I'm on E-bay
daily...several times per day, usually. I just like to keep up with what's
for sale for these old pickups...you'll never know when you'll find a good
deal on something.
Case in point:
I saw an
auction for a '68 Ford pickup. It was only about 2˝ hours away from me and
the bidding started at $100...with no reserve! He described it
(read description at right) as very straight and rust-free. Though I'd already gotten
started fixing up a rust-bucket cab, I went ahead and sent him an e-mail
asking for some more details on the cab rust. I told him the normal
problem areas and asked him to check these areas. If nothing else, the
inner fenderwells and rear bumper/brackets were worth the asking price. I
gave him my name and number and told me to either e-mail or call me back.
The auction
was nearing an end and I hadn't heard back from him, so I figured it
wasn't as rust-free as he'd stated in his description and he simply chose
to not answer....so I didn't bid on it. However, about 15 minutes AFTER
the auction was completed (at about 9 on a Thursday evening), I get a
phone call from the seller. He proceeds to tell me that there had only
been 2 bids on the truck, and the final winning bid was only $107.50...but
he'd decided he wasn't going to let it go for that. He then went into a
long spiel about how rust-free the truck was, how straight the body was,
etc. etc...and asked me if I'd give him $200 for it. Hmmmm....I'm thinking
"..you can't DO that!" but I kept it to myself. I told him I'd have to
talk it over with my wife and I'd let him know. He made me promise to call
him back the next morning with a definite answer either way.
So...Mary and
I discuss it, and basically decide against getting it. We'd decided that
$200 just wasn't in the immediate budget for another parts truck. I went
to bed that night and sulked a little, knowing that it was still a decent
deal and that I was missing out.
I woke up the
next morning several hours before I needed to leave for work, so I decided
to check my e-mail. I then popped up on E-bay to take one last look at the
listing for the truck, and when I did, it suddenly dawned on me that the
buyer's username was very familiar. I'd seen that username somewhere
before....but where?? I checked the buyer's previous auctions, and saw
he'd recently made a purchase of another '68 Ford pickup, so out of
curiosity I went to that E-bay listing. When I saw the pictures of the
truck, I KNEW who it was...a guy named Pat with whom I'd exchanged
messageboard posts on a Ford trucks messageboard and he
lived about 2˝ hours the opposite direction! Hmmm...again! I
wonder...although the seller was trying to sell the truck out from under
the Pat, maybe we could each chip in $100 and get the truck together, part
it out (I knew he didn't want the cab) and everyone would be happy.
So...I got
Pat's contact info from the forum, did a quick PeopleSearch on the web and got
his phone number. I called him up right then, explained who I was and told
him that the seller of the parts truck he'd just won on E-bay the previous
evening had just contacted me and wanted to sell the truck for more than
Pat had won the auction for. He was surprised, obviously, since the seller
hadn't contacted him yet, so he didn't know what was going on. I explained
to him my suggestion on going in together on the purchase of the truck,
but told him since he'd won the auction fair and square, the ball was in
his court...he had first crack at it. Pat thanked me for alerting him
about this guy and told me he'd think about it and call me back.
He called back
a little while later and told me that he'd done some research on E-bay and
found that unless the seller actually sent him an e-mail saying he wasn't
going to sell the truck, thereby documenting it, there wasn't much he
could do. He said he'd be interested in buying it together with me, and
told me to deal with him, but not let him know I'd contacted him
privately. Cool, huh? Well, not so fast...
I called the seller and told him I'd take the truck for $200....and
wouldn't you know it, the guy then starts to tell me how he'd be stupid to
sell it for "only" $200, because it was worth more than that for parts! He
went into a long-winded discussion about his perfect E-bay feedback (no
negatives), about how he'd run an auto repair business for years, about
how he hates Fords because he always gets screwed when selling them, etc.
etc...It was right then lots of little red flags starting going up in my
mind. I just KNEW this was the kind of guy who might agree to sell it to
me for one price, and then jack the price up after I'd made the long drive
there. So I told the seller no thanks, I was no longer interested. I
immediately called Pat and told him what had happened, that I was bowing
out of the whole deal and he could do whatever he wanted with the
situation. |
HERE'S THE
SELLER'S ORIGINAL
E-BAY LISTING:
"This is a 1968 Ford Pickup. It has a 360 motor and 4 speed transmission.
Don't know if it runs. The radiator is gone. Tires do hold air. The body
is very solid and not all dented up. Before you email and ask NO
there is no rust around the hood hinges. The bed has no holes in it. This
is a very solid truck. I do not have a title to this truck. The vin # is
F10YKD*****. I am selling this as is for junk or parts. Email with
any questions (serious inquiries only). Have option to end this auction
early. Payment in full in my hands within 5 days of end of auction.
Contact me within 24 hours of end of auction. Serious Bidders Only!"
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