SEATTLE -

In 2011, OfferUp started out and promoted itself as paving the way for a simpler, more trusted way to buy and sell locally. It launched OfferUp Autos in 2018, with a goal of reducing the “friction in the car buying and selling process” and allowing customers to browse local inventory, and for sellers to post their listing for free.

On Thursday, the company said more than 2,000 paying dealers are now participating in its auto sales program, which is five times the number of participants it had a year ago.

The company estimates that nearly 10% of U.S. used car sales took place on OfferUp's marketplace last year, and it says that has resulted in billions of dollars in auto sales. Millions of listings from U.S. private sellers get an audience of buyers looking for pre-owned vehicles.

OfferUp’s Verified Auto Dealers program aims to provide digital tools to help dealers to buy and sell cars locally. The company says more than 30% of cars sold on OfferUp sell within two days, and more than half sell within a week.

"More than 44 million people use OfferUp annually to buy and sell locally, and we see millions of views every week from people looking at listings in our Cars & Trucks category," OfferUp co-founder and chief executive officer Nick Huzar said in a news release.

He continued, “We created the Verified Auto Dealers Program after realizing many dealer sales reps around the country were posting vehicles in our marketplace as their ‘secret weapon’ to generate more leads. Our tools help dealers find car buyers who are ready to buy and respond well to digital customer service."’

OfferUp’s Verified Auto Dealers program gives dealers access to digital tools to broaden their exposure and manage leads coming from OfferUp’s marketplace. The company says that includes the ability to

—Automatically list their vehicles by connecting to their inventory feed

—Show a vehicle's Carfax report

—Enable instant communication with car buyers via chat and Click-to-Call

—Access the Top Lead Indicator that provides visibility on leads that demonstrate high intent to purchase given their shopping behavior

—Increase their visibility through advanced advertising

—Take advantage of custom services for buy-here, pay-here dealers

OfferUp announced new partnerships earlier this year with inventory management vendors such as Hammer Corp, AutoSweet, TapClassified and DealerFront. Through those partnerships, the company says dealers already taking advantage of these partner services can list their inventory on OfferUp’s marketplace.