[Miss Mercedes]

With how many bikes and computers I sell, I'm kinda surprised this hasn't happened before! I sold the GSX last night and had my first bad experience as a seller.

Normally when I post something for sale I’ll get tons of messages. People will say they’ll show up and take it away, give me a deposit, and so on. A good 90+% of these people never show up, so I never put all my eggs into that basket. I've never held an item for anyone before because nobody has asked me to. I'll make exceptions if you're motivated, renting a vehicle and/or driving long distance, but you have to communicate that to me or I'll treat you like everyone else who says "cash in hand" but doesn't show up.

One guy said he was going to come by at 6, give me the money I wanted, and take the bike.
Another guy said he would come by at 9, put down a small deposit *if* he likes it, then come by on Saturday to pick it up. He'll tell me when he's ready to come over.

I tell both guys okay. Both guys seemed to understand there was a lot of interest in the bike, neither asked for a hold.

The 6pm guy arrives early and hauls the bike away as promised. He pulled away at 6:30. I immediately mark the item sold, which sends a notification to everyone who I was talking to about it.

At just after 7, the 9pm guy asks if I sold it. I say yes. He then passive aggressively tells me he'll just take his rental trailer back and thanks for nothing.
I apologize then remind him that he said that he was going to *maybe* give me a deposit tonight. He didn’t say anything about bringing a trailer or taking it home. I’m not holding a bike on a *maybe* I’ll get a deposit. Had he mentioned that he was going to go through the trouble of renting a trailer to straight up buy it, I would have held it.

Communication is important. One guy says cash in hand tonight, other says maybe. Of course I'm not holding it for the maybe. He should have said "hey, I'm renting a trailer and I'll be there an hour and a half early", but I got literally nothing.

He gets angrier and tells me that asking to come by and *maybe* put down a deposit is the same as asking for it to be held, and how awful (he used worse words) of me to sell it from under him.
Look, I wanted to pick up that Sym Symba on Monday. That seller and I talked at length about bikes and he was even going to let me ride his BMW and his Harley. And yet, he marked it as sold before I got off work.

I didn’t shed a tear. Why? Because I had no expectation that he'd hold it for me. Just because someone is basically treating you like you're their best friend, that doesn't mean they're going to show up. And "maybe" I'll give you a third of your asking price as a deposit isn't asking to hold it.

As the back and forth continued I realized I was wasting my time. This wasn’t going to go anywhere and he was getting more irate, so I just blocked him. Unfortunately, when you sell things Facebook creates a Messenger group, and apparently the blocked person can still send you messages. He gets out one last rant saying I screwed him over and how I’m a childish expletive for blocking him. Alright, so I left the chat.

Jeez, it was a cheap bike that didn't run and didn't have a title, it's not like I stole your wife or something. lol
So a future note for myself will be to add a "first come, first serve" disclaimer to every one of my ads...that people don't read, anyway.

Have any of you had a wacky selling experience?

 

[oldenslow]

Not when selling a bike. But back when I had a service business -- I sharpened saws, tools, knives and a variety of cutters used in the textile industry -- I was locking up my shop one afternoon at quitting time when the phone rang. It was a local building contractor who said he was in a terrible jam and had a 5-gallon bucket full of carbide-tipped saw blades he absolutely had to have ready by 7AM the next day. Now, business was slow and at the time I was getting an average of about $5 a blade -- sometimes more -- for such work, so I said to bring 'em on by. He arrived a few minutes later with the promised bucket-load, and I worked until almost 11PM, went home, got up early, and came back at 6:45 the next morning. He never showed.

After 90 days, under the terms I made clear to every customer, I sold off all the blades at deep discount just to get them out of my way.

OVER A YEAR later, he showed up again and went ballistic when I told him his blades were long gone. Had to threaten to call the sheriff to get him to leave. Two days later I received a summons and complaint -- the guy was suing me in Magistrate's Court! Fine. I filed an answer and a countersuit. I showed up on the trial date, produced for the judge the work order he had signed (complete with the "must have by 7AM" note and my terms of service) and in 10 minutes had judgements in my favor on his suit and my countersuit.

There is a right way and a wrong way to conduct business, and if you go the wrong way you eventually get burned. Tough cheese!

 

[cmonSTART]

Ya, never with a motorcycle sale but plenty with our service business. Some customers are just special..... The girls in the office have a lot of leeway when dealing with special ones on the phone. Sure, we want to be polite and serve our customers, but some seem to need a kick in the rear end.

