buyer's manners

[Richard Cranium]

Hey guys.

Maybe I'm just being a dick, ( feel free to tell me,lol) but I was wondering does it ever get old for other people,dealing with tire kickers, picture collectors,dreamers when selling a car?

Ok, case in point, so last week, I get a email from a guy who saw my add on racingjunk. He asks reasonable questions about the car, and if he could have a few pictures of the usual frame, trunk and such... I of course answer everything, send off the pictures, and hope to hear either way.

Nothing... Now, maybe I am being unreasonable, or am old school, but is it too much to write back, a "Thank you for your time and effort, but not for me."

Am i wrong?

Discuss...

Mike

There's a lot of Richard Craniums out there and unfortunately, not everyone is as courteous as this one. :icon_mrgreen:

 

[Moparsmitty]

It's nice to have someone call or e-mail you back and say "thanks, but not interested." I always try to let people know what's going on just out of common courtesy. If I don't hear from someone I don't let it bother me, I just file it away in case I deal with them again.
Along the same line, what does tighten my jaws a little is when I'm at a swap meet, garage sale or whatever and the seller won't give me a price and then gets all pissy when I make them an offer like I'm lowballing them. It seems like it happens more and more. If you don't like my offer, fine, keep your crap and I'll buy from the next guy that's not an a**hole.

 

[Classy67]

Reading everyones comebacks on this is really interesting. What would we all talk about if we all had the same opinion on everything!! Propwash, I loved that reply. On subject, I would appreciate a comeback of some sort when someone puts time and effort in a reply. Thanks again for another uplifting day on FBBO.

 

[flypaper]

That does not let the seller know that you received the info. I always respond that I received the info and if I am interested as a courtesy.

duh
the seller would know
because after a period of time i would of asked where are the pics?
did you forget me?
or would you not be smart enough to figure that EASY one out?



what i don't get is your selling something
and you feel sending pics is doing someone else a big favor?
and you get mad when your not thanked for it?
cut me a break!
should i also have to kiss your *** and beg to have the oppertunity to
buy something from you also?



pics help THE SELLER more then a buyer and they can make or break a sale.

good pics can put more money in your pocket
for a little investment of time
it is a great tool to HELP SELL your item.
lack of pics will hurt you alot more then help
unless your hiding ugly!

too bad most sellers are too lazy to take time before they list a item
to have plenty of pics ready to go!
instead they will wait until thier asked for them making it a self created
inconvinence they want to be thanked for..

if you sell something,you should already have
alot of pics before you even list the item
that way it is not any kind of chore or going out of your way to send them!

like i said
i thank people for thier time
when i ask for the pics to begin with.. manners done

i don't reply back if i do not like the item or if the pics
just suck outright.
wish i had a dollar for everytime i got crap pics..
i don't even bother asking for more.
why bother,its like pulling teeth
most of the time it saves me from insulting the seller telling him his junk is overpriced
or it is in worse condition then i expect...
i'm sparing your feelings beating up your opinion...manners done again

 

[coloradodave]

It's not tough, but it shouldn't be expected either.

For most of the more experienced sales people, they loved nothing more than seeing a know it all come through the door. They would flock to that guy who would come into their territory boasting about how nobody was going to fool them, make them pay too much, sell them some piece of crap, not give them enough on their trade in, blah, blah, blah. These sales guys had ninja skills at manipulating anyone who walked through the door, and got no greater thrill than high-fiving another salesman after getting some blowhard who had come in the door ranting about how he wasn't going to pay a penny more than $300 a month for something go out the door with a $600 payment and thanking him for the deal. We also loved the "informed buyer" who thought coming through the door with a bunch of KBB pages they printed out at home made them experts on how much a car was worth. These folks you could just spin in circles all day long.

And you wonder why car salesmen have such a bad name. Nobody likes to be played. Common courtesy in dealing with ALL folks will come back as good karma. I'm with you, MikeyT...

 

[MikeyT]

Thanks for the opinions guys.
I think each side has their good points in the argument. However, I do think it comes down to personality traits. Yes, I am a big boy and can handle rejection, and no it isn't like this was one isolated incident, but rather a trend I'm seeing.

Look, I know we all can't hold hands and sing cumbaya, but I was raised to beleive time was sacred, it was the one thing people could give that never could be given back. So if someone is willing to spwend some time helping me or looking into stuff. I always felt it was worth letting people know it is appreciated. Also, I am no saint and will truly admit it, but still when the show is on the other foot, and some guy offers to trade a backhoe, or a chopper for it. I feel at least willing to say thank you, but not interested.

again, that is just me, and my two cents

Mike

 

[shag766]

agree;

pics help THE SELLER more then a buyer and they can make or break a sale.

 

[cngordon]

In the same vein of manners in dealing with others, i love the sellers who advertise "no tire kickers or dickheads" etc. Doesn't matter how many of what I want he has, I would never buy one.

