unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

[bruceb58]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

WOW, I realy strted something here!

Good thread...thought provoking. Interesting about various peoples views of negotiating.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I walked away on someone not too long ago in mid sentence. I asked if we could negotiate on the price. I made 2 offers and he said "keep going"!?!?? So I turned and walked away.

OK...that would be annoying. I would have handed the guy a card with my number on it and told him to call me if he decided to sell it for my offer price.

 

[RobbyA]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

O.K. all, then why do people get offended by low ball offers? If I am trying to figure out your rock bottom price, I am obviously going to low ball. If you have something for sale for 1000.00 and I offer 900.00 then I am probably going to get it, but if I offer 250.00 they get offended. I am trying to figure out how low you will go. That is the whole point of negotiating. I bought my boat by making a low ball offer and the guy took it without blinking. He wanted 4500.00, I offered him 2000.00 and was ready to negotiate but he took it. He tried to get me to come up on my offer once but I stood firm, truth is I was willing to pay 4000.00 for it. Low balling gave me room to go buy stuff and have fun on the rest of the money. I actually love the art of negotiating and a lot of people find it more of a confrontation.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I had a call on a motor I'm asking $1000 for. He asked my lowest and I said $800. He told me he'd call back, but he won't. Would I go less, maybe knock $50 more off, but if he came and offered $500 I'd be a little put off.

 

[jbing81]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

O.K. all, then why do people get offended by low ball offers? If I am trying to figure out your rock bottom price, I am obviously going to low ball. If you have something for sale for 1000.00 and I offer 900.00 then I am probably going to get it, but if I offer 250.00 they get offended. I am trying to figure out how low you will go. That is the whole point of negotiating. I bought my boat by making a low ball offer and the guy took it without blinking. He wanted 4500.00, I offered him 2000.00 and was ready to negotiate but he took it. He tried to get me to come up on my offer once but I stood firm, truth is I was willing to pay 4000.00 for it. Low balling gave me room to go buy stuff and have fun on the rest of the money. I actually love the art of negotiating and a lot of people find it more of a confrontation.

I guess it depends on how hard up for cash the person is. When I sell something I check around for comparable prices and the price accordingly. I figure I get around 15-20% less for negotiating but tats it! I try to be fair but I'm not going to give it away...

 

[45Auto]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

but if he came and offered $500 I'd be a little put off.

Why? Is it that hard to say no? If I were really willing to take $750 as you implied you would, I would tell him some more that $800 was as low as I could go. If he goes to $800, great. I wouldn't drop the other $50 unless he started to walk off. If at that point he doesn't want it for $750 I'd let him walk.

 

[apache61]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Sold a bass boat a few years back, we met at a bass pro. He brought his ace boat mechanic with he did a compression test batt. amp draw test checked everything out, pumps lights and all. They didn't want to take it out on the water they ran out of time be for something. 2 hour drive home and 2 hours later I get a call. I want my money back your Damn boat won't move all it dose is rev up. After an hour trying to tell them to not push in on the neutral lock I told them OK we will meet at the same place in two days. Next day I get a call WOW the boat runs great I am happy with the deal. Some times an ace is not the high card in the deck!

 

[TahoeQ4Pilot]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with someone asking what the bottom line is as part of a negotiation after the person has seen the item and is in a position to actually buy it. Don't call me out of the blue and ask "is x still for sale...what's the least you'll take for it?" Even when someone asks during the negotiation, I will politely respond with "go ahead and make an offer, I won't be offended." Giving away the magic number I would settle for is giving away the upper hand in any negotiation. If you offer less than the magic number I have in my head, then I will politely decline and possibly make a counteroffer.


Just my opinion...

If I may jump in, this post reinforces the OPs original beef. I suggest BTJ (and others) are savvy salesman and negotiators, and any buyer who goes up against them will have to be on their game.

But if I may suggest as a buyer, not every seller has BTJs skill. Some folks just dont like to dicker with prices, or with a little up-front pressure may cave by blurting out their rock-bottom price. Now I agree it is not all too smart....but just like there are some lackluster buyers, surely there are some sellers cut from the same cloth?

I think I would have a tough time buying from the experienced crowd here on iBoats, but one day I may luck in to the buy of the century just by asking the right questions to a weak-willed seller.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

So at what point do you decide to run the motor? Before or after you negotiated a price? So if someones comes and says they would like you to run the motor you won't run it?

if they have cash in hand, yes I'll run it. My method might not be for everyone but it saves me a lot of wasted time. Ive never had to sell any items in the past because I was hurting for cash or to make a mortgage pmt. or anything else of that nature. So if it sits a few weeks longer, it sits, but the item always sells. And the potential buyer knows this ahead of time, as I put it in the ad. I cant help it if they are stupid and ask redundant questions.

at the point that the person becomes a buyer instead of a tire kicker it's time to fire it up or go for a test drive...... no reason to burn MY gas so he can go get veto'd by his wife or admit he was just looking...


buyer says "well here's the money and if it runs as good as you say I'll buy it"


on the bottom dollar thing..... fact is that it all comes down to manners.... If you tell me that you need to drive a long way and you can't pay my asking price..... I say well what are you thinking..... you say that the most you'd spend is $900 but maybe less if you find anything is less than you like but you are serious and will be prepared to buy on the spot and I say come on and we'll work something out OR I say well just save yourself a trip.

