seller etiquette

[Hooked_on_HP]

I gave up a long time ago with making appointments and trying to keep appointments. I tell every potential buyer the truth. "First come, first served." " No, I won't hold it for you." "You are an honest person, I am sure, but I cannot do appointments, as if that implies I am holding it for you."

I would think that on a $15-20K item you would make appointments. It takes a while to inspect a motorhome. I am not going to take someones word on it. I also dont like driving around with that much cash on me.
Bill

 

[bp fick]

I gave up a long time ago with making appointments and trying to keep appointments. I tell every potential buyer the truth. "First come, first served." " No, I won't hold it for you." "You are an honest person, I am sure, but I cannot do appointments, as if that implies I am holding it for you."

I would think that on a $15-20K item you would make appointments. It takes a while to inspect a motorhome. I am not going to take someones word on it. I also dont like driving around with that much cash on me.
Bill

Hooked on HP,

In reality, there is an appointment, in that the parties have to agree upon a time to meet, greet and view the item. That said, the principle here is that it remains first come, first served. It just has to be. I just don't know of any other way. A guy promises he is coming, he calls or doesn't call, and is late or doesn't show. Meanwhile, a perfectly hot to trot buyer shows up. What are you gonna do? I say make no promises to the first guy, second guy, whatever. Speak the truth. First come, first served.

It is all very difficult. Was selling my boat last weekend on Craigs. Got two calls at the same time. Both said, "I'll be right over". OK, sure. But I made no promises of "holding" anything for them. Told them "Come on over, I'll be here, but first come first served." Sold it to the second guy. The first guy looked at it, loved it, but said he wanted to also check out another one. That's his right. Of course, when he called back the next day, he'd missed his chance. My conscience was clear.

I wish the OP's seller had simply been more forthright.

 

[johnrex62]

I understand both sides of the transaction and still firmly believe in professional courtesy even if I am involved in a give-away deal (free stuff). I believe that if I am dealing with people who want my item, I owe it to them to be fair and upfront. If I have a lot of interest, I keep a list of those who express a desire for the item after the initial contact. I respond in order of contact and the first person to ask to see it gets first right of refusal. If I am making appointments, and someone cannot make an early appt, they are warned that if someone makes an earlier appt and wants to buy then it is sold. I will notify anyone with pending appts that the item is gone, but will not hold it for a future appt if someone else can say yes sooner. I have on rare occasion, takes a good rapport and circumstance though, set an appointment for a future date and informed other potential buyers that someone else has a future appt and dibs on the item. I will still show it if they accept that the other person must refuse to buy before they can get it. This is VERY rare for me.

I expect as a buyer that sellers will treat me fairly also. If I make an appt, it is normally for the first possible time we can meet so I expect it to be available when I get there or expect them to tell me that someone else is on the way to see it as we speak. I MIGHT risk a trip if I really want it under those circumstances, but will ususally wait for confirmation it is still available.

I have had sellers do me wrong in the past. I have had several make appts and when I arrive tell me someone else bought it before I got there or even one that said a buyer said they would buy it sight unseen and was on their way over to get it despite making an appt with me and not calling me to cancel it.

I have had the immense pleasure to be able to tell three of those sellers that I was not interested in doing business with them when they called me a few days later to see if I was still interested in the items because their deals fell through or their buyer's check bounced. :laughing:

My wife even had one CLer make the appt, confirm the price on the phone, show the item, accept the money and THEN try to increase the price before giving over the item. :shocked: Fortunately, my wife had grown a nice shiny set since discovering CL and just snatched her money back from the women's hand and told her that the item did not look all that attractive anymore and refused to complete the deal when the woman went back to the original price. :thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

Hooked on HP,

In reality, there is an appointment, in that the parties have to agree upon a time to meet, greet and view the item. That said, the principle here is that it remains first come, first served. It just has to be. I just don't know of any other way. A guy promises he is coming, he calls or doesn't call, and is late or doesn't show. Meanwhile, a perfectly hot to trot buyer shows up. What are you gonna do? I say make no promises to the first guy, second guy, whatever. Speak the truth. First come, first served.

I disagree with this to an extent.

While I do agree that it is first come first serve in general, there are some exceptions for me.

For example, as a buyer, If I see something I am interested in buying, but the guy is an hour+ drive for me, and I tell him I am on my way, I expect it to be there when I arrive. I dont want someone else calling him that lives 10 min away, showing up, and buying it out from under me.

If it were me, as a responsible seller, I'd call the first guy, verify that he is comming, and explain that someone else called interested in the item. I'd also explain to the second guy that someone else is on the way and if something doesn't work out, I'll let him know.

I have actually done this before. I was selling a chainsaw at a fairly good price. Guy called and we agreed to meet. He was on his way from 1.5hrs away. In the meantime, I had someone else call and said he could me here in 25min and offered me more than the asking price if I would sell to him and NOT the first guy. I politely declined and told him that if we (me and the first guy) didn't strike up a deal, I'd let him know. I sold it to the first guy for my asking price.

