History Old car parts DONT smell like money

Next swap meet, I'm gonna wear a T shirt;
"We're NOT on the internet!"
As a seller and a buyer, hearing the other party telling me how they can do better online just slays me. As they sit in a lawn chair in front of pitted '57 headlight rings (worthless). It's a different world now, but bullshitters will always be the same.

 

A little off topic but I take my Merc out to a Local Flee market
and I get a Lot of People asking me about my Merc
I tell them its Not for sell, so now I bring a Little Sign
under Construction and a Price of 1.5 Million that Keeps them Quite!
just my 3.5 cents
or when the Cows
come Home!

 

I haven't been to the swaps in a while, most of what I currently need are new parts. Used to attend regularly and saw a big difference in pre and post internet. Big shows had more sponsors selling and less average joes.

I've got a big pile of mid 70's sbc heads that I can't bring myself to scrap, but also don't want to haul to a swap meet and sit there all day. I've offered them up in the pay it forward thread. Maybe I'll craigslist them, as trade for anything, let someone feel like they are stealing them.

 

I'm surprised by the hate for guys who buy at swaps to resell. I bet half or more of the stuff I sold when I did set up at swaps was to other dealers, all in the first hour, or while I'm unloading. And I cut those guys deals too, just to haul off a bunch of stuff and because they usually make a pile. Let them deal with it if they want, makes my life easier.

I've also done a lot of buying at swap meets for later reselling. I try to be polite and not grind on people, but I'll offer less if I'm not willing to pay the marked price.

Every seller should be able to say no without getting their feelings hurt. I've sold (and bought) a lot of stuff to low offers just to move it out, always better than taking it home.

 

I had a very good old friend who was having some serious health issue. He has a very good selection of NOS chevy parts. He started selling out because of health issues. I was setting with him at a event when a guy walked up picked up a NOS Glass lens for some kind of late 40s chevy asked how much. My friend said a dollar. Guy offers 50 cent.friend say no i'll throw it away before i do that!. i ain't gonna try and get you down from a buck.Unless your a close/old friend i'm trying to mess with. It pissed me off and i was just setting there.

 

[QUOTE="he wanted to flip me for it. I told him he watched too many picker shows. [/QUOTE]
When I am selling I love to "FLIP"
Lets say I wanted $30 for the part and the buyer wants to give me $20 for it but I wont budge. He comes at me with "How about we flip for it?" I say sure, but you will have to put $40 down on the table. You win I take $20, I win, I take the $40 or you can just give me the $30 and be on your way

 

At the Hot August Nights swap meet back in the 90's, one seller had a sign above his stall that said, "All offers considered...Some longer than others." Never have forgotten that one.

 

Dickering at swap meets is traditional, and knowing this, most sellers pad their prices. Haggling is how a buyer determines whether the price was padded 10% or 40%. Haggling is also how a seller determines whether he is dealing with somebody who needs a part or just wants it. As long as it’s done in good spirits, I don’t see a problem.

I do the swaps with a buddy; I love the guy, but he can be his own worst enemy when it comes to haggling. Two true stories, one buying and one selling.

My buddy is looking for a pair of T fenders. Tells me he found a great pair for $150, which is more than he wants to pay. I ask, did he make an offer? No, he says, the fenders are too good and the guy knows it—but now he thinks he should just buy them. So we walk back together. Before my buddy can say anything, I smile at the vendor (important!) and say “Hey, I know it’s early in the meet, but can you be happy with $80 on these fenders?” The guy thinks for a moment and says, “Well, no, but I guess I could go $100.” I look over at my buddy, who’s standing there dumbfounded, but at least has the sense to quietly pocket the $50 bill from the $150 he already had in his hand.

