I've been doing some window shopping for E36 M3s lately and have noticed a preponderance of craigslist ads that state the price is "firm". I'm not trying to be snarky, but am genuinely curious if people don't know how buying a car works or are they just trying to discourage tire kickers/joy riders?
Sometimes I say firm, sometimes I don't. I have a set of wheels/tires on CL that I had up for OBO and I got non-stop emails/texts offering me 20% of the asking price and/or offers to trade for their curbed up wheels with camber worn tires. I had to put in BOLD "NO TRADES, AGAIN, NO TRADES. DON'T ASK!!!!!!!!" That has worked, for the most part.
When I try to sell a car for a firm price, its usually because I'm not desperate to sell, and willing to hold out for the guy who can't live without it.
I read "Firm" as meaning they is very little room to negotiate. If they are in the right neighborhood on price I might pursue and try getting the price down a bit and have had success. If their price is way high and list "Firm" I won't even bother. Honestly I generally don't even bother with people pricing way high, I might be able to cut them in half on price but that kind of BS pricing just puts me off.
It may be to stop jokers form offering 1/10 to 1/4 the asking price.
I assume nothing is ever firm, but if it's 'crackpipe' and 'firm' I'm not interested.
I feel like 'firm' is douchey, personally. As a buyer, it's an immediate turn off. When I sell, I'm a 'full disclosure' seller and I know what the market value is. I tried firm pricing a few times and found it too defensive. Now I list 10% over what I want. Some people just pay it. Some people want to haggle and I'll fall back on my firm price.
Love CL ads for $4000obo in the title, and $5500 FIRM in the body, where they've been trying to sell for months.
rcutclif wrote: I assume nothing is ever firm, but if it's 'crackpipe' and 'firm' I'm not interested.
Yea this ^^^
I usually leave the firm part out, and just price it with enough buffer to be talked down to what I really want out of it.
evildky wrote: I read "Firm" as meaning they is very little room to negotiate. If they are in the right neighborhood on price I might pursue and try getting the price down a bit and have had success. If their price is way high and list "Firm" I won't even bother. Honestly I generally don't even bother with people pricing way high, I might be able to cut them in half on price but that kind of BS pricing just puts me off.
To me it also indicates someone who is completely disconnected from reality regarding the value of what they're trying to sell. A good example of this is the guy who has a car that is worth $2k on it's best day in perfect shape but because he just replaced a ton of parts to try to make it a decent car he has added in the cost of ALL of those replaced parts. This person doesn't realize that a $2k car is not a $3k car just because you paid someone $1k to work on it.
Also, if their price is too high and listed as "firm" then this could also be an indicator of someone it's not worth dealing with.
Not everyone enjoys dickering over prices.
The 2nd most irritating thing:
What do you want for it?
Make me an offer!
Normally followed by - Ok how about $1???
gearheadE30 wrote: I usually leave the firm part out, and just price it with enough buffer to be talked down to what I really want out of it.
this
stuart in mn wrote: Not everyone enjoys dickering over prices.
I hate it but negotiation is so ingrained in the process of buying used cars that if you state your price up front people assume you've inflated it to get the price you're actually going for. So, I inflate the price and then allow myself to be negotiated down to what I want per the tradition. It works on Craig's List.
There are three modifiers to price posting: OBO, nothing, or firm.
Obo is "lets make a deal". Nothing usually indicates "we'll play it by year". Firm means don't berkeleying bother me unless you have the money for the price I posted.
I use all of them. Firm is great for weeding out the tire kickers. Usually firm is used with an item that is either rare, relatively expensive and priced at a good deal, or you don't need it gone right away so you'll wait for someone to give you the cash requested.
If somebody ever wasted my time (especially if I had to drive somewhere) after having firm posted in the price, high probability of a shin-kicking occurring.
fasted58 wrote:gearheadE30 wrote: I usually leave the firm part out, and just price it with enough buffer to be talked down to what I really want out of it.this
I agree. Ads that say "firm" mean to me that the seller doesn't understand how Craigslist works and I don't waste my time with them. If you want $4500 for a car, price it at $4750 and wait for someone to offer $4500 rather than putting "$4500 firm, no tire kickers, no lowballers, no test drive without cash in hand", etc and make things easier for everyone.
