Am I a bad BUYAA or is he a bad SELLA?

[Cavcraft]

I have to confess I'm n email person when it comes to selling and often buying.

I've found if you put your number on an advert you'll just get stupid text messages and burn off credit wasting your time, or hidden numbers ringing st stupid o'clock.

 

Anyhow, someone was royally pissing me off yesterday bombarding me with requests to bring my scooter to them. No amount of explaining got through to them that I want it looking at and paying for before it leaves here.

[Bren]

A chap came to view a £300 corolla I had for sale. I'd already told him on the phone someone else was interested (true) but he was welcome to take a look and I'd give him first refusal if the other guy pulled out.

"I'll take it mate but I'm skint at the minute. I might have the money at the end of the month. (this was the first week of the month) can you hold it for me till then?"

When I said no I got accused of being greedy, a time waster etc etc.

The original chap turned up as promised the next day, paid cash and fecked off all within 15 minutes.

Another time selling an ipad I got at least 2 texts with something along the lines of "our house was burned down and we have no money and our daughters Ipad was destroyed would you consider donating it as a charitable gesture"

I replied with "have you no buildings and contents insurance? What age is your daughter we have old clothes etc from our daughter you could have" and again got a load of abuse.

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In situations such as these the words "fuck off" mean that you save time and oxygen not having to give a long, drawn out response.

 

From selling a couple of cheapies I have realised gumtree is useless.The fact I got a good price for a car on ebay that I could'nt sell for just over half what I eventually got shows how shite it really is.

 

When somebody asks if the car you're selling has any fuel in it you can take it as a bad sign.

 

Not sure I will sell privately ever again.

[Sheefag]

I have to confess I'm n email person when it comes to selling and often buying.

I've found if you put your number on an advert you'll just get stupid text messages and burn off credit wasting your time, or hidden numbers ringing st stupid o'clock.

 

Anyhow, someone was royally pissing me off yesterday bombarding me with requests to bring my scooter to them. No amount of explaining got through to them that I want it looking at and paying for before it leaves here.

 

Send me his fucking number as well, I'll see what I can do.

[doubleyeller]

As promised, I have been in communication with our Renault admiring Irish friend, albeit briefly

He proved disappointingly quick to anger and was clearly in some doubt that I was in fact Father Dougal McGuire, and showed little interest in joining me in a song despite my very best efforts and the choices I generously presented him with.

The cause was not entirely lost nor worthless. He exhibited an impressive command and mastery of the traditional Irish language which he lapsed into and shared with me towards the end of our chat.

My vocabulary has been enriched this evening with such cultural gems as, 'Bualadh craicinn', 'Focáil leat', 'Díul mó bhad' and my favourite, 'Feisigh do thoin fein'.

It has been a great day for the Irish.

Haha, seriously? Somebody advertise a R20 on carandclassic, and say payment can be made with sods of peat lol!

[oldcars]

Your in the wrong i'm sorry to say. I didn't see offers of egg boxes or half eaten twix's at any point in these texts 

[Faker]

Send me his fucking number as well, I'll see what I can do.

My hero!! (Pishing myself laughing)!

[Faker]

I've got to the stage now where I write in adverts the following;

 

no idiots please or silly offers, thanks.

 

Yet they still manage to make contact!

[Parky]

"Four years ago a man who looked like Papa Lazarou was incarcerated by the US Military for a peg based crime he didn't commit. He escaped and went underground. Nowadays he survives as a soldier of fortune winding up shit eBay buyers. If you're being pissed off, no-one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire Sheefag"

[Faker]

I recently sold my sister's mk4 fiesta after she decided to upgrade to a more modern daily. We found a pretty one owner Shitron C1 for her, and it was left to me to sell her fiesta for her. Two owner mk4 1.3 with full mot and four new tyres. Stuck it on bumtree for 300. Jez did I get some timewasters!! I lost count of how many best price tonight texts (which I ignore) and is it still for sale texts, whom never ever replied again on being informed that it still was. One chap who did ring, demanded to know the least I'd take before he'd come out... I advised him to take the thing for a spin and we'd work something out. Nope... need your lowest price now... He was told 250 (car was simply never being sold any less). Nah too dear, what's your absolute lowest... He was told that it wasn't being given away, and with that I wished him the best of luck with his search. The first young fella to arrive at my door bid me 250 and was over the moon with his purchase.

