Online Selling Practices - Craigslist etc. Rant!

[FTG-05]

And then there's the guy that advertises and re-advertises the SAME item for years, at the same price. flag them
And the guy that post the title with $1, then in the ad something like $50 FIRM. - flag them

You mean like this guy, trying to sell a 70 gallon diesel tank for $300 for like the last year or more? How long does it take to get a clue?

70 gallon diesel fuel tank

 

[TnAndy]

Guy keeps running this old (never does give a date on it) time shovel excavator for 29k. Renews the ad every couple days, been doing so for a year. You want to just call the guy and tell him "haul it in for scrap"

P & H 955B Excavator/Crane 1 1/2 yard Bucket

 

[RollingsFarms]

Guy keeps running this old (never does give a date on it) time shovel excavator for 29k. Renews the ad every couple days, been doing so for a year. You want to just call the guy and tell him "haul it in for scrap" P & H 955B Excavator/Crane 1 1/2 yard Bucket

I wouldn't give him $2900 for that much less $29 grand! If it were mine it would have long been hauled off for scrap.

 

[TnAndy]

Hey.....barely broken in at 7200 hrs !

Thing has got to be 50 years old at least.....

Yeah, I've give $2900.....thing weighs 120,000lbs, so I figure it's worth 6-8k over at the scrap yard.

 

[DavesTractor]

How about the "calls only" guys? They will write, "no email, if you are serious call me". Well, if you are serious list the mileage and some details...and then I'll know if it is worth my time to call you. It's like if I email, I must not be serious? Because serious people use the phone only?

For example, right now I am looking at a boom lift. I email the guy and ask, how many hours, what engine is in it and is it 2wd or 4wd. To which he responds, "it's a 60 foot lift, call for details". I email a response, "engine model, hours and 2wd or 4wd please". To which he responds, "you have to call for details".

I'm not going to call unless I can check off the boxes of it being 4wd, diesel and knowing the hours. I don't want his sales pitch unless I think it is roughly what I want. He does not want to give me the truth unless he can try to charm me over the phone. He loses, I won't keep trying. If he hates email that much, maybe he ought to list his ad in a newspaper somewhere and list his phone number. Then nobody will bother him..... To you young fellas, that's the way it was done in the old days....

I will call on ads if they are complete if the guy prefers calls, or text or whatever. I just don't want to be baited into conversations that are worthless.

Am I the only one that this bothers? Maybe just a personal pet peeve.

 

[TJP89]

How about the "calls only" guys? They will write, "no email, if you are serious call me". Well, if you are serious list the mileage and some details...and then I'll know if it is worth my time to call you. It's like if I email, I must not be serious? Because serious people use the phone only?

For example, right now I am looking at a boom lift. I email the guy and ask, how many hours, what engine is in it and is it 2wd or 4wd. To which he responds, "it's a 60 foot lift, call for details". I email a response, "engine model, hours and 2wd or 4wd please". To which he responds, "you have to call for details".

I'm not going to call unless I can check off the boxes of it being 4wd, diesel and knowing the hours. I don't want his sales pitch unless I think it is roughly what I want. He does not want to give me the truth unless he can try to charm me over the phone. He loses, I won't keep trying. If he hates email that much, maybe he ought to list his ad in a newspaper somewhere and list his phone number. Then nobody will bother him..... To you young fellas, that's the way it was done in the old days....

I will call on ads if they are complete if the guy prefers calls, or text or whatever. I just don't want to be baited into conversations that are worthless.

Am I the only one that this bothers? Maybe just a personal pet peeve.

When I was looking at tractos, I only considered dealers that responded to email. Glad I wasn't the only one. If you give me a decent price, its worth my time to come in.

 

[California]

And the guy that post the title with $1, then in the ad something like $50 FIRM.

On the other hand the $1 guy may not know enough about marketing to attract any interest at all. My Yanmar YM186D with loader was advertised as 'Tractor $1.' Inside the ad he didn't mention the brand or model and was asking $4,500. Only two days later he hadn't gotten any calls so he left the title the same but revised the internal text to $3,500 - a very good price. I called immediately and learned he was including a full set of brand new manuals and $50 of filters, an original Yanmar box blade, a pair of new loader forks, and the tractor had the rare and valuable power steering option. And he had done a fluids & filters service on it in the year he owned it. I ran down immediately and gave him all the cash I could raise in a couple of hours, $700, and brought home the forks and box blade mainly as a symbol that this was a done deal. Next day I shifted savings to checking, paid him the rest, and towed it home. In my opinion he could have gotten near his $4,500 if he had described the options included with the tractor and had let the ad run more than a just a couple of days at that higher price.

Dave - you saw the earlier one. This one's better!

 

[bcp]

Nice to have an ad with all the details. Found on CL tonight.

 

[RollingsFarms]

What frustrates me to no end is when you do write out a well detailed add, take lots of nice quality pics (clear and in focus and close up, not 100 yards away). List the features or history or whatever, then you get a ton of questions coming your way about stuff that you covered in your add. You can tell they didn't read the add at all because they wouldn't have asked such a stupid question. Sometimes I think this is why some people don't write out nice detailed descriptions.

Was selling some tires awhile back and had the size listed as well as a pic showing the size of the tire. Guess what the #1 question I got? "What size are they?". Makes you wanna cuss!!!!

 

[xzcVAbc5]

People that can't spell the manufacturer of the tractor or whatever is for sale correctly even though it is in the picture.

John Deer, Kabota, Kobota, etc.