Selling and timewasters

Ricardo G

This may seem obvious but i recently put my car up for sale at a price that could not be beaten and have had nothing but timewasters contact me since !! Do people ever read adds anymore ?? or do they just look at the pics and the price ?? I always put NO TEXTS , NO TIMEWASTERS AND NO PRIVATE NUMBERS and guess what i get all of the above !! Then theirs the "whats your best price calls"
Any good tips for dealing with this?
I try not to reply to texts but am aware that it may be a genuine enquiry and the same goes for private numbers, then theirs the people that organise a time and place to meet you and never turn up or have the decency to let you know their not coming !! I realise everyone puts up with this when selling but i'm sick to the teeth of it

taintabird

NO TEXTS , NO TIMEWASTERS AND NO PRIVATE NUMBERS


In fairness when I see that on an add I wont even bother to ring about it, but part of me wants to call and wind up the advertiser just because its there I am sure its the same for others

Topdeck

When i see an ad saying no texts private numbers or timewasters,it gives me the impression the seller is an asshole so i wouldnt bother ringing.By the way whats wrong with privite numbers,are you hiding from some one.People also expect not to pay full asking price when buying a car so so dont get pissed off when they ask whats your bottom price.

andyseadog

as above really, i find any advert with 'no timewasters, no texts, no private numbers' just gives me the impression the person placing the advert is a cnut and i certainly wouldnt even consider buying an item from them because they've already given an impression that they are difficult to work with.

i mean who really sits there and thinks 'oh, im only a timewaster, i better not phone that guy'. a timewaster isint clever enough to realise they are a timewaster, so telling them not to phone is like telling a newborn baby to stop crying, it just isint intelligent enough to work that out!

Conor_M1990

tell them to come look at the car and you will talk money in Person

andyseadog

also, i quite recently placed a for sale advert on donedeal for a set of alloy wheels i no longer need, and if i do say so particularly nice alloy wheels they are, with brand new brand name tyres.

i placed said advert, gave an accurate description stating any marks scuffs, summed up the condition and named my price. i also left several accurate pictures showing the few marks and the tyre thread depth.

i took the approach not to mention 'no texters, timewasters, messers, not interested in swaps etc'. and my holy good jesus christ they are coming in their droves! biblical proportions of fcukheads!

i would say i have had literally in the ballpark of 50 or so people calling, texting and emailing about the wheels.

one person text to see did i want to swap them for a clutch kit. that was it, they didnt even mention what car it was for. literally 'would you swap the alloys for a clutch kit'

another texter wanted to see did i want to swap them for 3 sets of other alloys.

another wondered could he trade in his old wheels off them.

numerous, i dare say countless texts saying 'whats the lowest you would take for the alloys', to which i made a standard reply ' i'l knock a couple of quid off if you have to travel a good distance to get here, but if your seriously interested in them, come view them, then we'l talk money'. i now call it the text of death because nobody ever replys to it, probably because i didnt instantly knock the price down to 50 quid.

one chap showed excellent interest, just to tell me he might buy them when he sells his own alloys he has for sale!

people texting from donegal and the west (im on the wicklow/ wexford border) would you fancy meeting me half way with them? fcuk off!

people saying, 'whats the lowest you would go', to which i say make me a reasonable offer, to which they say, 'ah i dont want to insult you', to which i kindly say, then you dont want to buy these wheels! why do people phone enquiring about something that is miles out of their price range.

look people, the asking price is there, thats what i want for the wheels, no texts, no views if you dont have sodding cash, no dreamers, no timewasters, no bargain hunters, no messers, serious interest only please!! but i dare not write that in the advert.

i suppose its partially the nature of the item im selling thats attracting the timewasters :mad:

Gumbo

Ricardo G wrote: »

This may seem obvious but i recently put my car up for sale at a price that could not be beaten and have had nothing but timewasters contact me since !! Do people ever read adds anymore ?? or do they just look at the pics and the price ?? I always put NO TEXTS , NO TIMEWASTERS AND NO PRIVATE NUMBERS and guess what i get all of the above !! Then theirs the "whats your best price calls"
Any good tips for dealing with this?

i dont understand this mentality
when im selling my car i never put any of this crap in my ad.

if a potential buyer wants to text me, they can, if they want to ring on private number they can, if they want to send a messege by pigeon they can, i dont care how they contact me if it leads to a sale!

ive sold 2 cars recently on done deal, an MG ZR and an Audi S3, and both sales were started by text for a day then we met up and they were sold.

taintabird

I will have to say I advertised a few times on done deal mainly cars or bikes and I have to agree with andyseadog, I would say that at least 70% of callers were dreamers or time wasters. The last time I advertised anything on done deal the amount of test pilots that turned up would make your eyes water it was a Yamaha r1 most of these idiots honestly taught I was going to let them loose on 8k worth of super bike ! I wouldnt let most of them on a pedal bike never mind an r1. One guy turned up and agreed with the price straight away on the conditions he could test it to which I replied no problem as long as you hand over the cash first and if he didn't like it or found any fault he would get his cash back when he came back from the test with the bike in the same condition as he left with it. I don't use done deal any more because of the amount of wasters that seem to have nothing better to do other than waste peoples time.

