anyone else tired of low balling tire kickers?

I NEVER make an offer without the cash in hand. Offers without cash are like a leaf in the wind. Here now, gone in a minute

 

Yup jack, always have cash, many denominations stashed in various pockets so as not to show your hand!

 

I have no problem with someone making a very low offer, what I don't like is when someone asks my bottom dollar. It's their job to find that out ....I'm not going to do their job for them.

 

No offense, but some of y'all are too emotionally invested in what you're selling. If the offer is too low, it's easy to say, "no". Getting pissed because they made an offer you don't like is just lowering the quality of your life and making the pharmaceutical companies rich on your blood pressure medications.

To the folks who say, "don't waste my time with low offers", ah, maybe you shouldn't be selling stuff if your time is so precious.

Like I said, not trying to bash anyone, just trying to put it in perspective.

 

When you sell a car you have to prepare for about 95% of the people who respond to your ad to be assholes, or morons. In a dozen years on eBay I've had some real pieces of work come along. Guys who want to buy parts off running, driving cars, guys who think it's amusing to make $1.00 offers, guys who want to whine that the price is too high even though the listing clearly allows you to make an offer... assholes, all. My eBay ads now say three seperate times I will not sell parts off the car, and I still get people once in a while too dumb to read that.

Lowball is probably the right term for a guy who offers less than half of an asking price, because you both have to be pretty low to do that and have a lot of balls also.


The stuff about Craigslist is right on, too, they make the eBay jerks look like genuises. I had a guy who wanted to buy a car from me, he knew someone who knows us and has dealt with us before, so while still a stranger to me he at least had some insight into dealing with us. But this guy was afraid to send me a money order for the car even after I lined up someone to deliver it to him 150 miles away - he expected me to bring the car to him and get paid when I got there. On a $1000 parts car. Or he would use Paypal... so I called his bluff there and told him if he paid the fees he could pay me that way. Needless to say, the car's now in the scrapyard after I picked some parts off it and told this guy to go fuck himself. About the only thing I've managed to actually sell on CL is a pair of tables someone left by the dumpster in my storage unit place - which wasn't bad because I paid zero for them, and I purposely priced them so that when the guy asked me if I'd take $25 less, it didn't bother me to do it.

My sales philosophy on everything anymore is to decide what I want for it and then add 50%-100% on top of it so the guys who want to bargain can still think they got a deal and stuck it to me when they pay me what I actually wanted in the first place.

 

"Waste of bandwidth" would be another way of looking at it.

 

You mean like this HAMBER?

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=584906&highlight=1936+ford

 

The market sets the price. I remember 20 years ago looking at an old Buick. The seller wanted something like $1200. I offered 400 bucks. That's all I thought it was worth. He declined. I nicely replied "Here's my number. If you get your price that's great. If you decide to accept my offer give me a call". Two weeks later I owned the car.

 

That doesn't bother me, much.

It's the quefes (sp?) with no money that make a low ball offer that bother me.

 

funny i was thinking the same thing!

 

Okay here are mine

1. Selling a 2 year old Honda motorcycle.
First guy calls and offers me 25% less then my asking prices because that is all he has. I tell him to come look at it first. He says no call him if I want his offer, I tell him no thanks, call me when he gets the money.

Second guy calls me and tells me he will take it and he will be there in 20 minutes with cash. Shows up looks at it for 2 minutes and tells me he will think about it.

Third guys comes looks at it for 10 minutes and pays my full asking price.

2. Selling my wifes Taurus on ebay for its scrap value. I get a local bidder who wins the auction but never pays or responds to my or ebays emails. Sold it to the second bidder with no problems.

3. A friend in California found a 1957 Bel Aire in Texas that needed restoration but had a straight body. After getting a few pictures he drives down to look at it. From the road it looked descent but when he turned into the drive way, the order side of the car and been side swiped by a semi (or something). The seller never mention the extensive body damage. My friend pulled right back onto the road the drove back home.

 

Whenever responding to an add that has "serious buyers only" in it (and I'm intending on paying the asking price, as usually done) I always wanted to show up drunk in a clown suit telling jokes while forking over the money.

 

I would just suggest put FIRM on he add if that is what you want.
Obo is just asking for any offer.
At least take off obo if you don't want offers all over the board.
Obo is just asking for it....

Good luck!

 

The worst someone can say is NO...

I watched the same guy that owned my 59 Apache state "Serious buyers only, no tire kickers, cash only, no trades." I watched him try to repost and sell this truck for over a year for $5900 ina thousand pieces and was never run and wouldn't drive... All I had to do is ask and bring him out of the clouds and it was mine...

To my experience (12+ years) most of the sellers that can't sell their crap is because they attach sentimental value to it or think we are still in a booming economy, which we are not. The housing bubble was not the only bubble to pop. it IS a buyers market right now and there is no way in hell I would ever pay what the original poster what he is asking for his caddy. Granted, it is nice, but I think between 3-4 grand is more than likely it.

 

It took me over 2 years to sell my 65 country squire and had to come down about 2500 dollars from my original asking price,I did come out about 500 dollars over what I had in it and got to drive it for 10 years plus the buyer did not get the NOS body parts I had for it. The market is down and not many have extra money to buy stuff right now and just be patient as someone will come along and yes you will have to deal with the low ballers as its part of the game.

 

maybe i should just give it away lol. no hard feeling guys

 

Bingo!

 

NO ... it is a neat old car that many here would love to cruise in.

But money is tight ...

