to the OP: when it gets to the "i'll take a sledgehammer to it" phase, i always offer a buck if I can get a swing at it too. i berkeleying hate people sometimes.
to the OP: when it gets to the "i'll take a sledgehammer to it" phase, i always offer a buck if I can get a swing at it too. i berkeleying hate people sometimes.
In reply to AngryCorvair:
I would have taken the prissy pants guy I delt with up on an offer like that too.
In reply to AngryCorvair:
Someone already posted the "Go ahead and destroy it, because mine will go up in value because it will be more rare!" line, and I thought that was a good one. He didn't like that one bit. 
In reply to SilverFleet:
I said that same line to a guy on the sho facebook group the other day, dude got super pissed that I offered $350 for his car.......I hope he rage quit at life after I withdrew my offer once he admitted the clutch was toast. Everyone else pretty much agreed treefiddy was "generous" at that point. 
SilverFleet wrote: There is a special circle of Automotive Hell for these types of people. There, they will be forced to drive a gold, chain smoker-owned 1995 Toyota Camry 4-cylinder automatic with 3 misfiring cylinders and a broken radio for the rest of eternity.
This is, perhaps, the greatest line I have ever read on the Intarwebs.
Klayfish wrote: Adz that wer ritten in sumthin other then desentlee propar englesh and tawk about how kewl it is becauz its slamed and has custem paint yo.
This is literally copy and paste from two BMW M3 ads locally:
"BMW iz klean had it 4yrs runs gud daily driver great on gas 190k miles 2500 obo may trade"
and:
"Hi i have nice and fast BMW M3 5 speed Manual Transmission for seal i HAVE M3 Body Kit And i olny have problem is Engine its all i have to fix and i have 1on more Engine its come with bmw to know more call me ore txt [xxxx] i have (..Cline Title..) "
for seal. bark bark
Oh, and the $2500 one is not an M3. It's just a 318i or 325i with an M badge stuck on it.
Oh yeah, had one over Labor Day that we still laugh about. CL ad was really minimal, but the background of the pic was a really nice neighborhood. On the phone the guy was hard to understand and when I asked for more pictures, he said his son would have to do it because he didn't do computers. Asked lots of questions, represented the car as perfect, when I asked "what am I going to notice that will be disappointing when I get there" he said "well, maybe that it is dirty because I haven't washed it." It was 2.5 hours away, decided this was going to end really well or really badly. Made the trek. Address was, um, nowhere near where the picture was taken. Found rust, a dash with so many lights on that it looked like a berking Christmas tree, ripped seats, sagging headliner, a door that wouldn't open, crash repair, grooves in the brake rotors, and on and on. When I handed him the keys back and made a comment about "it seems to have a few issues" I got a stare and the phrase that my whole family now uses as a tag line - "like what?"
Adds that list for $1 but the seller actually wants $13,000 for it. berkeley. You. shiny happy person. Good thing the bastards aren't legally bound by that or I'd have a fleet of vehicles.
Just found one:
Perfect 240Z, no rust, owner demanding high price OR ELSE
He'll do a V8 swap.
Pull the trigger man, you're only helping us out.
http://york.craigslist.org/cto/4131917719.html
In reply to Appleseed:
Thats why my searches include a minimum price 
novaderrik wrote: "if i don't sell it by tomorrow at 5:34, the price goes up." i love those ads..
I once marked up some rims I was selling on Kijiji. I couldn't sell them at the lower price (perhaps buyers thought they were stolen??? I don't know why they didn't sell)...
Anyways; after marking them up and stating in the add that I was selling them for too cheap in the previous add, compared to what they were actually worth.... The rims sold in 2 days
there's something to be said for finding the right price niche ..
a friend of mine built a "spec" house … priced it at $245k … that made him a reasonable profit … the house sat and sat and sat … finally took it off the market, waited a couple of months … then re-posted it for $325 and it sold in 2 months for $25k less than listed …
what the realtor told him was that he had priced the house at the top of a price "group" .. and then re-priced it at the middle of the next price "group"
wbjones wrote: there's something to be said for finding the right price niche .. a friend of mine built a "spec" house … priced it at $245k … that made him a reasonable profit … the house sat and sat and sat … finally took it off the market, waited a couple of months … then re-posted it for $325 and it sold in 2 months for $25k less than listed … what the realtor told him was that he had priced the house at the top of a price "group" .. and then re-priced it at the middle of the next price "group"
Man, do I wish I could apply that to my house... 
