No Integrity

[salmonee]

So I've been scouring craigslist for about 2 months now and found a boat that I like. The price seem good, the boat length is right, the outboard has the right muscle. I call the guy up, went and look at the boat last night and even scheduled a test run that was suppose to take place today. For some reason, this guy doesn't have a cell or whatever but lists his wife's phone number on the craigslist ad. She knows nada about the boat and gave me a bunch of wrong info. I call the number to confirm our appointment for today and leaves a message on his wife's phone. She calls me like 5 minute before I was about to make the 30 minute drive to test run the boat. She says my husband put the wrong amount on the craigslist ad, since we put alot of money into the boat we want the advertised priced + $1500. I was livid at this point, though didn't express it because I didn't want to ruin the deal. If there was ever going to be a deal. This guy's wife must wear the pants in the house. I figure how come this dude won't call and talk to me about this? She's hard to talk to as she has an accent and english is her second language. The boat is 100% stock. The only thing the guy added was a electric trolling motor and cheap a** fish finder. The only good thing about this boat was that it fit my needs and was still in descent condition. The guy didn't seem to use it very much. It's an aluminum boat. He had the boat for 5 years and is taking a 5k hit since new. 1k a year is pretty reasonable, I'd say. I wished I would had a bought a boat then. Now these boats are 50% more expensive than the cost 5yrs ago. My problem was that I showed "too" much interest in the boat. I'm a serious buyer and want a boat. I'm not a looky loo. They saw that I was interested in the boat, and figure let's try to gouge as much out of this guy as possible. They picked the wrong guy for that game. I'm in no hurry to buy and can wait for another deal to come by. I'm only disspointed in that in this day in age, you put a X amount of dollar on something, you should stick to it. I wish more people would have integrity...

 

[jevery]

Re: No Integrity

Don?t you just love the folks you run across when buying or selling things of value. For the most part, people are fairly OK, like you and me - Well me anyway, I?m not so sure about you. But, every once in a while???..You run across real jerks, or worse yet ? The professional scammers. Last time I tried to sell a boat, the scammers wouldn?t leave me alone. ?I?m a broker representing a wealthy foreign businessman whom will purchase the very nice vessel that you have for sale. I am sending a certified cashiers check for the full asking price plus $5,000 US dollars that will be used by the third party shipper to procure, crate, and ship the vessel to Abu Dhabi. Once funds are received, please subtract your full asking price and forward the balance to this address?etc.? Two different scammers were trying to work me at the same time. There are so many good scammers and sophisticated scams out there that I?ve gotten to where I don?t trust anyone that I don?t know. Well, that?s how we learn those valuable lessons I guess.

 

[Uraijit]

Re: No Integrity

I usually advertise something as being about 10% MORE than I want out of it. Then if I get someone who appears to be interested at the advertised pricec, I just go ahead and say, "I had it listed for $X, but I'll let you have it for $Y", to clinch the deal.

They usually bite, and everybody wins. I get what I wanted, they feel like they got a deal, everybody's happy.

The only time I would ever raise the price on something, is if they gave me an insulting offer on something of value.

 

[marine4003]

Re: No Integrity

Salmonee...considering that Craigslist ad's are free,why dont you post another ad outlining the sellers mischief, don't be to descriptive, just enough to make clear exactly which boat it is,and the problems encountered.I have seen similar ad's warning about zero morals idiots trying to bait & switch. The way Karma works is - What goes around---comes around.and to coin an old phrase : your ship will come in

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: No Integrity

that won't work, because some one will "flag" it and it will be removed very quickly. you can put a wtb (want to buy) ad on craigslist, i have been sucessful doing that.

 

[KeyWestBoater]

Re: No Integrity

Salmonee,

I see some red flags with this deal, it smells sour; changing the price, can't get a hold of the seller on the phone. I think the further you get into this deal the more problems you'll have. There's a lot of good deals to be found. I would walk away, IMHO. Good luck!

