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Am I wrong here? Craiglist content....


orbm1

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you are totally wrong

 

 

it's stupid to haggle through email on something you're going to buy in person -- I won't even talk about price til you've played the guitar and I've seen your money, and even then I'm pretty firm unless I'm in a bind

 

 

 

 

shopping is hard

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Well the seller could have been a bit nicer about it, but I can relate. I've been posting stuff on CL over the summer, and I usually have to take a break after a week or two because the people drive me nuts.

There's the guy that no matter what I post, he comes back with an email for a "bid" of usually 10% of asking price in a giant font with a pretty background. Ain't eBay buddy. Finally blacklisted him.

Or I say "no trades", but I get people replying "I have no money but would you take a Crate practice amp?"

Then the people who, even though I explicitly state "local only, no shipping", ask if I can ship a $20 item 500 miles. Um.. cost/benefit anyone?

Not to mention the ones who can't spell to save their lives, the spam, etc.

Point being, you probably caught him on a bad CL day, the sheer flood of morons that a seller can deal with is staggering. So you had every intention of a well reasoned, good mannered deal, but he just wasn't in the mindset for it. Don't take it personally at least.

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OBO does not mean "feel free to low ball me for half my asking price".


If at any point, you feel like offering
half
what someone is asking is cool, you suck.



It's part of negotiating. And as for offering half the asking price, that's all relative. 10 bucks is a decent offer for a 20 dollar cable or whatnot. True, $75 is very low considering the $150, but the seller was free to make a counter offer/

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So I found a Cort Fly V in local craigslist for $150 (obo)


I first offer a trade for an amp I do not use anymore....


He replied, "no thanks"...


then I made a lowball offer ($75) looking for a counter offer....


He got aggraviatted.... I tried to talk start the negociating again asking for the lowest price he could go for and for better pics and his answer was again full of attitude...




Here is the transcript of the emails:



Me:



I have an amp that I could trade for your guitar....



interested?


Thanks




http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/msg/148.html


The guitar in the post it is not up for trade, only the amp....


thanks!




His reply:


No thanks!!!!





So I replied:


ok...


no problem...


would you take $75 for it?




His reply:


Come on man get real!!!! you must be like the majority of the people in this world do ya want this for nothing????? what i listed it for it's worth every penny, and you should probably go price a new one. a cort a new flying v sorry pal you couldn't touch a new v for under $400.00 come on get with it, im not about to give away for $75.00 sorry pal!!!!!!




I understood I could have been a little offensive with my low ball offer so I replied this:


Pal,


Chill out... you just can say, no thank you and counter offer... I am not expecting you to give it away either, I am looking for a good price on a guitar I do not need, just pure impulse buying....


if you want to get firm price do not write: 'or best offer"....


One thing, do not generalize, I do not know you and you do not know me...... I work hard to make a living and to make every penny I have.....


anyways.....


Let's try this again:


What would be the lowest you could go? and do you have any better pictures of it?


Thanks




His answer:


Don't ya suppose if ya need a good look at any guitar you should probably get in your car and look at something with your own eyes??? that you may or may not want to purchase??? come on man it's a no brainer here it's not rocket science, and to answer your question NO i don't have any picture's of the back of this v and if i was in your shoes i personally take a good look at it with my own eyes not what ya see just with a picture. and i really can't emphise this v its worth every penny of the $150.00 and no im not taking anything less than $150.00 for this v and no trades also



I really got frustated, so I replied this:


ok...


I am really interested in the guitar and I have the $150... but your attitude is really killing the deal.... of course I would like to check it out with my own eyes.... but good pics could help in the meantime.... and I never ask for pictures of the back of the guitar.... just better pictures to see what I was gonna spend my money on....


sorry pal...you just lost the sale....


Hopefully you have better luck with other people... but, change your attitude... if not you are going to end up selling that guitar for pennies....


take care...





His last reply (Which I am not planning to respond):


ok cool with me, personally i won't be loosing any sleep over the fact you don't want to buy my guitar. the way i look at this life go's on, and youre not the only person in michigan that's looking for a guitar





What do you guys think?


Thanks
:wave:

Omar
:thu:



the dude wants 150 bucks for his axe. what don't you understand about craigslist?

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Selling on craigslist can suck lots of times. Dealing with ridiculous lowballs, stupid one sided trades, and the usual scams can make it a pain in the ass. I for one usually don't price my items high as I want to sell them quickly since I made the decision to sell means I want something else. So all the above aggravation gets to be a pain. I'll either just email no thanks or not send a email at all. It's quite possible that this seller is new at this game and doesn't know how to play.