[Cavcraft]

I mostly like the ones who make (usually stupid) offers before they've seen whatever they're trying to buy.

Social media is rammed with people who are lucky to buy two or three things a year, whilst the sensible ones grab a bargain.

 

The more penniless time wasters and dickeads there are, the better for me as a buyer.

[vaughant]

Tis me from the blue forum but I've never had a Corolla in this country and my only association with Macclesfield is singing along to the Mac Lads....Hope the Corolla was a good one anyway

 

Edit do you mean LambDrover? I believe he's from Macclesfield and has a similar old rangie to mine as well.....

Tis the other drover yes.

 

Car was nice but gone now, I've no real complaints for the money other than it had a weird running issue I foolishly put down to ignition when in the end after my mother had agreed to p/x it the devil in me removed the fuel level sensor on a hunch it maybe fuel related to reveal a tank 30% full of water.

Ooops!!!!

Hardly his fault, it seemed to run fine 90% of the time and was £500 with 50k on it!!!

 

As for not phoning maybe I should have but at no point in the email/text conversations ever was this mentioned, I know some people from experience genuinely don't like talking on the phone, no idea why personally but tis what it tis.

 

TBH after the first arsey text I stopped wanting it, vibes felt bad, then it only got worse after that.

 

Auctions tonight, got a few shitters in mind, 51 Saab aero estate, 55 VW shazza and a 52 verso 1.8 auto.

 

Reason for estatige* is that it will become my temporary dwelling place midweek in the new year when the weather goes above freezing, I can still stay in hotels/guest houses when I need to and work is only 120 miles from home so even occasional commuting is not impossible.

 

I'm paying £350 a month for a room where the landlord is an irritating old man who forgets there's a shift worker in his house by constantly making noise and just getting under my skin.

 

Makes sense to me, probably scares 80% of the public!!!

 

Surely can't be as bad as when I lived in Scotland in July to October in a transit with a rotten floor can it?

 

We'll see!!!

[sierraman]

I cannot understand how you formulate an offer without seeing the article in question. I've had them all, sob stories, 'wots lowes ul tek 2nite?' P/ex my fucked car for yours etc.

 

You've only got to attend a car boot these days to witness this. I saw a fella demand his money back on a £3 leather jacket as he later discovered it didn't fit him. He hounded the woman who was on her own. Disgraceful. I gave up doing car boots when I had to endure wasters who believe that persistently ignoring the price and demanding I sell it then for 5p couldn't understand when I eventually told them they'd better fuck off quick.

 

To sell stuff secondhand now you've got to have the patience of a saint. When you think about when you've gone to view a car and from the buyers view you've turned up on time, behaved normally and not started giving it this 'best price' shit they must be overjoyed.

[UltraWomble]

To sell stuff secondhand now you've got to have the patience of a saint. When you think about when you've gone to view a car and from the buyers view you've turned up on time, behaved normally and not started giving it this 'best price' shit they must be overjoyed.

Bloke I bought the bike off was this ( overjoyed).

Came - saw bike - unfurled roll of money - signed V5 - rode away.

 

Few faults, but it is an 11 year old bike so I expected it & seller pointed them out anyway. Emailed him a day or two later to say bike was lovely & thanks for brew etc - he emailed back saying it was a delight to sell to someone with such little hassle.

 

I have to admit as I have got older I have got less polite in my responses to people - sold a radio recently, priced it fairly with free shipping but was happy to accept an offer of a fiver less than asking. One bloke kept badgering me to take less than half I was asking - so I kept emailing telling him no, final message was "£23 the best I can do M8" to which I finally snapped and replied that his best wasn't good enough and that he should perhaps consider raiding the children's piggy banks or taking up male prostitution if he wanted to purchase the said radio. Sold it an hour later for full asking.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Never ring 'buyers', if making an outward phone call requires too much initiative on their part then you can forget them ever exchanging actual money for a car. This is a FACT.

