Please, serious inquiries only

gggGary

gggGary

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You have all seen the ad about 500 times, a very brief description of what is being sold, NO price, NO pictures and then the "Serious inquiries only" tag line. Drives me nuts
How can we be serious buyers if you aren't a serious seller? I usually figure it isn't REALLY for sale. Or the guy's price is so high he's too embarrassed to publish it.
OK I was trying real hard today and did not throw this over in classifieds. But I just had to unload, you know?
 
Oh, yeah! I also love the one's that say, "Don't waste my time" or variations thereof. Like, if you want my money, how can I be wasting your time by inquiring about price/condition, etc?

It all boils down to attitude, I think. Either :thumbsup: or :banghead:...........
 
Barb said:
Oh, yeah! I also love the one's that say, "Don't waste my time" or variations thereof.
Click to expand...

Actually I like it when guys say this. It's his way of saying you don't want to do business with him. Saves everybody some grief. Same with all caps ads with every other word misspelled.
 
While I'm certainly not sticking up for all ads that say "Dont waste my time" there is another side to this coin. I recently put a 1982 Kawasaki on craigslist with pictures. I gave an honest description of the bike (rat bike) and said I was firm on the price $500. Within minutes I had 2 replies from some company wanting to sell the bike for me. Then some loan company replied saying I didnt need to sell my bike if I needed cash. The next reply was a job offer, probably some scam. In the days that followed I had a college student want to know if I could bring the bike by his dorm (30 miles away) so he and his chick could "check it out". The next guy wanted to know if it was in perfect condition. My ad clearly stated it was a $500 rat bike. The next guy wanted to know if he could take it for a spin........DUH its the middle of winter here. The last guy said I'm a disabeled vet will you take $200. Dont these people read the ad? It seemed like a never ending stream of morons. I was forced to change the craigslist ad to include "if you are not looking to buy a $500 rat bike for $500 please dont waste my time". Finally sold it yesterday but what a bunch of idiots I had to go through till I got a genuine buyer................BG
 
Oh yeah the ads bring out the idiots but that goes with being a seller. You have to learn to ignore the dolts and they can be persistant. Seldom is a texter a legitimate buyer, I don't even bother replying. The thing is no matter what disclaimers or idiots need not reply you put in your ad they are going to bug you anyways. And bots are bots you can't really weed them out unless you have stringent email filters and then you loose real email.
 
BigGeorge, point taken. I was really referring to a kind of ad that looks like it came from some variety of a crazy person. An ad that in my experience means if you went to see the item as a buyer you'd find your time was wasted.

Or on ebay those kinds of ads indicate what you're going to be sent is nothing like the ad. Although that's getting better.
 
xjwmx said:
BigGeorge, point taken. I was really referring to a kind of ad that looks like it came from some variety of a crazy person. An ad that in my experience means if you went to see the item as a buyer you'd find your time was wasted.

Or on ebay those kinds of ads indicate what you're going to be sent is nothing like the ad. Although that's getting better.
Click to expand...

Oh yes I agree there are some real nut cases posting ads too. Makes ya wonder what they are smokin or if they ever made it past the 4th grade. I try to correspond with the seller 3 or 4 times before I ever agree to drive anywhere to see the item they are selling. If I dont feel comfortable with the seller or the area where the item is at I just end the correspondence.

When buying off e-bay if the seller doesnt have 98-100% positive feedback I dont buy from them..
 
Personally the one that drives me worse is when people put their bike up for $1 when they are actually asking for a butt load more, or $16 when they are asking for 16k. Just a pet peeve but I flag everyone of them since they are too lazy to bother filling in their price.

Just put a price or don't...don't lure think your going to lure people in with your $1 price. You'll just pi$$ them off!
 
Hi Guys,

OTOH, I recently advertised on C/L that I wanted to buy a used mower deck for a John Deere tractor, and gave the model number. I found one from a nice guy up by the Canadian border and bought it. The next day I got a response from a lady who had seen my ad, and had seen another ad that had a deck for sale. As it turns out, the deck wouldn't fit my tractor, and I wrote her a little email saying that is wouldn't fit, but thanks for taking the time to let me know.

