Great day to be a seller of cars and parts (not)

[wkohler]

Sounds like he can't sell it, so he's hoping you will.

Then when he wants it back, he will offer you a Xylophone signed by Eddie Van Halen.

[Cactus]

Sounds like he can't sell it, so he's hoping you will.

Then when he wants it back, he will offer you a Xylophone signed by Eddie Van Halen.

Goddamn Saab people. I knew one who had 7 girlfriends at the same time. Pretty sure they were all dudes in gorilla suits or saxophonists. Maybe both.

[oldskool]

E36 parts buyers < VW Vortex?

[KNicBim]

Seems there are fewer people around who stick to the mindset of: only ask about it if you're interested and only request to see it/touch it/drive it if you're serious. Somehow all the rest of the people don't or can't realize they're wasting their own time along with yours...

[Shawn D.]

add them here;

Buyer/Seller Feedback Thread. Post your experiences here.

No. That thread is not for 1000s of random tire-kickers folks run across in daily life -- it's for folks who interact with this community regularly.

In any case, did you happen to note who started that thread? Did you think you needed to tell him to use his own thread?

[Karl Grau]

The problem with the Buyer/Seller Feedback Thread is that, is anyone really going to sift through 56 pages to find out if the guy selling the hymenlator valve for $10.00 is a stand up guy or not?

[euro24]

Have an appointment to show the car on TH. Asked the seller if he had the ability to pay and he told me he could write a check for $90k haha. Presumably it would be good.

So can I, doesn't mean it will clear

[T_C_D]

The problem with the Buyer/Seller Feedback Thread is that, is anyone really going to sift through 56 pages to find out if the guy selling the hymenlator valve for $10.00 is a stand up guy or not?

Click on the thread and then use the search function to search within the thread.

[wkohler]

Exactly. That tool works great.

[Stanhayward]

T_c_d you have to be more of a dick in your for sale ad. No tire kickers no bull shit etc.

I always want to do this but you have to walk the fine line of pissing people off vs. culling the idiot responses.

I bought an E30 from a younger guy who had it on Honda-Civic-offset 18" gangsta rims, universal bolt pattern, rubbing on the struts the whole deal. There was no way I was keeping that shit so tried to sell them for $350 quickly and eventually arrived at an intelligent and honest buyer who paid $320, but man I had some dumb responses.

I kid you not I probably had 15 total responses and at least 13 got through asking me 15 questions, driving 30 minutes to come to my house, and then ask "so these will fit my 2010 Lancer right? It's a 5x114.3 so these'll work? How about my 350Z?" It actually got funny I had 4x100 and 4x114.3 in the fucking title! I even had one guy call and say "hey I'm interested in your *reads title* 18x7.5" 4x.... Oh shit I have a 5 lug car.. Thanks, bye!" You read enough of the ad to get my phone number but didn't read the damn title? People man.... Not to mention the low ballers, the guy with the Lancer, which I didn't know at this point, offered $200. I said I wouldn't go lower than $300, and his response was nothing but "220." I mean if you are a decent person about it and end up offering $280 after coming and looking at what I have, I'll take it but just don't be a douche.


Wow, end of that rant...

[Tammer in Philly]

but just don't be a douche.

I think I found your problem; your expectations are too high!

By the way, I got to see TCD's E30 FS (and the LS E28) last weekend when I was in MKE. If I had room for storage (see the "automotive boredom" thread), I would have driven the E30 home that day. It is beautiful and smells exactly like it should inside.

-tammer

[wkohler]

If I had to deal with Jap car or VW people on a regular basis, I'd blow my brains out. E30 guys make me want to break stuff.

[Stevo12]

E36 parts buyers < VW Vortex?

Oh hell no....other way around. They don't call it Poortex for nothin (which is exactly what buyers expect you to sell parts for)

[euro24]

T_c_d you have to be more of a dick in your for sale ad. No tire kickers no bull shit etc.

I always want to do this but you have to walk the fine line of pissing people off vs. culling the idiot responses.

I bought an E30 from a younger guy who had it on Honda-Civic-offset 18" gangsta rims, universal bolt pattern, rubbing on the struts the whole deal. There was no way I was keeping that shit so tried to sell them for $350 quickly and eventually arrived at an intelligent and honest buyer who paid $320, but man I had some dumb responses.

I kid you not I probably had 15 total responses and at least 13 got through asking me 15 questions, driving 30 minutes to come to my house, and then ask "so these will fit my 2010 Lancer right? It's a 5x114.3 so these'll work? How about my 350Z?" It actually got funny I had 4x100 and 4x114.3 in the fucking title! I even had one guy call and say "hey I'm interested in your *reads title* 18x7.5" 4x.... Oh shit I have a 5 lug car.. Thanks, bye!" You read enough of the ad to get my phone number but didn't read the damn title? People man.... Not to mention the low ballers, the guy with the Lancer, which I didn't know at this point, offered $200. I said I wouldn't go lower than $300, and his response was nothing but "220." I mean if you are a decent person about it and end up offering $280 after coming and looking at what I have, I'll take it but just don't be a douche.


Wow, end of that rant...

I sold a load of e30 parts recently and ended up (figuratively) giving most of it away because, yeah they were lowballing me, but they were lowballing me with cash in hand and i was tired of looking at all that shit. I sold a full black interior, minus front seats, plus the instrument cluster and some other stuff for $260.