 

[PP1]

A few months ago I sold an old sailboat that I had inherited and used (or tried to use) for a couple of years. 27' so was in a marina. Well to really show it you have to take it out. Twice I got a non-refundable deposit and do so (it's a minimum of 4 hours each time you do it). Both say they will take it so I turn away quite a few folks that want to come by and look at it. A few days later when it's time to make the transaction both back out and the second one even asked for his deposit back. Meanwhile I'm paying marina fees and I do have the thing priced as a motivated seller. Now I am at a point in my life with wife and kids that I don't have time to do much of anything, otherwise I would have kept the boat ...... really hated that I had to sell.

Anyway after that I showed it to one other person and told them and changed the ad that there are no deposits or holds. It's going to be for sale until it is done. They were really motivated and cleared their plans for the day and I met them later and they had the title.

My lesson from this experience is no holds. When I buy I treat it the same. That said I may hold something for a couple of hours depending on the situation, but no more than that. A maybe give me a deposit means maybe it'll still be here and btw the deposit has to be enough to make it yours.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

Wot? Nevur hapen. Oops, solly, thort you sed spelling.

UK

 

[ketchboy]

My experience has been really, really motivated buyers that show up, look at my bike, truck, and yes, sailboat. They drool, they covet, they really want it and then say will you take payments? I'm very polite about it and generally tell them yes I'll take payments. ONE!

 

[Jayrider]

I don’t blame you. I’ve experienced too many times the guy that says “I’m coming with money in hand” and never shows. J

 

[Porky]

I have 2 bikes on Craigslist that I am TRYING to sell. Both are priced right for the current market and I have had lots of interest: Mainly by scammers. I could fill volumes of examples of unscrupulous people trying everything imaginable to get not only my bikes but my money. Google craigslist scammers and enjoy reading.

MM, this is 'Malware,' that we both put up with all the time as IT people.

Sam:grin:

 

[ketchboy]

I have 2 bikes on Craigslist that I am TRYING to sell. Both are priced right for the current market and I have had lots of interest: Mainly by scammers. I could fill volumes of examples of unscrupulous people trying everything imaginable to get not only my bikes but my money. Google craigslist scammers and enjoy reading.

MM, this is 'Malware,' that we both put up with all the time as IT people.

Sam:grin:

Don't worry Sam. You can trust me. Just send me your bank account number, so I can have my Sister, the Princess of Nigglo, in Potubbo Africa, send you the money. You see, she has me on an allowance, so I don't have all the cash. But she said she will deposit the money as soon as she gets the numbers. So would it be alright if I picked up the Bike this evening?

 

[Porky]

Thanks but I recognize you from 2 weeks ago and I still haven't received my cashiers check for $50,000 for my bike but I did send you the $45,000 difference:grin:

Sam:smile_big:

 

[S83]

I answered an ad a few days ago about a pair of bikes, both needed work. They were listed pretty cheap and both looked pretty decent.
After a few calls I finally get a call back from the owner. He tells me the one needs a transmission or clutch, and the other one went dead over the winter and won't start. I said I'm not interested in the one with the bad trans unless it was a package deal only, he said no problem, hes asking half the listed price for the other bike, an early 80's touring bike. He goes onto say that there's a bit of damage on the one side not shown in the ad pic, and that he partially dropped the bike against his trailer and broke the one side bag. I asked him to send me some better pics and he did, so I told him I needed to see it in person. When I asked how much he wanted now that it had more damage on it and he said "$700 or what ever you think is fair I guess". I told him I'll stop by on Sat after work. He give me his cell phone and tells me to call it if no one answers the house phone. So yesterday, (Sat.), I called after work and got no answer, I called his cell and no one answered and the voice mail isn't working either. So I called the original number in the ad, which turns out to be their son's phone number, he gives me his mother's phone and says his old man never answers his phone and that its likely not even on. I called the new number and a woman answers and I explain where I got the number from. She hollers in the background to her husband, I hear him say he'll be there, come on over. I tell her its a 45 minute ride and I'll be there within the hour. I go outside, hitch up the bike trailer and head that way.
I get a block from their house and the woman calls me back and says that her husband says he doesn't want to sell the bikes, sorry. She hangs up the phone. I try calling his phone again, and get the 'voice mail if full recording again.
The ad is still up, they even put it back up again, at a lower price? This time, with one of the new pics I was sent showing the damage but with no mention in the ad of the damage. I emailed the ad, but got no reply. I called a buddy who's on the local PD there and he emailed and called the number in the ad and was told the same thing, along with a whole thing about how many people he's had to deal with who called, said they were coming and never showed up. When he assured the guy he was serious, he got the address and headed to see the bikes, the guy did the same thing, the wife called and said her husband doesn't want to sell the bikes, sorry.

