“Why are you selling it?” This always annoyed me. I mean why does anyone sell. Anything? Because I want the cash more than I want the item.
In that case, have
I got some some rusty sh¡t to sell
you at a hamfest.
I concede that,
with some exceptions, guns
are durable goods.
But some used item that's a complex engineered system;
not off-the-shelf, not commodity? That can have hidden flaws?
Plenty of guys will sell you their problem and let the buyer beware.
One of the most frustrating NES threads in the last year
was the argument over how much refund (if any) someone was due
for buying a busted gun (
IIRC).
The
one constructive thing I learned in an all-day course on interviewing skills
(interview
er skills) was the power of the open-ended question.
Any LEO on NES will confirm this.
I once bought a used
ATAS-120 antenna at a nice price,
and it worked.
But in retrospect, I dodged a bullet because I neglected to
ask if it still worked.
I've never bought or sold on NES (and almost never apply for karma).
If I do, God grant me the wisdom to research the sane questions to ask
before I open hailing frequencies. But a seller who doesn't want to tell me
whether they've "polished" a feed ramp
or a magazine
or a sear
...?
Hell no.
They are asking you questions in order to talk themselves out of buying it.
Sometimes for the reason you're thinking; maybe sometimes for the reason I'm thinking.
Additionally it does drive me nuts and is a bad sign when I ask 4 questions and get an answer to 3. I really prefer Q&A via email since it usually is more convenient for everyone and don't mind calling; some people seem to want to communicate via email but lack the basic skills to make it go smoothly so it takes 4 communications instead of 1.
People
cannot freaking read any more. It's like they don't understand that the sentence
with one of these things at the end: =>?<= means they're supposed to provide an answer.
Amirite?
One thing that is a big turn off to me is when people keep asking for your cell # to complete a transaction.
Best guess: Some people live off of texting these days.
Our oldest nephew not only won't answer his cell phone,
but the last time I tried the mailbox was F-U-L-L full.
You have to text him that he has an EMail for him to read it.
I
totally appreciate anyone on NES who blades away from that as a violation of privacy.
Why would it be so difficult to use PM’s here? It’s 2021, not 1995, everybody has a smart phone, FB, Twitter, etc all converse using DM’s/PM’s/IM’s on a daily basis,
The Bride and I finally got flip phones in 2008, my first smartphone in 2012,
and we only stopped skinflinting and got text service in 2019.
I've
never lusted after installing an NES-compatible forum app on my smartphone.
People used to put their AOL Instant Messenger ID on their EMail .sig,
and I'd be like, "sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I wouldn't know".
Tradesmen with Nextel PTT frightened and confused me.
Ask me in person about the first time I saw someone using a Bluetooth ear frob
and I didn't see their cell phone on their belt.
Your post made me look up "DM",
because I decided you didn't mean Dungeon Master.
There's tons of messaging media and some people will always be wedded
to a medium they use to the virtual exclusion of all others -
even media we don't know about.
It doesn't mean you have to adopt it to suck up to a buyer;
but know the signs of where they're coming from.
I once asked a NES Classifieds member a Question about his rifle for sale and I didn't even have a parlor in my house, was that bad?
You got off easy. Rifles shoot hell out parlors; especially the purpose-built rifles.