yachtflame Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I have a hard time figuring out some people. Again on the parts for sale forum I see someone wanting to sell ann item. They put a short description and a price and then a deadline. “If not sold by then, it’s going in the dumpster”. Is this supposed to make me hurry to purchase it or it will be lost forever? If it doesn’t have enough value to keep it out of a dumpster, then why try and sell it? Why not offer it to someone that can possibly use it? Last year I was building a neighbors 11 yr old daughter a “she shed” playhouse and was scrounging what I could to keep my costs down. Someone at a nearby motel was renovating and had a full glass, metal frame door that they said “buy it for $50 by noon on Thursday or it’s going in the dumpster!” I went to the location and watched them throw it in the dumpster. When they walked away, I pulled it out and now this young lady has a full glass door on her playhouse. I guess I’m just dense and can’t figure out the threat of someone posting that something they’re trying to sell is only worth throwing out. Probably just another reason I didn’t finish college and went sailing instead! 15 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akstraw Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Strange, isn’t it. I’m with you; just find the dumpster. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I've run into that a lot with antique machines..."buy it now (for about 5 times what it's worth) or I'll scrap it". My reaction is always the same...I won't even consider it even when it's something I probably would take if the price was right. It's idiotic...but there are a lot of idiots. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordy Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I have recently obtained 4 pallets of Model A Ford parts that "were going for scrap if nobody wants them". I have no need for them but the guy who had them had to vacate the building where they were stored and "nobody wanted to buy them". Rusty and probably mostly useless but it's a freebie and keeping me out of trouble sorting it all out. Who knows? one day a chassis and other parts will pop up and there is enough for a build to start. Agree with the sentiment in this thread totally - if it has even a tiny value then hang onto it or give it away to someone who wants it. As a whole we are a wasteful society with what we are prepared to "junk". Steve 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarNucopia Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 The problem with offering things for free is people commit to taking it and then never show up. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prewarnut Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I think it is the converse of the numerous TV infomercials. "...if you call right now we'll double the offer, just pay shipping and handling! That's right, you get two complete... but you only have until..." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yachtflame Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 7 hours ago, CarNucopia said: The problem with offering things for free is people commit to taking it and then never show up. There is that. I find when I want to get rid of something I price it very low. Just enough to get someone’s interest and they think they’re getting a steal, or in this case, a steel! 🙄 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playswithbrass Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Dumpster diving should be an Olympic sport. I have had many great finds. 6 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 1 hour ago, yachtflame said: There is that. I find when I want to get rid of something I price it very low. That's the best way to do it. You're logical. But I can picture others' frustration sometimes and be at sympathy with it. They may be trying to clean out, and will give an item a chance for a little while; or have obscure parts that are very heavy to ship, and no one close at hand who needs them; or be elderly and can't handle a bunch of heavy boxes. If they only would ask a friend for advice or a strong arm, they might find a friend more than willing to help. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soupiov Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I pulled this out of a dumpster. Have no idea how or why it wound up there! 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I could see that if somebody had been trying to sell an item and had advertised it several times that he might say that. It could also mean that if you showed up with a couple of bucks you could own it! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAKerry Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Years ago I had a friend whose dog had a litter of mongrel pups. They were half shepherd and half samoyed, cute pups. He could not GIVE them away. Had a sign in his yard for a few weeks, FREE PUPPY's. About to give up he put up a sign Shepherd Samoyed pups, $50. He sold them all in a matter of hours. No one could figure out why he was selling such a good dog for so cheap. Even after he told them they were mutts. I guess we can never figure out peoples logic, but there are lots of them out there with marketing degrees. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CChinn Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 9 minutes ago, Soupiov said: I pulled this out of a dumpster. Have no idea how or why it wound up there! There are barn finds and now there are dumpster finds!