Why list an item with no price?

[Sephirothq]

So if an item has a price of 0.00 that means it is basically free? Right?
So just go on all the ads with no price and click commit to buy. That will cause the posters to put a price on their next ads.

If it is an old / dead ad then it won't matter.

Someone needs to start cleaning up the classifieds.
I would do it but then i might get banned.

So I will leave it to someone of more power.

 

[Oldfart]

There are some sound reasons for not listing a price. The vehicle business is actually a trading business. Most new vehicle purchases involve a trade in. Most used vehicle purchases involve a trade in. If you listen carefully the next time you shop a car dealer, you will notice they ask you what you have to trade and more often than not, what do you think your vehicle is worth before they start to discuss the real price of what you are looking to buy. How often do you trade for a new pair of pants, T-bones at the grocery or a tank full of gas? Used vehicles and used parts are part of the trading culture where value commitment is frequently guarded by both parties. How often do you see an ad from someone wanting to buy something used where they list how much they are willing to pay? I have no problem with someone listing an item for sale without a price. I can ask how much or say would ya take or ask about trading for something I have and don't need any more.

What does tick me off are the phantom sellers and buyers. I kept trying to buy a used computer off a guy on CL for 6 months and he would never close the deal even when we finally agreed on a value. I suspect he thought I might have had some sort of contagion. Worse are the buyers that are going to show up or going to close the deal and they keep asking you to hold the item until they get a chance to come by or until payday or God knows what.

AND I want to see Pictures in an ad.

 

[zout]

Just give me the price of what you want for the part - or just keep sleeping with the part till ya get the highest dollar amount from the part for what you are asking for it.

I pass over those that have 0 listed - keep holding onto the part till you really figure out you need to list a price for what you want for it - till you try to suck outta someone more than what you really want to get out of it.

Some day you may sell it - but how much did it cost you in investment to hold onto it for soooooooooo long.
Better yet - jack up the price of shipping costs to cover your investment. What cost $10 dollars to ship they charge $20 or more.

 

[pctrans]

I find that trying to respond to inquiries on the classifieds is CUMBERSOME, unless there is a PM. As for shipping charges, yeah the postage may only be $10.95, but what about the time to pack, and take it the Post Office? Don't know about you, but my time, and gas, is valuable.

 

[bevanet]

"I sell a few things in the classifieds and include pics when I can make them small enough but for some things you just cant get the pics small enough. If I want to post the pic of a truck I have to be standing an acre away just to get the picture small enough to crop"

There are several free programs that let you resize pictures on your computer before you upload them. I use one called picturetray.exe. You just start it, then drag the original picts in one side, and drag the smaller ones out of the output.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Lots of great points here. I''ve been known to peddle CUCV keys and I never post a picture. I guess some of my target audience is skimming right over the add for keys that cost less than a hardware store key. Duely noted. I agree with price, location and pics. I'd like to see all 3 a requirement. Mike posted a link one time to a microshaft application that resizes pics and its a great little program. I would also have no problem with folks clicking on the commit to buy button for stuff listed at $0.00 dollars, ****, I'd buy just about anything at that price myself. I hope these 3 things would be required as well as manually renewing the add each time it expires. Great thread!

 

[motomacguyver]

Price, Location, should be mandatory. I know price is mandatory on some of the other forums I visit.

Pics are nice if you’re really trying to sell something. (Up to you) But if you computer savvy enough to be posting on here, you should be able to resize pics. 800 x 600 is a fine size.

 

[sterlun]

Price definitely should be mandatory. 9 out of 10 times I see something I'm interested in that has no price I will pass it up without a second glance. On the 1 out 10 (or less) times that I do inquire about a 'no price' item I quickly find out why there was no price. Somebody trying to get rich.

Why would you want to waste your, as stated earlier, valuable time fielding phone calls and emails from people that are never going to buy your product? And only because they want to know how much it is. I prefer to list my price as well as all the info I can think of so that if I do get a bite there's a good chance I can reel it in and close the deal. If everything's there for them to read they have no other reason to make contact other than to make the purchase. Or at least that's the goal.

As for shipping 'labor' I respectfully disagree. I do some Ebay selling sometimes. When I list something I package it for shipping first, weigh it on my scales, and get exact pricing from USPS. When the sale is done I purchase postage online which also grants me free delivery confirmation and I schedule the postal employee (online as well) to pick up my package which is also free. Even if it's a large package I simply enter the pick-up location as "at the front door" and they still have to drive the extra 200 yards down my driveway and get it for free. So to say you have to go here and go there and it's worth something really isn't necessary IMO it just makes you somewhat inefficient. Not being disrespectful or throwing off on anyone, just some constructive criticism.

The classified ad section on this site is a SUUUPEEERB idea and need. It just has the potential to be so much better. If it worked well there would be little need to do Ebay with most military parts as these are generally the folks buying the stuff. Unless you want full retail, cuz we're definately wholesale buyers.

 

[Oldfart]

So there you go, turn the SS classifieds in to an auction with eBay style hidden reserves and low starting prices to attract buyers looking for bargains. You hook the tightwads into participating and sellers can get top dollar. You could even set up a buy it now feature for those buyers who just can't wait for the end of the auction. Rather than wholesale, I prefer to buy at jobber rates.

Other than difficulty finding specific things in the SS classifieds, I think it works OK. It is a larger market than my local paper, costs way less and seems populated by mostly reasonable people. My only suggestion would be to figure out some way to search for something in a nomenclature that would be consistent across the user base. Believe it or not, there are people in the USA who have no idea what "all y'all" means. In my part of the world it is "dead end" rather than "no outlet." Consider "wrench" as opposed to "spanner" and the famous "winch" versus "wench."

 

[A/C Cages]

I love it when you ask the price and get a nasty email back with rude comments, like

"If you have to ask what the price is, you cant afford it."

This came from an over priced item that apears on here and ebay.

 

[hre513]

Price, Location, should be mandatory. I know price is mandatory on some of the other forums I visit.

Pics are nice if you’re really trying to sell something. (Up to you) But if you computer savvy enough to be posting on here, you should be able to resize pics. 800 x 600 is a fine size.

I used Microsoft Paint to resize pictures for the classified ads. You can press Ctrl+w or under image select resize/skew. It took me a little bit to get the size I needed, but got it to work. After I got the hang of it, it was a lot quicker next time around.

 

[tie6044]

I was just looking through the classifieds again and I guess not everone has read this thread yet. There are 2 items that i am interested in but no price=no sale to me. I'm not going to trade PM's for something that should be up front to begin with.