Thread: Bartering etiquette

Well, it seems to be the universal experience, you open yourself up to the world when you advertise and the world is full of all kinds of people. One memorable experience on eBay was when I sold a set of seats out of a discovery, I spent at least 90 minutes taking photos and putting up the ad, then 30 minutes after it went up some clown hits 'buy it now', the seats are now listed as sold and the bloke never gets in touch or responds to any messages. Still makes me fume remembering it.
I sold my camper trailer last week to a bloke from central NSW, he started by texting and asking me questions, then rang me and discussed further, then asked what my best price was. I told him I wasn't going to negotiate just for the sake of it, but if he was actually making me an offer, I'd consider it. He said he was fair dinkum, then offered me a price that I accepted, he came and picked it up right on the time we had arranged, all very happy. Just how it should go.

Just got up from my post-nightshift sleep and have a pile of gumtree emails to sort through with this other item; dreading to see how many are just wasting my time.

I was selling a car for my girlfriend, now my wife. I advertised it in the Trading Post and this person rang me. I explained the history and condition of the car and they said that sounds great, can you give me your phone number. I waited a little and then I said "that'd be the number you rang me on".

Never heard from them again. I ended up selling it to a dealer.

The last worn out Tojo service van i sold,it took more time to count the cash, than the buyer spent actually looking at the vehicle.

Then he TXT me when he got home, which was 150Km away,and said it drove fantastically.

He was comparing it to a 25yr old Econo Van that was well past it's use by date,so no surprise there.

I had a motorbike, just taking up space, that had been replaced with a bigger and later model.
Some random idiot found out about it and consistently badgered me about selling it for less than 10% of its value.
I gave it away to a bloke who restored bikes as a hobby and enjoyed telling the wannabe buyer.

Sounds a lot like what I do with my woodwork products Ian. I get a lot of people around here asking for bowls / pepper grinders / pen sets etc at ridiculously low prices. They get upset when I tell them that I would rather give the items away to friends / family members etc than sell it to them for the amount they are offering to pay.

The big downside with Gumtree is that the buggers sell your contact details to the spammers, the constant stream of robots calls to my mobile only started after I put an ad on Gumtree (with the contact details allegedly protected)
I've had some positive experiences on FB marketplace as that does seem to be where all the traders have gone.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Tote

The big downside with Gumtree is that the buggers sell your contact details to the spammers, the constant stream of robots calls to my mobile only started after I put an ad on Gumtree (with the contact details allegedly protected)
I've had some positive experiences on FB marketplace as that does seem to be where all the traders have gone.

Regards,
Tote

They don’t sell them, the bots fish them all by themselves.

Here's one she who must be obeyed calls me and asks can I pickup something she has bought on eBay sure thing says I what is it it's a Electronic Elmo toy from sesame street no prob"s i go to the address given nice Irish bloke answer's the door me being a Scot have a good old blether he gets me the toy and i turn it on it does'nt work open it up no battery's you got some mate i get a strange look he gets me some out his TV remote i try it work's fine still getting funny looks i thank him and I'm on my way get home and tell she who must be obeyed the full story she starts laughing wait How much did you pay for it ONE DOLLAR says she no f****** wonder people get p***