Online Selling Practices - Craigslist etc. Rant!

[seaneastok]

I guess a lot of it depend's on the area you live. In our area ,mainly all you will get is tire kickers or people that will come in with ridiculous offers. I hate selling anything on CL and dealing with the people that cant comprehend (I figure they must be able to read,so comprehension is the obvious problem)what was written in the ad. I always post numerous good quality photo's A full detailed description of it and let them know if anything is wrong,and then have to answer everything again to these idiot's with 15 text's because they wont call. I have gotten the "I can buy these all day long for $$" and I have also lost my temper and told them ..before I would sell it for that, I would beat it with my 12 lb sledge and run over it with the dozer..I had one instance while selling a tractor that needed work, person called basically telling me all he would pay for it was scrap price, and got rather nasty with me when I told him he was nut's.I basically told him to quit wasting both of our time and to go pound sand. About an hour later all heck broke loose on my phone,for about two and a half hour's the dang thing wouldn't quit ringing to the point I couldn't even make a call. I finally noticed all of the call's coming in had a Texas area code and I couldn't figure out why when I am in E Ok/W Ar area. I finally asked one of the caller's why they were calling from Tx ? I guess the loose term here "Gentleman" took my ad and listed it in the free section in Dallas/Ft worth area..

 

[xzcVAbc5]

Swip-Swap (Facebook based) is pretty bad about some of the crap posted, as well as idiotic posts, begging for money, or just troll posts to get arguments going.

I gave up on looking for deals on the local FB "garage sale" groups. Anything of value gets pushed to the bottom while people jabber back and forth about baby clothes.

 

[RollingsFarms]

Hard to do with alot of the things I sell. Bushhog? Truck frame? Non-running equipment? And alot of times, they will want to test things out. I know I would. If I was buying a used bushhog off someone, I would want to see it in action, and the seller needs to have a way to load it on my trailer. Kinda hard to do if we meet in a local Walmart. And if something like that were suggested, I would pass on the deal.

I agree on that sort of stuff, however I never sell farm equipment on Craigslist. Too many people have no clue what they're looking at or it takes forever to sell, I just stick stuff like that on farm related websites or papers and it basically sells itself in no time. I guess that sort of stuff wouldn't be bringing the wrong type of client to your house anyways like say a car or atv would perhaps.

 

[LD1]

Too many people have no clue what they're looking at or it takes forever to sell,

May just be the area you are in. I cannot speak for the rest of the midwest, but I am sure they are the same. Here in ohio, there is no shortage of farm equipment on c-list. And you have no trouble selling farm equip if you are priced right. If something doesn't sell around here that is farm related, you are priced too high for the market.

 

[xzcVAbc5]

One rant that I don't think has been mentioned yet is people that throw in a bunch of words at the bottom of the ad so they get more search hits.

For example someone selling a King Kutter Box Blade and adding "Kubota, John Deere, Mahindra, Land Pride, Skid Steer, Bobcat" at the bottom of their ad so that it would match more searches. One of the used car dealers around puts the name of all the cities in eastern KS in their ad so if I search for "Sabetha" where I live I get a huge list of used cars even though the dealer is in Topeka or Kansas City. The reason why I'm searching for "Sabetha" is because I want to see what's for sale near me! :hissyfit:

I don't mind if people add search terms if it's something that can be called different names. For example: Rotary cutters are called shredders, bush hogs, and brush hogs. That's an instance where it makes sense to me.

 

[RollingsFarms]

May just be the area you are in. I cannot speak for the rest of the midwest, but I am sure they are the same. Here in ohio, there is no shortage of farm equipment on c-list. And you have no trouble selling farm equip if you are priced right. If something doesn't sell around here that is farm related, you are priced too high for the market.

Very seldom will you find much farm equipment on CL around here. And I'm slap in the middle of farm country! You'll find some CUT's, lotta older Ford gas tractors, some beaten up high hour tractors this guy buys off people and thinks they're made of gold, some beaten up overpriced implements for small tractors(never for anything over 35hp). The real deals on used bush hogs, larger tractors, etc are at auctions, tractorhouse, local farm paper, etc.

 

[edkemper]

The only thing I really hate is when I find an ad for something I really want or need and I can't get a hold of the poster. On one trailer, I texted 4 times, I called 4 times over a weeks time and no responses. A (another) week later, the poster responded. I let him know I spent my money elsewhere. I'm buying tools and farm equipment and supplies for my new property. I buy a lot off CL.

When it comes to selling, I give all the info I can and all the appropriate photos. When I get someone calling to offer half price, I hang up. When I get someone that comes to look at my fair priced item and they offer half price or a ridiculous offer, I walk away without saying anything. After all, it was their wasted time and fuel to get there. I just don't have the patience to deal with clowns at this point in my life.

 

[Sprinklerman]

When I sell something its usually at my shop , the door stays closed , but I never sell anything when I am there alone . Both me and who ever else is there has an equalizer should the need arise .

 

[edkemper]

It helps a lot to live in an open carry state. Our crime rate in such circumstances is very, very low.

 

[bd53bz2]

I try to put at least 4 pictures. Full description including model/serial #. Describe what wrong if anything. Say will not reply to email or text. Spell my telephone # ( 2 = two), so a computer doesn't read it.
Then type if u see this -still for sale.
price is FIRM.

Well 1st response is always by text. I guess people have nothing better to do @ work then text. Then first call is "still available?" and "what is your best price?"

My answer to that is to just hang up or ask who read the ad to you, because nobody there can read.

Guess I should also put in the definition of the word firm.