# Fah! Taking offers my butt



## jpromo (Feb 9, 2013)

Fah! Just venting frustrating when the first two decent bikes on craigslist in months are both "Best OFFER!" and "taking offers". I feel like those are always the loonies looking to get what gran-pa Jeb insists they must be worth. Sorry, but it's my birthday and I want me a brand new, antique bicycle!


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## Boris (Feb 9, 2013)

Happy Birthday Jason*

*melodic tone.


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## bikecrazy (Feb 9, 2013)

That is happening more and more on Craigs list. What is your strategy to get around this?


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## jeep girl (Feb 9, 2013)

*I see  that are in Michagan. Me too! It is rare to find any cool vintage bikes here for some reason.
Happy birthday! You deserve a cool vintage bike for your birthday - good luck!*


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## jpromo (Feb 9, 2013)

jeep girl said:


> *I see  that are in Michagan. Me too! It is rare to find any cool vintage bikes here for some reason.
> Happy birthday! You deserve a cool vintage bike for your birthday - good luck!*




I've actually had pretty good luck in the area for finding bikes. 90% of what I buy is craigslist and you've just got to know what you're looking for and be ready to jump on something decent as soon as it pops up. I've missed as many as I've gotten just for being a few minutes behind.


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## jpromo (Feb 9, 2013)

bikecrazy said:


> That is happening more and more on Craigs list. What is your strategy to get around this?




I can't recall if my strategy has ever benefited me yet.. but I usually will contact said person and say that it's hard to make offers from the small craigslist pictures and ask what a ballpark price they were looking for was.

They usually hit me back with a ridiculous number and I know I don't have to lose sleep over it.


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## Talewinds (Feb 9, 2013)

I deal with the "make an offer" chumps fairly easily. I don't "make an offer."
It's an unsophisticated and uneducated method of negotiation. There's no honor in it.

What most of the "make me an offer" guys fail to understand these days is that when you solicit people to make an offer, and a person does, the seller is then OBLIGATED to make a counter offer, THAT'S HOW THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS BEGINS! 
Because the sellers aren't savvy, they just flatly say "NO" to an offer.


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## xochi0603 (Feb 10, 2013)

*Happy Birthday Jason!*

You're right on the "make offer" listings. I just generally stay away. How's that prewar Elgin coming I sold ya?  Got any updated pictures ?


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## jpromo (Feb 10, 2013)

xochi0603 said:


> You're right on the "make offer" listings. I just generally stay away. How's that prewar Elgin coming I sold ya?  Got any updated pictures ?




I sure do Bob! I started it as soon as I found room to stash all the parts. I got really lucky on finding a fork and an awesome member on here to help get it to me. It's all together and riding. Polished and greased up. I've got a correct chainguard in bare metal that I plan to try painting and distressing. I also need the correct headlight but, otherwise, she's beautiful!


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## JChapoton (Feb 10, 2013)

Well I won this 1890 Stover Phoenix on Ebay yesterday with the "best offer" option. I offered him $800 less than the "buy it now" and offered to pick it up so he wouldn't need to ship it since I'm only an hour away from him. I thought my chances were slim because he had already declined an "offer", but I got lucky and he accepted 5 hours later. I called him and will pick up the bike at 2pm this afternoon.


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## jpromo (Feb 10, 2013)

JChapoton said:


> Well I won this 1890 Stover Phoenix on Ebay yesterday with the "best offer" option. I offered him $800 less than the "buy it now" and offered to pick it up so he wouldn't need to ship it since I'm only an hour away from him. I thought my chances were slim because he had already declined an "offer", but I got lucky and he accepted 5 hours later. I called him and will pick up the bike at 2pm this afternoon.




Beautiful bike! And glad to hear you were able to get it at a happy price. The difference there is that ebay is an auction atmosphere which just happens to offer a chance of making an offer on an established buy it now price. So you already have an idea what they're hoping to get for it and you can judge if you're even in the same ball league. To ask for offers in a classified listing is just in bad taste. But to each their own!


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## bikecrazy (Feb 10, 2013)

Re: Craigslist, I have gone the make an offer route and no one to date has figured out that an inital offer opens the door to a counter offer. I have always gotten back a very rude response as if I insulted them. When Craigs list works its great but for the most part it is a pain in the ..............


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