Signs and Symptoms of Non-Serious Buyers

Thirwell1216

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I hate to say it, but I've had a number of non-serious buyers making inquiries on a few ads I've posted here in the classified section and on GB over the past few months. I understand information is very important on making an informed decision about a high priced item....but sometimes there are questions that make no sense or are just asked for the sake of conversation. Here are a few warning signs I've learned over the past few months for folks that take up a ton of time and never really buy anything:

1) Does it come with a sling and case? Why doesn't it come with a sling? What did you do with the sling that came with the gun?
2) Take the bolt apart and show me pictures of it broken down. When did you replace your extractor spring? What type of cleaner did you use on the bolt?
3) Did you ever shoot 62 grain bullets instead of 55 grain through the barrel? Show me pictures of the barrel with your bore light form different angles.
4) Why does your parkerizing look more gray than black on your AR in your pictures?
5) Any conversation lasting more than 4 days seem to go no where.
6) Despite multiple pictures and statements about stocks being pinned and muzzle breaks being pinned and welded and stating that a gun is from the mid 2000's....Is this MA compliant? Is this pre-healy compliant?
7) Why is your price so high? I saw another price for $100 less than yours.

I'm sure there are other comments that could be added to the list. So when I get these questions, I"m less inclined to answer them
 
I blame bookface, gun-store groupies/ vultures and flea market frequenters.

There's tons of customers that need to be sold to, rather than who make informed decisions for themselves.

Jackasses are nothing new in the world of selling guns. I sold my dad's Beretta O/U through my Gunbroker account in 2018 or 2019. I had this one guy who asked email after email and wanted to make a trade. He would never follow up with anything I asked him about what he had and his stuff wasn't worth nearly what my dad wanted for the Beretta. He eventually got all pissy and I just ignored him. Sold the gun to another buyer who was perfectly fine to deal with and learned the lesson to write "NO TRADES" in my sale ads. If it was my sale and not my dad's sale, I would've never even considered a trade offer because that's not how I operate - if I'm selling a gun, I want cash and preferably a profit.

Its just more obvious how many jackasses there are now because of supply chain disruptions and people are now scouring the used market for... anything.
 
Its just more obvious how many jackasses there are now because of supply chain disruptions and people are now scouring the used market for... anything.

Haven't looked in eon's, because current prices for anything are full retard, but I'll add Flippers to the list.
I have a felling they want to copy-and-paste e-mail responses instead of doing an actual function check to get it back on the market as fast as possible.
I've noticed (again, not recently) that even if I put in " No trades, not budging on price" I always got that one ( or 5) that come back with " I've got this fuel tank for a 77 Harley" or "Can you do $100 less?".
 
I've mellowed over the years and just deal with people. we live in the age of butt hurt! but if someone is asking a ton of pointless questions red flags go up telling me this guy could be looking for an issue and I don't want to be that guy being talked about in a post here telling people I cheated them with a bogus item I sold them.
 
They are asking you questions in order to talk themselves out of buying it.
This. A lot of it is this.

Posting realistic prices weans out the retards somewhat. If they are getting a fair deal and they know it, they will just buy it.

That said I will still get some guys who "Ill buy it for 70% of what your listing". Those posts are immediately ignored and put in trash.
 
Q: Is it still for sale? A: not to you moron.
This isn’t an outrageous question.
I can’t remember how many items
I’ve inquired about and a few days later I
get a reply "sorry the item been sold"
My response "then why didn’t you take the ad down?"
 
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I never beat people up over price. Either the person lists an item that I want at a price that I'm willing to pay, or I move on. If there's a rare item that I must have, then I'm likely to pay asking for it. I am guilty of asking 'i'm interested in x is it still for sale, cash in hand' but this also helps weed out bots and spam.
 
I used to get that a lot on Craigslist.
10 years ago, I had a little side biz repairing refurbushing laptops and selling them on CL. I would always ask slightly more so the buyer had some room to negociate price. The ads always specified "local cash sales only". Without fail, I would receive emails like "I will give you (25% of my asking price) in CASH and can meet you right now", those were always ignored. Sorry, I'm not some crack head selling stolen goods who needs money asap.

