My New Zero Tolerance Craigslist Attitude.

[FingerDub]

Last week, a guy drove up from about an hour + away to check out my bass. I had it listed for $650.00 which I could have gotten all day. But I made a mistake and was thinking of another bass and told the guy six hundred instead of $650 and even though I made a mistake, that I would still honor $600 because I said it, even mistakenly.

On the drive up the guy texted me this:

Buyer: "Would you consider $550? Haha thinking about turning around this traffic is horrible."

Me: Turn around then. You responded at full price, and then because of my mistake which I honored, you would have gotten $50 off the price, which you agreed to and now you're trying to squeeze me for more?

Buyer: Forget I said anything, I'm almost there. I'll give you $600.

Me: No thanks. I don't want to sell it to you anymore.

Buyer: Mother******.

Me: Go **** yourself.

Feels DAMN GOOD.

If you're going to play the game, be prepared to also lose.

 

[flojob]

Hahaha sounds good to me! I've run I to that on CL, and even tb. Some folks don't want a deal, they want a steal.
Sometimes I'm not the negotiating type when dealing with folks that use similar tactics.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

That works.

 

[beaglesandbass]

Uh ok.

It’s not uncommon for buyers to try and get get things for cheaper. Telling him no was perfectly fine. But the telling him to turn around and go **** himself? Seems to me that you were the *** in this exchange, not him.

Sure hope that never happen to you when you go to buy something.

 

[5StringBlues]

Tit for tat.

 

[charlie monroe]

Uh ok.

It’s not uncommon for buyers to try and get get things for cheaper. Telling him no was perfectly fine. But the telling him to turn around and go **** himself? Seems to me that you were the *** in this exchange, not him.

Sure hope that never happen to you when you go to buy something.

OP responded to profanity, he did not initiate it.

 

[beaglesandbass]

OP responded to profanity, he did not initiate it.

I understand. After he was told he would no longer be sold an item at the agreed upon price. I’d be pissed too. Show one person on TB that wouldn’t be.

 

[charlie monroe]

I understand. After he was told he would no longer be sold an item at the agreed upon price. I’d be pissed too. Show one person on TB that wouldn’t be.

No doubt. I would not have handled this situation in this way, just clarifying so the OP doesn’t get disparaging remarks for the wrong reason.

 

[friskinator]

If this is how you handle CL sales, I'd make sure potential buyers don't have a home address.

 

[Gunga Din]

Had one of these a few years ago. I fell out with one of my Lowden acoustics and decided to flog it. It had a couple of visible dings and also a MOP inlay that wasn't made any longer on subsequent models. I had it on at a bargain price. After a fashion, one guy expressed a lot of interest. He then had doubts about it and went silent on me. He came back and asked me to drop it £100, which I did.......and went silent on me again.

I waited a few days and emailed him. Yes, he wanted to go ahead with the deal but would I take another £100 off? I realised I was being played and almost giving a £3K guitar away. I politely declined and that was it.

I still have that Lowden.

 

[beaglesandbass]

No doubt. I would not have handled this situation in this way, just clarifying so the OP doesn’t get disparaging remarks for the wrong reason.

I gotcha. I wasn't trying to imply OP started with the profanity and apologize if my post gave that impression.

 

[jwad]

I still would have sold it too him at $600, but it’s stuff like that that keeps me from selling on Craigslist. At least this guy told you up front. The worst are the ones who talk you up for an hour and a half and then try to low ball you. The last few times I sold on craigslist I put disclaimers in my adds that said if I take the time to meet you, and you try to haggle below the agreed upon price, I will kindly ask you to leave and sell to the next buyer in line.

 

[Gorn]

You responded with immediate hostility to a common and predictable question and came up with some arbitrary discount like a fake Rolex hustler and tried using it in what you turned into a aggressive exchange with a stranger who knows where you live. I don't think Craigslist is the problem.

 

[I am Soma]

you sound fun.

 

[BigBigGuy44]

OP is one of the many reasons I stay away from CL. As Sweet Brown would say, "Ain't got no time for that".

 

[Spidey2112]

Tit for tat.

I didn't even know you could trade those two...

 

[BadSanta1281]

I'd have to side with the buyer on this one.

 

[InhumanResource]

OP responded to profanity, he did not initiate it.

He inspired it by being kind of a jerk. All he had to do was say no.

 

[Spupilup]

I'm just shy of 60 years old. I've always been a bit of a gypsy buying, selling or trading a wide variety of things ranging from ridiculously expensive audio gear to classic British auto parts to musical instruments. I see threads like this everywhere with people complaining about buyers on CL or sellers on eBay or everyone on Facebook. We have more ways than ever to connect with potential buyers or sellers and yet it seems now, more than ever, we have this angry zero sum interactions over what many would consider to be a part of normal negotiations.

How did so much of what we do as people devolve into this zero sum thinking? Is it really surprising that the art of negotiation, on just about all levels ranging from dating to politics, seems to be dying? I used to love making deals but now it seems like the level of intransigence is overwhelming, relegating the act of selling into a horrible chore. People need to lighten up and realize that the notion 'a deal isn't a deal unless I stole the thing,' is not really healthy, on many levels.

 

[redwood]

Four letters to add to the end of your ad:
F.I.R.M.
I had one guy try to haggle on an already very low price. I told him, politely, to go back and read the ad very carefully. After which I hung up on him.
Called me back in 5 minutes, apologized, and we had a successful transaction.