Last week I was able to pass along a lead for a $100k+ Mercedes-Benz, and it reminded me just how many readers come to me asking where, and more importantly who, they should sell their car with.

I know quite a few of you reading this are PowerSellers on the various auction platforms. I'm particularly interested in hearing from people in the Midwest and Mountain West, although location isn't everything. What matters more is that you're very good at what you do, have capacity to give each car and owner proper attention, and have particular makes or types of cars you really know well. If that sounds like you, email me at [email protected] and tell me a little about what you do, where you're based and the cars you particularly like representing.

And while I'm talking about helping the community, don't forget we now have three completely free tools live: our Import Calculator to work out what it'll cost to bring a car into the US, our live quotes of Domestic Shipping for moving cars around the country, and the TDV Jobs Board for anyone looking to work, or hire, in the enthusiast vehicle world.

All free. More to come very, very soon…

I spend so much time looking at cars that it's easy to focus on the obvious things. Mileage, condition, colour combination, service history and, of course, where the bidding might end up. But every so often I come across a listing where the thing that catches my attention isn't really the car at all. It's the seller.

This 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300SD is a perfect example. I happen to like the car. Midnight Blue over beige is a great combination, these old Mercedes diesels have a reputation for going on and on, and this one has had a huge amount of work done over the last few years. But that's not really why I'm writing about it.

What I love is the effort this seller is putting into an auction that, with only hours remaining, is still below $5,000. I've got absolutely no idea who he is and I've never spoken to him, but go through the listing and especially the comments and he comes across as someone I'd feel very comfortable buying a car from. Frankly, I've seen cars worth considerably more presented with considerably less effort.

Someone asks whether a 44-year-old Mercedes could make the drive to Canada and rather than giving the usual "I'd drive it anywhere" sales pitch, he explains the long journeys he's personally done in it and then quite rightly points out that ultimately you're still putting your faith in a 44-year-old car. Someone asks why he's selling after only a year and there's no elaborate story. He's moving, needs to downsize the garage and originally bought it from a friend who was leaving the country. Another bidder asks what's not working and he tells them. Someone raises something about the sill plates and he goes away, takes more photos and uploads them.

It's all very simple, but that's exactly why I like it. He's enthusiastic without overselling the car, answers questions properly, seems to know what he's talking about and, most importantly, doesn't pretend a 1982 Mercedes with nearly 190,000 miles is something it isn't.

For me, that's how you build trust in an online auction, and a lot of sellers could take notes from this guy. It shouldn't matter whether you're selling a $5,000 Mercedes or a $500,000 Ferrari. If you're asking someone you've probably never met to send you their money for a car they may never have seen in person, presentation and communication matter.

Will all that extra effort add thousands to the final price? I've no idea. But I know that if I were bidding, I'd have far more confidence buying from this seller than I would from someone who uploads the minimum number of photos and disappears until the final hour.

I always find second-chance auctions interesting, particularly when the first attempt gives us a pretty good idea of where buyers were prepared to go. This Euro-spec 1980 Mercedes-Benz 380SE was bid to $25,500 last time around but didn't sell. Now it's back, this time on The MB Market, so I'm fascinated to see whether putting the same car in front of a very different audience produces a different result.

And it's certainly not a boring W126. It's an ex-Barry Taylor Collection car, reportedly sent to AMG in Germany when it was new, with the SEC front-end conversion, genuine first-generation AMG body kit, 16-inch AMG Pentas and Atiwe AMG steering wheel. Then there's the Lapis Blue over beige combination, Euro-spec V8 and around $35,000 reportedly spent on mechanical refurbishment by the current seller. There's a lot here for the Mercedes crowd to get excited about.

But I'm probably just as interested in where it's selling this time. I've written about The MB Market plenty over the years and it's a platform I'm liking more and more. So I was really pleased to see the news this week that they're establishing their own headquarters in Atlanta and partnering with Stuttgart Steel, who'll operate from the new location providing auction preparation, photography, representation, maintenance, repair and servicing all under one roof.

That last bit particularly caught my attention. Effectively having that PowerSeller/consignor capability in-house makes an awful lot of sense to me. We've talked plenty recently about how much difference the right person can make when selling a car online, from preparing it properly and taking the photos to managing the listing and answering bidders. For a specialist Mercedes platform to start bringing more of that process under one roof feels like a really interesting move.

Now, being a specialist platform certainly doesn't guarantee success. We've seen that before. Marqued (who remembers them?) was backed by Porsche and still ultimately shut down, which when you think about it is pretty crazy. PCarMarket started life much more heavily focused on Porsche and has since broadened out. There are still some fantastic Porsches selling there and I really hope they continue to grow, but it's another reminder that simply owning a niche isn't enough. You still need the cars, the sellers and, most importantly, the buyers.

That's why I'm interested in what The MB Market is doing. They're not simply saying, "We're the Mercedes auction site" and expecting everyone to turn up. They're continuing to build around it, and this new headquarters and partnership feels like another step in the right direction.

Which brings me back to this 380SE. We already know what happened when it was offered to the enormous BaT audience. It reached $25,500 and didn't sell. Now we get another little real-world experiment. Can a smaller platform with a much more concentrated Mercedes audience find the right buyer and get it over the line?

I've no idea, and that's exactly why I'll be watching. I'm rooting for The MB Market. I like specialist platforms, I like seeing people try different things, and I particularly like seeing a platform continue to invest and grow rather than simply waiting for more listings to arrive. Hopefully they can keep building from here.