Couldn't disagree more. The last three cars I've sold are sales which have been entirely set up by text and/or online enquiries. No actual words were spoken until the buyer was knocking on the door to view. In each case the buyers were genuine people, with funds ready. Those writing off a potential buyer purely because they don't pick up the blower need to short their shit out.

[garbaldy]

Couldn't disagree more.

Those writing off a potential buyer purely because they don't pick up the blower need to short their shit out.

Just because you have been extremely lucky with texters doesn't mean you are in the right,

I don't write any potential buyer off but have hundreds of texts against one call buyers so how do you explained that then.

[stripped fred]

I use a bullshit filter. Ignore text offers and speak to them on the phone to suss them out, if necessary. I also try and advertise them well, point out recent work and any faults and don't be too greedy. I've not had any problems, apart from a best offer on eBay which I accepted and he changed his mind. I don't particularly enjoy the process but then again I can't afford to give cars away so something I need to do. For me though it's only occasional as I get attached to the bloody things!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Just because you have been extremely lucky with texters doesn't mean you are in the right,

I don't write any potential buyer off but have hundreds of texts against one call buyers so how do you explained that then.

Each to their own. I was balancing the scales after they'd been heavily weighted with the assumption that potential buyers who text or e mail are knobcheeses. I've owned (and sold) way too many cars over the years, and have a pretty good idea of what constitutes a timewaster or genuine buyer.

[SiC]

I often phone them back if the text is half reasonable. Usually catches them by surprise! I say it's less hassle to phone than keep texting. I don't mind the still for sale texts, as especially on Gumtree, people list and then don't remove once they've sold.

[dollywobbler]

Doesn't matter in which form the initial contact comes. You can assess pretty quickly whether you've got yourself a genuine buyer. Anything txt spk obviously gets ignored straight away. 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I don't mind text, people have busy lives, can't call whilst at work whatever.

You just need to use common sense to filter out the idiots. If the first text is "Hi, I'm interested in the car you have for sale, when would be convenient to view?" then GOOD. However if it's "Hi m8 Wat iz best prize 4 car" then proceed with caution.

 

I'll always entertain people with one reply regardless as I get unlimited texts. In the case of the second example I'll always reply with "come and have a look and make me an offer", they rarely reply

 

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[Faker]

I don't mind the still for sale texts, as especially on Gumtree, people list and then don't remove once they've sold.

I could screen shot and post the amount of "still for sale mate?" Texts I received... whom never answered my "yes, still here" reply. Low ball bids I simply don't answer. If I wanted half the asking price, or less I'd have advertised it as such. Over in N.I. we get a lot of timewasters (in my opinion) as I've had good and bad experiences. I think some people spend free time trawling on line for a past time. If I'm on the market for something.... I'm genuinely on the market. I simply have better things to do with my time than send fictional bids, or pull out of a pre-arranged attendance or viewings because I've nothing better to do with my spare time... Might sound a bit harsh but it's happened all to often.

 

Hope I don't appear to be rude. No offence intended. Just stating what I have personally experienced with bumtree.

 

I actually promised myself that I'd never use the site again.... until the young fella who bought the fiesta, who was an absolute gent, arrived as agreed, drove it, bid me a very fair price and subsequently owned it. The young fella actually restored my faith in humanity (and bumtree for the time being)!

[taxi paul]

I have had this recently. My wife's work done a collection for me and the kids and gave me £530.00. So the kids wanted an oldish caravan that we can turn into a playhouse on the driveway..so nothing on eBay so gumtree here we go. Sent emails to four selless. Only one got back to me. The caravans either got took off or are still on. The lad who got back to me was a part time trader and had promised first refusal to someone else. Fair enough he got back to me and said that he had sold it but had my number and would ring me if anything came up. Gets a call today and he is bringing me a four berth classic ie old and shite van tomorrow. In fairness it looks OK and he had listed it on gumtree in case I wasn't interested . So I have seen photos and it will do the job. Sometimes gumtree works other times not.

