Selling a 2nd hand car, drowning in a sea of .....
Discussion
Like Bob Hoskins used to say - "It's good to talk", so i'll get this off my chest!
I've been selling a car on the ebay classifieds, something i've done a few times before and never really had an issue with. Previously, questions i've been asked are relevant and aside from a couple of no shows - the cars have eventually sold for near what i wanted.
This time around and as a favour for a colleague, i've offered to sell his car for him, being that he is one of the few people without an Ebay account and was off on holiday for 3 weeks. Figured that an ebay advert would weed out the worst of the Scumtree clientele. Turns out this was not such a good idea!
Dear god, i'm getting literally bombarded every day with a torrent of pointless questions, ridiculous offers and assorted crap that is stereotypical of half the similar threads on Pistonheads!
And they just keep on coming, here's some of todays Gems (i've translated from txt spk to English for your convenience)
"Scrap is only £15 a ton, i'll give you £300 for it"
"Will you swap for a Chinese moped and a PS3"
"What colour is it"
"Will you take £600"
"Will you take £800"
"I'll give you £1000"
"Only worth £700"
"Can i take the car and pay you monthly"
"How much is the insurance for a 19 year old"
"I've seen the same car, with less miles for £500 less. Will you do the same price"
Despite ignoring most of these questions now (initially i was answering them), i'm rapidly losing the will to live!
In the time it's been on, i've had no less than 9 people arrange to come see the car. Despite these people being all over the country, not a single one has turned up so far. Each one has sent a text shortly before they're due to say they're not coming, after i'd made arrangements to be available when they said they'd come.
Infuriating isn't the word!
I wonder what this evenings questions will bring!
I've been selling a car on the ebay classifieds, something i've done a few times before and never really had an issue with. Previously, questions i've been asked are relevant and aside from a couple of no shows - the cars have eventually sold for near what i wanted.
This time around and as a favour for a colleague, i've offered to sell his car for him, being that he is one of the few people without an Ebay account and was off on holiday for 3 weeks. Figured that an ebay advert would weed out the worst of the Scumtree clientele. Turns out this was not such a good idea!
Dear god, i'm getting literally bombarded every day with a torrent of pointless questions, ridiculous offers and assorted crap that is stereotypical of half the similar threads on Pistonheads!
And they just keep on coming, here's some of todays Gems (i've translated from txt spk to English for your convenience)
"Scrap is only £15 a ton, i'll give you £300 for it"
"Will you swap for a Chinese moped and a PS3"
"What colour is it"
"Will you take £600"
"Will you take £800"
"I'll give you £1000"
"Only worth £700"
"Can i take the car and pay you monthly"
"How much is the insurance for a 19 year old"
"I've seen the same car, with less miles for £500 less. Will you do the same price"
Despite ignoring most of these questions now (initially i was answering them), i'm rapidly losing the will to live!
In the time it's been on, i've had no less than 9 people arrange to come see the car. Despite these people being all over the country, not a single one has turned up so far. Each one has sent a text shortly before they're due to say they're not coming, after i'd made arrangements to be available when they said they'd come.
Infuriating isn't the word!
I wonder what this evenings questions will bring!
I've been open and honest about the "selling for someone else" approach in the advert, figured there was no point in pretending otherwise! In hindsight, you're probably right in that it's putting off the genuine "customers"!
Didn't want to link to the advert in case it looked like i was trying to sneak in a free advert into the thread!
Didn't want to link to the advert in case it looked like i was trying to sneak in a free advert into the thread!
Ikemi said:
Also, it's tales like the OP that shows you why 'We Buy Any Car' and other such places, are so popular ...
He'd tried that route and they massively low balled him. It was my Mrs that first suggested i sold it for him, he's no good with that sort of thing!You're right though, there has to be a point where you just give up and move on!
mrpee said:
Go with Autotrader, a bit more money but worth it.
No emails asking " how many mm's are left on the spare wheel " or " what does the drivers seat smell of ".
If they are interested then they have to ring up and speak to you in person which tends to seperate the wheat from the chaff.
Indeed, once they get to the call stage they're generally better - still don't show up despite promises though.No emails asking " how many mm's are left on the spare wheel " or " what does the drivers seat smell of ".
If they are interested then they have to ring up and speak to you in person which tends to seperate the wheat from the chaff.
Trouble with giving out your number though, it means you're at the mercy of text messaging.
Had a massive text the other day, basically asking me to sell him the car for half the price its up for. Why?...well, he's skint, can't afford to buy presents for his kids at Christmas, is disabled, oh and his dog needs an operation.
So how is he going to find the £500 to tax the b
d and afford to run a car that averages mid 20's mpg !Edited by littlebasher on Wednesday 25th November 14:20
By the grace of God, the car is now sold
End of the story yes??
Well, not quite. Since i sold it and took down the ebay ad, I've continued to receive a steady stream of messages asking me whether i still have the car and what my best price is.
If they were that interested, why didn't they come see it before it was sold!
Thought it would be amusing to total up the number of messages i received about the car. Stopped counting when i got over 200
End of the story yes??
Well, not quite. Since i sold it and took down the ebay ad, I've continued to receive a steady stream of messages asking me whether i still have the car and what my best price is.
If they were that interested, why didn't they come see it before it was sold!
Thought it would be amusing to total up the number of messages i received about the car. Stopped counting when i got over 200
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