Am I outdated? When is an 'offer' actually an 'offer'?

When I buy I show up on time with money in my pocket.
When I sell I expect the same. Show up on time or a least call. If your a no-show no-call your out. I take large NON REFUNDABLE deposits on high end items. If you lost your job I'll refund, if you change your mind you have paid for that privilege. I don't want to sound like a hard ass, but like everyone else I sick of the drama that goes with selling cars and parts.

 

Wow, hey Retrojim you when did you become head of the moral police? do you remember when you posted this:

"I would have shoved that rim down his Fu**ing mouth and pulled it out his asshole !
I would have done the same thing and even gave the guy my phone number . If that little fu**ing asshole doesn't like it , then he can go to hell ! If he doesn't want your business either then fu*k him too . Hey , it's a dog eat dog world and shit happens . There are other places to sell scrap ! You should have told the owner that he was giving you a rash of shit and now he doesn't want your business ! I'll bet his ass would have been kicked from here to hell and back from the owner .
Don't let it get to you !
BTW , did you get some of the rims or the guys phone number ?

RetroJim"

It's a dog eat dog world... you said it yourself. Get off your soapbox cause in my opinion 440Dave did nothing wrong.

 

I am pretty sure the second line of my reply answered the question. There was no finalization of the deal. The seller can Accept anything he wants but until the buyer hands over the cash or says I will take it there is no deal. Had the buyer arranged a SPECIFIC time to go look at the vehicle or said I will take it but I can't get there until the weekend then yes I would agree the seller should have waited but he didn't. The buyer left himself an out by not commiting to anything so why should the seller be held to a higher standard.

Again it is not the sellers job to chase guys down for their info and call them or email them back to set up viewing of the product. If a buyer is serious he will make sure the seller has all that info. Bad communication yes but ultimitely it is the buyer who is responsible for ensuring that his expectations are known to the seller.

 

pretty funny thread here. I figure anyone who thinks they had some sort of deal is also the sort who is always getting screwed over by people selling things.

for those who think this way you have learned a valuable lesson. no money, no deal.

 

_______________________________________________________________

There was a time when a verbal and hand shake was a done deal. Those days are unfortunately long gone. Today....cash seals the deal. It is tough for nice people to demand to do business this way, but the cash even isn't a done deal, but it gives the buyer something to lose if deal falls apart. In your situation, I'd have said it is first come first served kind of deal. The way of the world today............"Progress"

 

x10
HA hA HA - that's great. Well said and great back up. I can't believe this Retro Jim fellow. He accepted the offer - bull shit. He said he would take 1500 dollars! The guy never brought the 1500 dollars. How hard is that to comprehend??? I mean COME ON!

Then there is Grits adding terms to the deal and changing the cirmcumstances.

No wonder the world is so screwed up.

 

It's SOLD to me, when I receive or have sent a deposit if I cannot physically get there in person to leave a deposit. I've made the mistake of not leaving a deposit and had a car sold from under me, and then I went to the guy who bought it and gave him $500 over what he paid to let me get it. It happens.

I don't hold anything for folks unless they are someone I know.

 

#1. As a seller, I never agree to less than asking price without the potential buyer looking at whatever I'm selling.

#2. As a buyer, I always give phone #'s and e-mail if it's going to take me a few days to get there.


My take on it is this: As a seller, you should have gotten all info from the potential buyer once you said OK to 1500.00 dollars and OK to the weekend look over. If you had another 1500.00 dollar offer(you did), you would have been able to contact the first guy and set up some sort of arrangement.

As an example, i saw a 220v Snap-On welder on CL. Emailed seller. Got phone # and talked to him. Told him I would be down the following Sunday (2.5 hours away). I didn't try to talk him down on price. Gave him my info. Called the night before to make sure that he still had the welder and to let him know what time I would be at his house. Bought it after testing/using it. Paid full asking price. He let me know that he'd had more than a few others e-mail him about purchasing the welder but he figured that he'd made an agreement and had gotten phone numbers from the other people just in case I didn't show up or buy it. Stand up guy in my book.

 

exactly

 

its all just lip service...lay your money down, thats when the deal is done and not a moment sooner.

 

"Never trade a sure thing for something imagined."

Words a good friend said to me once.

 

Dude, your way of thinking has NOT become outdated. There were douchebags way before the internet, and there will be douchebags long after the internet. You just happened to cross paths with one. You did the right thing in my book.