 

[TommyA]

Re: No Integrity

The fact that the wife is the main point of contact even though she has no knowledge of the boat is a big flag as I have come to realize in the last few deals I have made. It is as though the man is hiding behind the wife to avoid any questions that might give something away that they don't want you know. I have been involved in two transactions where this came to be, One I walked away from and another I still am questioning myself whether I made the right decision to buy. If the add was on craigslist for more than hour then they need to stick with the price other wise they should have canceled the add and resubmitted. Smells like a gouging is attempted here.

 

[cheburashka]

Re: No Integrity

I had a similar experience with a Craigslist motorcycle. Someone had advertised a '97 Honda Interceptor for an unbelievably low price. I drove two hours to check it out. The guy stood me up, but the bike was in front of his house and appeared to be decent. I called him on the cell and he didn't answer. After an hour or two of inspecting the bike, we drove the two hours back to the house. Set up another appointment to look at it, and this time when I showed up he wasn't home and the bike was gone. I drove home and emailed him and he told me that he had gotten tired of trying to sell the bike and that he had it taken to the wrecking yard. I'm certain he just got a better offer, but that's eight hours of my life that I'll never get back.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: No Integrity

Craig's List is great, but it's free, and idiots can post their stuff there just as easily as decent folks.

It works both ways, too. Prospective buyers never show up, but ask you to hold the item until they do. Sellers tell you it's available and then sell it while you're on your way to their place.

There it is. Not much you can do about it, frankly. Around my area, there have even been robberies where someone has shown up to look at something, cash in hand, then been robbed by the "seller."

All the usual caveats apply. Don't go to a bad neighborhood to look at something that doesn't belong in that area. Figure that the thing you want may get sold. Allow for idiots who want to raise their price when you get serious.

Overall, though, there are some great, great deals on Craigs List. I find them by checking frequently and getting there first. If something lingers on the list, it's probably junk. The best deals are the ones you never see, since they're gone an hour after they're posted.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: No Integrity

Salmonee looks as tho you've done your homework. However there is no guarantee against bad behavior. The last vehicle I was trying to buy was also advertised on craigslist and only the wife would deal with me. Seemed like a good buy, but when I drove up and looked at the van I knew I had been given bad information. I told my wife who was with me "watch this". When the gal came outside, I asked her " so wheres this little creampuff you described to me" as I was leaning on her POS.
Needless to say, she got the point and we left.
On the other hand, my current boat got listed at 2:30 in the pm. I saw the ad at 4:00. I had been lookin for about three months, new a good deal from a bad, and jumped on it. He had already gotten three calls, but I lived the closest. We met at his lake. I had asked him not to start the boat before I got there and he didn't. It really checked out well and we made a deal. He even came off a couple hundred 'cause I found some interior issues. So far, so good. By the way, I had looked at four other boats that were nowhere near as they were described. So, keep up the due diligence and as they say, "you're ship will come in"

 

[eavega]

Re: No Integrity

Craigslist is a great tool, but it really is "both buyer and seller beware". I have had the same message about the broker from Abu Dhabi buying my "nice vessel" which happened to be a fiberglass canoe in need of some work. I have also managed to sell a lot of stuff on craigslist that otherwise I wouldn't even have a clue on how to get sold.

In terms of buying anything mechanical, I just never make assumptions, and I never take the ad as completely frank and honest (cynical of me, I know). I ask a ton of questions. I ask for pictures. I ask for clarifications. This is all before I even meet the seller face-to-face. Its always harder for me to walk away from a deal when you are standing in front of the item you want.

As with anything I purchase, the only two things I walk into a negotiation with as the buyer is knowledge and money. It usually works out that the more you have of one, the less you need of the other

-Eric

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: No Integrity

The problem with craigslist is that people who tend to waste other peoples time can use it with no penalty. Beware that often the long detailed information often with "a story" about something for sale on craigslist can be a ripp off. You dont need no stinkin story or clever add to sell something cause it will sell itself if its worth it. As far as buying something with an engine,I dont care what kind of documentation they offer about how good it runs.Untill you hear it run etc all that doesnt mean a ratts arse.