Donedeal doesn't come close to the amount of silly people that reply to adds on adverts.ie, I've sold 5 or 6 cheap cars on donedeal in the last 2 years or so and have rarely encountered a time waster.

Tea 1000

kceire wrote: »

i dont understand this mentality
when im selling my car i never put any of this crap in my ad.

I actually don't understand the mentality of "If I see that in an ad, I immediately skip over it".
I'd ring about any car I was interested in, regardless of what they said in the ad. However, I don't bother putting no texts or no timewasters in it either, cause as said, timewasters will ring anyway. I do however put in "No agencies please" as I hate those f**ks.

giant_midget

Donedeal and Adverts are really bad.

if something im selling is €2,500 this does not mean that i will let it go for €800..Then there is the people who want to have a full blown conversation with texts, I hate this. I would rather someone just pick up the phone!

And this "what is your last price" bullsh1t

I dont see what is wrong with no dreamers/texts/timewasters.

It does aid to filter out some of the stupid people.

Ricardo G

I dont really care what the other people think of me if i put up NO texts/timewasters/private numbers tbh, its stated for a reason. If people are genuinely interested why hide your number?? If people are genuinely interested they'll pick up a phone and ring, texting always results in a discussion that costs you/them more money than a phonecall (its easier to gauge how interested someone is during a call)
I expect to entertain some timewasters but it gets beyond a joke at times tbf. As for "whats your best price"?? Why bother asking this before even enquiring about the cars condition etc ??
Your not selling to make friends with people afterall

andyseadog

As for "whats your best price"?? Why bother asking this before even enquiring about the cars condition etc ??

thank god i wasnt alone in thinking that!

Del2005

Ricardo G wrote: »

I dont really care what the other people think of me if i put up NO texts/timewasters/private numbers tbh, its stated for a reason. If people are genuinely interested why hide your number??

Some companies use private numbers and my land line is private as that's how to go ex-directory, at least that's how I remember it was.

If people are genuinely interested they'll pick up a phone and ring, texting always results in a discussion that costs you/them more money than a phonecall (its easier to gauge how interested someone is during a call)

Maybe they can't hear phone conversations or speak good English.

I expect to entertain some timewasters but it gets beyond a joke at times tbf. As for "whats your best price"?? Why bother asking this before even enquiring about the cars condition etc ??
Your not selling to make friends with people afterall

True

kincaid

i had loads of people ringing on a private numbers to my car advert and were just taking the mick,, most hide their number usually as they are not genuine about buying...

my friend was selling his mitsubishi evo fq 320 and got guys ringing up then coming on weekends to see the car and get a spin in it with no intention of buying..
they could not fault the car at all , never even bid him just said we think about it and never heard from them again..

some people advertise these type of cars with 'no money no test drive' but my mate says you cant expect someone to buy till they drive it ... you just cant win!!!

alias no.9

Any time I've got the what's your lowest price line, I simply reply that the asking price is X, if you want to come and see it and are interested, you can make me an offer and I'm sure we can agree a price. I've used this line selling 6 different cars and only once did the first person to view the car not buy it, and that was only because someone else stumped up the cash before she got back to me. Only one car took more than a week to sell.

I never use the no time wasters, no messers, etc... Only ever no canvassers, ie other people trying to sell me advertising.

Del2005

kincaid wrote: »

some people advertise these type of cars with 'no money no test drive' but my mate says you cant expect someone to buy till they drive it ... you just cant win!!!

If someone is series about buying a car they should have no trouble handing over a large part of the asking price as they are given the keys to the car for a test drive, once it's been agreed beforehand and insurance issues are resolved.

kerten

Del2005 wrote: »

If someone is series about buying a car they should have no trouble handing over a large part of the asking price as they are given the keys to the car for a test drive, once it's been agreed beforehand and insurance issues are resolved.

I disagree unless I am taking car for a weekend to test not for 15 minutes test drive with seller.
What is outcome if seller wanna keep some of the money for his time after deciding not to buy car ?
or
what if car fails during test drive and seller thinks it should be fixed on buyer's expense ?

Seller should sit next to the buyer during test drive and bring one of his big friend with him if he thinks buyers are dodgy.

if seller thinks buyers are dodgy or have no intention of buying car then it is fair to push that kind of requirement to get rid of them

p.s. bike test drives are exception


I always txt sellers to ask car's condition and any common problem it may have in proper english. Then I txt my max offer to guy assuming car is sound. If he is ok with my offer, he will tell me to come and see car without accepting offer. Then I will call him/her to arrange a meeting. I believe no need to waste people's time by haggling on price via txts.

I txt seller just because as a non-native speaker It is not easy for me to communicate sellers with strong accents on cell phone at the beginning. I always bought my cars and rented my apartments by sending txt for the beginning of communication. if seller doesn't wanna reply txt, good luck to seller.

fm

selling anything these days will always attract the dreamers,on the other hand the amount of dodgy sellers on dd is as bad.Went to view a car recently having travelled 40 miles,had been told it had 3 owners with full s history,got there it had 6 previous owners on the v5 and they had "lost"the service book.

