DoneDeal headmelters

Another one that gets me is the offer of "CASH"....followed by big paused over the phone. Of course as I have being offered "CASH" for my already low value but well priced car that I am selling as a private individual I should be eternally grateful as it is the holy grail of an offer that I shouldn't even think of refusing. Notwithstanding that the offer of "CASH" is about one third of my asking price on an already very well priced car.
No doubt if I were to accept and a muppet like that were to show up he would try to knock down the price more because of some cosmetic issue that was already well documented in the ad. I'm all for doing a bargain and a deal with somebody genuine but that kind of muppetry annoys me.

Had a trailer around the yard here, not used it in a couple of years so said I'd sell it before it just rusted away. Needed new suspension but other than that body was in good nick. Worth a few hundred, wasn't selling it to make money, more to get rid of it.

Anyway put the ad up on donedeal around 1pm one day just as I was heading to lunch. No sooner did I click submit than the phone was hopping with lads from as far away as Rathkeale, ready to leave now if I agreed to a 50% discount there and then.

I soon realised my error and took the ad down. That didn't stop the calls, I took a few and let the lads in the office experience the variety of accents Ireland has to offer.

Essentially the phone was ringing regularly the rest of the day, with a few follow up calls during the rest of the week who were most disappointed to hear their generous offer was outbid.

Ended up selling it to a dealer nearby for pittance, but worth it for the peace of mind. Won't be putting a trailer up on DoneDeal again.

P.S. I didn't take note of the mobile phone prefixes, would have made for an interesting case study

Had a Passat high line for sale about 3 yrs ago. Didnt want to keep it long so I put it up for a really good price, so good in fact that it was the cheapest/best spec Passat for sale at the time.

1st lad rings and asked about the car, he seemed very interested and was going to come see the car the following day, happy out I said I’d hold it for him to get down. He rang the following day to tell me his lift had let him down and he was very interested and had cash in hand and if I had time to bring it to meet him half way he’d not haggle with the price. He was replacing a car he had crashed a few weeks before so I took pity on him a arranged to bring the car from Clonmel to Junction 14 services. We were going to a gig in Dublin so wasn’t a big deal to bring it with us. When we arrived he came over to have a look at the car and immediately started to put the car down, this is wrong, that is wrong, no way it could just have passed the NCT ( car had fresh test a few days before ) after which came the lowball offers of half the asking price. In the end I politely refused and took the car to Dublin. He text me once or twice that night asking if I’d reconsider his offer.

The following day I rang him back and told him that he was probably right about the value of the car and if he was serious about it he would have to meet me in Clonmel. Of course he was straight down the road and was waiting outside the place I had arranged to meet him at and rang him a few times telling him I was running late and could he meet me at work instead so I have him the directions to the local mental hospital, when he got there I told him to go into reception and check himself in as he must me insane if he thought I’d sell him the car for half the asking price...

Unfortunately the same lad had multiple adverts for very cheap horse boxes and power washers online over the next few days. He ended up ringing me begging me to stop as his phone was ringing non stop 😂

Sold the car to a Spanish chap 2 days later for full asking price and he came all the way down from Drogheda on the bus to collect it. I was so shocked to get asking as I always add a little for haggling that I gave him a few quid back for diesel.

Have sold a few cheap cars since I’m DD and in fairness they sold easy enough with no messing. But that lad with the Passat really pissed me off and I swore I’d never travel to meet someone with a car again.

My way of selling is never discuss lowest price etc until the person is there with cash in hand, giving your lowest price over the phone then becomes your asking price and if they find something to haggle about on the car then that’s where your starting.. If someone’s not willing to come see the car then they have no interest at all.

This is it wrote: »

Don't answer.

My attitude to all private numbers whether at work or personal business - ignore.

T.

darragh o meara wrote: »

When we arrived he came over to have a look at the car and immediately started to put the car down, this is wrong, that is wrong, no way it could just have passed the NCT ( car had fresh test a few days before ) after which came the lowball offers of half the asking price.

Did he genuinely offer half the asking price though or is that something you are just saying? And if it is something you are just saying then what percentage of the asking price did he actually offer? Not saying your intentionally lying or incorrect but sometimes people just make such sweeping factually incorrect comments without actually thinking. I can be pretty bold at times but I wouldn't have the gaul on me to do that, but hey maybe I am somewhat sheltered.

He should probably have being able to get the bogus ads you created removed pretty quickly by reporting them on Donedeal.

darragh o meara wrote: »

I was running late and could he meet me at work instead so I have him the directions to the local mental hospital, when he got there I told him to go into reception and check himself in as he must me insane if he thought I’d sell him the car for half the asking price...
.

That same story appears on reddit from time to time. But good effort!

There are 2 types of ads I can see. The professional type ad from a serious seller that will attract serious buyers, mostly, second the bad-tempered and sparse add that is a beehive to tossers looking for a spoil.

Absolutely, the Holy Grail offer of CASH which any sane seller is surely obliged to accept, even if it is around one third of the asking price as in the above case.

Is that a screenprint of Adverts.ie you have there? Adverts.ie is even worse than Donedeal... No doubt some genuine sellers on it but a mecca for penniless clowns too.

johndaman66 wrote: »

Did he genuinely offer half the asking price though or is that something you are just saying? And if it is something you are just saying then what percentage of the asking price did he actually offer? Not saying your intentionally lying or incorrect but sometimes people just make such sweeping factually incorrect comments without actually thinking. I can be pretty bold at times but I wouldn't have the gaul on me to do that, but hey maybe I am somewhat sheltered.

He should probably have being able to get the bogus ads you created removed pretty quickly by reporting them on Donedeal.

Genuinely offered half price and the fact that I was there it would be a shame to go back home with it.