I bring a lot of stuff to the swap meets and usually sell quite a bit. My pricing is a flexible matter of what I paid, what point we’re at in the meet, and how heavy the damn thing is. My buddy constantly tells me I’m leaving money on the table. He, meanwhile, brings the same crap every year, won’t dicker, and moves a fraction of what I do. One time he had a heavy antique farm pump he’d been hauling back and forth for years. His price was $75, and he’d turned down $60 repeatedly. Finally, on the last day of the meet, I tell him that if he marks the thing up to $100, I bet somebody would offer $75. He does it, and sure enough, a guy offers $75. But guess what? MY BUDDY DIDN’T TAKE IT. “Somebody will give me $100,” he says. Later, when he was loading that heavy-ass pump into his truck, I told him he wasn’t cut out for sales.

 

A guy I used to work for, who was very good at selling stuff, used to say "If it doesn't sell, raise the price". I thought he was nuts, but he did it many times and it seemed to work! So I started doing the same, and I was shocked by those results, it's become a motto of mine.

 

Heehee, that's cool. I ran an aluminum powerglide on Craigslist cheap cuz I needed some quick bucks. A guy emailed with a low ball offer, explaining that "it wasn't the good one that everybody wants." I just typed "nope" and hit send. It didn't sell, so now that I wasn't in a hurry to sell, I raised the price by 75%. Same guy emailed, "is that the same powerglide you had listed?" I typed "yep" and hit send. Another guy came and picked it up the next day.

 

This is a sign we use at swapmeets. If nothing else, it gets plenty of laughs!!!


Sent from my SM-N910V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

Notice the sign...!!!

 

Haggling at swaps is traditional. As a general rule, I figure most guys at swaps pad their prices 10-20% for "haggle room". I do my homework on stuff I am shopping for, and generally have a price in my head that I will vary from a little. If I see something I want, and its priced more than about 20% over the price in my head, I figure HE probably hasn't done HIS homework, and I am not gonna waste time talking, I walk on by. It will probably be there next year anyway, and then I will really low-ball the fucker, because, hey, I'm like that... On the other hand, if the price marked on the item matches the number in my head, I pull the trigger without even haggling. If the asking price is in that +10-20 range, I will haggle.

 

Got any 2.02/1.64's?

 

Nah, all 1.94's. I used to sell them 10 heads at a time (882's) to a circle track guy who had some machining equipment. He'd do them up for steel head claimer class. I was buying sbc's 10 at a time from a scrapper and doing rebuilds.

 

Just thought I'd check. What's your price on the 1.94's?

 

QUOTE; My biggest gripe at the swap meets, a guy has 3 tables loaded with parts and nothing is marked with a price or what it fits.. How hard is a piece of tape with a $ amount on it...

I'm at the In Rust We Trust swap today, I see some '56 Chevy parts I'm interested in - no prices. The guy is gabbing on his phone. He finally hangs up and talks to me; "the guy who owns that stuff is gone, he'll be back in a while"
Ok, so I circle the row; "not back yet" F_ck it.
So we cruise the whole show and stop in later when we notice that he's still there. Three guys there and no one knows what the "Owner" wants for anything - Jeez. So the kid gets the owner on the phone, tells him that I'm interested in "the thing in the box on the table in front" HUH? I feed the kid info 'til the guy on the other end knows what we are talking about and the guy is hemming and hawwing - ON THE PHONE! I'm thinking; he doesn't know his parts and can't set a price - he ain't getting MY money! We walk away........... Damn, I wanted the part but if it's that painful, I can wait.
I always mark the price on my stuff. When I know I will be out buying, I have an inventory book with "asking" and "I'll take" columns next to each part listed so my wife or buddy isn't stuck sitting there like an idiot trying to get me on the phone for every stupid sale. It's so simple.........

 

I have a question, and I think it's related.

I like to haggle. You will never offend me by making an offer or even low balling me on price. But there is one thing that has been offending me, and I'm starting to think it is so common that maybe my expectations are just different than the mainstream. So, tell me what you think.

When somebody makes me an offer that is less than my asking price, and I say yes, I expect to get paid. I would never make an offer if I did not intend to follow through. Is that a thing of the past, or is the haggling etiquette I was brought up with just different than everyone else?

I had this happen today, but it has happened before, so I'm asking. I had a guy knock me down $1500 off what I was asking for a truck. I said "yes, I'd take that", and the guy said "I'll sleep on it." WTF? Aren't you supposed to sleep on it before you make the offer?

