Seems to me this entire thread is a humblebrag about smugly selling a car below market value.

Money talks, bull$h1t walks. First person to show up with full payment drives off with it. Everyone else "too bad, so sad".

That's how I handle sales. I don't want your excuses and runarounds, I want money in my hand and to be done with it.

Depends on what you actually told the first guy. First contact being first contact does not mean first dibs unless you agreed to sell him the car or told him you would hold the car for him to look at. If he just said there would be a time he would come look at it and you didn't specifically say you would hold it for him, if someone offers you anything you are wiling to take before the first guy's appointment sell it. AND it is NOT a matter of it being listed on Craigslist and the flakes that call, it IS a matter of YOU keeping YOUR word if given.

I've sold a vehicle on Craigslist and yes I got flakes that called, said they were coming to look at it, and never showed up. But I never agreed to hold the car for them to come look at it. If they said they were coming I would tell them great and I would expect them but NOT that I would hold the vehicle for them. That takes an agreement with or without an agreed upon price or downpayment.

Now since you have gotten a higher than asking price offer, AND if you agreed to hold it without a purchase agreement until he came to look at it, then I would tell him when negotiating the price that the second person offered more than asking and would feel bad at all about having him pay more than the asking price. Again, it's a matter of what you already agreed to with the first guy.

On verbal agreements...

I recently attempted to buy a car and the guy agreed on a price and to sell it to me. I offered several times to send money to hold it for me until the paperwork and full amount changed hands. He repeatedly told me not to worry the car is mine. Waited two days for him to send me a bill of sale, a copy of the title and a copy of his driver's license then I would wire the payment in full and have a transport company pick the car up. He told me he was having problems with his scanner/printer. On the morning third day he called telling me he was going to his office to make the needed copies. Then all communications stopped. He finally sent me an email that evening saying it would be "uncomfortable for ME" but he had sold the car for not very much more to a guy in his office that saw him making the copies and that the guy had gone to an ATM and given him a downpayment.

Well, I imagine it was much more uncomfortable for him than me. He was admitting he had no word. That guy (I will not even call him a Man) backed out on a verbal agreement, showed he was not a man of his word and has no integrity. To me it did not matter that we had nothing "Legal" signed on paper or that I had not sent a downpayment, he had agreed to sell it and refused a downpayment. The bit about the guy giving him a downpayment was just him trying to justify that he was not a man of his word and had made a new legal agreement because he took the downpayment.

On whether you agreed to sell it to the first guy and higher offers.

My brother sold a 57 T-bird. It had been on the market for a while. A local dealership owner mentioned he would buy the car to put in his showroom for an amount and my brother verbally agreed. Nothing signed or downpayment. While waiting for the dealer to get things together My brother was contacted by an out-of-state collector. Brother told the collector it was sold. The collector offered him $20,000 more than he had verbally agreed to. My brother refused and told him if the local sale fell thru he would contact him. Brother tells people his integrity cost him $20K.

My hat is off to you Mr. Henry. I wish more people had the integrity to keep their word.

Having said that, it was a mistake to tell the guy you would hold the car for him. But you did, and you kept your word.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/beerchug.gif

Did the guy show and buy your car?

Henry, how'd it turn out? Who got the car?

A man's word defines his character. There are two ways to go about this:

One, tell everyone first come first serve: make no promises and you will break no promises.
Two, keep your word. Even if the guy doesn't show up, at least you can look yourself in the mirror and respect the guy looking back at you.

To those who would just as soon jones' on the guy and break your word, shame on you.

This is why you never promise anything when it comes to selling stuff - simple rule: you show up with money and you leave with the goods. If you don't, you don't. No holding stuff for later, no games. No ticky no laundry. As a seller if you promise to hold something I'll guarantee you get a better offer five minutes later. Why put yourself in that position? Don't make promises and tell everyone the same things - (1) the price is $X - don't bother lowballing me because I don't take kindly to time-wasting morons and (2) payment in full or nothing.

Two very simple rules that prevent a lot of headaches.

You did exactly the right thing. Once you gave a price and told the first guy you would wait for him, you were morally bound on both price and waiting.

After seeing some of the responses here...I see why so that so many times I have bought items here on Pelican and sometimes even sent the money to have the seller come back and tell me that they sold it later, before they could ship it, to someone who later emailed them with a higher offer. Sometimes they say they lost it, broke it, etc. In those cases, I hold both the buyer and seller in contempt...as both are dishonest dirtbags...and wonder how they can sell their honor so cheaply. If running an auction, that should be made clear in advance...not after you set a selling price or say "sold." After getting a loan, travelling hundreds of miles to pick up a car I have "bought" where we had both agreed on a fair price...I believe there is a special place in hell with such folks.

Clearly if you set up terms like some have posted ...first one there with cash, that is different, but playing both sides is simply dishonest. Your word should be your bond.

I personally know a flipper who lays out $100 deposits to hold various cars he sees for sale. He may do this on multiple cars until he can clear his driveway of inventory and/or find a buyer for the car in question. This way, he takes a very small risk, and then does the deal when it's convenient to him. He's left suckers hanging for weeks on end with his stupid little "deposit". He concurrently also relists the car on Ebay by recycling the photos posted by the local seller. Once the car is sold, he then buys the car. He has actually drop shipped a car from seller #1 to the 2nd buyer directly from the sellers house. Once the seller FOUND the new for sale ad my flipper acquaintance had posted before even paying for the car. But the deposit already was done. He was fuming mad when the flipper showed up to complete the sale knowing he had grossly mispriced the car. Low grade values and ethics, but very clever. Like most snakes in the grass are. If someone told me to hold a car for $100, I would have no qualms laughing at them, and telling them to come back when they had the big boy money.