Buckle

 

It seems most are with me and probably do business the same way I do, with the exception of the 2 meatwhistles who called me a douchebag. I guess they miss out on a lot of deals, probably pout a lot and call the seller names too. Good luck buying and selling you two. I can send RetroJim a thesaurus if he likes, as he seems to struggle with the common usage of the word ''accept'', which is never mentioned in my original post. The speculator asked if I would 'take 1500'. Now he has to come over and 'give' before I can 'take' anything. Next week we can discuss 'deposit', as I've run across potential buyers who don't seem to understand that either.

 

buying and selling have both turned into a pain in the ass more times than not. one good example is i'm looking for a 57-60 f100. find what looks like a good potential project down in atlanta(4hrs) call the guy. it takes 2-3 days to get a call back. nice enough guy. i ask for better pics as his ad only had 2 and they were so so. i had asked specificlly about rust and what not. it takes about a week to 10 days to get 3 more pics that were honestly so blurry and poorly shot i really couldn't even tell you what 2 of them were of. still not enough for me to drive 4hrs to possibly be disappointed. so i get on here and stealthcruiser offers to swing by since he's close. i call the guy a coupla time, stealth calls the guy a coupla times, both leaving messages as to whats up. no return call to eiither of us. it's not that i lowballed him and pissed him off as i did even try to negotiate the price without further pics or eyes laid on the truck. LOST DEAL.......

now i'm the one being slack as theres a 60 35 miles away i've been supposed to go look at for 3 days and due to weather/sick i haven't went. this guy is moving this week. had it up for $1200 slave cylinder went out 2 weeks ago and told me over the phone that $800 would buy it. i really need to get off my ass and go look at it now that snow has cleared up a bit...ken....

 

meatwhislte? haha and yes you are a fuckin douchebag for letting a kid loose a drivesway auction , you just dont get it but just maybe the kid may have had more fun with the crap you had for sale but you being the greedy pile of shit you are decided to teach this kid a lesson and all for your pilgrimage of greed!!

here you go cheesedick , its all you really care about print up all you want!

 

Along with all of the usefull stuff I learn on the HAMB, I learned a new phrase........

Meatwhistles

 

MEATWHISTLE? WTF! your real name isn't "OSCAR" by chance is it?

 

Fuck,I,m glad I,ve never done business with some of you people.!!!!

If I,m asked on the phone or internet if I,ll negotiate,I always say Sure,when you are standing in front of me with a stack of $100 bills,then I,ll negotiate.

 

Money talks, you did the right thing. You had no idea if the first guy would even show. If he was that interested he should have got his ass over asap

 

Here's another perspective. If I were selling something, I would give the first caller right to first refusal. That said, if he or she as it were made a commitment I would honor it. Since many do just call and do not show - then yes the next guy gets the deal. Saying that, if the guy said I will be there next Sat. and you sold it on Thursday than you are guilty as charged. On the other hand, my pop and I answered an ad in the paper and showed up to buy at the time arranged. Two guys were there just before us, offering more than what we had agreed and the owner honored the deal we made. There is much to be said about a handshake deal and not being opportunistic. One last point, I have also gone to see something for sale and advised the owner (in this case a recent widow) that the value of said item may actually be worth more than she was asking. Good will begets good will.

 

I've told people who were on the way to the bank to hurry up cuz if someone elese shows up with cash its gone. If no money is put down its all up in the air.

 

He did ACCEPT $1500 for it. The guy that bought it got it for $1500 so he didn't lie. The question was stated, I believe, as "will you take $1500 for it." The answer was "Yes." The end result is HE DID!

If the guy was serious, he'd have spoken to him on the phone or in person. An email isn't serious. You can fish with an email, follow up with a call, and then SHOW UP WITH CASH at the assigned time.

I bought a frame on CL last week. I told the guy I wanted to come look at it, found out when he'd be there, and made a plan. I went and looked at it while on a work trip (he was down the street) and gave him a deposit. Great guy. Told him I'd be back on a certain day. Couldn't reach him and said "call me, I'm on my way to your neck of the woods but if I don't hear from you by 5, I'm not bringing my trailer but am bringing my cash." He called at 5:15, I had no trailer but I went and paid him the rest of the money. He had already spent it on some '40 Chevy bumpers so he was glad I paid him when I said I would and he was cool with working out another pick up time.

Show up to view and show up with cash.

 

Dont get your pickle twisted... thats been going on for years, same sh!t different smell. i just laugh at that...

 

I am assuming you are referring to definition 5?