-Chris-

My €0.02:


No texts
I wouldn't bother saying this. If I got a text about a car I was selling I'd call them straight back. I wouldn't sell a car by text, or negotiate/answer questions, by text. I'd have no problem with someone using a text to initiate contact.


No timewasters
There's no point in writing this, someone who has no regard for your time will have no problem ignoring your request to not waste your time.
I'd start a conversation with someone on the phone, ask them what they thought of the car, what other cars they were looking at, what they were driving at the moment, general banter to establish a rapport and to gauge their level of interest. You should spot a timewaster by how they respond to these questions.

I'd then set an appointment to view the car. Somewhere close to you (local SC carpark) so you're not too put out if they don't turn up. Call them on the day to ensure they haven't forgotten. Make an effort to ensure you're in control of the situation all the time. Timewasters won't want to jump through your hoops.

I realise this may sound like poor "customer service", but if you value your time they're good tactics to weed out those who aren't committed.


No private numbers
Again, I'd have no issue with this. When they call, ask them for their number so you can call them back. If they won't give it to you, they're not worth dealing with. If they do, then the fact they have it set to private isn't an issue.


What's your best price?
These calls make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, but you have to put up with them - it's just the way some people negotiate. Often when someone doesn't like negotiating or isn't confident in buying a car they'll try to gain some faux control by being pushy or ignorant.
All you can do is not rise to it.

If I was advertising a car for €10k and €9k was my bottom line, I'd say something like "Listen, the price I have online isn't the best price, there's definitely some negotiation room there. I'd probably go to €9,500 or so, but there's no point in getting down to that level of detail until you've seen the car in the flesh.
There could be a mark on it that you feel needs to be fixed, or it could be much cleaner than you'd expect and you'll be happy to pay top money for it. When would you like to come and see it?"

They'll come back with "yeah, but..." but you've gotta just keep restating the line above. They'll either accept it and come and view the car, or they'll get annoyed and hang up and you'll have saved yourself some time.

feelites

its hard to deal with all of those people who text/ring u with the stupid questions

i always give a FULL description of item and they always ask for the things which i mentioned


best callers are:

hi there, do u still have the car?
YES I DO
what milleage is there on the car?
there's 85k
is there any nct or tax?
DID U READ THE AD?
no

then the only thing u can do is to hang up

cant believe this things happens so many many times when u sellin something

pcardin

jesusinaglanza wrote: »

Donedeal and Adverts are really bad.

How is this Donedeal fault? :eek:

"What is your last price?" is the most anoying type of call. I usualy reply 20euro and then hung up as soon as they get excited.

Calls that start with "Hello, my friend" kills me as I know for sure that the next words will be "what's your last price?"

andyseadog

pcardin wrote: »

How is this Donedeal fault? :eek:

who said it was :eek:

-Corkie-

As Roverjames said Adverts is worse. People want to swap for there old washing machine or a used Johnny..:D

hellyeah

i had a set of lowering springs for an integra for sale( im in wicklow and this was on the add.) a guy from belfast texts me looking for my best price and could i meet him in newry? springs were priced at €50
some people:eek:

andyseadog

i had a set of lowering springs for an integra

i was cringing as i read that, every scumbag in the country would want them for 20 euro posted.

cnocbui

andyseadog wrote: »

as above really, i find any advert with 'no timewasters, no texts, no private numbers' just gives me the impression the person placing the advert is a cnut and i certainly wouldnt even consider buying an item from them because they've already given an impression that they are difficult to work with.

i mean who really sits there and thinks 'oh, im only a timewaster, i better not phone that guy'. a timewaster isint clever enough to realise they are a timewaster, so telling them not to phone is like telling a newborn baby to stop crying, it just isint intelligent enough to work that out!

And then you post this two posts later

andyseadog wrote: »

also, i quite recently placed a for sale advert on donedeal for a set of alloy wheels i no longer need, and if i do say so particularly nice alloy wheels they are, with brand new brand name tyres.

i placed said advert, gave an accurate description stating any marks scuffs, summed up the condition and named my price. i also left several accurate pictures showing the few marks and the tyre thread depth.

i took the approach not to mention 'no texters, timewasters, messers, not interested in swaps etc'. and my holy good jesus christ they are coming in their droves! biblical proportions of fcukheads!

...

look people, the asking price is there, thats what i want for the wheels, no texts, no views if you dont have sodding cash, no dreamers, no timewasters, no bargain hunters, no messers, serious interest only please!! but i dare not write that in the advert.

i suppose its partially the nature of the item im selling thats attracting the timewasters :mad:

Are you for real? Are you aware of the meaning of hypocrisy?

Did you ever get what you deserve!

andyseadog

cnocbui wrote: »

And then you post this two posts later




Are you for real? Are you aware of the meaning of hypocrisy?

Did you ever get what you deserve!

im failing to see the hypocrisy?

in the first post i said that i would never view an advert that says 'no timewasters etc'

in my second post i said i recently posted an advert an chose not to mention the whole 'no timewasters' lark at the end of it. and the advert attracted a hell of a lot of timewasters.

so if anything my second post confirmed my first?