Another ethical dilemma

[Baz]

eBay is a pretty good platform for selling stuff.

I realize it may not work for some items.....those too heavy or large and impractical to ship.

Or for those who don't want to be bothered with the packing and mailing part.

I've bought and sold on eBay with very good results for 25 years now.

Selling stuff is always going to be a PITA, IMHO. But the key is to choose a platform that best minimizes the hassles.

As usual....YMMV......

[A930Rocket]

I would’ve sold the oven for $800.

I sold my E46 track car and Trailex trailer for $11,000 early this year on FBMP to the first buyer. I had a ton of spares with it, including an engine, scales, etc. I had way more than $11k, but I was so turned off by my last track event, I wanted to get rid of it quick. Besides, I had the new to me 911 in the garage. A plus was, I got rid of a lot of stuff in the garage.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I would’ve sold the oven for $800.

It may come to that, but I'm not in such a hurry I can't wait a week or so and see what happens.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

On another note, I've been trying to sell this stupid LG indiction stove. I hate it, but not so much that I'll give the stove away and get another one. I paid $1200 plus tax for it. I'm asking $950. It's two months old.

One person asked if I would sell it for any less. I said no and thanked them for their response. They came back and offered me $800. Again, I thanked them. Then they told me Home Depot had them on sale for $1000 and free delivery on Black Friday. I checked, Home Depot has them on sale for $1098 and free delivery on Black Friday, not $1000. When I told them $1000 was a great deal, and they should take it, they got pushy and told me I was being unreasonable and if I ever wanted to sell the stove blah, blah, blah. I don't know why they couldn't just let it go. I know how much of a financial hit I'm willing to take to get rid of the annoyance of using this stove. Selling it at $800 would push me beyond that price.

People suck, and I'm a person.

Originally Posted by john70t

You might reconsider the $800 CASH offer, and chalk it up to a small but costly mistake.

Call them back, small apology bad timing, no groveling or counter offers, how soon can they get it because you are considering other things.
You move it outside with help.
(No strangers inside. Don't trust knucklheads to not put a divot in the cabinets. Cause they will.)

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I would’ve sold the oven for $800.

I probably would have taken $800 if I hated it that much too, BUT after the one knucklehead tried to berate and bully me to get a better price, there would be no amount of money that guy could pay to buy the stove.

I've seen that tactic before as exchanges for items for sale, and always thought "no way, that can't be real." Now I've heard it from someone that I can believe.

I'd have responded the same "$1000 w/free shipping brand new sounds like a hell of a deal, you should take it."

I'd never respond to that person again for any reason.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

I have recently resorted initially to the ‘Free’-by-the-curb and fhagetaboutit plan. Worse thing is they usually take the ‘Free’ sign, too. Lesson learned.

I have done that with the "junk" left in the barn. I posted this ad yesterday morning:

“Saturday Nov 22. Barn clean-out. Everything is free. Lumber, construction material, tools, fencing, 100 copies of our children's book, and just "stuff." 10AM 'till 2PM. Near West Alexandria, Ohio. Address will be sent to respondents.”

I've gotten 31 responses in 24 hours and some of them were really desperate to get their hands on the stuff. I hope there isn't a riot. Most responses were in the spirit of, "OK. See you then." But I've gotten some "different" responses too. Some people wanted me to meaure this or count that for them. I pointed out that I am 50 miles away and that would be a "little" inconvenient. They all responded well. A couple of people wanted me to take down the ad and let them have it all.
Nope. Been there, done that, and I was stuck with the goods when, "Take it all" meant, "Pick over it and take what I want."
After being burned that way, a few years ago I gave away a sunroom that had been badly added to our house years ago. The deal was, "You give me $100, take it away, and when you're done I'll give you your $100 back." This worked out well. It didn't occure to me that anyone would want all this s**t or I would have tried it again.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by masraum

I probably would have taken $800 if I hated it that much too, BUT after the one knucklehead tried to berate and bully me to get a better price, there would be no amount of money that guy could pay to buy the stove.

Yeah, that was my attitude. Maybe we can talk, but if you're going to lie to me and then berate me - no deal. Not with you. Not now, not ever.
Someone here suggested I apologize to her. That's a hard "no."

[javadog]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Yeah, that was my attitude. Maybe we can talk, but if you're going to lie to me and then berate me - no deal. Not with you. Not now, not ever.
Someone here suggested I apologize to her. That's a hard "no."

Yep, been there...

I've had a few on Facebook and a few on Craigslist show me that pond scum has not yet been completely eliminated. I can block the losers on Facebook, not so much the cheapskates on Craigslist.

What chaps my ass is the roughly 50% of inquiries where they don't read the ad and also ghost you when you reply to them.

[RANDY P]

There are people out there who have more time than money. I cut those types off. As a seller, mindless haggling I just don't do. If it's a good deal, hard to find, once every 10 year find- buy it or pound sand.

As a buyer that's how I am. Hagglers watch too much reality TV. I don't roll that way.

rjp

[john70t]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Someone here suggested I apologize to her. That's a hard "no."

Apologize for not being able to talk more at the time, because you were busy and distracted. Not for your decision or your right to make one. Explain it's still available and the cash offer is the same but you'll need to verify there is a pro moving company or competent movers involved.

However the likelihood is that now she has stewed overnight, and is set on not buying it or will lowball just to tick you off.

I was just looking at the bigger picture. It's a small thing being made complicated and only involves a few hundred bucks loss. There is 'buyers regret' from buying the wrong stove. No problem, happens all the time. It's not a hundred thousand dollar vehicle or million dollar property. Even a few months old is considered used and there is always risk in moving big things.

You want it gone and there was a solid viable buyer on the hook potentially. Just do it. If you get fed up and sick of the whole mess, then you end up with that stove permanently. Maybe that works out for the best once you get the hang of it. I'm just the messenger of one opinion.

