29 Aug
1999
29 Aug
'99
2:01 p.m.
back. The
rollers and paint were even in good condition. After chatting a
bit, the seller said we should make an offer. While I was pondering if he
would take $50 or $100 for it and if I could justify that (I was in grad
school at the time), my wife piped up and asked "How about $15?" My college
chum and I just stood dumbfounded while the seller thought for a second and
said "Ok." And that's how I ended up with my rack.
I've found that making lowball offers sometimes is the *best* way to get
things from certain surplus outfits. Two places that I frequent seem to have
a tendency to accept offers for less than $25, but reject offers above that
amount (on similar sorts of items). My guess is that if you offer over $25,
they start to think that the item is valuable and that they should get a lot
of money for it. 
30 Aug
30 Aug
8:40 p.m.
OTOH, I've learned that if you want to get rid of
something, you shouldn't
necessarily just say "it's free, come and get it". After all, many
potential
takers think that if it's free, it can't be all that desirable. But attach
a price tag and all of a sudden folks want to come up and wheel and deal!
The fine art of the "right" price. I have two 15" subwoofers setting in my
garage that I now know I will NEVER use, so I put an ad in the local
Recycler for $15 each. I got 7 or 8 calls, and the first question each time
was whats wrong with them. It makes eBay seem pretty nice some times. In
fact I think I will list them right now. ;)
1 Sep
1 Sep
6:30 a.m.
New subject: haggling
I got 7 or 8 calls, and the first question
each time was whats wrong with them.
Here in the UK the general rule when anything is sold privately is that
whilst the buyer takes the risk as to whether what they buy is OK at the
same timmew the seller must not misrepresent the item. As a result of this
my first question when buying anything secondhand is 'what's wrong with it'
as this then places the onus on the seller to describe any faults
truthfully. Provided that the answer is satisfactory, even if faults are
declared, I will still buy.
Regards
Pete
8998
days inactive
9001
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CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com -
mikeford＠netwiz.net -
peter＠joules.enterprise-plc.com