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or "Serious inquiries only"

What qualifies me as serious ? Is it my willingness to participate in an information gathering procedure with him ? Or do I have to have already decided I'll pay his price, and not question the item's worthiness before I even continue forward ?

Does my purchasing time frame have to match his desired selling time frame to be considered serious ? I frequently spend weeks or months gathering information about items before I purchase. I may look at 1 or a few or dozens. I'm polite in my dealings with potential sellers, and do not leave them any untruthful expectations, but feel no obligation to follow up with them after unless I have stated I will be doing so.

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And having tried to make it sound like I make intelligent shopping decisions in my previous post, I also have to admit that I was perusing ebay, saw my car, went into some kind of a trance and woke up 2000 miles from home in another country, having handed over a substantial amount of cash and driving a 40 year old car towards home.

 

[wahya]

What if you were selling something in person and someone walked up and asked for more info and you spent the time and effort to get it and then without a word that person turned and walked off. I'm sorry, I was just not raised that way. How long does it take to send e-mail no thank you.

 

[roadrunnerman]

As the seller of a car that was recently bought by another member (99ss) here, I posted in the ad that the car came with most of the parts needed to put the car back together. Chris and I have talked on the phone discussing matters. After chris sent the money we talked and I said I would give him an inventory of parts that were going with the car. I have posted that list here for him and all to see. Also as a bonus to him I posted photos of most of those parts. Did I have to do that, no I didn't but as the seller I thought it would it would be a nice effort on my part to show chris that I appreciated that he bought my car. I am actually excited for chris to get the car so he can start working on it and I know for him that it cannot get there soon enuf for him.

If the seller puts up more pictures of the car, (not just one of the car and one of the interior) the buyer says his thank you from buying the car and talking with the seller on the phone or thru e-mails. Are there always going to be tire kickers, picture collectors, and low ballers, probably, but if the seller puts up enuf photos first, they can eliminate most of those from the start.

Are we tire kickers here, in a way we are when we look at the ads posted by other members here, we look at the ads for sale. Whether we buy the part/car or not. But as a whole (FBBO members) we know what we want or what to look for.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Everybody's a tire kicker. Only a dumbass buys something without askin questions or checkin it out.

 

[Bruzilla]

And you wonder why car salesmen have such a bad name. Nobody likes to be played. Common courtesy in dealing with ALL folks will come back as good karma. I'm with you, MikeyT...

You know what the first thing I learned at that dealership was? The only folks who lie more than the salesmen are the customers. You want to talk about playing? You should spend some time listening to the tales the customers tell! They really do put the salesmen to shame. Everything from their intention to buy, to their credit, to the condition of their trade-in, to how much they can afford to pay, to what kind of vehicle they want, to what offer they'll accept... you name it and customers will lie about it.

The reason the experienced sales guys loved to play the know-it-alls was because the know-it-alls always thought they were the ones who were going to play the sales people. It's like a baseball team showing up at a football field thinking they're going to kick the football teams' asses on their home field. Not very smart. The folks who ended up with the best deals were the ones who came in, discussed what they wanted, and didn't try to play games.

 

[Budnicks]

agree;

pics help THE SELLER more then a buyer and they can make or break a sale.

also an accurate honest discription, location of where the car/parts etc. is... helps a bunch too

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Budnicks, you got an answer for everything man...lol I could be trapped in a burning plane spiraling towards the ocean, stuck in my seat, upside down and in the dark. A few paragraphs from you later..Walla.......Stranded on a tropical island with the Hawaiian Punch girls.

LMFAO that was funny, well I try, maybe I don't come across so well, but you always will get an honest opinion...LOL... maybe even a solution sometimes, hey share the Hawaiin Punch girls now...

 

[RustyRatRod]

EXACTLY. No reason to treat online trasactions any differently. It's called common courtesy and you nailed hell out of it.

What if you were selling something in person and someone walked up and asked for more info and you spent the time and effort to get it and then without a word that person turned and walked off. I'm sorry, I was just not raised that way. How long does it take to send e-mail no thank you.

 

[Bruzilla]

The crux of the question is not what is the right or the wrong thing to do. That's obvious to most of us. The crux is whether you should bother being upset when someone does the wrong thing, and I think the answer to that is no.

 

[pabster]

Great thread.

I haven't bought that many vehicles from private parties... my Charger was one of the few. The whole transaction went the way it's supposed to, I guess. The guy posted on CL, I emailed him that I was interested and did he have any more pictures or info. He responded promptly with both. I looked over what he'd sent, called him to double check he was not a total weirdo, set up a time to come by his house. I was on time, he was there, the car was ready to go. He hadn't started it up that day per my instructions, since I wanted to see it cold start. It looked great, it drove great, he was a respectful, nice guy.

