Frequently Asked Questions

Traditional sites let you browse listings passively — you find a car, call the dealer, and negotiate from a weak position. TRAPIZO flips that dynamic. You submit the price you're willing to pay, and sellers come to you. No cold calls, no haggling pressure, and no wasted time on cars already sold. You stay in control from the start.

Yes. Browsing inventory, building a Watchlist, comparing and scoring vehicles, exporting comparison PDFs, submitting VIN Offers, and setting a TRAP are all free for buyers. You can try the Watchlist in your browser without an account; sign in when you want to save it across devices or share a private live comparison with a co-buyer.

No. Submitting an offer on TRAPIZO is non-binding. It simply signals to sellers what price you'd be willing to pay. If a seller reaches out and you agree on terms, any commitment happens between you and the seller through your normal transaction process — TRAPIZO itself creates no legal obligation.

A TRAP lets you describe the type of vehicle you want — make, model, year range, mileage cap, price range, ZIP code, and more — without targeting a specific listing. Set your Trap Price and TRAPIZO can surface your criteria to sellers with matching inventory. It is ideal when you are open to multiple options and want sellers to find you.

A VIN Offer is a price you submit on a specific vehicle identified by its Vehicle Identification Number. You browse live inventory, find a car you want, and enter the dollar amount you'd pay for that exact Vehicle. Sellers who own or represent that VIN can see the offer and reach out directly to start a conversation.

No response from a seller is never the end of the road. You can revise your VIN Offer at any time — increasing the consideration price, adjusting your vehicle specs, or extending the time frame to keep it visible longer. If you choose to leave the offer as-is, it simply expires once the selected time frame passes with no action required on your part.

It depends on the type of offer you submitted.

For Criteria Offers, a seller will contact you exclusively through TRAPIZO's built-in messaging system. Your personal contact information — email, phone, or otherwise — is never shared. It is entirely up to you whether to share any personal details with that seller after the conversation begins.

For VIN Offers, a seller may reach out via TRAPIZO messaging, by email, or by phone if you have provided a phone number on your account. Since a VIN Offer is on a specific vehicle the seller represents, direct contact is permitted across all available channels you have made available.

Save a vehicle while browsing TRAPIZO inventory, paste its 17-character VIN, or paste a supported vehicle-listing link. TRAPIZO extracts the VIN when the listing exposes one. Links that do not reveal a valid VIN are skipped. After a Hunt, an empty Watchlist may also preview the first five matching results; those temporary recommendations disappear as soon as you save a real favorite.

Select up to five Watchlist vehicles and rank price, mileage, distance, year, depreciation, and fuel economy from most to least important. Your top two priorities receive strong weight, the middle two receive standard weight, and the bottom two remain neutral. TRAPIZO totals the comparison into one score for each vehicle, while still letting you mark individual advantages and disadvantages.

Yes. The comparison exports as a single landscape Letter PDF with the selected vehicles, specifications, scores, and QR codes for opening their listings. Signed-in buyers can also create a private live link for a co-buyer, who can test a different priority order and save an independent copy without changing the original workspace.

Yes. Every vehicle in the TRAPIZO Score row has its own Make an Offer button. Choose the vehicle you want, open its details, and submit a non-binding out-the-door offer for that specific VIN.

Every buyer on TRAPIZO has already named a price for a vehicle — they're not browsing casually, they're ready to buy. Sellers purchase small bundles of buyer contact credits and unlock leads that match their inventory. That means sellers spend money only on motivated, price-qualified buyers instead of casting a wide net on platforms full of window shoppers.

Sellers log into the Dealer Portal and view a feed of active buyer leads — both VIN Offers on specific vehicles and Criteria Offers that match their inventory. Buyer contact details are masked by default. Sellers use credits to unlock the email address of any buyer they want to contact.

After registering as a seller and purchasing a credit bundle, sellers browse the lead feed filtered to their market. They can see offer amounts, vehicle interests, and buyer preferences before spending a single credit. When they find a strong match, they unlock that buyer's contact info and reach out directly.

TRAPIZO supports all seller types: franchised and independent car dealerships, private party sellers listing their own vehicle, and third-party sellers such as wholesalers or vehicle brokers. Each seller registers and selects their account type during onboarding. All sellers are reviewed before gaining full access to buyer leads.

There is no subscription fee, no listing fee, and no monthly minimum. Creating a seller account and browsing the buyer lead feed is completely free. Sellers only pay when they choose to unlock a specific buyer's contact information. Credit bundles start at $25 for 5 credits, with per-lead costs dropping as low as $1.50 per contact on larger bundles. You pay only for the leads you want — nothing more.

TRAPIZO offers two lead types, each priced by the credit bundle you choose:

• VIN Leads — a buyer has submitted an offer on a specific vehicle you carry. These cost 1 credit each. Depending on your bundle: $5.00 (Starter), $4.50 (Growth), $3.60 (Pro), or $3.00 (Enterprise) per contact.

• Criteria Leads — a buyer has described the type of vehicle they want (make, model, year range, price range, ZIP code). These cost ½ credit each, making them $2.50, $2.25, $1.80, or $1.50 per contact on the same respective bundles.

For comparison, the average cost to acquire a single internet customer through traditional automotive advertising — search ads, third-party listings, and lead aggregators — ranges from $10 to $20 per lead and $200 to $400 per sale. TRAPIZO leads are buyers who have already named a price and are ready to transact, at a fraction of that cost.