Selling guns and other stuff locally

[Springfield]

Craigslist has been a great teacher for my son. He collects vintage video game consoles and games and accessories. A guy had an ad for some games, had individual prices on them, so my son e-mailed the guy and told him which 4 games he wanted. The seller e-mailed back and said he wanted to sell them all a a lot. OK, no big deal, just a confusing ad. A week later they guy contacts my son and said he decided to split them up, but he had sold the games asked for, and did he want some of the others listed! My son has also listed some stuff on Craigslist, and guys say they want something but never actually show up . So my son has learned that yes, people are inconsiderate and lie.

[fatelk]

He told me he no more than got the off the phone offering the rifle for sale and got a call and the guy said he'd be right there within 5 minutes and was. Three younger guys pulled up in a pickup and got out and he brought the rifle out for them to inspect. He told me the first one to handle it looked it over real serious like and then handed it to his cohort. Suddenly his cohort started picking the gun apart and offered him half of what he was asking. The old feller said he just took it back and said, well I'll be darned, I noticed that but didn't think it hurt the gun's value that bad. Ya' know feller's, I feel kind'a bad about even offering this thing for sale to anyone in the shape it's in now that you've pointed it out to me. I'm just gonna hold onto it. About that time the crew realized the 'game' wasn't working and started upping their offer. He stood fast and told them no, no, no. No way now he'd sell it. They tried again. He told them just a minute, I do have another gun you may be interested in. He took the rifle back in and stepped back out with a 12 Ga. pump. Then the short and to the point lecture began. He told them boys, Lookie here I know good and well what that gun is worth and so do you. Yet, you pull up here and try to play me for an old fool? Double teamed me at that! Now, I said the price over the radio when I said it was for sale. Did I say I'd haggle or come down on it? Nawww I didn't. Now here's the other deal. GIT! And you better make it quick. Insult me like that on my own property! I said GIT! He said it was all he could do not to laugh at em' trying to get back in the truck and down the road.

That’s pretty good; I like it! That “beat you up and steal it” tactic (figuratively) is what I hate. I’ve had the tag team thing pulled on me too. I have no use for those kind of people.

Years ago I sold an old pickup canopy (topper, for some of you guys). It was a beat up junker, but still usable. I put it on Craigslist for $10, as I recall. I thought about just offering it free for the taking, but figured $10 was almost free, might as well get lunch money out of it.

A guy came out to look at it, with his young son of maybe 6 or 7. The guy walked around it, doing the whole rub your chin, tap it with your toe, disinterested act that we all know. The hilarious thing was that his kid was following right behind him, rubbing his chin and acting disinterested just like dad. He finally says “Well, ah don’t know. Would ya take five bucks?”

I turned him down, and he paid my price without hesitation, but I’ve always kicked myself for not just taking the five bucks. It would have been worth it just watching his kid learn how to drive a bargain like Pa.

[Ed K]

If you state the word "Firm", I understand what that means. If you do not and I show up with cash in hand and make a respectable offer and get thrown out then you are wasting your own time as well as all the buyers. I think the standard second-hand exchange in this country allows for a little wheeling and dealing by default. Now "respectable" is hard to define as it depends on the type of merchandise as well as condition. However I would not even come to view your item if I felt I needed to haggle down to 50% off or less as the seller does not understand the value of the goods.

And no I would not try to talk anyone of of a kid's puppy.

[Handloader109]

I've not sold anything on Craigslist in 4 yrs. I sold off several Woodworking tool before we last moved, and I had several no shows, real lowballers, (yes, firm in listing) and even gave away a few items to a couple of good buyers. Swapped an AK for a Dillon 650xl with a guy 250 miles away. (traveled through the area a lot then) I do hate no shows, just say I might make it, not I'll be there in an hour.
I don't haggle, my dad loved to though. If I want it, I'll pay your asking price, no questions. And I'd rather you set a price if you are selling something. You know best what you have to have, why make me guess, dance and for that matter, insult you with a lowball.
But it takes all kinds.

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE=Handloader109;But it takes all kinds.[/QUOTE]

I have doubted that for a long time.

Some of these 'kinds' are totally unnecessary, and we're just stuck with them.

[fatelk]

I don't haggle, my dad loved to though. If I want it, I'll pay your asking price, no questions. And I'd rather you set a price if you are selling something. You know best what you have to have, why make me guess, dance and for that matter, insult you with a lowball.

I agree with you there. I hate it when people don't put a price on their wares. I know it's so they can size up the potential customer first to see how gullible they look before naming a price. If I'm at a gun show and see a table full of stuff without prices, I walk on by. I won't waste my time playing games.