To ask for my bottom dollar is rude because it implys that I'm stupid enough to tell you. Yeah it works sometimes too but that doesn't make it bad manners..... People in this country have the idea that if you annoy or insult 100 people but you make a dollar doing it then you had a good day...

I was raised to believe that if you make $100 but have to be rude to one person then then you have nothing to be proud of..... IE I feel that telemarketers are NOT just doing a job but rather they should be ashamed, just as the guy that lowballs everyone in the hope that he finds a schmuck that doesn't know what he has....

almost nobody holds the door for the next guy or slows to help someone merge. People throw their cigarette butts and other trash out the window. they toss chewing gum on the sidewalk or press it under a table..... Why is it no surprise that manners be lost in negotiation too

 

[Mario1975]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

When I sold my last boat, the guy said he had been boating for years, very familiar with it. Sold it too him, and a week later he calls me and wants his money back because it leaks bad. This boat was my baby, I guarantee, it didn't leak a drop. Yup, you guessed it - for all his years of experience, he didn't know you have to put the plug in!

That is a good one ! You may answer :" Run fast and it will be OK !!! "

Sometimes, a stupid question deserves a stupid answer !

 

[crackedglass]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Lately I've been running into another type of seller.
I answered an ad on CL and the guy said the boat was still for sale and gave me his address. The boat had been listed for a month, I was mainly interested in the motor but it was a decent turn key package for under a grand.
I drove about an hour to go see it, he had it ready to run when I got there, and he said that I was the first to show up to look at it.
I told the guy that I'd take it, and at the same time another buyer showed up, the guy then told me that the boat was sold since the other guy had emailed him first a few weeks ago. Needless to say my reaction to that wasn't very friendly to say the least. He was already to sign over the title when the other guy showed up and he sold the boat to him for the same price.
I got the impression he was looking for a higher offer, but that wasn't going to happen. The boat remained listed for another 3 months, so I knew that the boat didn't actually sell. He called me about 4 months later, during the middle of winter and asked me if I was still interested in that boat and that it was again for sale for $500 more than he had listed it for. I pretty much told the guy where he could stick his boat. I've since watched it listed several times since at various crazy prices.

The boat itself is old, the trailer borderline, but the motor was a later model 4 stroke. I'm not sure what his game is but he still has the boat, and still keeps listing it from time to time. I emailed him once since from my email address and he gave the same reply he gave me the first time saying I was the first to email about it.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

at the point that the person becomes a buyer instead of a tire kicker it's time to fire it up or go for a test drive...... no reason to burn MY gas so he can go get veto'd by his wife or admit he was just looking...:

Interesting...My present boat that I bought was 2 hours drive for me. I had him start it before we even talked about money. If he refused to start it, he wouldn't have sold the boat to me that day. I would have walked and gone on to the other 5 boats I was going to look at. The boat was already on the market for 5 months with no takers. Seems to me he did the smart thing.

Let's use another example. Let's say you were in the market for a used truck so you went down to the local auto dealer's used truck lot. You see something you might like to buy and ask for a test drive. The salesman says you can after you come in and haggle out the price and how you are going to pay for it. Are you going to stick around and go through that BS or are you going to find another used car lot.

No different with a boat and in fact there are tons of boats to go look at these days...more than ever. Its a buyers market. Anything you do to make it tougher for you to sell just doesn't make any sense at all. Its your boat obviously and you can do whatever you want. Takes me all of 5 minutes to hook up my hose to a boat and turn it on. I gueess I am willing the spend the $1 worth of gas to idle it up for the guy. Am I missing something here or does this just defy all logic?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

well now don't get me wrong... I am plenty accomodating to a prospective buyer but If I think they are just wasting my time I have no problem sending them down the road.... If you drove two hours to look at my boat and there were some reason it was inconvenient to start it (winterized, in barn, whatever) then we would talk a bit first.... If it's summer and the hose is right there then sure look it over and if you're still interested we'll fire it up.... If you wanted a sea trial I would gladly agree.... you make a down payment of just enough to cover the fuel.

