Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_volt
The other side of the buyer/seller story....
I do occasionally sell stuff on CL, and sometimes dealing with "buyers" is frustrating. People that say they want to come over and look at the item you have for sale, then never show up or have the courtesy to call. People e-mail you and try to negotiate price before they even come over to look at the item. I'm usually willing to negotiate, but I need to do it in person. Or the one that gets me going the worst.....people call or e-mail and tell me they definitely want to buy, but can't come over until next week...and would I hold the item for them. No....I won't. I politely tell them that I'll need to sell to the first person that comes over with the cash, and they can call me the following week if the item is still listed.
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I agree with you 100% on everything you said. I've had people call about something I have for sale, act interested, say they'll be over in 30 minutes, and they never show up. It would be much better for them to simply say they are not interested; but, that would be too polite. Frankly, I think some people pull this crap just to get under one's skin and they have no intention of buying. A few years ago, a guy called about a TV I was selling, asked me a bunch of questions, and tried to get me down on the price. He claimed he would be by at 3 the next afternoon; but, of course, he didn't show up. About a month later, he called again with the same routine. The third time he did this and wanted to know what the price was and where I was located, I told him that the price and my location was the same as it was the last two times he called. I never heard from him again.
I also will not negotiate over the phone and I don't try to negotiate with others over the phone. Buyers need to see what I'm selling and I need to see what I'm buying. After everything has been touched, seen, heard, smelled, etc; then, we'll discuss price.
Just the other day, a woman wanted me to hold a console stereo for her; but, she then started giving me a list of reasons why she might not have the money right away. Guess what, if someone comes along with the money before she does, it's gone. I too have played the "hold it until next week" game too many times and it's not worth the headache. When I was a lot younger, I held a big console color TV for a guy without a deposit. While I was holding it, I could have sold it a half dozen times and then the jackass didn't show up to get the TV when he was supposed to. Way after I sold it to someone else, he showed up to get it and got mad because I no longer had it. "I told you I wanted that TV, blah, blah, blah". "Really? You didn't put a deposit down and you didn't come back when you said you would; so, I sold it."
I've even had people bring me stuff to be repaired, act like they needed it fixed yesterday; then, I break my back to fix their item, only to hear, "can I wait until the 3rd of next month when I get my check to pick that up". It's real simple, don't take your TV to a repair shop if you can't afford to have it fixed. Then, there are the ones who leave their repaired items over here with no contact whatsoever and then I have to worry about disposing of their junk and hope they don't come back on me in 5 years. Fortunately, I've just about stopped fixing other people's crap (I've got enough of my own to fix).
I've also ran into people who don't quite grasp what the phrase, "no warranty" means. I wouldn't sell anyone a bad item for nothing; but, the fact remains that a used item could break at any time and I have no control over that. I sold one guy a TV for $40 and in a few days, he was back with it. I offered to fix the TV for free; but, he didn't want that. Then, I offered to give him another TV; but, he didn't want that, either. He claimed that I was selling junk and he wanted his money back. After he cussed me and kept getting louder and louder, I handed him his $40 and told him not to come back. My friend, who sells a lot of second hand stuff at a community yard sale, has sold TV's for $10-$20, only to have them come back in a month and the idiot buyers make such a scene that it's easier for him to give their money back just to get rid of them. Heck, back in the day, I've paid that much for TV's that didn't work. Of course, back then, a used working color TV of any size was worth decent money.