A New (to me) CL Trick

[jlovda]

Last night a Mcintosh C27 preamp showed up on the Akron-Canton Craig's List. The listed price was $125. Wow. I texted the owner immediately and said I want it. About 90 minutes later the seller texts back that four other people are interested...make an offer. I didn't really need it so I said $175. I never heard back. This is an interesting trick. You create an auction and decline every offer until you get the price you want. It creates a bidding war. None of the losing bidders have any idea what the item sold for. The $125 was a come-on. His ad did disappear by the next day before noon. I'll try that next time.

 

[jlovda]

Moved to "What I learned on Craigs List

 

[goodolpg]

Last night a Mcintosh C27 preamp showed up on the Akron-Canton Craig's List. The listed price was $125. Wow. I texted the owner immediately and said I want it. About 90 minutes later the seller texts back that four other people are interested...make an offer. I didn't really need it so I said $175. I never heard back. This is an interesting trick. You create an auction and decline every offer until you get the price you want. It creates a bidding war. None of the losing bidders have any idea what the item sold for. The $125 was a come-on. His ad did disappear by the next day before noon. I'll try that next time.

If you want to run an auction use ebay.


Sure the example you listed is a work around to CL rules but it's not in the spirit of CL rules.

 

[Killer Fox]

Sounds to me they didn't realize what they had until the emails and texts started flying in.

 

[ADKBob]

I have seen this on CL and I believe it may not follow the rules. On the other hand, I bought speakers from someone who actually honored me as first in line since I responded with the first email. He said many others had contacted him, but I was first so I got first crack at the speakers and paid his price. Some people are surprised at what people are willing to pay for old damaged and dirty vintage components they just want to clear out. Maybe someone told the seller what the piece was really worth - karma.

 

[savatage1973]

About 90 minutes later the seller texts back that four other people are interested...make an offer.

Blatant "bait and tease" auction--wouldn't buy it even for less than asking price.

There are many con artists out there .

YUP!!!

Sounds to me they didn't realize what they had until the emails and texts started flying in.

This is entirely possible, but not likely. Most people have the resources to assess value before they put something up for sale. There are always those (rather rare) cases where the seller just doesn't know, but in this day and age, most people do. I have been to estate sales and responded to CL ads where that was the case, and even offered up more money than the asking price, just so I can sleep at night rather than just blatantly taking advantage of a grieving widow.

 

[alteclipsch]

I bought speakers from someone who actually honored me as first in line since I responded with the first email. He said many others had contacted him, but I was first so I got first crack at the speakers and paid his price.

That happened for me, too. I saw a CL ad for a pair of North American Sound Squires for $75 and was the 1st caller. I really didn't know what they were but recognized the T35 tweeter and Atlas midrange horns. When I picked them up, he said he had been inundated with calls and offers. Good guy, honest seller, the way it should be.

On the other had, I emailed on a nice looking pair of AR 4x for $25 and was told they were sold but they were having a garage sale and had lots of nice items for sale. Obviously a come-on tactic.

 

[totem]

How many of you being the first responders to a CL ad {very good deal} only to find when you get there
you are not alone?
This has happened several times and I was not happy with the seller, it turned into an uncomfortable
situation but thats life. I did have to make price adjustments in addition to a little attitude, but ultimately prevailed.

 

[kurtgo]

Had something similar but they genuinely did not know what their vintage gear was worth. A Marantz receiver and a pair of Yamaha NX-1000 in ebony speakers. I was very up front with them and told 'em that receiver was worth around $600. They had it posted for $125. They started asking around with other callers and came back at me since I was the "first" caller and told them about the value of the Marantz. Asked if I'd pay the $600 for the receiver and $100 for the speakers. I countered with $350 for the Marantz and $125 for the speakers. I didn't even know the speakers were worth more than the receiver! And, they delivered them about 150 miles to me!

 

[savatage1973]

Yeah--you did your best and at least you can sleep at night--that's the way I look at it.

 

[Alobar]

Well at least there wasn't any gasoline or driving time involved. Nothing worse than a bidding war with the cellphone on the way to some rendezvous point..

 

[62caddy]

Last night a Mcintosh C27 preamp showed up on the Akron-Canton Craig's List. The listed price was $125. Wow. I texted the owner immediately and said I want it. About 90 minutes later the seller texts back that four other people are interested...make an offer. I didn't really need it so I said $175. I never heard back. This is an interesting trick. You create an auction and decline every offer until you get the price you want. It creates a bidding war. None of the losing bidders have any idea what the item sold for. The $125 was a come-on. His ad did disappear by the next day before noon. I'll try that next time.

I saw that too. Naturally the ad was deleted by the time I saw it.

Still I doubt deliberately underpricing anything will prove advantageous in the final wash. Assuming a C27 w/cabinet is an easy $500 item, it would be a stretch to think the seller got that much being as it had been priced it at 25% of that originally. Not to mention the aggravation from all would-be buyers.

 

[savatage1973]

This type of scam is not that uncommon--it happens both on CL and Ebay. I've called/texted/e-mailed on a CL ad and got a response of "you are first in line, but I've got a better offer, so it you want to match it..." On Eprey, you get the ultra low-ball starting bid to stimulate interest and either the seller or their friends have multiple accounts and bid the hell out of it to some outrageous amount, or they post as "wait for final invoice for S/H and total amount"--which basically means that $20 shipping is going to suddenly be $100 if they didn't get what they wanted out of the item.