I listed a handgun on armslist.com. It's not an expensive gun to begin with it, and it had some blemishes on the nickel finish slide, so I priced it accordingly. Keep in mind I've never sold a gun online before, so I was just expection "normal" responses ending in a sale.
I had several of those mostly illiterate "I'm salivating for your gun" comments where you never hear anything else from the person.
I had several of the "your gun is ridiculously overpriced and I won't pay any more than 40% less than what you are asking!"
There were several sincere at negotiating a better price, but initially I had enough interest that I wasn't willing to cut the price just yet.
Always, in my responses, I was polite and thanked everyone for their interest, and in the end I had 3 offers that seemed reasonable and sincere.
The first seemed really solid, the guy definitely wanted to buy the gun, at my asking price. Then in his follow up email he said that he lives in Texas and he is making arrangements with his FFL and that he'd like to get my phone number and address and make arrangements for someone from his ffl to stop by and pick up the pistol.
Ummm, what???
Ok, so the guy is willing to pay for shipping, ffl costs, and to have someone pick it up? I emailed back, again being very polite, with a "no thank you", but I did include a link to where he could buy a new one online since he was willing to pay shipping and ffl fees.
Now, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but even I could see something was very wrong here, and a little scary.
So on to the next offer...
This guy is local, and he initially offers me $100 in cash along with a treasure trove of some sort of welding supplies and hand tools.
I never was sure what it was he was offering, but I politely declined but did tell him I'd consider other firearms as a trade.
I get an email back from the guy that said "good luck, you'll never get what your asking for that gun.".
At that point I had what I believed to be a solid offer (see #3) so I emailed back and said "oh ok, I better let the guy know who's buying it at full price." To which he replies "I bet he doesn't have a carry permit.". Huh? You think he can't buy my gun without a permit? lol at this point I'm thinking this is a kid who just can't afford the gun and is ticked because I wouldn't wheel and deal with him. I emailed back and asked he if was even old enought to buy a gun. He responsed back that he was 23 and has been buying guns since he moved to Indiana, and that I should "cut the bs" when doing business with a marine. Okee doke.
Ok, now to #3, the deal is done offer...
So I get an email from another local fellow who is really interested in the gun. A couple emails back and forth and he offers to buy it, at the asking price. I say "great, I'll call you later today to arrange the meet after work". A few pleasant emails back and forth with more details, and talk about how he's out enjoying the great hunting weather. Oh good, he's a hunter, I can put this to bed and use the cash from the sale to stock up on ammo!
Nearing the end of the day so I email him where I'd like to meet. No response. I call the number he left, no answer, voice mail message says "you have reached the voice mail of...(silence, no name provided)". I thought it was odd, but I left a message saying that I'm leaving work and that I can meet him within an hour.
No call back. I call again, this time it goes immediately to voice mail. I emailed again with no answer. The the agreed upon hour came and went I accepted that he had a change of heart, but I was really irritated at this point so I emailed and said "I don't mind that you changed your mind, but couldn't you have just said so instead of wasting my time?", and I took the ad down from armslist.com.
Around 8:30pm I get a text that says "Where are you located? I have the cash." Here go the willies again... I asked where he was and he responded that he was on the south side of South Bend. I responded that I wasn't really interested in going out at that hour to meet a stranger to do a deal concerning a gun. I told him if he was available the next day during the 5 o'clock hour and could be in a specific area, then text me and we can see about making arrangements. I never heard back from him.
So, that was my experiece with armslist.com.
Anyone else have fun stories to tell about it?
I had several of those mostly illiterate "I'm salivating for your gun" comments where you never hear anything else from the person.
I had several of the "your gun is ridiculously overpriced and I won't pay any more than 40% less than what you are asking!"
There were several sincere at negotiating a better price, but initially I had enough interest that I wasn't willing to cut the price just yet.
Always, in my responses, I was polite and thanked everyone for their interest, and in the end I had 3 offers that seemed reasonable and sincere.
The first seemed really solid, the guy definitely wanted to buy the gun, at my asking price. Then in his follow up email he said that he lives in Texas and he is making arrangements with his FFL and that he'd like to get my phone number and address and make arrangements for someone from his ffl to stop by and pick up the pistol.
Ummm, what???
Ok, so the guy is willing to pay for shipping, ffl costs, and to have someone pick it up? I emailed back, again being very polite, with a "no thank you", but I did include a link to where he could buy a new one online since he was willing to pay shipping and ffl fees.
Now, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but even I could see something was very wrong here, and a little scary.
So on to the next offer...
This guy is local, and he initially offers me $100 in cash along with a treasure trove of some sort of welding supplies and hand tools.
I never was sure what it was he was offering, but I politely declined but did tell him I'd consider other firearms as a trade.
I get an email back from the guy that said "good luck, you'll never get what your asking for that gun.".
At that point I had what I believed to be a solid offer (see #3) so I emailed back and said "oh ok, I better let the guy know who's buying it at full price." To which he replies "I bet he doesn't have a carry permit.". Huh? You think he can't buy my gun without a permit? lol at this point I'm thinking this is a kid who just can't afford the gun and is ticked because I wouldn't wheel and deal with him. I emailed back and asked he if was even old enought to buy a gun. He responsed back that he was 23 and has been buying guns since he moved to Indiana, and that I should "cut the bs" when doing business with a marine. Okee doke.
Ok, now to #3, the deal is done offer...
So I get an email from another local fellow who is really interested in the gun. A couple emails back and forth and he offers to buy it, at the asking price. I say "great, I'll call you later today to arrange the meet after work". A few pleasant emails back and forth with more details, and talk about how he's out enjoying the great hunting weather. Oh good, he's a hunter, I can put this to bed and use the cash from the sale to stock up on ammo!
Nearing the end of the day so I email him where I'd like to meet. No response. I call the number he left, no answer, voice mail message says "you have reached the voice mail of...(silence, no name provided)". I thought it was odd, but I left a message saying that I'm leaving work and that I can meet him within an hour.
No call back. I call again, this time it goes immediately to voice mail. I emailed again with no answer. The the agreed upon hour came and went I accepted that he had a change of heart, but I was really irritated at this point so I emailed and said "I don't mind that you changed your mind, but couldn't you have just said so instead of wasting my time?", and I took the ad down from armslist.com.
Around 8:30pm I get a text that says "Where are you located? I have the cash." Here go the willies again... I asked where he was and he responded that he was on the south side of South Bend. I responded that I wasn't really interested in going out at that hour to meet a stranger to do a deal concerning a gun. I told him if he was available the next day during the 5 o'clock hour and could be in a specific area, then text me and we can see about making arrangements. I never heard back from him.
So, that was my experiece with armslist.com.
Anyone else have fun stories to tell about it?