He went there anyway and no one would answer the door, the place was locked up tight, he said he could hear the TV playing and people talking but when he rang the bell again, they closed the remaining blinds completely and ignored his being there. He left, did a background check and didn't find any prior complaints from that place.
I can't figure out what they're gaining by pulling a stunt like that. Why list something you have no intention of selling, and why tell someone to stop by and then change your mind every time???

I had another guy do the same thing with a bike about 2 hours away, that guy told me that the bike was his, but his nephew had burned up the clutch and he didn't have the cash to fix it, thus it was cheap. He was asking $600 for a 30 year old bike with a book value of about $2500. We had agreed on a price of $400 on the phone pending my looking at the bike. I made the drive, it turns out to be a chain type muffler store. The bike is out front on the sidewalk with a for sale sign on it for $600.
I go to the counter in the office and ask for the guy by name, I'm told he's the owner, hold on a minute. I here the guy tell someone a guy is here about the bike. I hear someone holler "If he thinks I'm selling that thing for any less than $1500 he's #$%^&*! off his rocker!" The kid comes back out and says the owner's not there and the bike isn't for sale. I ask then why is there a $600 sale sign on the bike and why is it parked out front like that, the kid shrugs his shoulders and walks away. I try calling the guy's cell phone from my truck, he won't answer. I get pissed and leave. When I get home, I see he changed the ad for the bike to $400 with a warning about all the no show's he's had for the bike?. The ad was up for a few hours when I first emailed him, its now been up for two weeks or so.
Sooner or later someone is going to handle that situation far differently and fix what ever ails him. I called the local PD in that town and was told by the person who answered the phone that he does that all the time and they can't figure it out because he's really a 'stand up guy'. The ad is still up, now back at $600. He listed it in his area and all surrounding areas. I can't see what he can gain by doing something like this other than the fact he's just doing it for a laugh?

 

[rustymetal]

These may be a little different but still odd behavior from CL buyers:

I had a junk 25ft boat I had bought for its engine and trailer. When I was done taking parts off it, I listed it for free on CL. Some guy calls me and asks me how many people it will seat, (it was basically a bare open hull, no seats, no nothing and the pics clearly showed this), I said as many as you plan to install seats for.
He says fine and shows up with a trailer, I didn't care what he did with it, I just wanted it gone, I had no papers as the ad had stated and it was FREE.
He winches the thing up onto his trailer, then he goes on to explain how much is costs him to haul his farm laborers around field to field in pickup trucks, he says "With this thing I can pile them all in one trailer and make only one trip".

