proper ettiquette for selling something?

[u_say_go]

I had a post on Craigslist and another site selling a 4-wheeler. I had a number of inquiries about it, a few people asked when they could see it and I gave them all 3 dates to chose from. Wednesday I had a guy email me and said "i'll call you saturday".
This morning someone called and said they can come out right away to buy it...so I sold it to him.
Was I wrong for selling it to this person? Should I have waited for the other guy to call me on Saturday or sell it to the first person with cash?

I will later post his reaction to learning that the atv was no longer for sale. :wow

[0TransAm0]

first come first serve. to bad for him..

[PureSound15]

Nah man - if it's something I really want, I'm going to make sure to get there before someone else. First come first serve.

[grimproductions]

First come first server really. If someone comes to look at it and says i will be back with the money in a few days its your option to wait if someone comes along with cash in hand SELL, not your fault if the other person came unprepared.

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

Yeap first guy to lay the cash in the hand.

When I was a kid I remember going to look at a old pick up truck with my dad , the seller had it at his workplace and when he got off work he had 3 guys there to look at it I'll be got damned if the 3 guys didnt pile in that truck take it for a ride and come back and have a little bidding war for it.

[SSLEVO]

CL has so many deadbeats it's insane. First one to buy it or put down a deposit gets it. If they want it that bad they can paypal you 50 bucks to hold it. If not FU

[Crawlin]

CL has so many deadbeats it's insane. First one to buy it or put down a nonrefundable deposit gets it. If they want it that bad they can paypal you 50 bucks to hold it. If not FU

Changed it a bit.

[Feature Pony]

If you told him the first one with cash in your hand gets it then I see no problems. Thats what I tell everyone that wants to look, if I have cash before your date to come look it will be sold! Now if you said I can't show it right now but come over Wednesday and take a look and you sell it on Monday to some other dude I could see a problem, but he had no cash to hold it. Its gone now so tell the dude no use crying over spilt milk and move on. Tell him a family memeber picked it up.

[PB86MCSS]

I wouldn't feel bad, if someone wants it that bad, they'll get there quicker somehow. If you wait and the guy Saturday doesn't want it, then you're back to square one. First come first serve unless you told him you'd hold it or led him to believe something different.

[fivonut]

I usually try to wait. If someone makes me an offer I tell them someone else was first and I'll call them if they don't follow through.

[MoCkiN U]

what would happen if dude said he was coming out and flaked on you and didnt show. You would have lost the first sale that came along so I agree first come first go.

[u_say_go]

so here's what went down. I received numerous emails about the atv, a few guys asked when they could come look at it and i told them all "all day thursday, friday, or saturday morning".
One guy was supposed to come out on Thursday but his water heater took a crap, called me and said he didn't have the money anymore but was still interested and would get back to me in a week or so once he had some extra cash. I said "if it's still here, you're more than welcome to come look at it".
Then some DOUCHEBAG of the year emailed me on Wednesday and this is how that went down.

DB: Do you still have the wheeler? if so when can i come check it out? I wanna c it asap!!
Me: I'm available all day thursday, friday, and saturday morning.
DB: I'll call you Saturday.

Friday, the guy with the water heater problem calls me and says "I've got the $350, can I come out and pick up the atv?" I said sure, and one hour later the bike was loaded into his truck and he was gone.

I emailed DOUCHEBAG and this is how that went...
Me: I just sold the atv, sorry.
DB: you asshole!! we had a fuckin' deal man! I hate dealing with ***** punk bitch like you!
Me: We had no "deal". You said you were going to call me on Saturday. You didn't ask me to hold the atv for you (which i would have), you didnt say you were for-sure buying it, you said you were calling me.
DB: Motherf**er!! Now i have to go home and tell two little boys that they ain't gittin' a 4wheeler cuz some asshole needed $350 so bad and he couldnt keep up his end of the deal! F**k off motherf**ker!!
Me: it's a shame you got so shitty with me, I have other atv's for sale that I could have worked out a deal with you on. But you fucked that up. Make sure you tell your kids THAT when you tell them what an asshole I am.

:flipoff2:

[Old Dog]

I buy & sell on CL too. Most people that reply to ads don't show up or bother returning calls. If I want something, I make a point of getting in front of the seller with cash in hand. The only time I will hold something for a potential buyer is if I know they are driving some distance to come look at it. Even then I tell them if they don't show by the time agreed to, The item may be sold.
CL = Great way to meet a cross section of society.

[Holeshot]

Fuck him !!

[u_say_go]

Fuck him !!

thank you

[JBs92Lude]

Yes, fuck him. First come first serve. When I sold my car I had about 5 people looking at it. One guy had a bunch of questions and was going to drive up from IL, but some kid gave me a couple hundred bucks to hold it for 2 days and then came with cash and I sold it. I emailed the other interested buyers and told them it was sold and that was it. Don't worry about it, he's just a jerk.

[GTSLOW]

Tell the guy to get a fucking life.

[MoCkiN U]

Me: it's a shame you got so shitty with me, I have other atv's for sale that I could have worked out a deal with you on. But you fucked that up. Make sure you tell your kids THAT when you tell them what an asshole I am.

:flipoff2:

good for you!! Glad you put that in there

what an over reaction that was from dude.

[HP ADDICT]

For me it depends. If its a low price item and they ask me to hold it I would. Otherwise first come first serve.

[Cryptic]

i had something like that come up when I craigslist'd my son's Polaris 120 snowmobile.
This was just before Christmas. I had 3 instant call backs. I told one guy he could come look tomorrow. That same night someone showed up with cash in hand, a trailer to load it up, and two young boys with there eyes filled with Christmas joy...

What was I to do?


Needless to say that call back to the first guy didn't go well. If I remember right they both had the first name so I thought I was talking to the same guy at first.

[97z2801ss]

Its CList, Sell it get your money and dont worry about it.

[DirtyMax]

I make sure and state the fact that I will not hold anything for anyone. I am pretty accessible so usually if someone wants to see something, I can accommodate on an hour's notice.

Screw that donkey who got all shitty with you. BCM is resourceful enough tho find this clown... Mail his children a photo of the ATV with a big frown face over it in black Sharpie.

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

When I sell stuff on CL I never do anything with the email. In fact I'll set the ad up and wont look at my email until I delete it. I put my phone number in the ad if you want the damn thing you gotta call, email does nothing for me.

I cant believe how flakey some people are when buying stuff, fricken bargain hunters.

[JohnnyT]

I buy and sell A LOT. You were right to do what you did. The only change I would make is to tell people during your FIRST conversation or email, that the deal is first with cash in hand as a NON-refundable downpayment or payment in full is the person that gets the goods. If you are upfront with people, they have no grounds to get $hitty with you if they aren't the "winner". That's not to say they still won't, but it limits the chances.