Hot Rods Selling stuff, do you all get these questions too?

Actual X Ray image of a dude I sold to a couple of years ago.

 

I love the guys that think the $8,000.00 car I have for sale should be as perfect as a $38,000. car of the same year, make & model.

 

Offer up the option "wish in one hand and shit in the other and tell me which one fills up first".

 

I've got that 51/52 Fleetline roof and trunk lid that I have listed in the classifieds listed on the local craigslist trying to help my friend get it out of her yard. I got a call asking if "the front spindle and hub were for sale: when the add says that is the one and only part that we have. Then I get a text asking if I'll sell the rear end as he had just blown the rear in his 50. He didn't even look to see that the roof was sitting on top of a Studebaker and had no body of it's own. A lot of guys just flat don't read and comprehend the adds.
I've got an OT car for sale that the add says it has an engine problem and has to be towed but have had three people get their nose out of joint because they couldn't buy the cheap car and leave that day for California in it soon after. 3000 bucks for an engine change later they can go anywhere they want to.

 

I have a 40 year old O/T car that I've been trying to sell all summer
and I'm tired of....
whats the lowest you'll take ,
why are you selling such a cool car,
about how some family member had one just like it ,
will you take a check ,
and no I will not arrange shipping to The Sudan

 

Funny but very true read.
I buy and sell quite a few cars every year and have heard all the lines excuses etc.
But I just had the opposite happen and W O W was I surprised.
Had a real nice 37 Ford Flat back 4 sale here and on that social media page for a very fair price.
Guy calls yesterday morning and ask a few ?'s , then says "I'm only 3 hrs away, I'll come down and look @ it"
He pulls in the drive, get's out of his truck, looks @ it for 5 minutes and say's I'll take it.
Hands me a very sizable deposit and said I'll be back next week to get it with the rest of the cash.
Moral of the story, be up front, honest and price em fair and they will sell.

 

My standard reply to the "What is your bottom dollar" for the XXXX" is "what is your top dollar?"

It usually pisses them off and they hang up.

 

THAT is EXACTLY the correct response!

 

Another Hamber related this story to me a few months ago. He had a complete free turning Flathead he was just trying to clean out of his shop. So he runs an ad in the Pay It Forward section and offers it for free just come and get it. Guy messages him they talk about the engine and the guy has the nuts to ask him if he will split the shipping charges. You cannot, no matter how hard you try, make all of the clowns out there happy.

 

"How much my note on that?"

 

I was selling a shovelhead chopper, 12over springer, custom paint, chrome everything and a guy in a ratty pickup shows up for a look. Hems and haws, whines a little over the price, and points to the gal in the truck and asks if maybe we could deal. I tell him if he thinks she's that good, maybe it's time he lets her turn pro. The guys face lights up like the bulb just switched on. He's back a week later with the cash. I didn't ask...………..

 

I was generous and offered it to him for the full price.

 

- Yep - was trying to sell stuff at a swap meet last Saturday and seller across that aisle was a gray hair with a lot of memorabilia to sell - had a young guy helping him - overheard him to say exactly what you did - better yet is to spend others money

 

Well, why wouldn't he? You are asking 8 times what it cost when new!!!!

Ray

 

I had a Rototiller for sale, totally restored/rebuilt/ new paint /decals..A guy calls on it, looks it over and hands me the $450.00 that I was asking..As we were strapping it down on his trailer I mentioned that some dork had called and offered me a $100.00..He said, "I had to ask.' !!

 

I put an OT sporty car on Craigslist a few years back, ad said I prefered a trade , listed what I would be willing to trade for, got all kinds of replies, but none with what I wanted. Got a few low ball cash offers, but none near what the car was worth. I ended up trading it on a two year newer OT sporty car with a back seat. Haven't tried getting rid of it yet, but figure the result will be the same. My stuff is worthless, stuff I want to buy is priceless, or so it seems.

 

I had a guy interested in an o/t beater truck I was selling. Asked if I would take payments and I said not a chance. Then he asked if he could take down the serial number so he could get the bank to loan him the money...at that point I strongly considered telling him to get lost, but I decided to play along. Later that day he showed up with the full asking price and a trailer. Never even test drove the truck, just handed me the cash, loaded the truck on his trailer and took off. I was afraid to ask what kind of bank loans money for a rusted out 40 year old truck.
9 times out of 10 potential buyers are full of it, but sometimes it pays to be patient with them.

 

At swap meets I like to have fun and haggle a bit. When sell, I if buyer shoots low, I'll raise the price right to him. I watch them get pissed off. Standard answer is "you offered lower, that stopped the deal at the first price" I tell them you should have took the first deal. To me it's all fun when they see what I'm doing. I sell low to start, it's there because I want it gone. Cast iron parts don't come home...

 

I get the ones that ask will you take this amount for what you have for sale, you say yes and then you never hear back from them. Or you have your location in your ad, they contact you about what you have for sale and then they say it's to far knowing where you are before contacting you. Lots of picture collectors also.

 

And "What be da downstroke>"

 

Had a guy e mail me the other day about an item I was selling. He asks what's the lowest price you'll take? I said that depends on how much cash you have when you get here to look at it. No response.

 

Suggest you reply........"if you show up with cash, we can discuss what I'll take......until then my price is (whatever the ad says)".....sort of the same response @choffman41 says in his post above....he has it right.

Ray

 

I was selling a non-HAMB Mustang GT for just $2300 on Craigslist. Dude calls me asks if I'll take $1000 cash and a "bunch" of weed. I laughed and told him that's not my deal.

 

I did swap meets for 20 years and had fun selling and buying. I was at the Lincoln, Ne swap meet and had a set of used snow tires with studs that a friend had given me. They were the wrong size for my wagon so instead of putting a price on them, I put a sign that said FREE, About a thousand questions and nobody took them home until we started to pack up….You sure these are for free? Yes. OK. I missed out on an EMF emblem at that show.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^"no good deed goes unpunished!".........

 

A couple years ago I wound up owning an OT Jeep for it's tow bill. The driver had hit a deer, taking out the radiator and the belts, and let it sit there and run until it died. Both aluminum heads dropped inserts, so I decided to pass it on. It was so bad, that it wouldn't even cough when trying to start it. My ad clearly stated what it needed, why it needed them and that it was strictly a non running project. 3 different people asked me "does it run okay?" It did sell for a profit however, so all was good in the end. I have learned to take dumb questions in stride, it's one of the joys of selling

 

The problem with human nature is that it's so prevalent.

 

When selling on the "bay" my favorite question is "will you guarantee it'll make it to ....wherever. I wouldn't guarantee a brand new Mercedes would make it.

 

I hate selling shit, a guy tells me he wants my roadster pickup, he's five hours from me, asks if I have a car trailer, I do, so he asks me to truck the car half way, we'd put it on his trailer and finish the deal.......and after some carefully planned questions, turns out he just wants to look at it. How stupid did he think I was?
On the other hand, a week ago I got in a conversation about an upcoming project, was asked what it would take to sell, just idle conversation, guy shows up yesterday with an envelope and the deal was done, a deal I didn't even know was happening. So....you just never know.

 

One that always pissed my dad off - way before our times.....the caller - "do the tires hold air" yes he would say and hang up on them.