Received last week:

quote:

Hi,

I'm interested in the loveseat but my budget is $500 cash. I know this it worth more and you should get a better offer but wanted to let you know. I'm also in [nearby suburb] so I can quickly pick up the loveseat and I have the cash on hand.

Thanks for considering my offer.

John

I understand the lowball offer approach; sometimes it works. Sellers could be hard up for cash and will take a lot less than they are asking. In this case, he's offering a third of what we're asking for. We're in no hurry to sell and we know what this furniture sells for, so we politely declined his offer.

Aside: If the person's name appears in the email header info, I usually try to look them up.

This person:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-n...uding-local-business

Then there's this:

quote:

Hi,
We love this tapestry but $285 is too much for us
Please let me know if you'd consider selling it for $100.
Best,
Ginger

I've shopped the tapestry around to some consignment shops and know what it's worth, so once again I respectfully declined.

I could understand the first guy's rationale, but the "I can't afford this will you sell it to me for nothing?" approach seems goofy.

And the ever-present scammer:

quote:

Thanks for the response I'm okay with the ITEM and the present condition, i am willing to buy it for my inlaw as gift but My busy schedule will not allow me to come around to look by, but i'm really interested in the item so be considerate with me. Am willing to add an extra $50 if you can hold the purchase, because am planing to send the money in a bank check and UPS it to you, then I will arrange for a pick up after cashier check cleared at your bank.... i will need your Name and Delivery Address not a p.o box for the check to be issue out to, i await your response ASAP

Our listing clearly states "cash only" but I like to string these guys along sometimes.

My response: "We charge a $500 fee for payment by check".

Waiting to see what happens next.

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Then there's this:

quote:

Hi,
We love this tapestry but $285 is too much for us
Please let me know if you'd consider selling it for $100.
Best,
Ginger

I've shopped the tapestry around to some consignment shops and know what it's worth, so once again I respectfully declined.

I could understand the first guy's rationale, but the "I can't afford this will you sell it to me for nothing?" approach seems goofy.

I have totally done this. Sometimes I see something decorative and cool and totally not necessary -- like a tapestry, for example. No one NEEDS a tapestry, right? Or in my case, once with a painting and once with a woodcarving. Artsy things that speak to me and I want them, but I could certainly live without them and really, do I need another thing cluttering up my house???

So when I see this thing I think about it and dither and decide that I can't justify paying $300 for the totally cool artsy thing since I don't need it and don't have a place for it in mind.... but I would spend $100 on it because it's really cool and if I could get it for cheap, I'd find a place for it. Also, it is easier to justify spending a smaller amount to Mr. Lisa. -- our family budget has an amount below which we can spend money on splurgy stupid stuff and not have to explain it to the other partner but above which, we have to talk about it before spending the money. Sometimes if I want the thing but don't want it enough to twist Mr. Lisa's arm, I'll just offer the amount that doesn't require a joint consensus.

Sometimes people just want the thing out of their house and they are willing to take less. Sometimes they don't. But I have learned it doesn't hurt to offer. If people think I'm weird or cheap, so be it!

Good luck with your Craigslisting!

Oh, and now I want to see the tapestry!

Oh, I totally understand the mentality. Done it myself.

I just think the first example I gave was a good approach to a long shot and the second one was much weaker.

quote:

Good luck with your Craigslisting!

Thanks! Super Bowl weekend was busy around our house. Had two buyers come over and we got rid of a set of nesting tables, a telephone table, and a wool rug.

quote:

Oh, and now I want to see the tapestry!

It's 68"H x 51"W

A slightly embarrassing insight into the WTG family human behavior....Mr WTG and have talked about how what we'll accept for an item is based on how we react personally to people. Sometimes we've turned down offers because we were annoyed by someone, but have practically given other things away because we liked someone.

We'd make lousy businesspeople.

I always make an offer, but a reasonable one. Maybe 20 or 25 percent off the asking price.

The ones that really irritate me are the people responding to ads for free stuff. They are the biggest flakes. I've held stuff for days for people who didn't show. Once I left a couple huge bags of Styrofoam peanuts out in the carport. Flake never showed to pick them up. It rained overnight and the peanuts got soaked. Once I had a guy swear he would come get a box of baby wipes, so I left them outside. A day later they were still there, so I gave the address to the next person. She showed up and the box was gone... apparently flake came and got it two days after he said he would AND after I told him I was moving to the next person in line.

Sheesh.

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Sometimes we've turned down offers because we were annoyed by someone, but have practically given other things away because we liked someone.

That's kind of how I got my piano. The private seller had better offers from others, but decided to sell to me. I don't know why, but possibly because I'm a working musician.

We have definitely sold stuff to people just because we liked them. That is, if there were multiple people offering we would sell to the nicer person, even if at a lesser price (to a point). I think we need to acknowledge when people are kind and decent, to whatever extent we can. And if someone is a total jerk I won't deal with them, no matter what the offer. Life is too short.

We did that once when we were selling a house--took the jerk's offer. The problem? He was a jerk. He continued to nickle and dime us and at the last minute refused to close because of some idiocy of a leaking roof (never happened). We had to spend a few hundy to get an attorney to write a Threatening Letter in order to get him to agree to relinquish his deposit. So not worth it. We learned our lesson.

Pretty tapestry!

You can have it for $100 because I like you...

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Then there's this:

quote:

Hi,
We love this tapestry but $285 is too much for us
Please let me know if you'd consider selling it for $100.
Best,
Ginger

I've shopped the tapestry around to some consignment shops and know what it's worth, so once again I respectfully declined.

I could understand the first guy's rationale, but the "I can't afford this will you sell it to me for nothing?" approach seems goofy.

There are sellers who make purely rational economic decisions, and those who don't.

Those who don't are susceptible to "we love your house and we'd love to raise our family there!" letters from potential buyers.

I don't mind a lowball offer. I usually tell the lowballer to wait a few weeks and see if I still have it as my prices tend to drop over time. Many times it turns out the initial asking price was OK all along.

OTOH, if the offer is anything other than "Let me come by and see it - when is a good time?" I am not interested in the business.

As for free stuff, I use curb alerts. I put this stuff out at the curb at a certain address. May or may not be my address. I post on Craigslist that it’s there, first come first served and post that I will remove the ad if I happen to go by there and the stuff is gone. No guarantees. I answer no emails.

The stuff disappears.

As an aside, today I paid a guy for two hours work plus fuel to recycle 900 pounds of steel. Total value of this deal?

$9.00. A penny a pound.

I will never do that again.