My New Zero Tolerance Craigslist Attitude.

[A-Step-Towards]

I think the last 2-3 people who scheduled to view things and took my address didn’t show up, didn’t bother to email , text or call that they were no longer interested and the last deal i completed was A firm price posted and the buyer asked for $20 off. That’s just the nature of Craigslist, I expect all this and worse when i use the site including having people email me insults about how i priced something which is always fair or below market value as I heavily research A items worth. If you don’t like the face to face interaction then you can try reverb, where I recently had A package delayed A few days and the buyer went from cool to flipping out on me as if it was in my control. Selling stuff isn’t for the faint of heart you have to have thicker skin then that.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

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.

Maybe with a "Please" at the end it would have been more appreciated here

 

[40Hz]

The buyer said "$550 or I'm turning around". He set his terms there and it was unacceptable to the seller, the deal was over. This really isn't complicated.

He did not say that. And it’s a stretch to infer that was even what was meant. Read the original post again.

Furthermore, the buyer immediately reaffirmed his commitment to the agreed on $600 price.

It was the seller who called off the entire sale with no warning or real reason. A classic flounce if there ever was one.

The buyer had zero to gain by walking away. He was ready, willing, and able to meet the original price.

The seller had a chance to recoup his $50 misquote. Which in his own words was something he could “get any day.”

“ Cui bono?” as a certain cynical but wise Renaissance man once said.

I’m not saying that was the OP’s motivation. But what I am saying is that the buyer had absolutely nothing to gain by letting the deal fall through. And apparently the buyer felt the same way. Because he tried to immediately get it back on track before bring rebuffed.

I’m all for rallying behind a fellow TB member. But that doesn’t mean I’ll rubber stamp approval on something I think was a major misjudgment on the OP’s part.

 

[electracoyote]

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.

He took a shot, took it back and acquiesced by humbly saying, "Forget I said that," and then relented to your price. Fairly innocent behavior, why not just give the guy a pass? The bolded part above sounds about right to me delivered in a child's voice. Totally unnecessary and harsh.

I know some guys who would have finished the trip to your house, you know, just to see who you are, size you up in person, make future plans and stuff. If you're going to be that reckless and toy with people, you really should stay off CL for your own safety.

 

[Mike N]

I was once at a flea market and there was a table there with a big sign that said "everything here, 10 cents." Someone browsing picked up an item and said to the person, "would you take a nickel for this?" I exploded in laughter. Some people just can't help themselves .

You've met my brother??

 

[MultiScaleMale]

He did not say that. And it’s a stretch to infer that was even what was meant. Read the original post again.

Furthermore, the buyer immediately reaffirmed his commitment to the agreed on $600 price.

It was the seller who called off the entire sale with no warning or real reason. A classic flounce if there ever was one.

The buyer had zero to gain by walking away. He was ready, willing, and able to meet the original price.

The seller had a chance to recoup his $50 misquote. Which in his own words was something he could “get any day.”

“ Cui bono?” as a certain cynical but wise Renaissance man once said.

I’m not saying that was the OP’s motivation. But what I am saying is that the buyer had absolutely nothing to gain by letting the deal fall through. And apparently the buyer felt the same way. Because he tried to immediately get it back on track before bring rebuffed.

I’m all for rallying behind a fellow TB member. But that doesn’t mean I’ll rubber stamp approval on something I think was a major misjudgment on the OP’s part.

I guess you're reading it differently than I am. Buyer says: "Would you consider $550? Haha thinking about turning around this traffic is horrible." But then when he was told "no" he magically was almost there.

 

[Richie Se7en]

In South Philly, if buyer and seller don't even try to haggle, it becomes suspicious to all parties. But if attitude enters in someone's gonna get their feelings hurt - just sayin'

 

[Hounddog409]

First off to everybody that responded, I read through the entire thread so far. I want to make it clear then I'm usually the honorable one getting f***** over, and that I was in no way angry in the least about giving it to him for $600 instead of $650.

After reading I do admit that there was better ways to handle it, but that doesn't necessarily mean I wasn't in my rights to do what I did. I would have been more apt to give the guy an additional discount if he had just said things are really tight for me and would you take x amount instead. But it came along with an implied threat and that was enough to piss me off. I'm not happy that I sent the guy home after your driving so far. I would most certainly be pissed myself, but then again I wouldn't try to alter the deal I already agreed on.

So why did it feel good? It felt good to stand up for myself, and it felt good to not be manipulated. Again, I'm normally the nice one being taken advantage of. I suppose I had just had enough.

Even if I just said in response, "Go ahead then and turn around." and nothing else, I would still have the lingering stench and in retrospect, I would have felt bad if I had sold it to him, strictly because I would have felt bad allowing myself to deal with such a character.

you are correct. it is your right to act like a douche. No one is arguing that. The point is you don't have too.

the LOL in the txt should have been your queue not to go the douche route.

 

[lfmn16]

He did not say that. And it’s a stretch to infer that was even what was meant. Read the original post again.

Furthermore, the buyer immediately reaffirmed his commitment to the agreed on $600 price.

It was the seller who called off the entire sale with no warning or real reason. A classic flounce if there ever was one.

The buyer had zero to gain by walking away. He was ready, willing, and able to meet the original price.

The seller had a chance to recoup his $50 misquote. Which in his own words was something he could “get any day.”

“ Cui bono?” as a certain cynical but wise Renaissance man once said.