[tunnug]

Yup, can't stand the " what'll you give me fer it" types, my answer is always I'll give you a dollar! no matter what I think it's worth, I've had people snort and tell me I'm crazy, I always say, you're the seller, tell me what you want because if you ask what I'll give then I'll give you a dollar, that will usually get me a price.

[wnc435]

As to the last post I on the other hand try to waste as much of their time as I can. If you are out to just milk the neighbors cow every evening and let the gate open every evening so cow comes back. them complain about having to feed their cow. True story took about a week to see why she milked like a champ in the Am but was late and no milk in the PM.

[Land Owner]

There are more than a few sales venues (automobiles/trucks and real estate to name two) that set the tone for haggling and negotiation in a global way, which trickles down to nearly all other sales venues. Everyone negotiates on the "big ticket" items and haggling the price down is EXPECTED.

At the other end of that trickle down is the Garage Sale and Flea Market. Many times folks just want to be rid of life's clutter and their prices reflect their disinterest.

With these examples, the sales of everything reloading, casting, shooting, etc., fall in between. If it is "for sale", and not in a Retail Store, then (thanks to trickle down) it must be negotiable. Even stuff in a Retail Store is often "negotiable". Ever ask the Store's representative if the item is "going on sale" soon?


As a Society, we're constantly bombarded with "SALE", "BLACK FRIDAY", "SAVE", "50% OFF (or half price - whichever is less)", and that mentality permeates EVERYTHING.

So, it should not be too mind bending to disregard the folks that just "don't get" what FIRM means, except when it can be presumed that the purchaser is a low down, dirty, road-kill eating, scoundrel, the likes of whom should be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail (which sounds pretty bad!).

[Wayne Smith]

Sales, yeah. We have a furniture store in the area, "Going out of business for 134 years!"

[snowwolfe]

As to the last post I on the other hand try to waste as much of their time as I can. If you are out to just milk the neighbors cow every evening and let the gate open every evening so cow comes back. them complain about having to feed their cow. True story took about a week to see why she milked like a champ in the Am but was late and no milk in the PM.

Your not making any sense.

[truckjohn]

The issue I have with CL is that there is no skin in the game *anywhere* in the system to stop "Time wasters", scammers, and people who can't be bothered to pay attention...

CraigsList doesn't make any money off it.... So they have no incentive to make sure sales happen, old ads get deleted, and folks don't get scammed...

Sellers don't PAY anything for their ads - so there is no incentive to NOT massively waste folks time with stupid....

And there is no mandatory registration process to vet people and weed out scammers....

I HATE Craigslist now...
For example - last time I tried to sell a boat - it was ALL scammers... I literally had ZERO serious people - or if I did, I couldn't tell because I was swamped by oil sheikhs from Saudi Arabia wanting to bank transfer me for my used boat and junk email address harvesters asking idiot questions like "I have qrstiuon about item you listing?" ...

Then - last time I tried to buy something on CL, it was ALL time waster sellers who were lying about condition or couldn't be bothered to meet up so I could give them money....

Compare this with Local Sale Papers.... They MAKE MONEY off their sale papers - so they work to make sure scammers aren't clogging up the works... They also drop adds pretty quickly when somebody "Posts and forgets".... And they won't post an ad without valid contact info..

The next part is.... There's a REASON car lots, gun shops, and the like exist... People get ground up thinking about the "Hair cut" on price - but they DO offer an important service.... They deal with the constant stream of tire kickers and looky-loos... They take their cut for having a store front to deal with the transactions...

[blackthorn]

Many years ago I had a Chevy Suburban, 4x4, stick shift with an extra set of almost new snow tires on rims for sale. I listed it at $1800.00 firm. I got lots of calls but all of them wanted me to lower the price. I let the add run out, waited two weeks and re-advertised it for $2700.00 OBO, the first caller offered me $2200.00 (after he looked at it) and I accepted his offer. I did not have the heart to point out that 2 weeks earlier he could have had it for $1800.00.

[snowwolfe]

The issue I have with CL is that there is no skin in the game *anywhere* in the system to stop "Time wasters", scammers, and people who can't be bothered to pay attention...

CraigsList doesn't make any money off it.... So they have no incentive to make sure sales happen, old ads get deleted, and folks don't get scammed...

Sellers don't PAY anything for their ads - so there is no incentive to NOT massively waste folks time with stupid....

And there is no mandatory registration process to vet people and weed out scammers....