Very civilized, very helpful and very nice. I suppose it is like real-life: everyone on Earth has a heart and an ass-hole. It just depends on which you choose to follow.......(Did I really say that??) Yup...:shrug:
 
I wouldn't want to buy a bike from someone who couldn't write a proper sentence. There's just something about....not being able to read or write that may affect how well you take care of your bike.

AND please, use words that articulate and describe what you want to sell. Pounding on the keyboard with your meaty forehead isn't the way to sell your bike. People can obviously tell if you have something to hide....
 
twinsarehot said:
I wouldn't want to buy a bike from someone who couldn't write a proper sentence. There's just something about....not being able to read or write that may affect how well you take care of your bike.

AND please, use words that articulate and describe what you want to sell. Pounding on the keyboard with your meaty forehead isn't the way to sell your bike. People can obviously tell if you have something to hide....
Click to expand...
My god, twins! In these days of highly educated illiteracy, hip hop slang, and computer shorthand you must not be able to respond to very many ads! The ability to spell or write a complete sentence is apparently, a dying art.
My favorite ad posters are the ones that don't even know what they are selling.......you know "For sale dirtbike, good condition $800"
 
As seen on Craigslist.
Ad titles;
Motorcycle for sale
Seat and pipes
Old kowaski
Sportser
Sporster
Sporser
Seldom does it say Sportster..... If it doesn't say how many cc's it's always a 900
Harley for sale. Nearly always a "sportser"
Come on, do you think no one's going to notice it's a 900 Sportster?
Susuki
Street fighter. Always means; cover your eyes this thing is UGLY, thrashed, AND bent.
In the ad;
runs great, needs new battery. Oh yeah you have always taken good care of it.
Fell over on; driveway, lawn, wet leaves, garage, something fell off shelf, previous owner tipped it. I have NEVER seen; high speed crash, rider maimed/killed, but we know those bikes are out there.... somewhere????
New paint, dent in muffler.
Second gear "skips" but only at full throttle, I have been riding it this way for two years.... $3,000
I don't have the title but can tell you how to do it.
Must sell, wife, girlfriend, dog, pregnant.
15,000 miles but has front -2 rear +2 sprockets so it's only like 11,000 miles.
full race exhaust, jet kit, K&N's new paint, fresh brakes, never been ridden hard.
Yamaha big bore MX bike, never raced, gently trail ridden only......
Getting rid of all his stuff, no title.....
Goldwing 129,000 miles but all these engines go 200,000 miles.....
Saw an honest complete ad for an old XS750 today. I replied thanking him for his honesty.
 
The ALL CAPS ads drive me crazy. It almost hurts to read. Don't forget, "won't last long" and "no better blah-blah around". And, around here anyway, almost ALL older motorcycles, just "need carbs cleaned". Uh-huh, that's all it needs. :laugh: I also agree with the problem people have with spelling. Someone in the garage gave me shit because I said I wouldn't buy shock "obsorbers" off an E-bay listing. I'm sorry, but you should at least be able to spell whatever the hell you're trying to sell. How about spellcheck?:banghead:
 
Kingwj said:
Honda CB350. Worth $3500, make offer.
Click to expand...

I will send you a certified check from my bank in Nigeria. The check will be for $6000. Please keep $4000 for the bike and for you gracious trouble and send the extra $2000 to my brother in Miami, the Dauphin, the long suffering and trodden upon rightful King of France, so that he may regain the throne. He will make you a knight of the round table and the three of us shall celebrate greatly together!

Your faithful friend,
Doug
 
If you think you get the crazies selling online, just wait until you post a help wanted ad. Am I really expected to believe a guy with a PHD would stick around for this job, http://greensboro.craigslist.org/lab/2194925065.html

And am I to believe anyone in his right mind will commute 200 miles each way for a $10 an hour job? Have these guys been out of work so long that they don't know the price of gasoline?

And then there's the guys who get their mother to e-mail me.

But alas, I think I'm going to find a few keepers and I must admit that hiring feels better than the layoffs I had to do in 2008.
 
What about those ads that say "Selling due to...................?"
Care factor? zero!

XJWMX, Just post your bank details and passwords here mate, we'll do the rest
 

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