Apparently I was rude to the craigslister!

[Robert M]

Deck,

I have to side with the potential buyer... Your response was rude. The suggestion that you'd dump it in the trash rather than sell it to that person for 50% of your asking price can easily be construed as an insult. All you had to say was, "No... I can't sell it for just $5.00." and I bet the buyer would've not only been fine with your response but also bought the coffee typical. FWIW, I would not of expected you to respond to someone like that. Definitely atypical of you.

I also agree with Bobinmurphy.... Offering just 50% of the asking price isn't necessarily rude. It's low-balling, a common negotiating tactic. Not necessarily the most polite of tactics but not necessarily rude. But, it is definitely silly considering the uber-low asking price of this item. I would've just paid $10.00 and called it done. Why? The price is already so low that it wouldn't be worth my time to haggle.

Robert

[mrlynn]

@ Robert M

:agree:

Everybody bargains. It is a bit uncouth to do so by email, though; better to show up and then make the low-ball offer.

Re free stuff: If it's metal, I'll put a price on it just to keep scrap dealers from taking, say, a desk and destroying it. Better for some needy soul to get use out of it.

/Mr Lynn

[Dennis S]

I don't think dekada was rude.

[deckeda]

Thanks folks! Always a variety of perceptions and responses here. I have occasionally posted free stuff but it's been rare. Either the weather further "ruins it" or the HOA gives a little stink-eye if it becomes a habit.

For the last several years we've been shuffling unwanted stuff from room to room, garage to basement to back porch to front porch. With two new garage doors coming and a long-standing desire to store cars in the garage again, I just wanted to purge.

All of it has some minor value but the effort to get that value is often more than it's worth. I can take a whole van-load of scrap stuff or even trash to a county transfer station and for $7 they'll do the recycling for me. And it's out of my life hassle-free and quickly.

For metal, I go to a nearby scrap dealer. Getting a check for $16 for a busted garage door opener and a few other things, or $19 for a box of SCSI cables and old shock struts I'll never use is a bargain I'll take.

Not buying so much in the first place would be the best bargain of all.

[Psurfer]

It seems REAL easy to offend some people on CL. I think some of the ez offended have little to no experience selling or buying outside of a store setting,

[Janit]

Silly, but not rude. "$5 for this piece of junk?" would have been rude.

[silvarios]

deckeda is always being a jerk, clearly? /s

Nah, it's just haggling, person said $5, you said it wouldn't be worth the time. No harm, no foul.

[bazookaman]

I like the people that haggle over a quarter. 25 cents??? Would you take a dime?

[NewtonMP2100]

this all seems RUDEmentary to me.....