On the flip side, there are sellers who can't provide a clear and detailed description of their item up front, and/or take decent pictures. No one wants to see your nasty feet or house that looks like it should be on an episode of horders. It's not that difficult to setup a bedsheet and take decent pics. A strong description and pictures should help weed out much of the rif-raf the OP references.
 
Depends what you are selling. Some of those questions are valid if you are selling a collectible gun where condition significantly drives the price. They just want to make sure they know what they are getting, especially via GunBroker.

Seriously though, what did you do with the sling?!
 
I’ve sold maybe 10 guns here and other than once I’ve never had any interactions other than “I’ll take it”. One guy wanted to use an FFL that would only take a shipment from another FFL. I just didn’t have the energy, in the end and I sold the rifle to another guy. It was a completely reasonable request but it made more work for me so I gave up.

It’s entirely possible I’ve been lucky and it’s entirely possible you could be the problem.
 
1.) I do not think it is unreasonable to ask if an item is still available, especially as fast as some things are moving these days and almost nobody seems to know or care about how to update their item as sold.
2.) I have been asked a few questions in the past that just irritated me until I did some research and found there was a very good reason to ask those questions. Yeah......I actually learned something....LOL
3.) I always offer less money for ANYTHING I want to buy and I absolutely expect people to do the same with me but some folks get pissed at that......oh well you can always just say no.
 
1.) I do not think it is unreasonable to ask if an item is still available, especially as fast as some things are moving these days and almost nobody seems to know or care about how to update their item as sold.
2.) I have been asked a few questions in the past that just irritated me until I did some research and found there was a very good reason to ask those questions. Yeah......I actually learned something....LOL
3.) I always offer less money for ANYTHING I want to buy and I absolutely expect people to do the same with me but some folks get pissed at that......oh well you can always just say no.

There's certain things I'll haggle over. A place and a time for it kind of thing. I have one customer that always wants to haggle. Always trying to make he feels like he won something. He straight up asked for $2000 off a $20k job, where about $19k was parts. No, I'm not doing this job at a loss for you. Now I just mark up all his hardware 300% and act like he's taking the shirt off my back when he gets his way.
 
1.) I do not think it is unreasonable to ask if an item is still available, especially as fast as some things are moving these days and almost nobody seems to know or care about how to update their item as sold.
2.) I have been asked a few questions in the past that just irritated me until I did some research and found there was a very good reason to ask those questions. Yeah......I actually learned something....LOL
3.) I always offer less money for ANYTHING I want to buy and I absolutely expect people to do the same with me but some folks get pissed at that......oh well you can always just say no.

There's certain things I'll haggle over. A place and a time for it kind of thing. I have one customer that always wants to haggle. Always trying to make he feels like he won something. He straight up asked for $2000 off a $20k job, where about $19k was parts. No, I'm not doing this job at a loss for you. Now I just mark up all his hardware 300% and act like he's taking the shirt off my back when he gets his way.

I love haggling, but I usually do it in person on used guns or very expensive new items where I know there's a very comfortable profit margin padding. Online sales like auctions, I usually just wait until they relist at a lower price.
 
You're tarded if you don't haggle over a dealership car or a house. I also like to go to estate sales, 'do you have anything ELSE for sale that's not displayed, anything you wish to sell privately for cash?', buying up someone's skeletons is a good way to earn the ability to haggle over something else, like those expensive appliances or living room set or dump truck.
 
I love haggling, but I usually do it in person on used guns or very expensive new items where I know there's a very comfortable profit margin padding. Online sales like auctions, I usually just wait until they relist at a lower price.

One time I asked cooler if he'd take $3.50 for the sink
 
You're tarded if you don't haggle over a dealership car or a house. I also like to go to estate sales, 'do you have anything ELSE for sale that's not displayed, anything you wish to sell privately for cash?', buying up someone's skeletons is a good way to earn the ability to haggle over something else, like those expensive appliances or living room set or dump truck.

Clearly you have not tried to buy a house lately
 
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