😀. Nice score 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I suspect many people place no value on something that is free. I've given many things away but always to someone I knew would value it. I'm much more cynical about the general public. Right now I have two things I want to get rid of...a truck tool box that I'll never need (and don't even remember where it came from) and a big oak desk that I know dates from 1937 when the school it came from was built. I'd gladly give both away but I'll probably put an ad on CL offering them for some nominal price and let the buyer "talk me down" if he's of a mind to. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I tried to give a rooster away free once, no takers after a week or so. I updated the ad to state he was going in the pot on such and such a day and I'll be darned if some good samaritan didn't drive miles in a terrible snow storm to come "rescue" him. Problem solved! 3 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABear Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 17 hours ago, yachtflame said: They put a short description and a price and then a deadline. “If not sold by then, it’s going in the dumpster”. Is this supposed to make me hurry to purchase it or it will be lost forever? If it doesn’t have enough value to keep it out of a dumpster, then why try and sell it? Why not offer it to someone that can possibly use it? Too many bored "tire kickers" out there playing games, is the problem, people that say they will show up, but never show up, never call or contact you to let you know they are not going to show up.. After a few rounds of supposedly interested tire kickers totally screwing with your plans multiple times then you will fully understand why folks start adding in the dumpster part.. I have adopted the method of advertising it several times and if no one calls or shows up, the item automatically goes into the scrap pile. I don't put that in the ads but I am no longer wasting my time holding onto stuff I can't use and people have messed with me on. No longer am I willing to put my life on hold while someone hims and haws and delays on showing up on the commitment they made to me. The last few items I sold were insanely painfully slow, a couple of small generators that were given to me, fixed them got them running and nicely cleaned up.. I lost my shirt for the amount that they sold for compared to the many hrs worth of work in repairing and cleaning.. Anyone wants to give me a generator, I will no longer take them and tell them to put in their trash.. Had a brand new electric smoker we won in a raffle, turned out it was just a newer model of the small one we already had, never opened the box so it was brand new in box.. Took 6 months of tire kickers and sold it for less than half of what the thing was worth just to get rid of it.. And by the way, yes, I make sure when it goes into a scrap pile or garbage that it is 100% unusable so if you want to dive into my trash, trash is what you get. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Chuckling to myself because this is all spot on. I am logging off for the day and driving across town to buy a lawnmower from a local seller on fb marketplace. (Gave mine away when I bought a tractor and now realize how much work detailing with a weed whacker is...) Going to take 10 minutes of his time start it and assuming it starts and runs like in the video pay him his reasonable ask and be on my way... Chuckling because it was listed today and maybe he has no idea how much BS I am saving him... 😁😁😁 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABear Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 13 minutes ago, Steve_Mack_CT said: Chuckling because it was listed today and maybe he has no idea how much BS I am saving him... 😁😁😁 Hopefully you will still be chuckling after you get there and discover the seller is not home or has sold it from under you.. Yeah, hitched up my flat bed to buy a used car, drove two hrs one way to arrive at a sellers home and they were not home.. Called them, yeah, they sold it before I got there.. Was not laughing driving home with empty trailer.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotiveLensPhoto Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 They're dumping it because the space is worth more than the stuff that fills it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kar3516 Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Often time is even more valuable than the empty space. If the sixty something children / heirs who live 500 miles or more away have traveled to meet together and are all trying to accomplish cleaning out a deceased parent’s home over a series of weekends where time is precious. When you get to the last 20 per cent making it disappear immediately is the most important thing. Been there done that. And know several others who have experienced exactly the same thing. Giveaways on Facebook marketplace administrated with assistance from the next younger generation are very effective. And yes people who can be there immediately are way better than those who can be there in three hours. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordy Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 A very current scenario is there is a guy here in Victoria Australia who has "found" the remains of an R series Hupp in someone's cow paddock and posted it on FB. There is not much of it left to be worthwhile the drive interstate to retrieve it but if it was under a few hundred I would consider making the effort if he would also supply a front-end loader to lift it onto a trailer. So, for a while after all the tyre kickers and absurd comments I message him regarding price, accessibility and was he "entitled" to sell it? Response is it could be mine for a grand, but he would just tell me where it was and not help load up. I take from that - he has no ownership and if I took his offer, I get a shotgun pointed at me. Declined politely as I could. If he does "own" the pile of scrap then he has stars in his eyes regarding the value as others like me will walk away and it will end up languishing where it is slowly returning back to the soil, or a scrap merchant collects it. Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 19 hours ago, Fordy said: I have recently obtained 4 pallets of Model A Ford parts that "were going for scrap if nobody wants them". I have no need for them but the guy who had them had to vacate the building where they were stored and "nobody wanted to buy them". Rusty and probably mostly useless but it's a freebie and keeping me out of trouble sorting it all out. Who knows? one day a chassis and other parts will pop up and there is enough for a build to start. Agree with the sentiment in this thread totally - if it has even a tiny value then hang onto it or give it away to someone who wants it. As a whole we are a wasteful society with what we are prepared to "junk". Steve Problem is finding the space to store it, and waiting until non-existent buyers beat a path to your door. With some items, there are so many 'still out there' to be had for closer, and its not worth one's while to take a stash of parts unless they really need it themselves. At the Portland Swap Meet in 2018, a vendor was giving away free a '50 Studebaker Champion chassis components. I thought about it, but since I'm not currently rebuilding one, I won't clutter up my sheds with parts I'll likely never use, only to have the cycle repeated 20 years from now!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Unless it,s truly valuable and desireable i just give it away or donate to charity. Soooo much less aggravation and monkey motion......bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Luddy Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I love/hate when morons post this kinda threat. It's like being a hostage negotiator sometimes. "I'll crush it" unless you pay way more than it's worth. Almost as bad as No Price in the ad. When you do contact these "sellers" it always starts a tirade about how "Mint" their junk is, rare and the best one left on the planet, followed by a crazy insane price. "If you won't pay that I'm gonna keep it!" Yes you are definitely going to keep it. The latest threat " I'm going to list it on Bring A Trailer and it will bring 5X what I'm asking". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 13 hours ago, ABear said: Hopefully you will still be chuckling after you get there and discover the seller is not home or has sold it from under you.. Yeah, hitched up my flat bed to buy a used car, drove two hrs one way to arrive at a sellers home and they were not home.. Called them, yeah, they sold it before I got there.. Was not laughing driving home with empty trailer.. True seller and buyers can be idiots whether it's cars or whatever. All good on both sides yesterday but a lot of truth to the saying " the more I deal with people the more I like my dog". Btw Bear, we get a lot of your pals around here... 😁 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsancle Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Lets face it, there are idiots behind every corner. I see about an equal number of buyers/sellers/dealers who don't seem to have a lot of miles on their fastball. 4 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsancle Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 2 hours ago, Steve_Mack_CT said: True seller and buyers can be idiots whether it's cars or whatever. All good on both sides yesterday but a lot of truth to the saying " the more I deal with people the more I like my dog". Btw Bear, we get a lot of your pals around here... 😁 Steve, at 2:00 AM Sunday morning I came face to face with something from a Scooby Doo episode in my backyard. This looked more wolf than coyote and it was BIG. My 20 lb Italian Greyhound thought it was cool to be screwing with it. If it was any of my other three dogs they would have been a midnight snack. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 @alsancle well glad it worked out. On these guys we carry bear spray but wonder sometimes if that would just piss them off.. That said, we had a bit of an adrenaline shot last night - a bat got inside somehow. 30 minutes of following it and trying to contain it during which times it went upstairs twice but kept gravitating toward the dining room. Got a couple screens opened while dodging it and finally managed to shoo it out of a window. The bat has dethroned the bobcat as scariest animal encounter to date... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsancle Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 3 minutes ago, Steve_Mack_CT said: @alsancle well glad it worked out. On these guys we carry bear spray but wonder sometimes if that would just piss them off.. That said, we had a bit of an adrenaline shot last night - a bat got inside somehow. 30 minutes of following it and trying to contain it during which times it went upstairs twice but kept gravitating toward the dining room. Got a couple screens opened while dodging it and finally managed to shoo it out of a window. The bat has dethroned the bobcat as scariest animal encounter to date... My greyhound came around the corner at about 90 miles an hour. With the wolf hot on its heels, and then did the Scooby-Doo skidding thing when it saw me. Got within 10 feet of me then the dog, who would went in the house, turned around and ran back after it when it turned around. Fun times! 