 

[Will_C]

I usually tell a buyer first come, first served, but if someone sets up an appointment, I'll honor that. I also make it clear if my price is firm, it's firm-don't come with the idea that you can dicker with me.

Will

 

[bp fick]

I respect the guys here who have shared how they sell their stuff or attempt to be courteous buyers, using CL. Good guys all. Everyone can develop their own seller method that works for them.

All I can say is that personally, having been on both sides of these bad behaviors, simply take the simplest path of least resistance. I have little interest in being a dispatcher, appointment secretary and all the rest. YUK. I'm too much the curmudgeon for all that. That's just me. Not gonna do it.

I am an honest seller. I just simplify my life, that's all. That the item is on Craigs or on a local bulletin board or sitting out by the road with a sign on it, makes no difference to me whatsoever. I courteously greet every potential buyer, either face-to-face or on the phone. The rule is simple. I don't hold items. I don't make "appointments" in the sense that it provides a pecking order for me to keep track of. Nope.

Everyone politely and honestly gets the same message. Good to talk with you. Thanks for calling. Stop by. First come, first served. Hope we can do business. If they start with the "hold it for me", or "I want it, I promise to buy it, but I cannot come until later tonight" stuff, I kindly remind them that it is first come first serve.

But again, that's not what happened here, and that was wrong. People appreciate honestly and forthrightness. That's only right.

 

[grnspot110]

I've bought & sold several items during the last couple of years. Including a couple of Two-Cylinders sold & a compact utility bought. I've had a few problems, but not many! A couple of buyers never showed, a couple of things "sold out from under me". I believe a man's WORD is worth something! If a buyer is coming a distance after something I'm selling, it WILL be here when he gets here!!!! Not to say there won't be another buyer standing there waiting for it, but the first one gets his chance. If he doesn't show up within a reasonable time frame, he will loose his chance! Honesty IS the best policy, even if it is outdated! ~~ grnspot110

 

[Taylortractornut]

Ive had good luck asking to old someting for the evening. I asked the man i bought my 4 i n1 bucket to hold it til lthe evening and he said he would actually hold it over till the weekend. The same with the 6 foot KK rake and 6 foot tuffline disk I got for 120 bucks. I went tat da and asked hem to old till I got my trailer.


Dad sells a lot of tractors and you woldnt beleive at the folks that try to offer him more to sell it from under another buyer.

 

[beppington]

Sucks donkey butts, but I guess at least it's a good sign for used motor home sales.

 

[hawkeye08]

Hawkeye, there is something I've learned about selling used stuff that no one here has mentioned.... I don't deal with buyers that ask that many questions. The buyer who needs to know every little detail is rarely satisfied after buying something well-used. Case in point, you purchased a new one from a dealer in the end. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being picky, I'm picky myself, but selling something to someone who nitpicks over the details, when the item is clearly well-used as in that ad, is way more hassle than its worth. In the end its those of us who are most picky who are the ones that want the transaction "rectified" in some manner because of something we missed while looking at it. While the less picky person just says to themselves, "Well, I bought something well-used, I got something well-used."

Arrabil, If the ad had any information and the original picture was at all useful (it was so dark that I could not tell if the mower had any wheels), I would not have asked all the questions (if the ad had the model number, I would not have even emailed at all). Please bear in mind that the ad now has 4 new pictures and I have the answers to the questions I asked but the seller declined to communicate so I could go and buy it. I was actually ready to buy it (had cash in hand, flexible time, tilt trailer in case he did not have a loader to load it). I bought new because I was not finding a used rear discharge 72" mower. It turned out that the ad I mentioned was side discharge, which does not work well for my mowing.

I am not that picky and if you saw my collection of junk, you would understand. I can repair what I need to, I have the tools and have no problem working on things. The guy obviously does not want to sell, his ad is still up after 6 weeks. Land Pride is a decent brand, unit has decent belt and blades, but he has not sold his mower.

BTW, I bought my tractor used, never had a new tractor. I bought my used quick attach pallet forks two states away (I am in Washington, bought forks in Montana). There was a picture on CL, I asked what the width of the quick attach was (since there are two), it was right, we set a time that the seller would be home, drove over, met seller, settled up, loaded it, drove home. Seller put decent pictures and information in ad so buyer could look and know if they were interested.

Another example... I just bought a Honda generator off CL. The ad had some good pictures, relevant information in ad (when bought, little used, extras included). I asked the seller when I could come look at it, if I could call him. He let me know his phone number, I called and scheduled a time, we went and bought it after hearing it run. It needed some carb cleaning (did that Saturday when I brought it home). I paid asking price without even trying to get lower price.

Bottom line, I do like to know what I am buying and if the ad doesn't have the information, I ask. If the seller does not want to tell me what he is selling, no problem for me. It takes all kinds as I said before. If you don't want to deal with someone that asks what you are selling, then that is your right. Often when a seller does not provide any information and does not want to answer questions, it tells me to stay away, there is usually something more to the story that I would rather avoid.