[911 Rod]

When I bought my snowmobile in 2019 I replaced the sport seat with a comfort seat.
This fall I put in on FBMP for $300 (retails for $600)
I then dropped it to $250 because I was moving and didn't want to take it with me.
It didn't sell so it moved with me.
A guy offered me $200 and made it sound like he was doing me a favour. I said no and put the price back up to $300. He was pissed! and I never heard back from him.

[javadog]

^^^ I find that stuff like that sells better on eBay.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by javadog

What chaps my ass is the roughly 50% of inquiries where they don't read the ad and also ghost you when you reply to them.

Bots verifying email and phone..to harvest your info for sale. Don't take it personally.
I'd suggest using a temporary for CL or whatnot.

Pushing people into the online sphere is a continuing problem.

It will only get worse with AI recording voices to spoof. An arms race with small time exchanges. Driving a wedge between seller and buyer to erode all confidence, until the only thing safe are the big websites for used sales. Even locally. Maybe some of this might be generated by them but it will never be proven.

I got at least two letters from the nextdoor site claiming personal invites from neighbors. Gossip online about other people/political issues and have it all observed from san francisco HQ. One (who I knew for a long time) denied doing that and was ticked. The other was from an 80yo man who lived ten blocks away. I looked it up out of curiosity.

I once advertised a rental on zillow but they wanted to port all email communications with applicants through their website to be logged. I smelled a potential rat, theoretically setting me up for major discrimination claims, meaning a foreclosure would be available for corporate buyers. There were some dubious ones.
And out of the blue, letters from local renter's right orgs reminding me of those laws. What timing.
Then I got an email saying the website had a renter with a signed lease ready to move in now. WTH. I never authorized that.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by john70t

Apologize for not being able to talk more at the time, because you were busy and distracted.

I misunderstood..

Anyway, there are more fish in the sea. And now my daughter-in-law wants it if I can’t sell it. I would rather give it to her than mess with buyers who are as cranky and curmudgeonly as I am.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by john70t

Bots verifying email and phone..to harvest your info for sale. Don't take it personally.
I'd suggest using a temporary for CL or whatnot.

No, neither my email address or phone number is in any of my Facebook ads or my Craigslist ads.

People that can't be bothered to reply... just rude people with no consideration for others.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by javadog

Yep, been there...

I've had a few on Facebook and a few on Craigslist show me that pond scum has not yet been completely eliminated. I can block the losers on Facebook, not so much the cheapskates on Craigslist.

What chaps my ass is the roughly 50% of inquiries where they don't read the ad and also ghost you when you reply to them.

I attribute that to the ease of punching the “Is this still available,” button on FBM. I doesn’t take much time, effort, or real interest to do that. I don’t know about Craig’s list. I keep putting ads up but the response is crickets.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I keep putting ads up but the response is crickets.

(Many/most) people seem to want/like to haggle and or get a deal. Are you putting items up at a price a bit higher than you're willing to take so they can "make an offer" that you can then take?

At our yard/garage sales, we always price an item by "well we want to get $X for this thing, so we'll tag it as $Y ($X + some amount)" so that when they say 'will you take ____' we can either say "yes", or comeback with some reduced amount that is what we actually want.

So if I want $20 for something, I'll probably price it as something like $25-28. Then they'll say "will you take $20" to which I can say "sure" or they'll say "will you take $15" and I can say "no but I'll take $20". We've had excellent results doing that. Sometimes we even get more than we wanted for stuff.

Obviously, the cost of the item sort of dictates the "added haggle surcharge". You probably wouldn't add 25% to the cost of a car.

[jyl]

I've been getting rid of stuff from the triplex - refrigerators, ranges, scrap metal, etc. Using Facebook Marketplace. The way it works is, you post the ad, if the price is good you immediately get a bunch of "is it still available" and "I'll take it" replies, almost all of them are flippers/resellers, you either take the first one who'll come ASAP or you scan through to find someone who looks like they really need a fridge for their home, when they say they're coming you mark the ad "pending", ignore all the rest/don't bother to reply, when item is gone mark the ad "sold", done.

Almost everyone buying is a "pro" of some sort, they expect this/are thick-skinned.

I have some stuff I want to give away, even then I put a price on it to reduce the number of replies - anything listed "FREE" gets dozens of replies and it is a hassle, when the person comes if I like them I say no charge have a nice day. As far as I'm concerned, as long as you don't cheat anyone, its all good.

If it is a heavy thing, you make it 100% clear "heavy, stairs, you haul, no help from me", because people will show up without a helper or even a dolly and want you to throw out your back helping scratch the floors.

Also, you can look up the person's "rating" on Facebook Marketplace and skip anyone with below 4.5 or so.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I attribute that to the ease of punching the “Is this still available,” button on FBM. I doesn’t take much time, effort, or real interest to do that. I don’t know about Craig’s list. I keep putting ads up but the response is crickets.

Most of the people on Craigslist are cheapskates. I never post a price which forces them to start a dialogue. It's easy to discern who's serious after that.

Facebook has better customers but around half are still afflicted with the stupid gene.

A few low ballers there, too. Post a vintage oriental rug and be prepared to meet them all.

[Zeke]

I think the conclusion here is to not try and sell individual items. Just have an old fashioned yard sale and towards noon put out the free sign and walk away.

And yes, people seem to have ingrained that bargaining is always how it's done. My limited knowledge of the world tells me that in most cultures this is not only accepted but expected. Stupid game if you ask me but when in Rome....

[911 Rod]

I will throw everything away before I have another yard sale.
Actually we donate a lot of stuff. Good stuff.
My wife would also buy stuff at Goodwill and then bring it home and realize she doesn't like it and then donate it back. lol