I sold a larger used garden tractor on CL last fall, it had a 60" deck and weighed about 900 lbs or so. I clearly listed that it wouldn't fit in a pickup truck bed because of the deck width and the overall weight would likely brake the tailgate straps.
I get a few calls, and several no shows, then I get some guy who asks me if I had a ramp to load it with, I told him I didn't, so he said he would stop and buy something.
He shows up an hour later with a pair of folding Harbor Freight ramps, but he was driving a rather new looking minivan. When I asked if he had someone coming with a trailer or something he tells me he's going to put the thing in the back of his 'wifes' minivan. He hands me the cash, rolls the thing over behind the truck, puts down the ramp and then gets in the front seat. He places a 4x4 piece of wood across the front seats, wraps a chain around the middle and hooks a come along to the chain and the tractor and proceeds to winch the thing up the ramp. Anyone could see it wasn't going to fit, the truck was maybe 4 foot between the side panels and the deck was more than 60" wide due to the outlet chute and room for the blades. He gets to the top of the ramp, deck is now against the weather stripping, he keeps pulling, it gets hard to pull so he breaks out a length of heavy pipe to get more leverage on the thing. He proceeds to force the tractor and deck into the back of the truck to the point where the deck is now hitting the metal wheel wells and trying to slide up over them, the side panels are destroyed, the steering wheel is bunching up the headliner, and the carpet has caught the blade bolts and been torn and gathered up underneath. He then decides its not going to fit. He then tries to push it back out of the van but its stuck. After a lot of fighting and grunting, he gets it to slide back out far enough that the steering wheel is outside the door opening. He digs around in the van for a bit, comes out with a socket set and a hammer, he unbolts the steering wheel, then proceeds to hammer it off the shaft, missing on the third swing and taking out the back window of the gate above. He's unfazed buy the broken glass and lays the steering wheel in the roof of the truck along with the tools. He then goes back and continues to winch the thing into the truck. This time he again gets it jammed up on the trucks inner wheel wells, which are now completely exposed due to the lack of plastic panel material that's left in that area. He then goes back to the pipe for leverage, give it a few more cranks, then hops out and tried slamming the gate, but its a foot from closing at best. As he reopens the gate, glass and the inner door panel fall to the road.
He then decides that he's pulling on the tractor from the wrong end. He unhooks the come along from the front axle mount, and runs the cable over the top of the tractor and down to the rear hitch. (By now, after I tried to intervene and give advise he assures me he knows what he's doing). He then cranks the cable tight again, this time pulling the tractor in from the rear, but all his trick does is make the rear of the tractor raise up hard against the roof of the truck, I could hear the sound of steering shaft hitting bare sheet metal. He looked around for five minutes trying to figure out what the finger nail of chalkboard squealing was but gave up and kept cranking. From 20 feet away, now back in my house watching out the front door, I could see a mole hill mound forming on the outside roof of the van. After the mole hill reached the first roof cross member he stopped cranking, but not from not trying to get another pull on the cable. He then come around the back, gives the gate another slam, and it an inch from latching. He then gives it a two hand slam followed up by a boot kick on one side and he gets the right side latch to catch the gate. He then goes around front releases the cable and moves the 4x4. He comes to the door to thank me for the tractor he just bought and shakes my hand all smiles. I asked if it were a rental car and he said nope, just bough it, its 2019 model. He drove off proud that he made it fit. He then asked me what it was I was trying to tell him, I told him I was suggesting that he let the air out of the tires to gain some clearance. He looked at me with a blank stare and looked back at the van. He didn't say another word, he just walked back to his truck and left.
In the end though, I was indeed proven wrong, a Bolens HT20 will fit in the back of a brand new Toyota minivan. But 'fit' is a relative term I suppose.

After seeing a few instances like that one, I just figured that some people were put here simply for our entertainment.

 

[Porky]

"After seeing a few instances like that one, I just figured that some people were put here simply for our entertainment." quote:surprise:

Thanks for the morning laugh:grin:

Sam:nerd:

 

[ketchboy]

"After seeing a few instances like that one, I just figured that some people were put here simply for our entertainment." quote:surprise:

Thanks for the morning laugh:grin:

Sam:nerd:

Amen to that. I believe I would have grabbed a 6 pack and sat on my porch, enjoying the entertainment. LOL.

 

[Critter]

Rusty, I would have had to follow him home to see the wife's reaction.

 

[S83]

Rusty, I would have had to follow him home to see the wife's reaction.

You would probably become a witness to his murder if you did.

 

[S83]