I have no problem proving what I have to a buyer but the tire kickers around here will bleed you dry if you let em

I had a guy show up in a honda civic to test drive a truck I was selling and wanted to take it to town and put two peices of plywood in it to "test how it hauls a load" and drop them at his house before he came back to "buy it if it worked well"

I told him I had some plywood in the shed he could haul around the block...... he stammered for another angle for a minute or so and then just said he'd think about it and left

 

[bruceb58]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

at the point that the person becomes a buyer instead of a tire kicker it's time to fire it up or go for a test drive...... no reason to burn MY gas so he can go get veto'd by his wife or admit he was just looking...

buyer says "well here's the money and if it runs as good as you say I'll buy it"

Well according to the other poster that you quoted and who I thought you were agreeing to, he was suggesting that the guy had to have cash in hand. I certainly didn't have $20K or $28K(his asking price) in my hand when I went to look at the boat.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

well no but obviously you had the ability to get it and the ability to make the decision..... LOTS of folks I've dealt with have neither and that's a much more expensive boat than most of us are talking about....
in that case I'd settle for "well let's fire it up and if it runs as good as you say I'll make a trip to the bank and buy it"
the last two I sold went for 500 each... they were sailboats. one was a hobie 16 and the other was a sunfish.... just about everyone wanted to see the sails up on the hobie and I told em that I would be happy to rig the boat for it's new owner and I showed them pictures... a couple said they'd have to ask their wife... most understood and said they'd think about it and on the 3rd day a guy brought money and we spent an hour rigging it and breaking it down.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Lately I've been running into another type of seller.
I answered an ad on CL and the guy said the boat was still for sale and gave me his address. The boat had been listed for a month, I was mainly interested in the motor but it was a decent turn key package for under a grand.
I drove about an hour to go see it, he had it ready to run when I got there, and he said that I was the first to show up to look at it.
I told the guy that I'd take it, and at the same time another buyer showed up, the guy then told me that the boat was sold since the other guy had emailed him first a few weeks ago. Needless to say my reaction to that wasn't very friendly to say the least. He was already to sign over the title when the other guy showed up and he sold the boat to him for the same price.
I got the impression he was looking for a higher offer, but that wasn't going to happen. The boat remained listed for another 3 months, so I knew that the boat didn't actually sell. He called me about 4 months later, during the middle of winter and asked me if I was still interested in that boat and that it was again for sale for $500 more than he had listed it for. I pretty much told the guy where he could stick his boat. I've since watched it listed several times since at various crazy prices.

The boat itself is old, the trailer borderline, but the motor was a later model 4 stroke. I'm not sure what his game is but he still has the boat, and still keeps listing it from time to time. I emailed him once since from my email address and he gave the same reply he gave me the first time saying I was the first to email about it.

put a smile on my face to know he got stuck with it!

 

[Beefer]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

derailed....

it was more fun reading about the silly things people say

 

[25thmustang]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Why? Is it that hard to say no? If I were really willing to take $750 as you implied you would, I would tell him some more that $800 was as low as I could go. If he goes to $800, great. I wouldn't drop the other $50 unless he started to walk off. If at that point he doesn't want it for $750 I'd let him walk.

I'm sure I will catch a lot of flack, but the motor is not at my house. I have to go out of my way to show it, and if someone asks me what my bottom line is, and is then interested at or at least close to that price, I'm all for showing it. If someones asks my bottom dollor, has NO intention of even coming close to it, I would prefer not wasting the drive, time and effort on that person. I have had those types, they ask, you tell, then they offer 50% of your bottom line, with no intention of offering more. If you know ahead of time the persons "bottom dollor", don't waste there time by showing up, looking the thing over top to bottom, and then offering a lot less, and sticking with it saying thats all you have for cash.

Funny, I bought my first boat asking his bottom line. I paid his bottom line. Could I have negotiated more, sure, but he put out a price I wanted to pay for it, and we both left happy.

 

[korygrandy]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

My realtor told me I made an "insult offer". 6 months later the only one insulted was her. Too bad she was no longer my realtor. Double insult.

I was selling my chevy pickup, reason for selling: I want a newer pickup. Craigslist offer: Will you trade for a chrysler 300C, I'm really in need of a truck and these 3800's last forever.

Gee, so does my 5.3l but how the hell am I going to haul a 76" piece of insulated glass with your Chrysler 300c? Told him if he could make it 1 block with the glass on his car I would consider the trade. He did e-mail back to remind me I had a sharp looking truck.

Now if we are talking truly "unbelievable" as the OP states. My half-brothers sisters cousin from zimbabwe will send you a money order for thousands more than your asking price...blah blah blah need I say more.

 

[JoLin]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Well according to the other poster that you quoted and who I thought you were agreeing to, he was suggesting that the guy had to have cash in hand. I certainly didn't have $20K or $28K(his asking price) in my hand when I went to look at the boat.

I think you need to use a little different when you're talking about a 'big bucks' item. When i bought my boat from the broker, we negotiated the price, and I put down 10% pending the results of a survey and sea trial. The seller could then line up other buyers if he want to, but I had first right of refusal.

If either the survey or trial turned up an issue, we could negotiate repairs, or I could take my money back and walk away. If everything worked as advertised, I was obligated to complete the purchase at the agreed-upon price.

I thought it was fair.

My .02

PS- I'm also annoyed by 'what's your bottom line' cold calls. I tell them it's the advertised price, but encourage them to come see it... maybe then we can talk.