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I have a friend whose wife has a big garage sale every fall. She and her friends fill up the better portion of a 40x60 pole barn. In the corner my friend mans the dollar table. One item off the table for a dollar, two items off the table still one dollar and so on. Get the idea, pay one dollar and take as much as you like. The items are pretty much free. It is a bunch of random stuff. No treasure but no junk. But people come in and make a pile and ask will you take 25 cents for all of this. At that point my friend will ask to see the items. He looks at them and then turns around and puts them in his wood burner. I watched an Antique Toy vender jump up and down on a mint Bandai Mercedes Sedan one evening at Carlisle. End of a long day and a lady was telling him his asking price was ridiculous in an insulting manner. He asked to have the car back, calmly put it on the ground and proceeded to jump up and down on it until it was flat. The lady ran away, and he said he felt better afterward. For years after he would put that car on the end of his table with a sign that read, Prices are negotiable within reason. Until you have offered items for sale to the public do you truly understand how rude and thoughtless some people can be. But those people are never the ones who buy anything. If you know a guy who has gone and looked at 10 cars and not bought one, good chance he is the problem. 3 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 If anyone shows up to look at a car with a legal pad to take notes that is a guarantee they are not a buyer. 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I used to sell a lot of car items on Ebay. I started in 1998. It was good for the first 15 years or so but it stopped being fun and was fun taken over by the feeling I was shipping things for approval. No matter how well things were pictured and described the buyers knew Ebay would side with their complaints. And I sold less, passed on opportunities to market hoards, and last year some Cadillac Cimmaron owner in the Hudson Valley just turned it off all the way. I don't have a '46 Chevy or late '40s Chrysler but I know what to do with my shiny stuff. I enjoy seeing it there on the wall, much more than some clown whining about a pin their friend found. A few hundred bucks hanging on the wall and some owner crying about unobtainum. Well, they pretty much earned the absence of parts availability. Let then live with it. There was a point when I excluded one country from sales. Only that country had repeated requests for partial refunds. It was noticeable. I offered a full refund but they just wanted part of the money back. I excluded a whole country because they were so predictable, and often the same auto manufacturer's parts. Prior to wall hangings I made this bench. A really nice '69 Cadillac bumper but there was a scratch that I knew would cause someone to hack up a big hair ball. It made a great bench for years. In the end the right person got it for his car. Every interaction between a buyer and seller is a learning experience. I learned. I changed. Those I learned from represented the whole group. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt G Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 (edited) 6 hours ago, Brass is Best said: Until you have offered items for sale to the public do you truly understand how rude and thoughtless some people can be You learn fast if you are trying to sell something, and as stated for a reasonable fee and most likely an item that was made 80+ years ago. I love the AACA annual Fall meet at Hershey but one does encounter that particular breed of person who will look at something you have for sale and make a totally insulting offer. They do not consider that most of the time the seller ( me or you) is picking up the state tax, and they the buyer - them didn't have to pay shipping to get it to them. I was visiting my great friend Phil Dumka of Mass. when there was a Blue Field in the flea market, a fellow came up and looked at a sales folder for a 1957 Chevrolet. Phil had 3 of them all the same. All minty condition. Price was $7.00 . Fellow looked it over for about 10 minutes and offered Phil $2.00 . Phil asked to look at the item and the fellow handed it to Phil . Phil proceeded to tear a large corner off the brochure and I thought the guy was going to pass out when Phil reached out with the brochure in his hand to the guy and said " that is the $2.00 version" The fellow wide eyed and shaky in step walked away and Phil looked at me and said "Walt, I was so glad you were here to see that" . Edited May 8 by Walt G (see edit history) 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 3 hours ago, Walt G said: You learn fast if you are trying to sell something, and as stated for a reasonable fee and most likely an item that was made 80+ years ago. I love the AACA annual Fall meet at Hershey but one does encounter that particular breed of person who will look at something you have for sale and make a totally insulting offer. They do not consider that most of the time the seller ( me or you) is picking up the state tax, and they the buyer - them didn't have to pay shipping to get it to them. I was visiting my great friend Phil Dumka of Mass. when there was a Blue Field in the flea market, a fellow came up and looked at a sales folder for a 1957 Chevrolet. Phil had 3 of them all the same. All minty condition. Price was $7.00 . Fellow looked it over for about 10 minutes and offered Phil $2.00 . Phil asked to look at the item and the fellow handed it to Phil . Phil proceeded to tear a large corner off the brochure and I thought the guy was going to pass out when Phil reached out with the brochure in his hand to the guy and said " that is the $2.00 version" The fellow wide eyed and shaky in step walked away and Phil looked at me and said "Walt, I was so glad you were here to see that" . There is an unwritten law at a swap meet. Everybody selling knows or should know that everybody buying is going to offer less than the asking price. There is a dance and an exchange of wit that determines the actual price. The same can be said for most antique sales. but when one of the parties involved fails to recognize this fact the whole process