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I think after you lowballed him and he took offense, you should have left it alone and walked or made another realistic offer. Instead, you lectured him. If I were the seller, I would have said to {censored} off at that point.



As a seller that HATES lowball offers, I agree 100%. I would have been far less polite than this seller was..

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I think after you lowballed him and he took offense, you should have left it alone and walked or made another realistic offer. Instead, you lectured him. If I were the seller, I would have said to {censored} off at that point.



you want a lot of customer service after an insultingly low offer for a cheapo axe.
like asking for a gumball on a silver platter.
at some point the buyer has to commit and put more than ten keystrokes into the deal. -If it's allready a really good deal, why offer half?

I have some idiot that has been e-mailing me for 6 weeks asking if I still have a guitar he wants. nothing else- just "still got it?"
not even an eta til payment, like "my settlement check comes in december 10th, I'll def buy if you have it then".

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I haven't read the other responses, just the first post.

I think you were both pretty wrong. Him for seemingly taking total offense at your first cash offer and you for taking a lecturing stance.

But, it's all good. I've dealt with worse people on craigslist. Some folks have a greatly inflated idea of the value of their stuff. I've listed stuff at twice what I think I'd get for it. Usually with no success, but sometimes it works.

I kinda collect cameras and I like the Canon G series of cameras. I have a G1, G2, G3 and G7. There was a person that had a G5 listed for $300. To put it in perspective, the G7 is about 4 years newer and twice the camera the G5 is and at that time, there were about 25 completed auctions on eBay and all but one was $70 - $100 other than a single one that was $125, but it was brand new in an unopened box... For $125. This guy was asking $300. I offered $125 and told him about the eBay auctions and he said he'd throw the camera away before he'd sell it for less than $200.

:idk:

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I wouldn't have taken you seriously as a buyer. First you offer an unspecified amp, then a ridiculously low amount of money. As a seller, I would have thought you were a waste of time, then when you added the chill message, I wouldn't have thought you were unstable too. Not saying you are, but that's what I would have thought.

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I wouldn't have taken you seriously as a buyer. First you offer an unspecified amp, then a ridiculously low amount of money. As a seller, I would have thought you were a waste of time, then when you added the chill message, I wouldn't have thought you were unstable too. Not saying you are, but that's what I would have thought.



Wait.... when I offered the amp I sent the link to my craigslist ad, where you could see the actual amp....

I do see now that starting that low was kind offensive (at least for a few people).... Honestly I did it to look for a good deal and expecting a counter offer lower than $150.... and again... the chill out was because he started generalizing and using the "who do your think you are?" and "Sorry pal" lines....

Now I see and understand the I should be more careful using that phrase! (ESL speaker here :D)

Thanks :wave:

Lesson Learned!!

Omar :thu:

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What do you guys think?


Thanks
:wave:



I think you've found a typical Michigan asshole (Go Bucks) and you didn't do anything wrong at all. You are supposed to low ball him. That's "the game." I don't think you should have stooped to his level and given him your speech, though, even though you were right. God, I hate people.

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I think you've found a typical Michigan asshole (Go Bucks) and you didn't do anything wrong at all. You are supposed to low ball him. That's "the game." I don't think you should have stooped to his level and given him your speech, though, even though you were right. God, I hate people.



There's a difference between lowballing and being ridiculous about it. Your offer has to be reasonable, even if it's low or as the OP found out, you won't be taken seriously.

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The great thing about CL is it is a true, old-school Bazaar, straight out of the Middle East.

 

Buyers are under no obligation to be polite or follow the strictures of the seller when they make an offer, sellers are under no obligation to humor a buyer who returns with a stupid bid.

 

Its a free-for-all wherein, if a consensus can be found, a transaction will occur. Its a new culture for Americans.

 

All the bellyachin' (which I do myself) is just that.

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The great thing about CL is it is a true, old-school Bazaar, straight out of the Middle East.


Buyers are under no obligation to be polite or follow the strictures of the seller when they make an offer, sellers are under no obligation to humor a buyer who returns with a stupid bid.


Its a free-for-all wherein, if a consensus can be found, a transaction will occur. Its a new culture for Americans.


All the bellyachin' (which I do myself) is just that.



Precisely. That is why I ebay :)

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I think after you lowballed him and he took offense, you should have left it alone and walked or made another realistic offer. Instead, you lectured him. If I were the seller, I would have said to {censored} off at that point.



yup id a told you to {censored} right off too...

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