I guess you can't fault a person for trying, but really people? The family truckster was listed for sale on Craigslist and FB Marketplace. Asking $4800, right in the middle of the KBB range.

Inquiry 1: Craigslist scammer
Inquiry 2: Craigslist scammer
Inquiry 3: "Will you take $2000 for it?"
Inquiry 4: "Your asking price is ridiculous and you clearly know nothing about selling cars. I can find 100 of that model online with the same miles for under $4000. I'll give you $3800, and you should consider yourself lucky to get it."
Inquiry 5: "Will you take $3000?"
Inquiry 6: Craigslist scammer
Inquiry 7: Eventual buyer who paid the asking price
Inquiries 8-12: See Inquiries 1-6

Almost makes it worth getting shafted by a dealer just to avoid the hassle.

Can't vouch for the scammers but real negotiations are fair game, IMO even if it is half of the ask.

Recently sold a car with the help of a friend, thru Marketplace. Yes, the fastest replies were the ones who seem ready to do this for living by offering dealer trade or less. I noticed they didn't even ask specifics about the car.

No matter what they said, what it sounded like is "will you take 30% less so I can make a few thousand."

Eventually it sold for asking, because someone was going to drive and own what was offered.

Carmax.

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:
Almost makes it worth getting shafted by a dealer just to avoid the hassle.

I came to that same conclusion years ago. I don't need the aggravation.

I sold the BMW back in November for WELL under value just to get rid of it.

I got my asking price within a day. However there were literally hundreds of arrogant low ballers DEMANDING I hold the car for them. I finally sold it to the first "I'll take it", a soldier that wanted a summer toy for his girlfriend.

99% of the low ballers I checked out were from these little shit car lots that I figured their check wouldn't clear regardless.

Minimal hassle as far as I'm concerned for what you profited by your efforts.

I'll give you one that takes the cake. About 15 years ago I was selling a 1998 15' Boston whaler with aluminum trailer and repowered with a clean 70 hp evinrude that was a few years old, boat was clean and turn key and everything worked. I used it for 2 years. I had a customer in Peru that gave me a solid offer of $7,000 cash when he came to the U.S. in 2 months..........if I had it when he came.

Boat was worth that all day long but I listed it for sale, listing clearly showed everything on the boat etc. So this guy gets me to come out on a Sunday to where I had the boat stored......I told him the entire scenario above and that I'd take $6500 cash, firm, now. Guy comes out, has me do a compression test on it, has me start it on the hose, etc. Then starts saying that the motor isn't a 4 stroke, that it doesn't have a bimini top etc. etc. and that he'll give me $3800 for it. I told him to leave immediately and never call me back. My Peru guy came like 45 days later, paid $7k for it and asked me if I could throw in towing it 1 hour to Miami to drop it off at the shipping expediter in the price and done deal.........

Nowadays buyers are even much much worse.

Carmax is easy but they will give you less than you could sell for. It comes down to priorities, time, money, hassle. Pick what’s important to you and don’t dwell on it after that.

Question. How did you identify scammers?

I have used marketplace for a few things and have learned to ignore the "is this still available" messages. This weeds out most of the bs. Sold my old MB E430 in a day for more than I paid for it and then the John Deere 318 for what I paid for it in 2 days. Little aggravation for a good payoff.

I have sold a number of motorized things on Craigslist and Marketplace. I've had a few obvious scammers but all-in-all I've been very pleased with the results. Much of your experience is probably based on where you are geographically. Montana is too cold for scammers.

quote:

Inquiry 3: "Will you take $2000 for it?"
Inquiry 4: "Your asking price is ridiculous and you clearly know nothing about selling cars. I can find 100 of that model online with the same miles for under $4000. I'll give you $3800, and you should consider yourself lucky to get it."
Inquiry 5: "Will you take $3000?"
price

I'd be so tempted to reply to these folks along these lines.

Thank-you for your interest in my xzy car. I appreciate your offer but there has been a fast and furious bidding war. The bidding is now up to $8,250. Are you still interested? If yes, I'd need your bid by 4:50. I'm making a final decision today at 5.


In this area we have a CarMax. We can drive it in for an inspection and free quote then see if one of the local dealers will buy the car. Can also contact Carvana and others to see what they offer.

Or, after you get the quote from CarMax (Carvana etc) then you can decide if it's worth the hassle of selling the car on your own.

Easiest way to sell a car without being completely taken:

1) Go to CarMax and get their written purchase offer.
2) Take said offer to the guy across the street with the signs offering $200 over CarMax’s written offer.
3) Sell him your car.

-Rob

In the past you'd have a tire kicker, maybe two, and a chintzer or two. Today is nothing like in the past. Oh my. When I sell something now, I don't even respond to the extreme low balling. I just hit delete. It'll be hour(s) of back and forth and they aren't going to pay the fiddler anyhow. I also use to list it slightly high on purpose that way the buyer can feel spethial about getting some off. These days, the hagglers and everything should be free crowd, I just list the price for said widget, say firm pricing and delete delete delete. If I feel like responding to low ballers it's "If I take a penny less than my asking I'll just keep it". That one line usually fends most of them off.

Last car I sold I traded in. I gave the dealer the price I would take for my car. I had already negotiated the dollar I'd buy the new vehicle for. I did not deviate a cent from either. It took 2.5 months for them to bend the knee. You have to go in knowing it'll take months. I feel for you guys selling shit on the internet. People think they can hurl absolute bullshit offers from their device, hiding behind a screen. You should infuriate them. Set it a little lower than you want. When the first person tries to haggle, raise the got damn price. That's what I'll do next time.

Scammers?

Hah, try selling a Harley Davidson motorcycle on the Internet and you'll get hit with dozens of scammers who come out from under rocks.

Their usual pitch is:"what's your lowest price before we come to pick it up?"

Sold my old beater 2003 Civic last summer. I got the car for free so I wasn't trying to squeeze every penny out of it. Listed it on FB marketplace. Some were obvious flippers, one wanted to know if I had tools to get the hood open (it was stuck closed) and I said I did not even though I did. Not gonna deal with that shit.

After a couple weeks of tire kickers and low ball offers, young guy came by with a trailer to check it out without even talking price. I was asking $500. But he was a cool dude and didn't try to bullshit or low ball me. He said it would be a beater for his GF to drive.

I lowered the price to $400 for him and he was greatly appreciative. Paid me, I signed the title, he loaded it on the trailer he brought and never heard from him again.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Question. How did you identify scammers?

The first one was the old "I'll give you $50 over asking price if you'll consider it sold and remove the ad" schtick. The email I got was word for word the same as on this website:
https://boomerbarry.medium.com...igslist-db593834a4ae
That one came in not 2 minutes after the ad posted.

The next two said that they wanted me to pay for a vehicle history report on a website I'd never heard of. Looked up the websites and, sure enough, scams.

Sigseller, I always state in my ads I will not respond to inquiries asking if it's still available. If the ad is up it's for sale. That eliminates most of those.