Answering my CL like an intelligent human being, is this real?

On my way home from work last evening, someone sent a text that basically said "hi, I noticed your cl ad for the 2.5rs for sale. Do you still have it?" Oh great, here we go.....

We proceeded to have a small conversation by text about what he was looking for, that he wanted to learn to drive manual and autocross, and he had been looking at Civics and Miatas until he saw the car and considered it a unicorn.

He asked basic maintentance questions, understood it was a 16yr old car with 150k miles and "some rust". Asked if I thought anything major was coming up repair-wise, acknowledging that that might be a biased answer. I gave him my honest opinion that I thought it could use new struts/shocks but otherwise was ready to go.

It was quite far in before he even asked about $$, only asking how set was I on the $4k OBO in the ad. I told him honestly I was hoping for mid $3ks and $3500 would work for me. He's coming to look at it tomorrow, after I suggested a Meijer parking lot for security.

I'm tempted to knock $100 off just for not being an shiny happy person.

You sure you weren't dreaming?

Nice eh? I try to be that guy when replying to ads, and it goes a long way. The guy i bought the WRX from went out of his way to make sure i got to see it before anyone else did after we spoke, then explained how every other text went straight to price and i went straight to the car and never asked about how low he would go.

When I call an ad on craigslist, I like to speak monosyllabically with a good staccato rhythm.

RossD wrote: When I call an ad on craigslist, I like to speak monosyllabically with a good staccato rhythm.

Iambic pentameter for the win?

Just be glad he found you.... LOL There are a few good ones out there on CL still I guess.

I'm guessing there will be a build thread for the car here shortly.

Yeah, I have encountered 3 Craigslist Unicorns over the past several months.

It's encouraging when you tell people: "call me", and they do. Then they show up on time and don't sweat the price. (much)

I'm thinking it could be years before this happens again....(Grin)

In reply to patgizz:

The guy I eventually bought a WRX from said the same thing. Everyone opens with "how low would you go?". I asked about the car, a few details, went to see it, test drove it, talked for probably 5-10 minutes and then finally asked if he would take $6k versus 6500. I'm really hoping this guy buys it tomorrow and I can be done with CL.

Jerry wrote: On my way home from work last evening, someone sent a text that basically said "hi, I noticed your cl ad for the 2.5rs for sale. Do you still have it?" Oh great, here we go..... We proceeded to have a small conversation by text about what he was looking for, that he wanted to learn to drive manual and autocross, and he had been looking at Civics and Miatas until he saw the car and considered it a unicorn. He asked basic maintentance questions, understood it was a 16yr old car with 150k miles and "some rust". Asked if I thought anything major was coming up repair-wise, acknowledging that that might be a biased answer. I gave him my honest opinion that I thought it could use new struts/shocks but otherwise was ready to go. It was quite far in before he even asked about $$, only asking how set was I on the $4k OBO in the ad. I told him honestly I was hoping for mid $3ks and $3500 would work for me. He's coming to look at it tomorrow, after I suggested a Meijer parking lot for security. I'm tempted to knock $100 off just for not being an shiny happy person.

A potential buyer like this is not to be lost. If they make a serious offer that is close, let it go. It could be months before another one comes.

When I get the texts saying how low can you go, I respond back with the asking price.

That's great! I had a guy PROMISE he was coming from Connecticut to look (and buy) my Wrangler.

I cancelled a summer family outing to be there for him. I called him every hour he was late and he kept ensuring me he was on his way until dark when he finally told me he wasn't coming.

I told him I wasted an entire day for him and he ended up threatening to drive to my house and beat me up (hahaha). I said to him "I'm betting you'll blow me off for THAT too, you E36 M3-head".

Buyers now work around MY schedule. And I won't entertain someone who sounds like an idiot. Not worth the money.

This was kind of a threadjack, sorry.

But you're potential buyer is a rare bird indeed

Jerry,
If he does buy from you, rather than the extra $100 off do him a real favor and get him a GRM subscription and send him here to the board.

Good luck.

When I sold my Miata on CL I was pleasantly surprised with the interactions I had. 2 people came and looked at the car 1st guy had a Miata already and couldn't part with his to buy mine and was very apologetic for my time spent with him and the 2nd guy bought and didn't even negotiate. I'm reasonably confident this will never happen to me again.

I had my daughters really nice R/T Neon for sale forever, asking $2500. Most of the calls were offers for half price, the odd one to accuse me of misrepresenting it without them having seen it yet, and the last kid who came and looked, asked me a couple of questions, took it to his uncles shop for a checkup, and came back with cash. I still think that car was worth way more, but selling against an 84 month note on a Kia makes a good used car darn hard to sell.

It takes a while, but most of my sales follow that story. This one just took a lot longer than I'd hoped.

I try to be that guy. Amazing what deals you get because of it.

I had a very good experience with a CL seller a week or two ago. He drove almost an hour out to where I live to show me a car and was totally upfront and honest about accident damage that had been repaired and even showed me the itemized repair bill.

The only thing I could have asked for differently would have been for the ad to mention the repair up front because I would have been upset had I taken two hours to go see the car not knowing that bit of detail up front.

In reply to ebonyandivory:

That's why the buyer always has to concede to the sellers stipulations. there are two things in this world that are consistently inconsistent, it's family members and Craigslist buyers. Both which work around MY schedule and MY life. Never the reverse.

John Welsh wrote: Jerry, If he does buy from you, rather than the extra $100 off do him a real favor and get him a GRM subscription and send him here to the board. Good luck.

That's not a terrible idea.

I really loathed selling my e36 on CL. So many twits, luckily I connected with a few good people and eventually found the guy who really deserved the car. I hope your sale goes well.

I feel like a lot of the response depends on the car being bought/sold. I refuse to list my Acura on CL because of the nature of the Honda/Acura fanboi community will probably get me nothing but lowballers and disrespect.

OTOH, when I sold my xB1 on CL, sure I got a couple lowballers, but the first guy who actually showed up bought it, because he was just looking for a low-priced Toyota for his family, and wasn't a fanboi at all.

I find it's pretty easy to tell which people are serious, good buyers by how they approach you and what they ask. Simply ignore the buyers who text E36 M3 like "will you take insert half of the advertised price?" and you won't have too many problems.

Will you take xxx for it without any view of the car is greeted with a "no" and no further communication. People that try and lowball me on site go away empty handed. Truthfully Im a horrible negotiator. Either I will pay the asking or I won't, and I expect the same. This is 'merica not berkeleying bartertown.

My last few craigslist interactions have me avoiding craigslist. Im glad you found a good one. I cant even get people to answer me about what engine is even in said vehicles half the time.

Being an reasonable seller helps,too.

When I sold the P71, I texted everyone back who texted me with reasonable, legitimate offers that the car had sold and thanked them for the interest.

Many were suprised I would even do that.

In reply to dropstep:

Sometimes that's a good thing though. They thought it was "just a mustang", and then you walked away with their "1500$" v8 mustang worth way more.