I’m not saying that was the OP’s motivation. But what I am saying is that the buyer had absolutely nothing to gain by letting the deal fall through. And apparently the buyer felt the same way. Because he tried to immediately get it back on track before bring rebuffed.

I’m all for rallying behind a fellow TB member. But that doesn’t mean I’ll rubber stamp approval on something I think was a major misjudgment on the OP’s part.

+1

It seems more and more common now that people feel the need to lie to make their point. I get so sick of it; don't tell me what you think he meant and then say that's what he said. If your point is valid, why do you have to lie to support it???

 

[tr4252]

I've only read to page 10, where the O.P. said in so many words that he was tired of being exploited himself, or something like that. He did not elaborate, but I know the feeling. I once belted a bully in the face, back in 5th grade after months of mean treatment from this guy. It was a suicidal act I didn't think through, and I expected to be killed by this a** **** who was half again my size. Instead, he put his hand to his face, saw blood, and started to cry. It changed my life.

So the O.P "over-reacted" to the buyer trying to pull a feeble fast one? I say let it be a lesson to the punk, whether he was lol'ing or not. So he was willing to pay the $600.00 after all? How do we know he wouldn't have turned around anyway, if he didn't get his pathetic $50.00 moral victory, or more? Backing out by seeming to be kidding is still an attempt at re-haggling the price, and if the O/P. decided to not waste any more time on the schmuck, good for him.

I would have refrained from responding with profanity though; a smug "I couldn't care less whether you buy it or not" would have been a little more insulting in my opinion.

Tom

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

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.

Better than that he accepted your offer, then reopened negotiations by offering you less and you said No!. Once he put the other price out there, he negated his own offer.

All legal.

Dealt with this buying my house years back. Realtor told me seller wanted offer before end of that weekend, fine with me but I wanted confirmation before weekend over. Offer tendered Saturday morning about 9:00am.

Heard nothing all weekend.

Get a call Monday afternoon about 4pm. Told me "it looks like your offer will be accepted"!?!?

"Looks like", I withdrew offer when no one called and that wasn't an acceptance you just gave me. Everybody was too busy to respond that weekend was the excuse. Good-bye, hung up.

Called me back, after 10 minutes of explaining how offers and terms worked to a licensed realtor, I offered $5K less.

She told me that would be unlikely to go through as she "felt uncomfortable telling them". They accepted the offer.

I have yet to deal with Craig's List, just reading TB's posts on "looking for band members, is enough to stop me.

GOOD ON YOU for this! Traffic my butt! Love It!

 

[Danny O Danny]

The approach I prefer to take with CL is to be firm but polite. My response to the potential buyer's text (as described in the OP) would have simply been, "No. $600.00 is the best price I can offer. Let me know what you decide to do. Thanks."

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

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.

I'm the other way.

I'll ask for your best price, if that is it and I like it, I buy.

I hate haggling.

I had someone who said it was their best price, politely passed on it and as I was walking away, he threw out another price lower.

I kept walking, wondering what else he might have been dishonest about with the transaction.

There is always another deal out there.

Old British car guy........anything parts wise SS1 era Jag in your travels?

 

[InhumanResource]

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

How about $650? Haha need money for gas, I face this traffic everyday.

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

Ok.

Throws toys and screams

 

[jerry]

Haggling in some cultures is a way of life. Doesn’t anybody watch American Pickers?

 

[Hounddog409]

A time honored tradition? You have to do better than that. Isn't that pretty much one of the worst reasons to keep doing anything?

"What do you mean we can't beat our wives anymore? It's a time honored tradition!"

"We can't let those people vote or own land! It's a time honored tradition!"

"We want this land and are going to kill all you people already living here because that's a time honored tradition."

.....congrats. worst post in this thread.

 

[WardEarth]

I had a similar experience on CL. I saw an item I was interested in and made an offer. The seller accepted and I asked when I could pick it up. We set a time for later that day after work. Later I called seller to tell him I was on my way. "Oh, I sold it"......silence. I said "we agreed on a price and then you broke our agreement and sold it?" I got a an earful about how I was a jerk for offering less than asking price, and serves me right for lowballing, and next time maybe I'll offer full price, yada yada. I told him he was an a*****e and hung up. Obviously there was nothing I could do except express my displeasure.

Some people are just like that. A gentlemen's agreement implies that both parties are gentlemen.

Did you ask him to not sell it to anyone else in the meantime? Cause otherwise, the nature of CL puts ppl in a place where they are expecting you to flake out.

Im also guessing you were upset that it sold when you talked to him, and that led to him going off on you.

 

[HubbardsFate]

While I think that he could have maybe been a bit more diplomatic in his response(s) to the guy, at the end of the day, I'm with the OP on this one.

For the buyer to have agreed to a price and then (in my view) try to elicit a "sympathy discount" via the ol' "Oh wow, traffic is horrible, can you knock another $50 off" routine - pure BS, and worthy of a smackdown.

 

[WardEarth]

Ah, I always wondered why Big Honey had more of a buzz than Big Vinegar.

Funny, big vinegar is my rap mc name.

 

[bassplayer9512]

I guess you're reading it differently than I am. Buyer says: "Would you consider $550? Haha thinking about turning around this traffic is horrible." But then when he was told "no" he magically was almost there.

It is possible to have almost be there and have heavy traffic. Yeah it was a red flag for me too but I didn't realize you have to give up all information as a buyer and not try and negotiate. Almost there could mean 30 min or 2 miles.