Thursday, February 11, 2010

Selling Online is ROUGH.

Here is the listing we have up on craigslist.org for our old laptop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dell Laptop for sale $70 OBO (if making an offer please be reasonable)

Specs are as follows:

Dell Inspiron 5000

CPU Intel Pentium 3 200MHz
Toshiba XM-7102B CD ROM Drive
192MB RAM

6 GB Harddrive
Synaptics Touch Pad
Floppy Drive 200MHz
Video Card- Rage Mobility P/M AGP2X 33MHz
PCI Bus Slot
1 USB Port
Working Battery
Power Chord

It is currently running Windows XP.

Fully functioning laptop, no virus', nothing wrong with it. There is nothing visually wrong with it either, as you can see in the pictures.
It was my personal laptop, used very infrequently. It was given to me by my aunt who hardly ever used it at all. I am selling it to make more space in my storage closet.

It does NOT have ethernet port, you will need a USB device to get online.

Serious inquiries only please.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This, to me, is a very comprehensive listing of exactly what we have to offer you. It has 3 pictures included in the listing, of the front, back and screen.

Almost all I have gotten are the most random inquiries EVER.

I got a lot of people with just a name and #. I am not calling someone who would like to buy from me. So eventually I added this to the ad:

"Please also understand that I am not willing to give out my phone number to just anyone, so if you are interested we can email to get started and once you decide you are serious about buying the laptop, then we can exchange numbers."

Still I receive emails with just the #. I ignore them.

Then there are the people who ask me a million questions, like this beauty:

Hi
- are you 1st owner? how old is it?
- what model is it?
- what are its working and cosmetic conditions including screen?
- are there any issues/problems/intermitten work?
- how long can it work on battery?
- what are HD capacity, screen size, ports (serial, parallel, PCMCI)?
- are network card, wireless, Windows Operating System CD, bag, etc. included ?
- are all parts original?
- has it ever been repaired? if yes - what's been fixed or replaced?
- if i come to buy, can you demo it works on battery and takes charge?
thanks

To that I sent back a copy of the original ad. He wasn't happy still, saying:

"sorry, you don't answer my questions and i can't buy without knowing it. so, either you answer my questions or i can't continue.
thanks"

Because of that jewel I added this to the ad:
"Please do not email me with any questions that are clearly stated in this ad. I have put every possible piece of information I can get from the laptop here. If there is anything outside this information that you would like to ask, feel free, but things already answered here will not be answered."

Th most recent person sent me 2 different emails from the same service but under different names, to see if I'd sell it to someone else even tho the original guy said he'd come fro it Friday. When I confronted him, he said NOTHING, which is as good as an admittance of guilt to me. I am still planning on selling the laptop to him because, frankly, we need the $, but if he gives us any problems there will be trouble.

I will leave you with a few of the emails I didn't even dignify with a response. These are real, I swear, I am copying them from my inbox. Laugh, they are amazingly funny.

"Hey I want it to know if you still have the laptop for sale but the thing is do u want a trade..I have a sidekick lx it works 100%.I am look for a laptop for school..thanks" (FYI there is a trade board elsewhere on craigslist, but this wasn't posted on it)

"hi I would like to buy the laptop plz give me a call" (plz learn to spell please)

"Hello I can do $50$ and I can come tomorrow is there any problems with it it would be for my mother" (let's try and get a sympathy deal)

"MY NAME IS S***...IM INTERESTED IN PURCHASING YOUR LAPTOP...BUT IF I PURCHASE IT...IT WOULD BE LIKE RIGHT AWAY...PLEASE UNDERSTAND I'VE BEEN LOOKIN FOR ALMOST 2 WEEKS SO IM READY TO BUY NOW...PLEASE CALL ME AT 347 *******...THX..HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON."

When told I'd like to keep it email until something more serious comes up I got this:
"PARDON ME FOR THE WAY I MAY SOUND BUT IF YOU WANNA SELL YOUR LAPTOP ..HOW CAN YOU DO IT THREW AN E MAIL..AS FAR AS CONCRETE..GO TO YOUR LOCAL PRECINCT AND I'LL MEET YOU THERE..WOULD THAT BE CONCRETE ENOUGH FOR YOU"

I ripped him a new one and added at the end that all caps is considered rude. LOL. He didn't buy it.

"Yo was good tryin to get that laptop do it have wi fi"

"I 4got if I asked but do it have wifi"

So hopefully we can get this thing sold to a normal human being, but if they pay me I don't care. We sold an old digital camera this week and have several sales lined up this weekend. Most of the time we have no issues. We have them meet us on a corner nearby and I always send KC down to get the cash. The only problem we ever had was a guy short changing us because KC was too nice to check the money. He checks in front of them now, lesson learned.




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