I am now looking for a friendly way to ask potential buyers whether their offer means they are ready to buy at that price or if they are just talking hypothetically and have not yet decided to part with their money. I would like to know, because it makes a difference to me. I will often sell for less if it's an immediate, easy transaction.

 

So did he waste about 30 minutes or more of your time BSing about the price and telling you all that he intends to do with the truck? You patiently listen to every boring detail of his life and why he can't pay the asking price, then he still won't buy it at his price. THAT pisses me off. There's always BSers, dreamers, wanabes and neverweres out there. If we're lucky, they shop elsewhere.

 

No sense in that crap. Not PC but coming up it was understood that it's a "man's world" (also applies to women) and in all dealings, be it horse trading, gambling or whatever, if you engage and do a deal, you freakin pay up. I would publicly shame and humiliate him to see if he ever had the money in the first place (unless he was a really big guy

 

If you shoot a low offer you better be willing to pay up, and now.

 

i have gotten to the point i just tell them if they make the offer it is for "right now". if they don't have the money/deposit or permission from their wife i won't even listen to an offer.

 

This heard in a garage a while back between friends. $75 piece.
"What would you take for it RIGHT NOW?"
"Fifty Bucks!"
"OK, I'll be over Friday..."

 

If I'm making an offer on something, I've decided that I want to buy it. I'd like it at my offer price, but I'm expecting it to go somewhere between offer and posted asking price. Knocking a price down, then walking away, is bullshit. If I were the seller, and he came back (he won't, you know that), the price would go up just for him. Call it an aggravation tax.

 

Tell them that you will take that offer TODAY, but things might be different tomorrow. I never make an offer if I have no plans to take it home today.
-Dave

 

When they ask, "Will you take $xx.xx?"
I ask, "You got cash?"

If I have something priced 'right' at say $100 , and they say, "I'll give you $50."
I say, "No you won't". Or, "I'll take $200"

Always with a knowing smile. Most of the time we can work out something. When you both feel you got a good deal you probably did.
If a guy is a dick, I quit smiling

 

The guys that look at a part that seems to go on forever, asks several questions, then makes a lower offer. Then says, he will "be back". Be backs never come back. They are usually with their wife and think their bargaining prowess Impresses them. Either that or they don't have the money or didn't want it in the first place.

 

That easy. Jusk ask I the offer cash on the Barrell head right now this moment?no guarntees on a reduced price.

 

Sell it all to strangers.Its gone and you dont have to see it again.Cash in hand. That way you will not see it after your buddy that said he needs this and that for a project and then has it at his swapmeet spot for twice the money or sold it to joe for twice the money and then you want to kick his ass!!

Iam in the process of clearing out the stuff I really dont need or will ever get to.In a perfect world selling as one big lot saves time and energy.If you are the seller good and if you are the buyer good.Dont ever sell stuff for other people that say"oh just get what ever you can for it" And guess what happens when you give him the money????When wheeling and dealing with friends I try like hell to keep it as even as possible and cut out any BS right up front.

 

Yup. My standard response is something like, "If you wave that money at me right now, I'd probably take it." Note the double qualifier: "if" and "probably." If they walk away, the offer is off the table. I've had people come back expecting the discounted price as if we had some sort of sacred contract. Nope. Whether or not you still qualify for the price is a function of how nice you are and how much interest the piece has gotten in the meantime.

At swap meets, having fun is my top prioirty. I already have a job where I can suffer in exchange for real money. Folks at meets that walk around with their own personal storm clould over their head can keep walking. Fortunately, they are rare. Seriously, it's sad how some people create their own misfortune and then complain that the world is against them.

 

I really think that low balling is a hobby for alot of people.They have no intention of actually buying the parts.They just want to know if they could get it for that price.I bet if i was to say,"hey weirdo from Craigslist, i like you so much you can just have the part"..They would say: "can you deliver it?i don't have a truck"...get another hobby....(sorry for the rant,thats what I've been dealing with lately)