I lowball everything on craigslist, generally if I get a courteous response, the guys not a complete asshat and I may try to pursue it and talk them down a little, or if its a good enough deal even pay what they are asking, but I always ask for a lower price, all they can do is say no.
If they freak out, they would normally suck to deal with even if paying full price so screw them anyways.
As much as I hate craigslist, it has to be a good deal to make it worth me using.
Here in TX, 4 wheelers and jet skis are like redneck currency and everyone tries to offer you like 3 broken atvs/jet skis and 2.5 chickens for whatever you have, so its a huge PITA to use, even when I put ABSOLUTELY NO TRADES, CASH ONLY, atleast half of my offers are for trades for completely ridiculous items.'
And I will pay as little for something as I possibly can, its not my problem if someones financial situation has them willing to sell something for less than its worth. ON the flipside if Im hurting and need to sell something quick I understand I may not get full value.
Opti wrote: Here in TX, 4 wheelers and jet skis are like redneck currency and everyone tries to offer you like 3 broken atvs/jet skis and 2.5 chickens for whatever you have...
Something to quote in the magazine!
The only time i use firm is if its something im basically giving away. If you post anything around here below a grand you will get atleast 5 offers of how about scrap price?. Im pretty much always willing to haggle if its something worth haggling over. i have a truck up right now and ive gotten a bunch of weird offers.
Need to sell today! Price is firm. Thats my favorite.
Opti wrote: I lowball everything on craigslist, generally if I get a courteous response, the guys not a complete asshat and I may try to pursue it and talk them down a little, or if its a good enough deal even pay what they are asking, but I always ask for a lower price, all they can do is say no.
when someone lowballs me i tell them "you're not even close, see ya" and have them leave. i had $2000 on the rambler and a guy stopped, told me how cool/clean/rare it was, then lowballed me so hard he waited until the next morning at 7am to call with his $600 offer. i told him never call me again. if you don't respect me enough to be fair up front with your offer, you don't need what i'm selling
Exactly ^^^
A lot of people in this thread don't seem to be buyers, they seem to be "good dealers". I usually don't bother with those people.
And it is also why I am perfectly fine negotiating price on the phone/through text. And I hold them to that price when they arrive.
I also rarely offer to meet anyone anymore, too many people thinking they are god's gift to man on the wheeler-dealer circuit.
I like a realistic asking price followed by "For this item, I'm interested in cash. Not soliciting trades or low-ball offers."
That way I feel like I can ignore any emails from traders or lowballers, without being a d!¢k.
There's a FB page for local stuff 4 sale or 4 trade.
C&P from page, no E36 M3:
Debbie posts: Kodiak 4X4 with plow runs great. $1600
Caleb replies: I'll give you 450-500
what a jackwad
I rarely use "firm" but sometimes I do. Most cars I advertise for what I want but keep a firm deck on what I would take for it.
When I sold my El Camino this winter, I had only owned it for a few months, I had almost exactly $2000 tied up in it, and I just wanted it gone. I put it on CL for $2000 firm. I could have probably made $3500 if I waited for the right buyer, but instead of jockeying with multiple offers, I just put a dirt-cheap price on it. I had plenty of people offer me $1500 and I didn't even reply. They obviously didn't know what the real value of the car was, so I didn't see the need to entertain their ignorance.
Sometimes people put "firm" because they're just stupid and don't know how things work. There is a rusty 1986 S10 that has been in a guy's front yard now for 4 months. The paper in the window says $2900 firm. I got on NADA, and sure enough, it says that truck is worth $2900... which is complete BS. Around here with that much rust, its a $500 truck. But I know exactly what happened: He looked on NADA, assumed he can ask that much, and doesn't know how car values work.
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