Got back to his house, I haggled a bit but wasn't a tool, we met at a price that was lower than what he was asking, higher than what I countered with. I told him I would bring a cashier's check the next day for the full amount, he said he'd have the pink slip ready. Both of us did what we said we would. He got paid, I bought the car.

Saw him at a car show a year later, he was ecstatic that I'd taken good care of his old car, we chatted Mopar for awhile and parted friends. Can't ask for a better experience.

The reason I bored you all with this story is to point out that I'm younger than some on this board, (around 40!?!) and I know how to be respectful and how to deal with other people. Not all of us young 'uns are on our cell phones all the time being dicks to everyone else. That's not to say there aren't plenty of people out there, mostly younger, who have their heads up their asses as to how to interact with others, but there are a few of us good ones. But on the bitch and moan side, a few things that I hate when looking at buying a car...

I can't stand when I respond to an ad asking for more pictures and info, and I get attitude back. I have received emails back saying stuff like "What's with all the questions? You interested, come see it!" or "I'm not going to waste my time sending you more pictures." I immediately stop bothering when I get replies like this. I don't expect the seller to be my slave, but if you can't be polite and email answers to normal car questions, or supply more pictures, then good luck selling anything.

I test drove an old Benz one time, and it ran outta gas on the test drive. Fuel indicator was shot, and seller was the biggest dumbass ever. I jumped outta the car on the side of the road, demanded $10 for cab fare, and hailed one down. Grrrr. :angryfire:

As far as dealerships go, I've seen good and very very bad. I'm one of those buyers that comes in prepared to walk, which I think is the greatest tool in the buying arsenal. I never come into a dealership desperate, I never have my heart set on one car, and I always walk when dealers turn up the BS heat. I wrote down an offer on a piece of paper one time, handed it to a Sales Manager, and he leapt up and shook my hand, saying sarcastically "Thank you SO MUCH for this offer!" I walked. He called me 10 minutes later begging me to come back, and I declined. Bought the car I wanted at a nearby dealership the next day for the price I wanted. I find being respectful and polite to salesmen works in your favor, since you can give them a hard time when they get snippy. My favorite line, "Why are you getting upset? I'm calm. I just want to buy a car. Don't you want to sell me a car?"

The best line I got was a salesman who said "I got 3 kids! I gotta make some money on this deal!" I said "You kids are not a part of this negotiation. I could care less if you have kids." He got super pissed and yelled at me. I got an even better deal that time, since I kept using his disrespect against his manager. Heh heh.

Good luck out there, go get them deals! :headbang:

 

[tpodwdog]

The crux of the question is not what is the right or the wrong thing to do. That's obvious to most of us. The crux is whether you should bother being upset when someone does the wrong thing, and I think the answer to that is no.

...........the crux of the bisquit.....is the apostrophe'

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Pabster....that is a great way to handle things....kudos to you !

 

[Moparsmitty]

The crux of the question is not what is the right or the wrong thing to do. That's obvious to most of us. The crux is whether you should bother being upset when someone does the wrong thing, and I think the answer to that is no.

True wisdom spoken by Bruzilla. It's like my dad used to say "If your going to get all pissed off every time you run into some a**hole, You're going to be pissed off a lot."

 

[99ss]

:iamwithstupid: IMHFO Just suck it up, deal with it, it's part of the way things are now... BUT there in-lies the biggest part of our problem, not just in selling or buying products, but the Nation as a whole or the fabric we are now weaving & especially in our youth... They're either not being taught any morals or common decency in the 1st place or just don't care {way too often}, or way too many using just/only social media, Forums, Blogging, Texting, Twitter, My-Space, E-mail or what ever the newest social media craze or is the next newest fad {way too often}, they care more about their damn I-Pad or I-Phone what ever the newest electronic devise is, working out their thumbs, than actually confronting or talking to another human-being, too lazy & not even picking up a damn telephone, that they have in their hand or pocket/purse, "all damn day anyway" & call someone or just walk up-to someone & actually talk to them person to person, instead of E-Mail or Texting or some other of the many lame Social media to hide behind, were dumbing down American youth, breeding spineless scared bunch of pu--ies/wimps, to afraid to hurt someones feelings in-person, with all the PC sh-t or for them to actually have a conversation with someone else & discuss what you do or don't like about a purchase {unless they bitch or rave about it it, on some social media} or even to have a personal relationship or what ever, especially without using the Internet to find a date or dating site, with all this lack of personal human contact crap, just to keep in touch or converse with others, they call them "friends", I have X-amount of friends even, what a freaken' joke, they aren't "REAL" friends...LOL... they have completely lost the personal HUMAN touch/contact, they don't know how to interact with other human-beings, let alone lack of morals & common decency or were never even taught them in the 1st place, by lousy, selfish, uninvolved parents, that were raised the same way... rant over, carry on

Is that really all one sentence?? LOL

 

[MarPar]

^^^yup. at least Buds used commas!! lol