I just had three "very special" Craigslist experiences in a row and wondered what everyone else deals with when selling things online.

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[–] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was selling a saw. Pretty good one, compound mitre, slider, 12" blade, and a really nice stand. I don't remember what I wad asking, but it was fair. Let's say $500 for the sake of the story. Dude gets in touch, asks a couple of questions, and says yeah, he'll take it for that price. Day comes, he shows up and checks it out. I have it set up and we cut a couple of boards to show him it's all square and good.

He says cool, here's $300.

I say, yeah, uh, we said 5. I'm selling it for 5. Not 3.

He looks at me deadpan and says this is all I brought.

I say well, I'm selling it for 5.

He looks at me and says I drove all the way from *city about an hour away on a good day with no traffic.

I look back at him and say Huh. I bet you wish you hadn't done that.

He just kind of stands there looking at his shoes while I pack the saw back up and he sort of sulks off.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is extremely common as a sort of all-or-nothing negotiation tactic. They’re hoping that you’ll just go “ah well, I don’t want to bother with getting someone else out here. Just go ahead and take it for $300.” Basically, they’re hoping you’ll fall for the Sunk Cost fallacy, and let them have it for cheap.

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