When it comes to strange encounters via Craigslist, nothing will ever top the one time when I answered an ad for a free boat trailer. I had emailed a 'free' ad on CL, I get an instant reply with a phone number to call. I call and get a woman on the phone that tells me it belonged to here dead husband and she hates boats so it has to go. I told here I'd be right there if she'd like. She gives me the address and says come get it. She says to knock on the front door though, she can't hear the doorbell over the loud music on the stereo.
The place is close, maybe 5 miles away at best just over in the next town. When I get there, I see a somewhat normal looking house with a row or two of old chicken coops out back. A typical old small farm house for that area. I pull in the first driveway to the right of the house and go to the front door and knock. I can hear very loud music playing and kids and a woman screaming back and forth over the music. A huge tattoo covered woman answers the door, and she's got a huge yellow python around her neck. (I hate snakes). She's a head taller than me, and I'm over 6ft tall and to top it all off she's wearing a Wilma Flinstone costume. Its not Halloween, not even close. She then tells me to come inside for a minute while she'll get the keys to the gate outback. As I'm standing there, there's at least a dozen kids running all over the place screaming like wild animals. Two of them are playing with small snakes, one has several corn snakes in her hair. I then look to my right and see a huge open top aquarium with two huge rattle snakes in it, (Did I say I hate snakes...) and two smaller aquariums below them with some other type of pit viper. All sitting there coiled up looking ready to strike at something. One snake in the lower glass box is striking at the glass as the kids run by the thing.
She then tell me to follow her through the house outback, I told her I'd meet her around back, but she said I couldn't because the dogs were out in the 'side' yard. I didn't see any fence when I pulled up, only the stand alone cyclone fence gate in the driveway but I followed her back through the house, out the back door and through a wood framed screen porch. She walks me back to the gate, still with the python over her shoulders and around her neck, where she tries to get me to hold the huge snake, I refused, so she fumbles around some more and finally unlocks the padlock. She walks me back to the trailer, tells me to back in and get it, and to lock the gate on my way out, but tells me I need to back out in the street first and come in the other driveway, I was going the 'wrong' way. I thought to myself I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible so I grabbed the tongue of the trailer and dragged it by hand over to my truck, not wanting to spend any more time there than I had too.

I walked it to my car, dropped it on the ball, it wasn't even the right size ball, but it was close enough, I wrapped and hooked the safety chains tight and drove away. The trailer tires were flat but the tires were stiff enough to hold it off the rims. I wasn't sticking around there to mess with trying to pump up the tires. She called me on the phone and told me leaving like that wasn't very nice.

I simply wasn't interested in another tour of the snake house or zoo, or what ever she had there. The woman had an unhealthy fascination with snakes for some reason and I didn't want any part of it. I really don't like snakes, but don't have a problem with them in the wild, but there's no way I'd have them in my house intentionally, let alone letting little kids play with them like toys. The damn place was the stuff nightmares are made of.

I drove by that place like a year later and the house was abandoned, the windows were all gone, drapes were blowing in the wind, the front steps were gone, the gate was knocked over and one of the chicken coops was flat on the ground. The house was one of those single floor places with a kitchen, a living room a bathroom and two bedrooms, maybe 20x20ft at best with old multi colored asphalt shingles for siding. The grass when I was there was two feet tall all over the property, a year later it was all dead and laying over. The yard was strewn with old toys, scrap metal, car parts, and trash. There was a faded red sticker on the front door, presumably either an eviction notice or condemned notice.

I still have the trailer, from what I saw there it was the only thing of any value in the place. I did have to completely rebuild it but its a keeper.

I've been to a few rough places via craigslist ads over the years. A few with psycho dogs, a few with too many cats, one with ferrets all over the house, another with hundreds of pet rats all over the place, but thankfully I've never stumbled onto another crazy snake lady again.

 

[nast70]

Most of my experiences buying or selling have been pretty good. The worst was when I sold my boat. It was listed for a fair amount with tons of accessories and toys to go with it.
Had a few tire kickers, but then got a call from a guy in Saskatchewan (I'm in Alberta), says he's really interested in it, and wanted a few extra photos. I obliged and sent a ton to him. He calls back and says his son will come by and take a close look at "the areas of concern". He shows up that weekend and spends an hour going over every inch of the hull asking about every little dock kiss and scuff he could find. Finally leaves. His dad calls back and says its all good, he'll be there the following Saturday with cash in hand.
I'm pretty happy, sold it for a bit less than I wanted, but emptying my garage and freeing up some cash for our next adventures.
He calls the Friday afternoon and says he wants a new spare tire and a new starting battery. I reluctantly agree, because he's on the road from Saskatchewan, and bust my balls finding a tire and a battery at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon. Managed to find it all just in the nick of time. So I thought. Dude never showed up.
Didn't matter, I amended the ad with a new spare and new battery and sold it the next weekend for full buck!

 

[TriPlay]

All things in life rely on the 1 in 6 rule

Just look at the 5 people around you, one of them will be a jerk, if they all seem OK then it's you

I've been in the MC biz for years and years and for me the worst of the worst are the chronic putzers who agonize over every tiny thing and worry themselves into a serious mental state.
These are the ones who post all the silly oil treads, change all the fluids just about daily and are afraid to ride as they may cause some wear. I have learned when people ask for maint records and want to know what kind of oil I use etc. I just walk away.
This being said I will say some 98% of the public are great to work with and are true human beings.