[Faker]

I bought my samba cabrio from bumtree. I rang the seller! Imagine that! He told me he'd left it with his mechanic to look at as it was running like a dog. I attended anyway and discovered the carb was buggered, and the car was now a non runner (carb was butchered when the mechanic took it apart). I happened to have a spare carb on a spare engine... I bid a low-ish offer, which initially was declined.

 

I went back another few weeks later and installed my carb and got the samba up and running for a test drive. Bid the seller again. Still too low (was chancing my arm).

 

Seller was a lovely old fella. I told him he could borrow my carb so that any other potential buyers could test drive the car, so long as they knew from the outset the carb was borrowed, and was to be removed prior to the car being sold (potential new owner would most likely be a shite fan anyway, and would have to source one themselves, but at least they could satisfy themselves the thing ran ok). Seller was stunned by my offer of the carb. Over the next few days we bounced a few bids back and forth and a deal was done. Seller was a gent.

[srad34]

Bumtree is full of mongs.....end of thread

[stripped fred]

I have had this recently. My wife's work done a collection for me and the kids and gave me £530.00.

Bought a little tear to my eye that did taxi paul. How very kind and thoughtful of them.

[taxi paul]

It was a very big surprise because they had already arranged a charity night for her in February. They said they are still going ahead with this has it is all booked. I shall be going into her works tomorrow to pick up a book of remembrance that all the staff have done. I have a thank you card of myself and kids and will tell them about my caravan purchase .

[stripped fred]

It was a very big surprise because they had already arranged a charity night for her in February. They said they are still going ahead with this has it is all booked. I shall be going into her works tomorrow to pick up a book of remembrance that all the staff have done. I have a thank you card of myself and kids and will tell them about my caravan purchase .

It's never going to be an easy time is it but people like that do make a difference. Wishing you all the best mate.

[vaughant]

Bought a little tear to my eye that did taxi paul. How very kind and thoughtful of them.

Yes what a lovely gesture, wish I had my old van, I'd have tower it up myself and it would be yours gratis.

[vaughant]

So, auctions were a bit of a wash out really, VW shazza seemed my best bet and up until pretty much the point of sale it was advertised as having no mot however a quick check on mot history revealed 7 months left.

She fired up ok, minging inside but no real problem, drivers window no good, rattle from the tensioner but the OMGDMF sounded exactly like a bloody helicopter I used to get on in the North Sea!!!!

Saw a Corolla verso which looked good, 1.8vvc and slushbox sounded nice, Toyota build so every conceivable extra worked perfectly, but the rear seat set up was pish plus this really did have no ticket, some midlanders of a certain part of Asia were bidding on it like mad.

Last through of any interest was the Saab estate, 2.3t, black with tan leather, started of its own accord but did sound rattly, big oil leak, slightly blowy exhaust and mot history showed up some corrosion advisories which seems rare on these? Perhaps a picky station? Or previous accident damage, didn't really fancy it with only 3 weeks mot. Nearly popped my hand up at £250 so about £350 with fees but it sold provisionally so no doubt will be back through the ring on Thursday. I do like these I must admit but I'm thinking a 2.2 derv maybe a better bet or even a 3.0l derv, I think derv maybe the way forward for me.

Decisions decisions eh?

[SiC]

Nonono on the 3.0 derv on the 9-5, they're explosivetastic in many ways. 2.2 is supposed to be more reliable than the 1.9 diesel, however far more agricultural. I had the 1.9 in a 9-3. Nice performance but little things kept going wrong.

 

Petrols are hardier. Just watch for the sludge. Even if sounding alright, get a sump drop asap for piece of mind. But saying that, £200-£300 is about what a sump drop and clean costs!

 

Biggest problem was the PCV system degrading. This was revisited in 2003-2004 ish to solve he problem. I believe the easiest way to tell is by the silver/bare metal engine block - rather than the black. Upgraded PCV systems are still available for the older engines.

 

Running on full-synth is a must too.