A good friend of mine is a used car salesman and he says

There is a BUTT for every seat !!
It is my job to find him

 

I'm one of those guys who will just pay what the seller wants if it's what I am looking for (and the price is reasonable) I don't argue or offer less if it's not reasonable I just keep shopping.

A good friend of mine on the other hand is the type of guy who will never, ever, pay what the seller is asking. He low balls all the time and actually succeeds most of the time. He is quite well off an can afford just about whatever he wants but he's one of those people that just refuse to pay full price for something. In my experience low ballers exist because somebody will take their offer, maybe not on this purchase, but on the next, or the one after that...

And I agree with others, if you put an add on craigslist you are just asking, no begging for the frustration you're venting here! LOL

 

Happens in other fields also:

A fellow ask a girl if she will go to bed with him for a million dollars, she says yes. He then asks how about for one dollar, she replies what do you think I am. His reply, we know what you are, were just arguing over price

 

The market has been bad for a long time. I can recall selling cars 10 years ago via eBay and doing very well. On the other hand, stuff was more expensive too. Cars are selling for less because people have less play money, plain and simple.

It only bothers me when a buyer claims to be an expert on what you have for sale, knows nothing and makes a stupid offer. Please don't insult my intelligence. If you don't like the price, don't bother me.

 

Shit I will take an offer from who ever dont make any difference to me all I have to do is say not today sorry pal,its all part of dealin.I guess when you go to a new car dealer you are suppose to just givem what they have on the sticker.Like the guy said earlier dont get your panties in a wad.What pisses me when a guy puts a for sale sign on his car with no price WTF he must be ashame of his asking price.Also some of these guys must be smokin something when pricing their stuff.Hell you can buy a house for what they are asking for a field car

 

There's another side to this. I'm at a car show with a sign on the car that it's For Sale,may trade,should have heard the crap people wanted to trade me,the worst was a guy asked if I would take his 94 Vette. I have a 37 Ford, what would I do with a Vette?


come as a spectator, leave as a specticle

 

Where the hell are all you "full asking price" payers when I have something for sale ?

I paid half the asking price for my 55, did I lowball the seller, yes, in a way.....were they WAY out of line on their asking price, YES.... The 55 was worth exactly what I gave for it, otherwise, I couldn't have bought it , right? Apparently, there was no one else standing in their yard with 65 one hundred dollar bills, and they weren't expecting anyone anytime soon.

I'm not in the market for a more door caddy, but if I were, I would not be ashamed to offer you $2500 for it, you'll see me as a lowballing asshole, and I'll see you as a guy asking to much money for his car...The truth though, is I only offer what I think something is worth, to me....you don't want to sell it for that, fine, tell me so. I won't be offended, you shouldn't be either.

 

Making an offer is fine, I don't even see a problem with cutting to the chase and saying "what's the least you'll take"? But making offers on the telephone of 1/4 of your asking price is unacceptable.

 

I've actually gotten shit from sellers for not being willing to make an offer over the phone. I won't talk money until I see it these days, or have had someone I trust see it. They get all butt hurt when I ask to come see it, like I don't get to see it unless I'm buying it... wtf?

 

The internet has made "the deal" something less personal. When you take comeradery and meeting in person out of the equation, it's easy to see how ballsy some can be.

That said, I'm regularly on both sides of the fence. That's just how it is.

The economy blows and like it or not, there's no where near the number of people playing in this niche of the car hobby as there was 3 years ago. Less demand=increased supply, and therefore lower prices. That's just how it works. Ask anybody out there that bought a hilborn setup or 6x2 setup 3-5 years ago and let them tell you how they could never get out of it what they have in it. They ain't lying.

I don't mind a low baller or tire kicker if they bother to show up and at least look at what I have. I can deal with that. It's no-shows that bother me.

Doesn't matter much, this thread will be closed soon anyway, just like every other one on this topic.

 

It always was hard to get a fair price for a car that needs "major" work, now it is impossible.

Your ad says "needs convertor" . Most readers would take that as a "bad trans", and if you ask around for pricing to rebuild that older Cad trans, you'd get the "$2000 and up". So the average buyer starts doing the math on your car:

4500 for the car with a slight drop from list
then 2000 or maybe 2500 for a trans rebuilder to do it.
Now he's thinking "that's $7000 ! , I think I will look around some more".

That car won't sell with a bad trans, unless it is someone who does those transmissions, and even then you'd have to drop the price way,way lower to sell it to him.

 

I really hate dealling with 95% of the buyers/tire kickers. Heard a lot of I want it I have cash, I'll pay your asking price. Maybe 1 out 20 show up only to lowball me. I know what my stuffs worth and what realistically get for it.

I always make my stuff sound worse than it really is so that can't come see it and complain about something and want to low ball me.

Another thing I hate people coming out to my shop to be tire kickers and wanting to look aroung my shop. Get enough stuff stolen from meth heads the way it is.

I got this message after an auction on ebay ended last night for my 51 Chevy

"I hope you're not going to keep listing this over & over trying to get some ungodly price....."

Then he responds after I tell him I relisted it once and he never even bid on it. My reserve was $2000 Runs and drives.

"No bids from me.... I wasn't borm yesterday & work too hard for my money. Too much for a two door SEDAN. Two door hardtop...yes."

No more ebay for me.

 

If you want to stay away from most of the low ballers advertise the car on internet clubs and forums that pertain to that brand of car,taking the car to shows and cruise ins help to since I found a buyer for my wagon at a show and definately up the asking price up from what you would like to get for it. If you stick it out on the street you will get most that just want it for basic transportation and they wont pay what its worth.