Appleseed wrote: Adds that list for $1 but the seller actually wants $13,000 for it. berkeley. You. shiny happy person. Good thing the bastards aren't legally bound by that or I'd have a fleet of vehicles.
When searching Craigslist, make the minimum price $50 or so.
This doesn't weed out the slimy dealers who list the down payment or monthly payment as a price, though.
wbjones wrote: there's something to be said for finding the right price niche .. a friend of mine built a "spec" house … priced it at $245k … that made him a reasonable profit … the house sat and sat and sat … finally took it off the market, waited a couple of months … then re-posted it for $325 and it sold in 2 months for $25k less than listed … what the realtor told him was that he had priced the house at the top of a price "group" .. and then re-priced it at the middle of the next price "group"
That works for lots of things. I'd not thought too much about the price group thing, but I'm sure its true. My take, selling cars, is this: I want $3000 for this car. If I ask $3200, expecting to dicker down to $3k, I'll fight and struggle. Price it at $3900, grudgingly give a $500 discount, and the guy leaves happy, figuring he worked me over good, even though I pocketed $400 more than I wanted. I think that's why people email a lowball offer without ever looking at the car- if they can get me to drop a bunch, it must be a good deal, right?
I'd say this CL ad is convincing
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4192312332.html
Streetwiseguy wrote:wbjones wrote: there's something to be said for finding the right price niche .. a friend of mine built a "spec" house … priced it at $245k … that made him a reasonable profit … the house sat and sat and sat … finally took it off the market, waited a couple of months … then re-posted it for $325 and it sold in 2 months for $25k less than listed … what the realtor told him was that he had priced the house at the top of a price "group" .. and then re-priced it at the middle of the next price "group"That works for lots of things. I'd not thought too much about the price group thing, but I'm sure its true. My take, selling cars, is this: I want $3000 for this car. If I ask $3200, expecting to dicker down to $3k, I'll fight and struggle. Price it at $3900, grudgingly give a $500 discount, and the guy leaves happy, figuring he worked me over good, even though I pocketed $400 more than I wanted. I think that's why people email a lowball offer without ever looking at the car- if they can get me to drop a bunch, it must be a good deal, right?
I am currently doing this with my Passat. Shhhh.
Oh, believe me, guys, I know the CL games. It still just seems shifty when its listed for a dollar.
"No rust" on an obviously rusty car.
I've learned that unless it has holes you can stick your arm through, yankees consider it to be rust free.
DILYSI Dave wrote: "No rust" on an obviously rusty car. I've learned that unless it has holes you can stick your arm through, yankees consider it to be rust free.
Agreed. In addition, I hate the term "surface rust".
Everybody says there car only has "surface rust".
I assure you, up here in michigan, almost no car with visible rust actually has "surface rust".
Yes the surface is rusty. So is the middle, and backside... all the way through. lol
xflowgolf wrote:DILYSI Dave wrote: "No rust" on an obviously rusty car. I've learned that unless it has holes you can stick your arm through, yankees consider it to be rust free.Agreed. In addition, I hate the term "surface rust". Everybody says there car only has "surface rust". I assure you, up here in michigan, almost no car with visible rust actually has "surface rust". Yes the surface is rusty. So is the middle, and backside... all the way through. lol
Conversation with someone about a CRX....
"You said it is rust free."
"It is."
"The quarter panels have rusty holes in them."
"Well yeah, they all do that. But other than that it's rust free."
"AAAAAAAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHHH!HHH!H!H!H!H!!!!!!!!!!!one!"
Oh... I kinda know how the guy felt... I was at that point with my E30 when I sold it. Amusingly, I also listed it as a "possible head gasket" (which blaze86vic found to be a faulty injector) but it did run and drive and by most accounts I was selling it for a good price.
At the same time, if I didn't need the money from the sale, I would have shipped the car to Mythbusters due to how frustrated I was with it. I would have enjoyed watching that car get blown to bits...
I am always amused by the ads that state "runs great, just needs (insert water pump or other cooling system repair here) and you have to wonder how severely overheated it got and whether the engine is totally berked.
I stopped getting upset about the goofy selling shiftiness. I just choose not to deal with that sort.
Note to sellers: If you berate me in your ad because I might do something you don't like when I contact you (offer you less than twice the value, for instance)...I'll just avoid dealing with you (and so will most of the other folks who are offended by your ad).
Life's too short to deal with jerks when you can find a nice person to deal with.
Therefore, as a seller, I have a personal guideline not to list a bunch of rules in my ad. I price it with room for negotiation, I tell some basic details, give some overall photos, and the ball is in the potential buyer's court.
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