I HATE Craigslist now...
For example - last time I tried to sell a boat - it was ALL scammers... I literally had ZERO serious people - or if I did, I couldn't tell because I was swamped by oil sheikhs from Saudi Arabia wanting to bank transfer me for my used boat and junk email address harvesters asking idiot questions like "I have qrstiuon about item you listing?" ...

Then - last time I tried to buy something on CL, it was ALL time waster sellers who were lying about condition or couldn't be bothered to meet up so I could give them money....

Compare this with Local Sale Papers.... They MAKE MONEY off their sale papers - so they work to make sure scammers aren't clogging up the works... They also drop adds pretty quickly when somebody "Posts and forgets".... And they won't post an ad without valid contact info..

The next part is.... There's a REASON car lots, gun shops, and the like exist... People get ground up thinking about the "Hair cut" on price - but they DO offer an important service.... They deal with the constant stream of tire kickers and looky-loos... They take their cut for having a store front to deal with the transactions...

Where I live craigslist charges $5 to run a vehicle for sell ad.
They don't where you live?

[Todd N.]

Where I live craigslist charges $5 to run a vehicle for sell ad.
They don't where you live?

Craigslist charges for vehicle ads everywhere. One fee for private parties, a different one for dealers.

This has nothing to do with accountability for CL, this is simply a way for them to make money from high-volume categories. Craigslist as a company appears to have no conscience whatsoever.

[Texas by God]

Many years ago I had a Chevy Suburban, 4x4, stick shift with an extra set of almost new snow tires on rims for sale. I listed it at $1800.00 firm. I got lots of calls but all of them wanted me to lower the price. I let the add run out, waited two weeks and re-advertised it for $2700.00 OBO, the first caller offered me $2200.00 (after he looked at it) and I accepted his offer. I did not have the heart to point out that 2 weeks earlier he could have had it for $1800.00.

That's hilarious I love it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[truckjohn]

This has nothing to do with accountability for CL, this is simply a way for them to make money from high-volume sellers. Craigslist as a company appears to have no conscience whatsoever.

I think it's the opposite... Too much so called "Conscience" and not enough business sense.... Altrusim is great. It's very good to hope the best and do good for your fellow man... But remember that almost every charity and religious benevolence organization asks for financial information of people... And they almost always cap the amount someone can get in a certain period.... Why? Because the scammers are WAY more effective than actual people in need at fleecing folks for money.....

Most of Craigs List's problems are obvious and predictable results of NOT doing any sort of buyer and seller registration, vetting, or rating...

[kerplode]

Craigslist is full of liars, scammers, and thieves. I would rather throw something away than screw around with selling it that way.

Also, hagglers are annoying...Go waste somebody else's time with that noise.

[fatelk]

Reminds me of a anecdotal story I read a long time ago, in the Readers Digest. The writer was telling about a garage sale she had. An early bird came along at opening, an older gal, professional garage-saler, and started rummaging through all the goodies.

She holds up an item and asks “Will you take 50 cents for this?”

The seller replies “Actually, everything on that table is only 25 cents each.”

The shopper stopped and stared at the item for a few moments, deep in thought, then asked “Oh. Well, will you take 10 cents for it?”

Some people are just not happy unless they feel like they got a bargain!

[RogerDat]

the whole thing with a "firm" price is people have traveled to examine the goods, taken time to be there to show the goods, if the "firm" price is not what I am willing to pay then why wouldn't I make an offer before I leave? No harm no foul. A ridiculous low ball offer isn't what I am talking about. But even then one can just say nope, price is firm.

If you want $1,800 firm for a vehicle and on looking it over I think there are a couple hundred worth of work to make it into an $1,800 vehicle I don't see it as disrespectful to tell you I'm willing to pay you $1,600 for it. You can decide if having my $1,600 now beats having the car and waiting for a buyer willing to meet your asking price. Or not. Good grief! Why would anyone take offense?

Heck I might decide with front end work and half the exhaust system replaced it is worth $1,800 so most I would pay is.... $1,200 It seems to me the greater courtesy to tell you what you might sell it for if you wish to accept that price.

Don't like the offer, then just say so and state your price is firm, or counter offer. Up to me then if I want to meet it or move on. No one owes each other anything except basic courtesy which I don't see as being violated by telling someone what I would be willing to pay. Tough it out! Play through the pain!



After all a counter offer is not a counter attack. Rudeness, not keeping appointments without contacting the person, or badmouthing the item in a rude manner to drive the price down are all good reasons to walk away. Offering a lower price is called negotiating. One can say no with grace and courtesy. Heck one can even say "Out your mind? No!" with grace and courtesy.