unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

[smokeonthewater]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

yes mine is a 1980 2667, Ill mesure the door and post it for u!

awesome! thanks.... These really are cool boats...... I have been fixing mine up with new curtains, carpet, dinette cushions, new seats on the flybridge and will be re-striping it soon. The more I fix it up the more torn I am about selling it. If I may ask what sort of price are you putting on yours?... they book around 10k but I really doubt I'll see anywhere near that.

 

[overkill]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

sold a jet boat a while back...got the "whats the least you will take" question...
told em $5000...
then they offered $3000.....

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I second or third the "what's the lowest you will take" issue. I have no problem negotiating, but when someone calls and without even looking at item in question, they ask, it is very annoying.

Additionally, I get pissed when I get the "Well, I can go buy a new one for x dollars." For example I recently had my boat on the market briefly and was asking 12k for my 2007 Stingray 180RX (my sig boat). One guy, after water testing it, stated to me that he could buy a new (2010) one for around 15k and couldn't believe I was asking 12k for mine (which he agreed is in pristine condition).

I politely told him to go buy a new one, then.

Another guy told me that any factory options or aftermarket add-ons should not be considered in the used price...(e.g. fishfinders, cd player, bimini top, life vests, anchor and rode, etc.)

I told him that I would make sure that those items were removed from the boat prior to him taking possession of it, then.

I would have taken any offer over 10k for it, but neither made an offer.

I decided to keep the boat afterall...it's too much fun.

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Asking for the bottom line shouldn't be offensive. I have sold plenty on craigs list I would rather tell someone a comfortable number than have the jerk who wanted to low ball me on some chairs after he sorted through 30 of them and then offered me 80% off asking price. Took me 30 mins to put everything back in the rain. I will never do business with a man with a pony tail again lol
Got to love the stoners of craigslist
-Hostage

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with someone asking what the bottom line is as part of a negotiation after the person has seen the item and is in a position to actually buy it. Don't call me out of the blue and ask "is x still for sale...what's the least you'll take for it?" Even when someone asks during the negotiation, I will politely respond with "go ahead and make an offer, I won't be offended." Giving away the magic number I would settle for is giving away the upper hand in any negotiation. If you offer less than the magic number I have in my head, then I will politely decline and possibly make a counteroffer.


Just my opinion...

 

[Alpheus]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

My rule is I never ask until Im face to face with the seller. I like to see exactly with whom Im dealing with. (desperate,confident or stubborn) I am never afraid to throw my dream offer out first just to get things started. I never show the seller my cards by acting excited. I try to show no emotion, as if I could care less if I buy this thing or not. I always have the cash in my pocket to back up my offer.

Money talks. People change their minds pretty fast when they know you got cash in hand...

I love Wheeling and dealing, its exciting to me. My old lady hates it. Her face turns bright red when I offer someone at a yard sale 25 cents for an item they have marked for a buck...

I also love when I'm selling something on Craigslist 1000 dollars for example you get the emails and calls that offer you 250 bucks CASH...

I just ask what were you planning on paying me with? Chickens!?!

What are they expecting me to say.

"You got CASH!!! I sell it to you for 50 bucks if you got cash..."

 

[rebars1]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I had a guy ask me if the boat I was selling (18' tri-hull) was safe for him and his kids in the ocean. I told him that there was no way I would answer his question-too many variables. He did not buy.

The person who did had said they grew up with boats and did not ask for a water test (and I did not offer one), then called me in a panic a few days later because water was coming a hole in the back. I told them the plug was on the floor by the driver's seat.

 

[soaringhiggy]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

How about pigs feet? Thems better n chickens

 

[reelfishin]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

The best one I had off of CL was when I was listing a FREE MFG trihull, ( I had picked it up for nothing and stripped it bare and was trying to get rid of the hull).
I had a half dozen of the usual emails asking how much for the trailer, how much would it cost to put a motor on it, and one asking for a sea test.
I got tired of the trailer questions and dumped the boat in the dirt and snapped a new pic.
The next day I get an email saying that he'd give $100 tops for the boat.
He came by the next day and bought it. I pulled the ad ASAP. (The ad said FREE!)
He showed up with a roll back and winched the thing right up the bed. It had no title, no paperwork at all, no numbers on it and the deck was all but gone.
A week later it was listed again on CL for $200. It sat there for three months with no takers and finally showed up listed for free. I suppose he thought he'd make a quick buck?
The guy that showed up spoke good english, didn't ask any questions, and was sort of in a hurry to load the boat and get going. The thing was a wreck, pretty much a bare hull with lots of damage. I had put the ad up in the chance I'd save myself the $60 it cost to dump it here legally.

 

[Divecaptchris]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

awesome! thanks.... These really are cool boats...... I have been fixing mine up with new curtains, carpet, dinette cushions, new seats on the flybridge and will be re-striping it soon. The more I fix it up the more torn I am about selling it. If I may ask what sort of price are you putting on yours?... they book around 10k but I really doubt I'll see anywhere near that.

the doors are 10 5/8" each with a piano hinge in the center by 42 1/2" high.

Yeah I love mine, only selling cause im buying a 28' mariner, I started at $8500, it has a new rebuilt motor, brand new outdrive and i have restored the cabin. I have it down to $6500 now, gettin a few hits but not alot! bad time to sell a big boat!
hope that helps!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

We had a yard sale last year and a pair of Asian ladies who spoke little english came pretty early one and bought a pile of stuff. They haggled on the price with my step-mother on every single item as they made their selections. Then when given the total they tried to haggle the total! I was like "You can't do that!" I'm sure it has occasionally worked for them though.

