DB Rant
 

Been helping a friend look for his first wakeboat recently. This weekend the exact boat he's been looking for popped up on Craigslist about 2 1/2 hours away from where we live, and I just happened to be spending the weekend in the same town. He asked if I could swing by and check it out for him and give him my opinion. After calling the seller and setting it up I swung by and gave it a pretty good inspection and thanked the guy for letting my drop by on short notice.

It was an 06 in great condition with 196 hours. (I won't list the boat or $$ because its irrelevant.) it was priced well but a little on the high side, and I told my bud it was still a good deal because of its condition. So he calls the guy later that day and makes him a full priced offer (again a little overpriced to start with) if he throws in some gear.......couple of old boards, ropes, etc.. The guy says he's getting rid of it all and getting out of boating all together so we didn't feel it was insulting to ask. He says he'll talk to his wife and get back with my friend.

So I look back on craigslist this morning to check out the pictures again and he edited all his ads and is now asking 3,500 more than original.

I guess it doesn't pay to call someone the first day a boat is listed. He must have thought he priced it too low and changed it after he was given a full priced offer. It's definetly overpriced now.

Told my friend to call his bluff and let him know the offer will expire Friday.

Yes it's his boat and he can ask whatever he wants for it. Seriously though......changing it after you've had a full price offer. That's a DB move.

Definitely a DB move. If you want more money, list it for more money. If it was the fact that he wanted more money for the boards and everything, he should have told you, or put it up for the price of the boat, and then if you want the gear, buy it for x amount.

Getting a full priced offer and your friend ready to buy right then, saying you'll think about it, and then jacking the price up is not cool. If you listed it and you get a full price offer with someone standing right in front of you, what is there to discuss. You're getting exactly what you want out of it.

I would do exactly what you said, call him on it, ask what the hold up is. Your friend offered 100% of asking price and then inquired on the gear. There is no reason he shouldn't sell it for full price, even without the gear.

If he gives you some kind of BS about it, and doesn't stick to his word about the original price I would just walk. Guys like that are not good to deal with.

Saw the same thing happen last year locally here on a FJ60.

Even if he said no on the gear my bud was still going to buy it. Honestly the boards & ropes were old and wouldn't have made a difference for my friend. He was just looking to have some stuff for his kids until he got some new stuff.

I've never had this happen but what often entertains me is when I see a craigslist ad for something I'm interested in but they've priced it high. I call and make a reasonable offer which is turned down. No big deal. So I continue my search and that same item gets reposted and reposted. Then they do what anyone would do when they are having trouble selling something because the price is a little high. They bump the price up even higher. Sometimes I wonder if it's a hoarder trying to make it look like he's selling something to get his wife off his back.

Call back, retract the orig full price offer, and give him a lower offer.

My bud just called me. He did call the guys bluff on the original price and gave him 24 hours then the offer expires. He immediately accepted the offer. We're going to pick it up this weekend.

I was temped to tell home to do that John LOL, but I didn't want to risk my friend missing this boat over my tactics.

Rule 1 of CL..... never offer asking....
Rule 2 of CL......always inflate asking....

Rule 3 of CL...when the exact boat you've been looking for pops up 2 1/2 hours from your house disregard rule 1 as long as it's not waaaay overpriced.

Rule 4 don't talk about rule 1-3.

When I see something on CL that I want at a good price I usually don't offer less than asking. When I see something I'd like to have, but can live without I will offer a low price. If it's turned down I tell them that it's a standing offer if no other buyer comes along.

On the flip side I frequently list for what I want and refuse to bargain. I've had good luck with that strategy.

This is an easy one... Call the seller, inform him that he just missed out on a straight up deal and walk away... There are literally thousands of boats for sale right now.

I went and checked out a boat for a friend a couple years ago. Nice guy, clean boat. My buddy offered him 2k less for cash on the spot. He declined and my buddy went and bought a different boat. The guy calls him three months later wanting to accept his original offer.:rolleyes:

UPDATE:

So my bud and I head up (with check in hand) to pick up the boat pending a successful test drive. 3 1/2 drive ended up being a complete bust. Long story short.....the boat LOOKED great still.

It smoked like a chimney for the first few minutes, overheated while at idle, and spewed hot water all over my feet because the heater core was ruptured from improper winterizing. Truly was a polished turd and waste of a vacation day.

It must be time for him to raise his sell price.

Valve seals, Impeller, and Heater core... about $350 if you do it yourself.. have him drop the price $2k...

^yip yip

Except our have to wonder what else might be wrong. Deferred maintenance can pop up at anytime.

It may have been valve seals and the thermostat because it didn't overheat again after the first issue, and the smoking stopped. The core would have been an easy swap out too.

What it all boils down to is $350 of preventative maintenance and the impressions burned into our memory kept the 35k check in my bud's wallet. What's next and when is it going to break.

Smoking could have been fogging spray burning off.

None used Hate. I made sure to ask and all he supposedly did was drain the water.