Day three of selling stuff on Gumtree. Seriously, you could take a shotgun to my head and fire it point blank – that would probably be less painful! Based on previous experience, I though Gumtree would be simpler to sell stuff on than eBay, as I could list the price and be done with it – no bidding, auction periods or any of those shenanigans, and meeting the buyers face to face meant I didn’t have to worry about rogue buyers or fiddling around with postage costs.
Turns out Gumtree has its own set of problems. Few people seemed to appreciate the concept of a fixed price, and would email me either asking for my ‘best price’ (usually accompanied with a promise to pay in cash – what the hell else are you going to pay me with – seashells?!), or offering a ridiculously low figure. Bah! Most people also wanted me to come to them, to places up to half an hour’s drive away from where I am! As if!
Runner up for douchebag buyer of the year goes to one guy that I contacted about a pink Sony netbook I was selling. It went through to his voicemail, so I then called the next interested person on the list, who answered his phone promptly, didn’t give me any bullshit about ‘best prices” and made arrangements to come and meet me at a nearby location, despite being new to Sydney and not knowing his way around. Afterwards, el doucho calls me back and I tell him that I’ve already arranged to sell it to someone else, at which point he proceeds to argue with me that he should be able to buy it instead! After politely but firmly rejecting his claim, I hung up, and one minute later he calls back to again insist that he should be able to buy it. What the hell?! I ended up raising my voice at this stage because he was just being an annoying ass-hat, and I hung up on him. Did he really expect to antagonise me into selling him the netbook? Some people…
But the douchebag buyer of the year award goes to a guy that ‘expressed interest’ in buying my Canon 14mm lens. This lens goes for around $2400 retail, and I had it listed for $2000 – a fair price considering its pristine condition and the fact that Canon L lenses retain their value extremely well. Mr Douchebag Of the Year emailed me the following:
“You can have this in your hand *new* for $1650 (including GST and customs fees) *with* a valid Canon international warranty.
Are you negotiable on price?”
To which I replied:
“Oh yeah? From where?”
His reply:
“http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=1476
Add shipping, subtract shipping discount, add GST plus customs fees (or take the risk and declare it under $1,000 and get it even cheaper if customs don’t pick it out).”
To which I replied (too politely, in hindsight):
“You have linked to the 35mm f1.4L lens here. I am selling the 14mm f2.8L II lens: http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=1895
Completely different lens, and as you can see, more expensive. Add shipping + custom fees, and you’re well over $2300″
No reply.
Sigh.
