Are CL buyers really nuts or what?

Like I tell my weatherman friend, imagine getting paid BIG MONEY for being WRONG 80% of the time!!

Same here today - weather called for 80-90% rain.  Might have sprinkled for 20 seconds a couple times, but the sun was out by 2pm.   Good luck with your CL sales - seems it's been taking a couple re-lists to draw interest, but when potential buyers contact, they do three and four at a time!!   

In Fl usually if they say rain it rains. Maybe a day late but it will rain. So far they are three days off. Think they are being overly cautious. We had like hurricane force winds about 8 months ago with no warnings. It was a mess.

We have a free online classifieds (started before CL) get more hits off of that than CL. But they review your ads before they post them and if they think you are a business they want post. Want you to pay for the advertising, it is cheap $30 a month. Have not felt the need to pay for advertising, but if the stuff at the thrift does not start moving might have too.  Offered the thrift half if she would advertise no response.

So I will be patient (at least try) and re-list on CL.

In regard to CL buyers being nuts (or what?).....

I haven't had much on CL for a month or so, but one item I had did draw what I would call a "not too bright" buyer and I have seen this before.

This hope chest is pretty large and at a good asking price...fellow calls and leaves his phone number with an out of town area code.

Once I get these types on the phone the first thing I ask them is what city they are in...sometimes I have already looked up the area code to get an idea before talking to them.

Anyway, this guy gets on the phone and YEP...he's 100 miles away and just gushing about this hope chest but when I get a word in edgewise and ask him when he would like to come over, it's all "uh, hm, I'm not sure when I can get away." At that point I just tell him to give me a call a day or so before he would like to come over. Last I heard from him of course.

****

An elderly woman (from her voice) called to ask if I would ship a $15 typing table to her 75 miles away. She said "It should only cost $10 or so"....yeah, right. Can YOU imagine shipping a typing table with two fold-up sides ANYWHERE at all, let alone for the the $15 asking price...MUCH more trouble than worth.

I guess it just gets down to initial excitement about an item with NO THOUGHT put in to the reality of getting it.

I guess it just gets down to initial excitement about an item with NO THOUGHT put in to the reality of getting it.

You nailed it. I have this happen alot, one of the main draws to my ad is offering delivery for a fee. Alot of times out of towners will call, and the charge of delivery will equal the original cost of the item! I havent sold CL items out of town yet.

fellow calls and leaves his phone number with an out of town area code.

Once I get these types on the phone the first thing I ask them is what city they are in...sometimes I have already looked up the area code to get an idea before talking to them.

I would be careful with this. I personally live in Allentown area for over 5 years now yet still have my Chicago phone number. Number portability has made this a much more common occurrence. You could miss out on a lot of sales lumping all out of town numbers like that.

I had an email response to the KTO personal trainer.

" I have cash will you take $40? Live on the Blvd.  Can you deliver? "

Response "No I will take $50. (asking price) will deliver for $20. But you have to come out and look at it purchase it and then we can deliver. But can fit in a car comes in three pieces. "

No more response. 

Have gotten a response on the kids clothes, Requested email response (do not have it counted out by size figured if they email me with what they were looking for then I can give them a count.) She did not send a phone #. We will see.

I would be careful with this. I personally live in Allentown area for over 5 years now yet still have my Chicago phone number. Number portability has made this a much more common occurrence. You could miss out on a lot of sales lumping all out of town numbers like that.

Not sure I understand what you are saying here (I highlighted those parts in red just above).

I don't think it would alienate anyone just by asking what city they are in; if it did prevent them from continuing to want to buy the item, oh well. Seems to me that items all sell eventually, and if they don't there isn't the market for them that I thought and they go to Salvation Army/Goodwill to handle.

So far (to my knowledge) I haven't lost any sales because I asked that question. In the last two years of all the people who have come to my storage to look at an item, only two have left without buying; I can live with that.

I WILL give the majority of CL buyers some credit though....Maybe three times a year I sell a big ticket item in the $300 range to people who typically have driven 100 miles or so to buy it...this is an item that retails in the $1,000 range and is hard to come by on any regular basis at the price I am asking. Pushing it's price to $500 or so might work, but the price I have determined seems to work well and others who list this item seem to persist in trying to get more out of them than I do. Of course those other folks didn't get the item in a locker for "free" or "pick" the item from some poor schlub who doesn't know what he's got.

I listed a nice TV stand (glass and metal modern design) for $100 (the kind Best Buy sells for $180+) and was just waiting for the guy to offer me $80 so I could turn him down.

Instead (after mind-numbing minutes when he didn't say anything and just kept running his fingers over the next-to-new surfaces) he dug in his pocket and pulled out $80 and said "here's 80" and then got in his billfold and produced the other $20.  He just didn't have the guts to even make the $80 offer though in my mind that was clearly his intention from his actions.

Even if you are a "new" seller of used goods, you typically have more knowledge about this business than the average buyer, and I stand by my credo that there is always another buyer (98% of the time this is true for me).

I always liked the saying 'the best buyer is the one right in front of you'. I'll only have 1-2 hits on an item, but alot of times that person will come through to buy it.

Not sure I understand what you are saying here

I apologize, I reread what you had written... i mistook what you were saying as if, you WILL NOT DEAL with out of town numbers. That is where my reply came from. Clearly it was incorrect. I apologize again, I see now what you meant, and a simple where are you calling from question should have no bearing on completing a sale or not.

I apologize, I reread what you had written... i mistook what you were saying as if, you WILL NOT DEAL with out of town numbers. That is where my reply came from. Clearly it was incorrect. I apologize again, I see now what you meant, and a simple where are you calling from question should have no bearing on completing a sale or not.

No need for an apology. You didn't understand what I had written and I didn't understand what you had written.

In fact the calls I get from out of town buyers tend to be on the higher priced items ($50 to $300) and I am more than happy to take their money from them; it's just the callers who haven't really thought through the process of making a 100 to 200 mile round trip for an item...those are the ones I have a problem with and if they ever call on a $10 to $15 item...woe be to them...of course then their question often is "Do you ever get to (my city)?" which means of course they are looking for a delivery on a cheap item. Why don't they just look more locally?

On eBay I had an expensive item ($250 or more) and got an email from someone in Los Angeles (400 miles from me) asking if I ever got down there. My response to him was polite, but to the point...."I get to Los Angeles about once a year or 18 months. Do YOU ever get to San Francisco?"  Of course it never hurts to ask, but I DON'T ASK THAT QUESTION OF ANYONE, so I guess I expect the same from them.

Had one today not crazy though. Called while we were out, returned call when we got home. She was moving to our area and said it would be an hour or two. What ever we were home.

Then she called and said her husband said she had to wait on him to get off work. (Don't really blame him).
Had set out a few other things for sale hoping for extra sales. Then it started to rain. (need it).

Been 3 hours don't think they are coming. Maybe tomorrow. 

I had a lady drive 5 hours/200 miles to come and buy an appliance off of me. Now that's nuts!

I had a lady drive 5 hours/200 miles to come and buy an appliance off of me. Now that's nuts!

Wow, congratulations on that sale.  What did you do, advertise the appliance as "gold plated?"

I had a lady drive 5 hours/200 miles to come and buy an appliance off of me. Now that's nuts!

I had a couple drive 150 miles for a $25 chest of drawers.

What did you do, advertise the appliance as "gold plated?"

No, but it was a portable dishwasher in excellent shape. She simply said it was a better machine for the price than the ones closer to her.