Main Entry: ac·cept <input onclick="return au('accept01', 'accept');" class="au" title="Listen to the pronunciation of accept" type="button">Pronunciation: \ik-&#712;sept, ak- also ek-\
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French accepter, from Latin acceptare, frequentative of accipere to receive, from ad- + capere to take &#8212; more at heave
Date: 14th century
<!--INFOLINKS_ON-->transitive verb 1 a : to receive willingly <accept a gift> b : to be able or designed to take or hold (something applied or added) <a surface that will not accept ink>
2 : to give admittance or approval to <accept her as one of the group>
3 a : to endure without protest or reaction <accept poor living conditions> b : to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable <the idea is widely accepted> c : to recognize as true : believe <refused to accept the explanation>
4 a : to make a favorable response to <accept an offer> b : to agree to undertake (a responsibility) <accept a job>
5 : to assume an obligation to pay; also : to take in payment <we don't accept personal <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_19_0">checks</nobr>>
6 : to receive (a legislative report) officiallyintransitive verb : to receive favorably something offered &#8212;usually used with of <a heart more disposed to accept of his &#8212; Jane <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_22_0">Austen</nobr>><!--INFOLINKS_OFF-->
&#8212; ac·cept·ing·ly <input onclick="return au('accept02', 'acceptingly');" class="au" title="Listen to the pronunciation of acceptingly" type="button"> \-&#712;sep-ti&#331;-l&#275;\ adverb
&#8212; ac·cept·ing·ness <input onclick="return au('accept03', 'acceptingness');" class="au" title="Listen to the pronunciation of acceptingness" type="button"> \-ti&#331;-n&#601;s\ noun






Are you kidding me!? That means he accepted his offer TO TAKE 1,500 FOR IT, IF AND/OR WHEN THE BUYER SHOWS AND IF THE BUYER STILL WANTS THE VEHICLE AFTER INSPECTING IT IN PERSON. which in my opinion is a favor to the buyer, telling him Yes, I will accept an offer in your ballpark. Not you bought it

lets put it in your way of thinking....

You're looking at my 193X hot rod for sale ad states runs drives good needs basic rust repair, asking 30,000. It looks good in pictures, you call and offer 20,000. I accept. No deposit is made. But you'll "come by this weekend". When you show, the car indeed runs and drives good but is a rust bucket junker only worth 10,000 in your opnion. Maybe that basic rust repair for me is a hard repair for you. But your way of thinking you still owe me 20,000 since I "accepted" your offer and you are now "obligated" to pay, right?

I doubt you'd pony up.

 

It works both ways, I answered an ad a couple days ago for an OT car. Guy responds right away with a ton of hi-res pics and says "Just make me an offer". Not in a hundred years will I make an offer based on pics. I ask a few questions and it's going well. Then I ask when I can come see it and where it is. All he can tell me is that it's at his buddy's shop "somewhere" on Hwy. ABC between town X and town Y that are 60 miles apart and he'll have to get hold of his buddy and get the address......... WTF?! There's something wrong with that picture, you are selling a car and you don't even know where the F#@* it is?! That was two days ago and I haven't heard a word since, I wrote that one off.

 

As for the kid losing the auction in the driveway: eBay sucks digitally, getting smoked right there and then sucks for real.

I've got 2 teenagers and they know what it means to win but also to lose out. I usually have some cash on hand just in case and I wouldn't be the dick brother to say "you never asked." I'd have flashed it in a second to my brother or my son.

 

I think he was right with the landcruiser. but a total DB about the kid with the bike.

 

I do not sell a whole lot, but most of the "email, phone" buyers that I have dealt with are nothing more than tire kickers.
My youngest son replied to an add on craigslist for Model A parts, make offer. We set a time with the seller, hooked up the trailer and took off.
When we arrived, there was a 30 cowl, 29 topless coupe body, a frame and some doors off of a 30-31 truck.
The owner asked who was buying the car, I replied that my son was. He turned to David and told him, make me an offer, if it is too high, I'll knock it down. I could not believe it.
My son made him an offer and the guys says, too much, I' take $25.00 less.
We drove out of there with all the parts for $75.00.
On the other hand, a friend of mine called me about a week ago and wanted me to come look at his latest purchase that he bought off of craigslist. He bought a 1925 Dodge four door, complete with extra parts for $800.00.
He said the previous owner said over 20-30 people had called and made offers over the phone and never came and looked at it. Al was there with the money and took it home.
MONEY TALKS, BS WALKS.
Until I have the money in my hand, NO DEAL is made.
Robert

 

As the old saying goes, Money talks and bull $hit walks.