Agreed re the flipper...but, on the other hand, if you underprice your car...that is your mistake and you need to own it. Once you have agreed verbally on a price with a buyer, he essentially owns it unless he does not meet the agreed to obligation (even if you get a better offer).

It is funny, but a generation ago, this would not even merit a discussion. It would never occur to someone to act this way (not sell at an agreed to price)...or admit that they did/would. Now it seems to be a standard business practice to not honor one's commitment if they can pull a few extra dollars out of a deal.

OP did the right thing only because he offered to wait. Having said that, it was an extremely foolish thing to do and makes no sense at all. Why would one go out of their way to hold off potential buyers in order to preserve a potential sale for a stranger? You place an ad in order to generate as much interest as possible in order to leverage that interest into the best possible offer, then you negate the entire process by telling everyone else to wait because some random guy fortuitously called first. :confused:

I can offer 4 reasons:

1. That potential buyer was first in line to contact the seller and discuss purchase of vehicle.
2. The fact that the potential buyer had obligations which precluded him from meeting the seller right away is an all too familiar scenario many of us - as well as I'm guessing the seller - has faced. Thus he could relate and wanted to pass along the same consideration he had received in previous situations when he was the potential buyer and couldn't meet the seller right away.
3. The seller was not in a huge hurry to sell his vehicle.
4. The vehicle is considered to be a highly sought after car and thus the seller isn't concerned he may not get a sale by delaying other potential buyers.

This isn't a one way street in terms of what makes sense. There are many ways to look at it.

The seller keeps his word and still makes the sale. Win-win....

counterpoint, why not? I guess the key phrase in your question is "go out of your way."

and of course other factors come into play such as the absolute need to sell and the desirability of the product for sale.

To answer your question directly, it's simply the Golden Rule. This world is so f'ed up because everyone thinks only of themselves and actually requires a reason to do something good and nice. If there's nothing in it for them, why be nice, ESPECIALLY to a stranger. I mean as a stranger, they are dirt, right? It's few and far between that people are nice, to friends and strangers alike, just to be nice.

I'm not saying Henry should miss his daughter's starring role in the school play or put off his gall bladder surgery to meet the first caller when he can make it. But is it really so hard to agree to meet the first potential buyer at a time convenient for both of them and then keep going down the line.

Is Henry really going to lose out on selling his car?

Good lord, trying being nice just to be nice. The internal rewards are wonderful, karma kicks in a nice bonus now and again.

Its not a question of being nice, its a question of business, but there are other factors as you stated, such as need to sell ect. Additionally, I've had similar situations, but the person knew exactly what the car was and pretty much made an offer to purchase over the phone as long as the car was as represented. I would possibly wait for a person who really wanted the car, knew exactly what it was, and knew he was getting a super deal like in this case underpriced, and committed to a purchase, but I wouldn't consider waiting for a stranger to come at a later time just to look and haggle, IF he even shows up at all. Imagine that. What your doing is playing this out on the premise that the guy was 100% stand up, actually shows, up, pays full price and everyones happy. Im playing this out on the premise that I simple dont know because he's a stranger. Stranger means a person who's character and intent you don't know because...well, you don't know them. They don't get special privileges.

The reality is that if it were a brand new GT3 for the same price he would find a way to get down there and buy it asap. Why? because he was serious. People put effort into the things they are serious about. Whoever wants that car bad enough will be the first to get down there in person. In this case it sounds like it was the kid who actually showed up and made a cash offer. All the others are just trying to check it out at their convenience. Sense of urgency is in direct correlation to ones desire to obtain something. The very fact that the 7:30 guy is doing this at his convenience tells me he is not 100% excited and committed in the car, and will probably be the person to haggle even more, especially knowing that the OP may have turned away buyers to wait for him. Thats why as a general business rule, your first cash offer is typically the best one.

Amen brother.

I did break my word this morning, and instantly regretted it.
I needed some mortar for repairing steps and called a local stone company for further info.
I'd already bought Type N, but then read Type S was better for outside work.
"Ok, I'll be out to pick some up".
I then realized it would be a long drive, and other places much closer would have mortar.
I also remembered that company once left me in a big lurch. I'd bought thousands in pavers from them before when they ran out. My job was half finished and waiting. They told me they'd have more by the end of the month. The whole summer went by with me calling every few weeks. I finally got more stone delivered from Detroit at half the price and hustled to finish right before the snow arrived.
I felt bad, but not too bad.
My karma points are still well on the plus side.

I feel the price is up to the seller.
If he's good with what he receives in exchange, then it should be end of discussion. Period.
Price gouging a market to death is self-defeating in the long run.

Porsche AG doesn't seem to understand this concept....
-They've completely forgotten their roots and couldn't care less about the small guy anymore.
-Consequently the brand changes from dirty-nailed automotive enthusiasts KDF like Ferry Porsche swapping valve lands on mountain roads to elitist number crunchers who change oil using a cell phone.

Not many. Most have sold their integrity for the almighty dollar.

Note to self...

If what you're saying is you wouldn't have promised to wait well, that's one thing. This is the seller's prerogative. Once a promise is made, keep your word.

He showed up early, picking the car up Monday morning. $32k