I put my 97 Buick Lesabre and 46 inch Cradtsman riding mower up for sale on Facebook marketplace Thursday afternoon. I guess I didn’t ask nearly enough for them, they both sold Friday morning.

The guy that bought the mower drove 45 minutes to look at it. He agreed he wanted it, put a deposit (half my asking price) on it and said he would be back with a trailer to take it home. All is well, so I thought.

He sent me a message this morning saying when he got home there was a hospital bill in the mailbox that he had no idea how he was going to pay, and would I please return his deposit.

My asking price on the mower was 400 bucks. He didn’t hesitate, he didn’t try to bargain. He heard it run, saw that it mowed grass, and wasn’t beat all to hell. I agreed to immediately change the listing to “Sold”, which brings up my next issue.

I have been bitched at, cussed out, called all kinds of names because I sold both items. Seriously, people have issues because I listed items, then accepted payment in exchange for ownership!! It’s not like I pissed around, as soon as money exchanged hands I listed the items as sold. If someone has money in hand, I’m not waiting for the people who say they will make arrangements to look at it.

My thoughts on this: for whatever reason this guy is reconsidering his purchase and using hospital expenses as sn excuse. While 400 bucks isn’t pocket change, it seems to me someone who is really strapped for cash wouldn’t immediately jump in the car, drive almost an hour, not try to negotiate, without hesitation hand over half the asking price for me to hold it until he could come back with a way to move it.

Part of me is sympathetic, at the same time I’m kinda skeptical. I certainly don’t want to re-list it and deal with all the people pissed that I sold it, but I listed them because I no longer need them, or want them taking up space!!

Opinions?

 

Did that fella give you a cash deposit? If not, it sounds like a scam.

 

Re-list it and don't give it another thought. At the most, you could describe the initial issue with the first "sale" that failed. You are not responsible for the feelings of someone else. They can pound sand, or whatever.

 

Yep handed me 200 bucks cash.

 

Relist now.

If he wants the cash, he can come show you the bill.

Otherwise, keep the deposit.

In the future, all sales need to be cash talks, no holds, sales final.

 

This is the reason I don't accept deposits. First one with cash in fist gets it, no exceptions.

 

Amen. Cash and carry, that's how it works. When I go to the store to buy milk, it is not half now and I will bring the rest of the money tomorrow!!!

 

Any time I take a cash deposit, I confirm with the buyer that the deposit is NON REFUNDABLE. The concept of the deposit is that it's a binding commitment to complete the sale, and failure to do so will incur a painful penalty - forfeiture of the deposit. I doesn't sound like the guy is really messing you around, especially if you know you have other people interested in it at your asking price. Refund is up to you. Sometimes I'll give the deposit back, all depends on the circumstances.

Ignore the idiots lighting you up because you sold it to someone other than them. Relist it, and sell it to someone who didn't get ignorant with you. Double the price for those who did!

 

Re-list it. As far as the deposit goes, a little mercy and compassion never hurts and at the very least might make someone else's day a nice one but don't fret if he never shows to pick it up either.

 

Definitely re-list it. Did you show the idiot the mower at your home, or did you meet him someplace? Always a good idea to do online sales at a local police station.

 

Tell him he can pick his deposit back up. Way to easy for him to give you counterfeit money and then have you PayPal real cash back. I bet you never hear from him again.

On the other hand maybe he did get an unexpected bill and does need the cash back. 200 bucks is nothing, if he actually shows up hand him his bills back and relist.

I also don't take deposits with something that is that cheap. Pay it all and take it or come back when you can.

 

Return his deposit & re-list the mower. Then YOU will have learned something.

 

Hi,

Make sure you give him the bills he gave you as sounds funny and would be a clever way to exchange counterfeit bills off.

Good luck with the next sale.

Regards,
Jim

 

You guys are killing me. My first thought was that he was trying to wash bad money. Did he for sure drive an hour or did he just say he drove an hour? Absolutely give him -his- money back, when he comes back to get it.

Marketplace has turned into the new craigslist. What is a hobbyist to do.

 

Usually bring a friend with you. You want sketchy, try armslist. I bought a 10-22 once that the seller was more sketchy than a painter's notepad. I called the state patrol to see if the serial was hot; it was not, and the rifle has been a loaner for my Appleseed shoots for years now.

Never got the dude's name, and he didn't give it. Felonious.

