Facebook/Marketplace Communication skills.

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lilshawn:

--- Quote from: Mike A on April 20, 2023, 01:40:39 pm ---Meh.

Answering a few questions by text requires very little mental or physical energy.

--- End quote ---

answering questions about the item (yes it's in good condition, works just fine, i just bought something newer) is absolutely fine. but a far cry from dealing with tire kickers who make it seem they are not really genuinely interested and faff about with questions answered in the original ad posting and then humming an hawing about when they might be driving within 10 feet of my house in the next few weeks on their semi-monthly shopping trip cause they dont want to waste the gas to drive unless they are already.

i dunno, i guess i just hate anyone that expends energy farting around instead of just getting it done. i go to the store i get exactly what i need and GTFO. i don't look around and wonder if i should buy this one or that one. car dealership sales people hate me. i know what i want before i ever leave my house, i'll show up with a stock number and a price and if i can't get exactly what i want. kthxbai!

RandyT:
Very likely, in the mind of the potential buyer, you as a seller are "guilty until proven innocent". Too many scammers out there nowadays to be naive about things. If you are too busy to make the buyer feel comfortable that you aren't trying to rip them off, then you probably can't be bothered to follow through with the sale and will be wasting their time.

If I contact a private seller and it takes several days for them to respond, or they don't bother at all, that throws up huge red flags. Unless they are a business, they aren't being inundated with requests and should be able to handle inquiries about the one or two items they might be selling. Likewise, delays usually mean multiple interested parties, and waiting several days to respond usually means A: they are juggling potential buyers, perhaps in an attempt to maximize the sale price and/or B: Someone has backed out of the purchase for some reason, which is a likely indicator of an issue with the item or the inability to haggle with the seller to address them.

Do things the way you want, but ignore the warning signs at your own peril. :cheers:

BadMouth:
I have been ripped off twice buying things where the seller lied about the item being in working condition, but the amazing deal I got recently made up for it.

The funny (lucky) part is that the items were probably only still available due to the seller's poor communication.
The listing was vague. Just said custom maple raised panel kitchen cabinet doors, many sizes, $25, and had a couple pictures of single doors. I assumed it was $25 per door.
I thought about looking into them for a future kitchen remodel, but passed because it was so vague about exactly what they had.

A couple weeks later my dishwasher leaked and ruined the subfloor. I wasn't about to put the 1960's cabinets back in after replacing the subfloor.
I emailed the seller to see if the doors were still available, how tall the upper cabinet doors were and how much for the whole lot.
They were still available, "lots of different sizes", and $50. I wondered if it was originally $25 for the whole lot, but they thought I was stupid for asking when the listing said $25 and doubled the price.
Whatever, I could risk $50 on something I might end up not using.

I get to there (to a McMansion) and it thousands of dollars worth of custom woodworking. A huge kitchen's worth of brand new raised panel maple doors and dovetailed drawers. Only nitpick was the door centers were MDF so they'd have to be painted. The people had had some kind of falling out with their contractor and he was no longer answering their calls. They were wealthy enough to take the $5k hit and just wanted the stuff out of their garage. They even threw in the primer and paint, although I ended up not using it.

Maple plywood (for carcasses), router bits (for resizing), hardware, finishes, etc. added up to about $2k.
Not sure the juice was worth the squeeze if you include my time, but ended up with top quality cabinets for less than ikea ones would have cost.
It took a LOT of time because it was my first time building cabinets and I couldn't afford to waste any materials.
I still have half the doors/drawers left over. I could sell them for a few hundred bucks with a proper listing, but am keeping them for future projects.

pbj:
Reading this thread… I mean… if the one common factor in your inability to communicate with others and complete deals on Facebook Marketplace is you… then maybe you might… nah, couldn’t be.

:dunno

I’m glad the cabinets worked out but you paid those people $50 to haul off a bunch of scrap it would have cost them hundreds to dispose of otherwise. Win-win obviously but you did save them a lot of hassle.

RandyT:

--- Quote from: BadMouth on April 23, 2023, 09:19:04 am ---A couple weeks later my dishwasher leaked and ruined the subfloor. I wasn't about to put the 1960's cabinets back in after replacing the subfloor.
I emailed the seller to see if the doors were still available, how tall the upper cabinet doors were and how much for the whole lot.
They were still available, "lots of different sizes", and $50. I wondered if it was originally $25 for the whole lot, but they thought I was stupid for asking when the listing said $25 and doubled the price.

--- End quote ---

Given that a couple of weeks had passed, I would bet that it started out at $25 per door. They obviously wanted it gone, so my guess is that because it didn't move right away, they gave you the whole pile for $50. Congrats on the score!

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