Got to be worth it in parts?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/cto/1893794992.html

 

Looks like he has changed the ad and is trying to run an auction of sorts:

"So, I posted my Miata for 300 about 20 minutes ago and received 20 responses so far.
Therefore, I will be selling it for best offer. Anything you'll offer me over 300 let me know or just offer 5 and you can "buy it now" haha"

Lame. I bought a '99 the same way - it was listed for $500, but based on getting a ton of calls/emails the seller basically told people to show up at his house and bid on it. I ended up paying $780, which isn't bad for what turned out to be a running NB.

 

if he wants best offer, why doesnt he just list it on ebay? If someone listed a price of a car on craigslist, then changed his mind because he realized it was too low, and told me to pay more, I'd tell him to **** off, even if it was a good deal.

 

dammit why can stuff like this never pop up in Houston.

It's always on the other two coast.

 

And who would you be hurting in that scenario?

Seems logical to me, he obviously underpriced it and realized that when he got a huge response. If you were in his shoes, would you really sell it for $300 when you've promised it to nobody and can obviously get more?

 

Everyone needs to do EXACTLY this. It happens so much around here that I'm convinced it's a clever marketing tactic. They get lots of interest they wouldn't otherwise get asking what they really want and waaaaiiiting for someone to get within 80% of that. Instead they put it out at 50%...act like they were naive and are now taking best offer...and you're the loser...and some schmuck ends up paying the same 80%, on an item they probably didn't vet as well as they usually would, and walking away feeling like they "won" something.



There-in lies the problem. I've had guys agree to deals, share numbers and give addresses, and then reneg on the deal afterwards. Yes, I know it's not a contract or anything, but it's called decency. Yes, I know CL is free and you get what you pay for, but my time and gas isn't free.

 

I agree with you IF you've reached the seller and made an agreement. But I would say that there is an important difference between firing off an email saying "I'll take it" and a seller actually confirming the deal. If the guy posts the ad and gets a bunch of email responses saying "I'll take it", he's not obligated to accept any of those offers and nobody has lost anything except for the trivial amount of time sending an email. On the other hand, it would be messed up to agree to a deal and let the buyer arrive at the door only to change the terms. I believe in keeping your word, but posting an ad is not an agreement to anything.

I didn't see the original ad, so perhaps I'm missing something.

When I was searching for a hard top, I found a guy on CL 360 miles away that was asking a few hundred below the going rate. I was already planing on FLYING to his area to pickup a car with my girlfriend and drive home, but elected to drive my Miata to him since that was the only way I could transport the hard top home. After speaking to him and explaining the situation to him, we made an agreement to meet the next day in the afternoon. I told him I would call when I wrapped up the deal with my girlfriend's car. When I called around 3 or 4pm, he told me he had already sold it because he couldn't get a hold of me, yet I had no voicemails, no texts, no missed calls. He could of at least left me a message and given me a window of a couple hours to respond.

I'm sure he got plenty of response to his ad, just like this guy in the original post, but he let me drive 6 hours each way only to sell to someone else. Now THAT was f'd up.