 

[109jb]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Someone asking what your best price is annoys you??? Come on guys. Everyone knows that the prices in the ad aren't the bottom dollar and asking that question just gives an idea of the wiggle room you may have. I asked a guy with a snowmobile trailer what the bottom dollar was yesterday on the phone. I DON'T APPOLOGIZE AT ALL FOR ASKING. I have a 150 mile one way drive to even go look at it and I asked so that I can judge if is even worth my time to go look.

I've bought lots of stuff over the years and it pretty much goes like this. Guy is asking $1000 in the ad, says his bottom dollar is $900 on the phone. I pretty much know that if I go look at it and put $800 in front of him I'm going to leave withh whatever it is.
Or, guy asks $1000 in ad, says he's firm at that price on the phone. I can probably convince him at $900 in person.

Now take the above 2 examples and lets just say both ads are for identical items and everything on both appears the same (condition, age, etc.) Which one you going to look at first. I don't know about you but both were advertised at $1000 but I'm pretty much guaranteed that I can get the first example cheaper. Wouldn't have known without asking.

Bottom line is if you guys don't want to get that question then don't sell anything.

 

[109jb]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Now that I got that off my chest, my best one was when I was selling a snowmobile a few years ago. I put it on CL and got bunches off calls. I realized I priced it too low pretty quick, but I was willing to let it go for that price. Anyway, a guy calls on a Monday and says he wants the machine at the asking price and I say that's great, come and get it but I'm not holding it and the first person that puts cash in my hand takes it. Well, he calls back Saturday morning, 5 days later and says he is on his way but got a little mixed up with the directions I gave him 5 days earlier. I told him, "Sir, that machine was sold Wednesday and is gone". He proceeded to yell into the phone telling me "we had a deal" and things like that. I hung up on him. He called back and yelled some more. I hung up again. He called back a third time and I was about to hang up when he said something about "when he gets there". At that point I told him in a very sarcastic way, "Come on over and we'll have a talk. I'll be the guy with the 12 gauge shotgun sitting on the porch." He didn't call back again and never showed up. The guy was obviously a little off though and I did get the shotgun out of the gun safe.

 

[Aviator5]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I don't ask the bottom price over the phone, I just ask if it negotiable in general, before I make a 100 mile trip.

 

[deepsouthsailor]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

As a buyer, why not haggle? I asked what their bottom line was and he said $500 below asking in addition I got a new prop on the boat. It would be stupid not haggle.

-Hostage

I agree, but it still feels kinda dumb to ask. I asked and since I'm Navy and their son was Navy, they threw in a 9.9 hp kicker for free (yes, it works like a charm!). I figured I just saved about $500-$1000.

 

[109jb]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I don't ask the bottom price over the phone, I just ask if it negotiable in general, before I make a 100 mile trip.

But asking the bottom line can give a sense of just HOW negotiable the price is. My opinion is that everything is negotiable so I would never ask that simple a question.

 

[45Auto]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I'm on the same page as 109jb. "What's the least you'll take?" is usually one of the first questions I get asked, and one of the first questions I ask if I'm interested in something.

Just because someone asks doesn't mean you have to tell them what your real bottom line is. I tell them some number lower than asking but higher than what my real bottom line is. Maybe they'll buy it at that, if not, I've still got some negotiating room. I sold a my Jeep Cherokee a few months ago for $1200. I had it listed at $1400, buyer asked me what was the least I would take. I told them $1200 and they were happy to pay it. I would have taken $1000 for it.

I've got some killer deals by asking sellers the same question. If you're lucky they'll answer with a price that's LOWER than what your first offer would have been. If they don't want to say anything, then I haven't lost anything. I can still start with my lowest offer on their junk if I want it.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

Dont you guys like to battle with the buyers when they show up?

I love it. They try and talk you down Using my trick "I got xxx amount of cash in my pocket" I say well you better run to the ATM machine and get more because I got 2 more guys coming to look at it in 20 minutes. Then it turns into a competition. Even if the guy really doesn't want to pay the price he usually will just to feel like he beat out the other guys coming...

Its the eBay effect...

 

[Mel Taylor]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I advertised a bow mount, electric trolling motor on CL a coup/e of years ago.

Caller #1 Asked big the gas tank was.

Caller #2 Asked if it would fit a 15 inch transom. When I told him it was a bow mount motor, he said he thought the bow was the back of the boat.

Caller #3 wanted to know whether it would run on household current. I told him it would do fine on 12 volts DC but for AC he would need a transformer and a long extension card. He then asked how much a transformer would cost. At that point, I took pity on him, explained that I was joking and gave him a crash course in trolling motors. It turned out that he knew nothing about boating and envisioned something like a electric car that you plug in at night and drive the next day.

Caller #4 Actually bought it at the asking price. By then I was enjoying the nutty calls and kind of hated to see it go.

 

[slag]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

I always ask what their bottom dollar is, whether over the phone or in person and let them tell me. Its their item, let them price it for me.

When selling, I also tell everyone that the first one with cash in hand gets it. I won't hold an item for someone since 85% of the people who say they want it in email or phone never show up. The ad gets removed from CL when the item is no longer here.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: unbelivable question asked when selling a boat!

85% of the people who say they want it in email or phone never show up.

Amen!!!


This is a good thread. Kudos to Divecaptchris for starting it...