OK, so this is a real exchange that took place, earlier today.
We had a pretty fancy drone middle son (29) had been given as a gift but really didn't want. Since Mrs. Denmarkguy and I are pretty good at the online sales thing, he was here last weekend and said "Mom, I never used this... can you just sell it for me?"
So Mrs. Denmarkguy took some pictures and put it on our local area buy-and-sell on Craigslist, Facebook and a few other places we use.
She made it QUITE clear where the drone was located, and how much we were expecting to get.
"Do You Guys Barter?"
Sometimes I just want to hide...
So this morning, she gets a message from Mr. Dude who lives a couple of towns over (about 55 miles away) and is evidently interested.
"I'm interested in your drone. Do you guys do barter?"
We're always open to supporting the "alternative economy" so Mrs. Denmarkguy shoots him back a message "Possibly. What do you have to offer? Bitcoin? Gold coins? Silver? Weed? Seahawks tickets?"
Turns out that what Mr. Dude has is a somewhat large crystal that belonged to his ex girlfriend who was into crystal healing and such things. But we're pretty familiar with that sort of stuff and have a market for it, and whereas it would be a somewhat lowball trade... we were feeling charitable, and "why the hell not."
So a deal is made.
Well, actually... a deal-ISH is made.
But Wait, There's More!
Sounds like Mr. Dude is going to trade for the drone, but then he comes back with "Well... I want it, but I don't have enough gas in my car. Could you bring it and meet me half-way to ___ (55-miles away town)?"
Purple flower of a summer long gone...
Wait... what?
You're not even offering CASH, and then you make a somewhat skimpy offer for trade that we accept... and now you want free-fucking-delivery, too, because you don't have gas money to pick up the item from a location that was clearly stated in our ad???
Who ARE these people?
I'm profiling and stereotyping here, but a quick gander at Mr. Dude's Facebook page suggests that he's "one of those" who absolutely has $250 a week to spend on weed and booze... but he pretty much mooches his way through life as far as anything else goes.
So anyway-- no deal was made. But it did make for some interesting morning comversation.
In other news, the drone did sell to someone local about an hour later. For cash. For the asking price.
What do YOU think? If you had been trading something, would you have felt like the potential "buyer" was pushing his luck? A case of trying to get "something for nothing? Or would you consider this a normal part of the trading process? Someone just pushing for "the best possible deal?" Even though sellers always have the right to say "no," are some offers "bottom trawling" to such a degree that they are more annoying than sincere? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
created by @zord189(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 171217 14:50 PDT