I don’t like the buying and selling process. The haggling simply doesn’t come naturally to me and I avoid it. However, as I need to clear a few things out, I decided to offload a couple of my guitars. The resonator went within an hour or so. The buyer came over, looked at it played a couple of riffs and gave me what I asked, no questions asked. Both parties were happy. This, for me, is how a sale should go.
The acoustic has been a different matter. Mrs L bought it a few years ago. It wasn’t expensive so I was never going to ask much for it. I’ve restrung it and tuned it up. It holds its tuning pretty well and has a decent sound. It’s an ideal beginner instrument. I asked £25 which is fair price. The first potential buyer opened with ‘if you are willing to negotiate, I’ll come over and collect.’
I’m asking twenty-five quid. Frankly, that’s not much to start with, so, no, I am not willing to quibble over the price. If you want it, you pay me what I’m asking. I’d also add, that quibbling sight unseen is a no-no as far as I am concerned along with ‘what’s the lowest you will take?’ That conversation ended pretty quickly. Unlike the sale of a motorcycle recently, I’m under no time pressure, so I can wait. It’s no big deal. However, just to make sure, I amended the advert to include ‘no offers.’ You’d think that people would understand what this means. Again, I’m not asking much, so I don’t expect people to haggle over a few quid.
Yesterday, I had someone asking if it came with the stand it is shown on in the photograph. Nope, the advert mentions no stand, so it does not come with a stand. The he asked if I’ll accept twenty. What part of ‘no offers’ does this cretin not understand? Is ‘no offers’ written in some sort of foreign language? Is it really difficult to comprehend? If someone cannot show the basic courtesy of abiding by the instructions in the advert, then there will be no sale.
Yes, I know, there is a maxim that an item is worth what a buyer will pay. However, this is only half the story. It is what both parties agree it is worth and a subsequent sale ensues. To me, it’s worth twenty-five and I won’t part with it for less and if you ignore my statement that I am not accepting offers, then you are royally pissing me off from the outset, so you aren’t getting it, come what may. I’m in no hurry and it’s not taking up a huge amount of space.
So… No fucking offers!
Selling on Ebay is similar, but at least on Ebay you can ignore them. Or block them if they piss you off enough. Probably not best for guitars though.
The only way I know of to sell unwanted stuff with zero interaction is to use the bricks n mortar auctions.
The rise of boot sales seems to have encouraged this ‘get it for less’ attitude. The number of people I witnessed trying to knock the stakeholders down even though an item was dirt-cheap already..!
And that’s what irritates. It’s cheap already.
Yep been there, seen that. Some cretin was buying a piano, new condition, tiny scratch, for half its current value. Asked for money off on account of the scratch 1 inch long, not deep. I managed to stay polite.
See item number six on the link below, you had it easy.
Just so that you know that you are not alone, there are many others that feel your pain.
https://www.boredpanda.com/annoying-buyers-choosing-beggars/
Choosing beggars. Not heard that before, but yes and some of those are funny in a not funny way.
There are levels of stupidity that are hard to believe. I just love the ones who think that their shitty life choices are somehow the sellers problem.
Oh, my god! How is it no-one’s hunted these people down and shot them to death, given the prevalence of firearms in the States? I’d be hard pushed to convict if on the jury!
£25 is a very good price assuming that it makes an ok sound.
It does. It’s a nice instrument. Whoever buys it is getting a bargain.
Yes, but does it play all the right notes in the right order?
You have to be of a certain age to get that reference.
I’ll give you £25 for it.
When can you deliver?
😉