[RoyW]

I couldn't agree more Todd, as I've been going thru the exact same bullshit in currently trying to sell a car (non-BMW) myself. The "people are dicks" comment hits the nail on the head from my perspective. I've heard more "the dog ate my homework" excuses from people that say they'll buy, or schedule to look and don't show or cancel, etc., and, worst of all, those that go "totally silent".. infuriating!! Then there are those with no interest to buy that want to know, " what kind of "fill in the blank" are those on your car, I'd like to get same ones for mine?"; "where'd you get that mod, what did it cost you?"; or "how did you make that work, who did the install?"; "can you send me some more and closer-up pictures of "fill in the blank", I think those would look good on my car?"; "would you be willing to sell the wheels, if your car doesn't sell?" UNbelieveable!!

-RoyW

[davintosh]

I found the best way to reduce the BS when selling on CraigsList is to NOT include your phone number in the ad; have them contact you by email if they want your number. The idiots seem to gravitate toward texting, and that helps minimize the number of people who are able to contact you that way. And if some idiot emails me from his phone and I suspect he'll be "one of them" -- DELETE -- and I go on as if the message never reached me.

[unt0uchable]

....and smells exactly like it should inside.

-tammer

I'm afraid to ask what an e30 "should" smell like inside...

[T_C_D]

Last two buyers shied away because of the tiny bit of rust. It's understandable. Time for another price drop. $7900

[T_C_D]

Found a great buyer for the e30. He happily drove it away this morning. Also had some quality buyers of L6 parts this week. It's all good again.

[south26]

Yep selling has its fun times and its not so fun times. What another red fan?


Andy

[wkohler]

Congrats on the sail.

[euro635gas]

The best part about when working the counter at the German Auto Salvage was self destruction of parts.
Case in point customer calls about a part say a VW eurovan sliding door. I say yes we have it $275. Customer says great I'm on my way. Customer shows up then says he was quoted $175. I say no he says yes you did. I say $275 or get the F out. He calls me a bad business man, I drop the door on the ground and drive my forklift over it while he sheepishly pops into his truck and backs out of the yard.

I don't sell used parts any longer.

[Neel]

This thread is great.

[Stevo12]

Argh a few examples have popped up this week that make me question why I keep doing this, expecting things to be different

1) I've been getting parts requests from a VR6 Jetta that I'm parting out. They all come in through Cracklist via email - don't really want to resort to using VWPoortex and shipping out parts. Most of the responses to those requests end in silence on the buyers part. OK whatever, I move on. I had this one buyer (if I can even call him that) send me an email telling ME to text HIM if I'm still parting out the car. I don't like being liberal with my ph #, so I email him back asking what he's looking for. He sends me the list and insists that I text him back. So I'm like what the hell, if he's urgent for parts maybe I'll get a quicker response. So I text him w/ the availability of those parts he's requested. Absolute f***ing silence. I hate people. But I suppose that's to be expected out of the VW crowd.

2) On another board I'm selling parts that I have no use for. I have this one part easily worth more than the $30 shipped price I'm asking for it. Since shipping is realistically $15 for this item, that would put the part cost at about $15. There are some minor imperfections to be expected from a used part, but hey that's why its $15 and not $150. I'm getting a lot of "well, I have to think about it" (over $30 delivered? Maybe you shouldn't be looking at all, buddy) or "what's your bottom dollar" (what I have it listed for, jacka** - not giving it away for free) and about a million other questions. Over a $15 part. And yes, shipping costs money. I don't get how people don't understand that. It's one thing if I misquote someone on shipping and end up taking a loss or breaking even (been there done that) but that's on me as a seller. I frankly find it insulting if I'm asking little money for a part and getting dicked around over $5 or $10, or being expected to give it away or take a loss on shipping.

Am I in the minority in thinking that used parts are inherently a gamble, especially when they're cheap? Or should I be pricing this at $60 to weed out the dreamers?

[1st 5er]

Kidz.

[Speedmaster]

Potential buyer offered his 2006 Saab Aero Vert with 46k miles as straight trade. Fair enough but not very useful here in WI.

Send your seller my way. I will lowball with the best of them.

[garageboy]

T_c_d you have to be more of a dick in your for sale ad. No tire kickers no bull shit etc.

I disagree. Then you look like a dick, and nobody, nice or douchey, wants to buy a car from a dick. That does more harm than good. I think screening buyers more closely is a great plan, T_C_D.

In many respects, it's just as difficult for an honest buyer. It probably has gotten worse, simply because there are so many more people "into" the marque, but I can go back 10 or 20 years and recall sellers that were complete assholes and misrepresented their polished turds. I now can rule out most cars over the telephone. It's all about the screening process. The screening process. The screening process.

[Stevo12]

I cannot WAIT to get this VW parted out and gone...

[jhall]

"sold" two cars on ebay a month or so ago only to have neither buyer pay and not answer my messages. I'm not much for chasing after buyers, I guess if you won't pay then you don't want it, whatever... life goes on. One of the cars however a guy contacted me outside of ebay and said he wanted the car but got out bid, yadda yadda. It was clear the person that outbid him used snipe software so I figured he was being legit. After the non paying claim cleared I messaged the guy and told him it was available. He acted really excited and asked if I could wait a few weeks until he had a chance to pick it up. I said ok and went about my life, he offered to put a deposit down but i said it wasn't necessary. It's been a few weeks and they've disappeared, ignored my last message. So I'm back to where I originally started. I try to be as honest as possible and even undersell what I have at times just to help insure a smooth transaction. My theory is that if the person buying feels like they're getting a steal then they're more likely to go through in a timely matter. I'm now re thinking my strategy and just going to demand top dollar for everything, kidding but not kidding.