Proper Sales Etiquette - Part 2
 

I was selling a hollow core door on Craigslist. It was purchased in error and as it was a custom size I could not return it.

I list the $100 door for $40. This 'person' messages me about ten times, location, price, when am I home, etc. etc. After about six tries to meet her I give up and say 'the door is on the front porch, if you want it leave the money under the rug'.

I get home that night, the door is gone, and the money is there. Next day I get a snotty message 'you lied, the door was damaged'.

First off, it was a brand new door, maybe it had a scratch in the back side? I honestly never saw any marks.

I reply to tell her
a) if you want to negotiate price then you need to buy from me when I'm home,
b) you took the door and paid for it, don't come back next day with buyers remorse,
c) if you want you $40 back just bring me the door.

Her response was 'I live too far away, it makes no sense for me to return it, you are a terrible person and a liar. That was false advertising'.

Not worth my time or effort. Next door goes int trash...:rolleyes:

It's not worth selling anything cheap anymore.

I tried selling a couch a couple years ago for $20. I figured someone could use a decent couch vs calling for a donation truck to pick it up. A lady showed up to see the couch which I had moved to my garage. She asked were was the table and lamp that was also in the picture? I had taken the picture of the couch in my living room and I guess she thought she was going to get all my living room furnishings for $20! I told her to go away, I removed the Nextdoor ad, and called a charity to come get it.

Flip side? I am a member of a "Buy Nothing" group in my city. It is cool to give stuff to people who can use it.

I'm shocked she left you the money.

I used to do yard sales because my wife thought it was a good idea. Too much hassle, lose a day off, have to watch out for thieves and argue with parasites who offer $3 for an item worth $25-50 (yard sale value not retail). At the end of the day I hauled the left overs to Salvation Army.

Now, Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity get all my stuff right from the get go. I ask them to pickup appliances, couches etc. Helps them and there is no hassle. I'll let them deal with the parasites.

ah, you guys are too thin skinned! When I had my antique shop people thought it was "open season" to beat me up on price on everything! I had no problem dealing on larger priced items, and gave a dealer discount of 10-15% over $20 items. Once I had a real "*****" of a woman trying to beat me up on anything under $5. Finally she ask if I can do better on a plate, that I had $6 on, told her already that I don't discount under $20. Then says that I probably got it for free. I said let me see the plate and then snapped it in half in front of her! Then said she could have it for $5 now! Then told her to never "darken my door" again!

I would have offered to sell her one half for $3!
I like your style.

Me too...SmileWavy

There are people like that. If you gave them a bag of money they would complain that it's too heavy.
I'd take the $40 and be happy - after a pep talk from MrsWD.
"You know you did the right thing. What kind of person would question your integrity, and why should you care what that kind of person thinks? I know what you're thinking, 'I am a person of integrity and I want everyone to agree - even lying dirtbags.' No, you do not need to impress dirtbags."
I can have her call you if you want. :D

Another C/L bozo


I'm selling a $5000 horse trailer.


guy responds all interested and super excited.


I set a time of 3:30 and juggle my schedule to accomodate.


he emails me :45 minutes before the meet up, says he found another one...............

my time = wasted

grrrrrr

So where is that like button?

At least he emailed you. IME most people don't bother contacting you at all.

I'll add a second poopy head action..............people who start to talk you down on price BEFORE they even see the item.........

People that do this are demonstrating their lack of experience in negotiation.

When I'm selling something. I do the research and set a fair price, usually under what most people are asking for a similar item.
Then I don't negotiate unless the person is standing in front of me.

My attitude is if they turn up in person they're serious.

Yup. I was interested in some wheels for my X5 (I have a bunch of spares. lol) and there was and still is a set of Craigslist. The guy replied to my email and it turns out he is down the street from my house in town. I tell him I can meet anytime and nothing, nada, zip! He totally ghosted. The wheels have been up for sale for about 2 months. Don't know wtf is with flaky CL sellers.

I found this to be true most of the time, if people actually showed up, they usually bought the item....but many times, they drop off the face of the earth after setting a meet time.

I was always fond of people who negotiated with empty pockets.
And I never put price tags on used items that were for sale (except firearms).

All hazards of selling... I've had a few no-shows and flakes myself, but none that had buyers' remorse. My response would've been: you should've inspected it before taking it. I'm no liar, but whatever makes you sleep at night...

I just drove over an hour to see a honda 2.3 outboard for sale

got there and it was NOT a honda
was a no name piece of chit 3 hp and a two stroke to boot
the fat assed lier claimed it was a honda to my face
[honda doesnot make any 2stroke outboards]

I had a gal trying to get me to drop the price of a briefcase at a garage sale years ago. I paid about $40 for it and used it early in my career. I think I had it priced for $10 at the garage sale, and she was offering me $5. I told her $10 was my lowest price, yet she kept haggling for the $5 price. It was late in the day and I didn't expect anyone else to show up, but I decided I wasn't going to sell if for that. I finally told her I'll throw it away rather than take $5 for it. She was really confused and agitated over that. I think I ended up donating it to Goodwill and taking a deduction for it.

I once gave away perhaps a couple hundred dollars worth of plants packaged up nice for $5. (my times worth.)
A very fair exchange.

Guy took them and walked away to the car.
As the vehicle suddenly drove away on the street I was wondering wtf.
People can be ******

This is why we can't have good things.

OTOH, I listed something at a decent price. I think a door actually.
Almost free.
Guy was distant and I agreed to meet him partway. Go somewhere new.

Complications happened. Schedules changed at the last minute. Couple of hasty phone calls.

He turned out to be broke poor and showed up in a beater.
Very apologetic, thanked me for the gift which would solve whatever he needed, and we went our ways.
I hope it worked out for him.

Last week I answered ad ad from a fellow looking for advice on model railroading. It turns out he had major surgery and needed a hobby. I had a layout I built about twenty years ago and then lost interest in. I offered him the track (about 125 feet ) three HO train sets and another locomotive, miscellaneous cars and the materials to do scenery. He picked it all up on Friday. When he was leaving, I mentioned there were probably a couple more cars behind the bench work and I would let him know when I found them.
Not only did I find those two, but there was another box with track and six more pieces of rolling stock which had never been taken out of the boxes.
I think he will be pleasantly surprised.

Best
Les

I guess I'm not alone....donating next time.

Years ago, went to buy a Craigslist advertised MIG welder. This was a "starter" setup - Campbell Hausfeld brand - but I was really interested in this one because it had the gas capability. It was a distant drive to me - I think almost took an hour - out to "boonies" and the address ended up being in a mobile home park. Ended up being a younger guy and a couple of little kids came out of the trailer when I pulled up. He pulled the welder out of a storage building and he also had the mask. He mentioned that the tank should be full as he didn't remember ever using the gas mix. I gave him an extra $20 above his asking price. He was somewhat stunned. I just told him I was happy with the purchase and had expected to buy gas mix so he saved me that much.