 

x 2..no dated bill, no refund

 

I told him I already listed the mower as sold, told him about all the pissed off people bitching that it sold, he drove to look at it, agreed to buy, and left a deposit. I agreed to hold it a week or2 until he got back to pick it up.

As far as driving an hour, his cell number area code is a hour away.

As for his money, I already deposited it and the money from the Buick. I looked the bills over before I accepted anything.

I haven’t heard back from him. My wife thinks I should just refund his money and re list it, I don’t want the hassles.

I haven’t really decided what I want to do yet.

 

There is no problem with waiting a bit unless you need the space or the dough right now.

 

Ask him what the Hospital bill was for? Maybe it was for a adadictome

 

When you sell stuff, people being idiots comes with the territory. It's odd that the guy drove 45 minutes to see something with the intention of buying it, but not having any way to transport it with him. A car is one thing, a mower.... that's just stupid. And the clowns that complain about you having already sold something are a good example of people needing to pay attention in school, surround themselves with people smarter than themselves, socialize more, etc. Seriously... giving a seller sh*t because they listed something for sale but having sold it before they could buy it? WTH? I've sold 10's of thousands of dollars, and probably close to a hundred items via Craigslist and FB Marketplace, and I don't think I've ever had one person get riled up because I sold something that they wanted. Hell, I just sold our basketball hoop last night. I got the pole out of the ground after 7pm, made an ad, and it was gone from my property by 9:15pm. I did have one person ask if I could deliver, but I didn't even reply to that person, because that was a stupid question.

As far as relisting it, yep... immediately relist it, and tell the guy he can come back and get his money. I wouldn't go out of my way to send the money back to him.

 

Selling on FB is a joke but it works. You just have to treat it like a joke and if someone shows up with the cash all the better... No holds, no deposits, no tales of the dog dying, mom in the hospital. Show up with cash 1st one gets the item....

 

Bet you his wife threatened him with a new hospital bill if he didnt get the money back.
I'd tell him he can have his money back when you sell it

 

I like this idea. I think I’ll suggest he help find a buyer for it!

I agree, I thought it was strange that he came to look it over without a way to get it home. In all honesty, how he got it home wasn’t my concern.

Just to clarify, I had 3 people bitch about selling the items. One over the Buick, 2 over the mower. The loudest complainer bitched that I didn’t list it “fcfs ( I later learned that was an acronym for first come first serve) as if there was any other way to sell something.

 

Right? I mean, was your ad the guy's first foray into the real world? Is he from another planet where trade operates any other way?

Three people is some kind of statistical anomaly, but... lower priced stuff, when you "price it to sell quickly" so that you don't have to look at it longer than you want to, will always bring out the low-IQ crowd. A $400 riding mower hits that sweet spot, for sure. My two craziest Marketplace rodeos were for a free 55" 10 year old flatscreen that went black, and a $25 self-propelled Husqvarna pushmower that didn't want to start. (I had garbage-picked it several years earlier, and finally got sick of having to use starter fluid on it. Autochokes on mowers suck.) The tv ad was placed, and the tv gone from my house in under 45 minutes -- over 20 inquiries. The mower was about 2 or 3 hours -- 20-30 inquiries.

 

Whelp... I tested out my theory regarding "pricing to sell quickly", and it bore out.

I have a sh*tty riding mower called a Yard Bug, that was the parts machine for my other one, which I sold last year. Now it's time to get rid of the parts Bug, and since I can't get the drive pulley off (it needs a good penetrating oil soak, and it's not worth my time to do it), I'm selling it for $100 with the caveat of "for parts or repair." Everything else about the mower is ok, runs just fine. But it needs to be someone else's project.

30 FB messages later, I set it to pending to stop the insanity, and once I got up here to the cottage, started letting guys know that they can arrange a time to come see / buy. Today is Wednesday, and a couple of guys wanted to come get it today. I try to go in order of responses, so the first guy that wanted it can't come until Thursday. I texted him, "Hey, I have a couple of guys that want to come see this on Wed, so if you can come before them... if not...."

Dude started to lose his cool. Told him he better slow his roll and relax, blah blah blah. I was nice about it, but obviously I am going to have to start putting FCFS on these ads. Needless to say, when he shows up tomorrow, I'm not even going to bother starting it for him. He can load it up and GTFOH.