Should I chew this Craigslist car seller out for not holding car like he said he would?

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Unless you showed up first with a deposit for over 10% of the price, the winner is the first one with cash for the whole listed price. I lost out on a sale two weeks ago. I didn't even have a chance to show up with cash first because someone sent an electronic bank transfer for the listed price after looking at the photos online.

[mrbigstuff]

I say I'm showing it on Saturday morning, first come, first served.

[Dazed & Confused (Mobile)]

I've lost out on a few car deals like that but I've also won out too by beating someone else.

Win some lose some. It's Craigslist...

D & C

[RAMd®d]

Would not do any good.

First, this.

And lastly, that.

In between, what everybody else said about cash in hand now, vs a possible sale later. One might not show up at all with nary a 'Sorry, changed my mind' or show up and decide not to buy.

Contacting the previous potential buyer might or might not get that sale, and might give that potential buyer a little leverage.

[lost in space]

There are flakes on both sides of Craigslist. I had an interested buyer rip me a new one because I sold a mini to someone else after I declined his lowball offer. He assumed I'd hold it for him for the asking price.

[testcase]

I've had FAR more sellers who swear they'll shop up but never do vs actual buyers. Take a deep breath, enjoy your favorite adult beverage and, let it go.

[Carnos Jax]

Dennis, I'd give the guy a pass.

I've sold (or advertised) tons of stuff over the last decade or two through CL (and Facebook Marketplace more recently).

I can count hundreds of times (yes hundreds) where people say they'll show up, or contact me the next day (or particular date), or set up a time and place to meet the next day or in a couple of days. A good percentage of the time they'll explicitly even ask me to hold it for them, or hold it to their next pay day. Every time I respond positively or say that I will.

99% of the time I never hear from them again (in the rare instances where they actually respond to my followup inquiries, they'll just make up some bs excuse). I have NEVER heard back from someone who asked me to hold something from them.

So I regard almost all buyers as flakes I sell to the first person who comes with the cash.


P.S. - Facebook Marketplace kinda makes up for the flakes by the fact that you have tons more inquiries, so even a low follow through rate yields decent sales.

[C(-)ris]

Craigslist car sale? First to show up with cash wins. I’ve scooped up plenty of cars out from under people who were slow. If you want it, show up immediately. If you REALLY want it, cheat. I’ve had people tell me someone is coming to look at 3pm to look at it and to come after, so I show up at 2pm with a hand full of cash and get the sale.

I’ve also been on the other side where I test drove a BMW at 9pm, came back at 8am with cash and the seller changed their mind. It happens, if I would have had the cash on me I would have had the car. Lesson learned.

Most I’ve spent on a car and had in cash on me is $8000. Really wanted that Impala, and the guy lived in a really nice part of town and all his info came back legit so I wasn’t too worried about it.

[davester]

Are you kidding me? It's plain stupid for a seller on craigslist to agree to "hold" something for a buyer. So many of those "hold it for me" buyers don't show up. Craigslist rule #1 is...first one there gets the prize. If you can't live with that then buy your stuff on amazon.