becomes a mess. At some point we all find ourselves in or around one of these deals. For many years a gentleman would bring a Cord Front Drive Lubricant One Gallon metal can with a paper label the ACD swap meet in Auburn. I had admired the can for many years. The paper label meant that this can was as rare as it gets. It was displayed in a plastic case for safety. I think the first time I saw the can it was marked "Will trade for nice looking and driving 810 or 812 Cord sedan". As years passed it was finally priced at $5,000 then for a long time at $2,500. Way more than I would be willing to pay. But not more than it was worth. Price after all is subjective. Ten or more years came and went. The vendor who was old when I first met him was much older now. His booth had a sign stating it would be his final year and everything needed a new home. As I approached the table he was in a heated negotiation over the can with a loud, rude shopper. The shopper was calling the can fake, asking for proof that only 3 are known, insulting the condition and low balling the seller. Finally, the vendor stated a price that was his rock bottom. He told the shopper to take it or leave it. The shopper said loudly he was going to leave it. At which point I politely asked If that price would be good to me. The seller told me no, he said I could have the can for $100 less. The loud shopper said we couldn't do that; he wanted the can. I told him I would trade it for a nice running and driving 810 or 812 Cord Sedan. 10 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordy Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 22 hours ago, 8E45E said: Problem is finding the space to store it, and waiting until non-existent buyers beat a path to your door. With some items, there are so many 'still out there' to be had for closer, and its not worth one's while to take a stash of parts unless they really need it themselves. At the Portland Swap Meet in 2018, a vendor was giving away free a '50 Studebaker Champion chassis components. I thought about it, but since I'm not currently rebuilding one, I won't clutter up my sheds with parts I'll likely never use, only to have the cycle repeated 20 years from now!! That problem has gone away. The local men's group (community men's shed) is taking all the A parts and scratch building a frame for a roadster pickup. It may not end up 100% authentic but the parts have found a reason for still existing. Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt G Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 The only flea market I sell at now is Hershey. I price everything before I make the trip and place a sign that everything is marked as to what it will cost . Discount - yes if someone buys enough that will clear 4 figures. What I have for sale in 99% pre WWII and if it doesn't sell I will bring it home. The "haggling " may be entertainment for some or an "unwritten law" but I got tired of that about a decade ago, I have been selling at Hershey for 50 years. Life is short and I do not have the time nor now the patience to "play the game". I firmly believe that if someone sees something I have that they will realize the price is not to much, but fair. If they want it for less well they can look at the other 8,000 plus spaces in the flea market to see if they can find it. To mark up everything to come down in price to me is just no longer worth the effort nor the time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 6 minutes ago, Walt G said: The only flea market I sell at now is Hershey. I price everything before I make the trip and place a sign that everything is marked as to what it will cost . Discount - yes if someone buys enough that will clear 4 figures. What I have for sale in 99% pre WWII and if it doesn't sell I will bring it home. The "haggling " may be entertainment for some or an "unwritten law" but I got tired of that about a decade ago, I have been selling at Hershey for 50 years. Life is short and I do not have the time nor now the patience to "play the game". I firmly believe that if someone sees something I have that they will realize the price is not to much, but fair. If they want it for less well they can look at the other 8,000 plus spaces in the flea market to see if they can find it. To mark up everything to come down in price to me is just no longer worth the effort nor the time. A friend of mine stated, when haggling came up, “sometimes, the price is the price” and that’s it. I don’t mind haggling a little, it’s the low ballers who then get mad at you for not taking their offer. I once owned a couple of video stores, way back when. People would come in and say “well so and so across town sells that VCR for less than you,will you cut your price? I’d say no, but I can give you directions to their store, go buy it there… 2 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 6 hours ago, 60FlatTop said: ...and last year some Cadillac Cimmaron owner... Holy cow -- I thought those had gone extinct 25 years ago! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Sounds to me like some here don,t understand the art of negotiation. If either party is stubborn or worse, belligerent, they really shoudn,t be trying to do business in a flea market type arena where most of the stuff is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay and a lot of it not even that.......bob 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 As I understand this "Art" it is played at the expense of the seller. I had to remind the last person who came to my house to buy a lift I listed. "We are only $300 apart on the price" he said. "Yeah, and you are talking about my $300. Go buy the other one." "What do you mean? These things are hard to find." "Huh." 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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