Facebook marketplace and I paid for the top level ad (which was obscenely expensive). Disappointed. I still have my other car for sale here and mostly getting inquiries through Facebook. I can't say that the buyers are more serious here than FB either as I had reasonable offers on FB. The only advantage is perhaps it… Read more
might a bit be safer if the transaction is done through carsales, however the buyer paid via direct deposit anyway which kind of eliminated the only advantage.
Thank you for taking the time to share your… Read more
If I could give zero stars, I would. Paying $299 for a private listing on Carsales is an absolute daylight robbery. I put my car up on Carsales and cross-posted the exact same ad—word for word, same price—on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook Marketplace: Handled like a charm. Dozens of messages, 7 actual genuine buyers ready to deal. Carsales:… Read more
Absolute crickets. Zero enquiries.
To make matters worse, instead of actually delivering on the service I paid for, Carsales just kept spamming me with automated prompts to lower my price. Their "recommended price" to make a sale was completely out of touch—it was less than what I owe on my car loan! Slashing the price isn't a strategy, it's just lazy.
Carsales clearly prioritises commercial dealers and pushes private sellers to the bottom of the pile. Don't waste your time or money with them. Stay on FB Marketplace or local classifieds instead.
Hi Chunki, We're sorry to hear that your… Read more (+1 reply)
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Hi Chris, We're sorry to hear that your… Read more