your opinion please

[Mike Robinson]

I recently advertised an outboard for sale. A fellow said he was interested, came to look at it while my wife was home and told her he wanted it. The ad stated I was willing to consider trades so he made me a vague offer over the phone wanting to trade some model trains which I neither accepted or declined.

Well before he got back to me to work out a deal another person offered me cash which I accepted. Now the first fellow feels put out because he said he wanted it. He told me that we had a deal and just had to work out what he was going to trade for it.

Perhaps I should have given the first fellow a chance to match or better the second person's offer.

What do you think? Was I unfair to the first fellow?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: your opinion please

Tell him Clarance Arlo Samual Hancock always wins the bid. Also tell him you had no solid over confirmed. How long were you to wait for him? 1 day, week, month, or longer till deal is done it's still for sale unless it is signed on the bottom line.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: your opinion please

Money talks . . . losers walk.

You did the right thing by selling it to someone who was being more direct and working with cash. Since you had not actually worked anything out with the first fellow, you did not have 'a deal'.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: your opinion please

Cash is king - Tell him to quit whining & get over it.

LK

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: your opinion please

money talks. BS walks. if he wanted it he should have bought it not offered trades. when i see something i want i grab it and hang on to it till the deal is reached. walking away from something you really want is a mistake. i found out the hard way and now if its a good deal the deal gets made while im looking at it or holding it.

 

[aspeck]

Re: your opinion please

I don't know ... I think maybe you should have talked with the first guy to see if you could hammer out a deal.... You had the second offer, so you didn't have to negotiate. If you weren't excited about the trains, it was cash or the second guy got it. But you had to play your cards right cuz you didn't want to loose the cash.

 

[Part-time]

Re: your opinion please

No deposit... no deal!

 

[ngt]

Re: your opinion please

It depends on if your ad said, "willing to trade for model trains." If it did, the first guy deserved a shot. If not, well, then he's just tossing out random stuff at you because he most likely doesn't have the cash for the deal anyways. I'd rather not lose the sale.

 

[southkogs]

Re: your opinion please

I don't know ... I think maybe you should have talked with the first guy to see if you could hammer out a deal.... You had the second offer, so you didn't have to negotiate. If you weren't excited about the trains, it was cash or the second guy got it. But you had to play your cards right cuz you didn't want to loose the cash.

Kinda' agree with aspeck (gotta' brown nose the new mod a little, right?) - If you coulda' checked the first deal (real cash instead of trains you weren't interested in), that probably would have been the best. As it sits, I don't think you did anything wrong though.

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: your opinion please

Cash in hand is worth two trains in the bush.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: your opinion please

I don't know ... I think maybe you should have talked with the first guy to see if you could hammer out a deal.... You had the second offer, so you didn't have to negotiate. If you weren't excited about the trains, it was cash or the second guy got it. But you had to play your cards right cuz you didn't want to loose the cash.

I have to go with 'speck too. When I sold my 24' I had a bunch of calls. I made list of who called first and so on. I told the callers where they were on the list, how many had a crack at it first. I would have gone to the 1st guy, told him the situation and let him decide if he still wanted to make a deal that would have been acceptable to you.

Cash in hand is worth two trains in the bush.

That is funny.........

 

[Mike Robinson]

Re: your opinion please

OK Thanks guys.

I know it's besides the point, but the first fellow admitted he wouldn't have come any where near the second fellows offer.

I think in the future I will be sure to make it clear when no deal has made yet and I'm still accepting offers.

 

[marcoalza]

Re: your opinion please

Just ask the guy if he can whistle....

I just knew my friend aspeck would come in with the negotiating skills bit.......You can take the man out of the car showroom but you can take the car showroom out of the man......

 

[aspeck]

Re: your opinion please

I just knew my friend aspeck would come in with the negotiating skills bit.......You can take the man out of the car showroom but you can take the car showroom out of the man......

Hey marco, you should have seen the poor saleman when I bought my last new to me ride a few weeks ago ... the poor guy was stuttering and whimpering when I left! LOL!

Back to our regularly scheduled program ... cash is king and I don't think you did anything "wrong" but just that it might have been handled better ... would have been the same result since the first guy couldn't have put up what the second guy did, just nice to give the first guy a chance. All good in the end, though.

 

[colbyt]

Re: your opinion please

Legally you are in the clear.

Morally IMO you are also.

Maybe could have been handled better. It is never a good idea to **** off people who know where you live.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: your opinion please

I don't think it's your job to babysit potential buyers, and my guess is if he's still calling you and pestering you, he isnt anyone you should be taking calls from again. Move on, and my guess is, you have.
I had a boat for sale, priced to move and had all 6 buyers show up at the same time, turned into a bidding war, ended up getting quite a bit more than asking price.

 

[jkust]

Re: your opinion please

I'll tell you what irks me is when I do show up, make the offer and the guy says that someone else is on their way to look or that someone else is contemplating making an offer and decline my cash. That's happened to me over and over and over. Their's crap buyers and then there's people who are serious. Showing up, without cash and offering some toys is to me a crap buyer. When it comes to dealing with the flaky public, having money doesn't seem to always win the day. Did you do the right thing...yes and I hope mr. choo choo train learns something. What a putz he is.

 

[drrpm]

Re: your opinion please

The first guy with the cash gets the merchandise. I'll make some allowance for friends or people I've dealt with before, but there are too many unreliable looky lous among the random potential buyers.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: your opinion please

Depends on if you feel you done something wrong or not. My opinion is useless in this matter. You had nothing solid with the first prospective buyer other than he wanted it and you were willing to accept a possible trade. The second buyer had cash in hand and you took it. I see no wrong doings here.

Personally, I can understand why the first guy feels slighted. But you sold it and it's gone, and what's done is done.
You sold it, you got the money, I would leave it at that.
I tried to do a favor for a co-worker once who said he was in need of a riding mower and offered him my old one for nothing, all he had to do was come get it, since I had upgraded. After 6 months I quit asking if he was coming over to get it on the weekend and figured it was too high a price for him. A year and a half later he showed up to get the mower and was upset I didn't hold on to it for 18 months for him.:facepalm:

 

[roscoe]

Re: your opinion please

In the future, when the"first guy" comes back, you tell him "no longer for sale, decided to keep it. period. and .


Saves all the aggravation, explaining, and excuse making.