RonH

I've got a 2005 Jamis Nova for sale on craigslist (originally $1100?, selling for $500) and someone came over on the 24th to look at and test ride the bike.
The guy was looking for a reliable commuter bike and said he'd been shopping at Performance. Said he bought a $300 hybrid and returned it after a few days with several complaints.
After the test ride he complained about the bottom bracket (I never noticed a problem until he pointed it out) and the shifting. He said he'd buy the bike if I changed the bottom bracket and fixed the shifting. So I went to the bike shop (where I work) today and swapped the bottom bracket. The shop owner checked the bb said it wasn't that bad an he would have let it go, but I thought I had a sale. Stupid me. I also did a quick adjustment to the shifting.
The buyer called when I got home and asked if I had a chance to *repair* the bike. I told him about the repairs he requested and told him the price would be $25 more (my cost for the new bb). He said the new price was out of his price range and then proceeded to give more "expert" advice about the bike. What really pi$$ed me off is the guy said he didn't know much about bikes but read a lot of reviews about the bike and the components online.
This is my first time dealing with a ******** like this. All my previous craigslist and ebay dealings have been entirely satisfactory.
Am I the only person who has had this kind of experience?

Did I mention that the guy is a doctor at CDC? Should that have been a clue?

hup

People like that are way more trouble than they are worth. Sounds like you have a solid bike priced fairly ..... there are plenty of buyers out there. Don't sweat this one.

Panthers007

Agreed. You'll probably be seeing him - riding by on a new Huffy.

Jakedatc

Post up a note in the bike section and put his name up there so other sellers will know to avoid the *******..

LarryMelman

"Sold as is, to local cash buyers only."
This will solve 99% of the problems on CL.

Your buyer could have paid what he thought was a fair price, taking into account the repairs. Then it's up to him to convince the LBS to fix something that wasn't really broken.

Louis

You're probably better off NOT selling it to him. He'd be calling you every day with a new complaint and expecting you to fix it. The guy sounds like a pain in the ass to me.

4SEVEN3

Dude...Doc's can be the WORST!!!!! espically cheap ones!!!

Ive dealt with that type before and Id rather castrate myself than go through all that hassle!

when I sell/buy something. As-is, CASH, meet in a public place. I dont want no wierdo's at my place!

tekknoschtev

Buyers remorse, but preemptively. Just be glad that it was before hand and you can just write him off instead of having to listen to non-stop nagging and nitpicking after the fact - I've had it happen actually (not with a bike) but the guy paid for the item, and then decided he didn't want it, and then I convinced him to keep it, but he still kind of is iffy about it. I'd care less about it but its a close friend (lesson learned to me there too).

Good luck with the sale, don't fret this guy too much.

-=(8)=-

Nothing like this, but Ive sold about 5 bikes on CL. Ive had real good
experience but had to wade through a lot of weirdos to get a real
buyer for each one.

Retro Grouch 

You claim to work in a bike shop and this is your first time dealing with an ******* like this?

He's not worth getting upset over. Just keep looking for another buyer. One will come.

bkaapcke

It's a little game. Get you to improve the bike and continue to try and convince you it's a crappy bike. Then, make a lowball offer. You did the exact right thing, by bumping the price. It got rid of this clown. Keep listing it. bk

djwid

In my area it is MS employees who do this kind of crap. I sell everything as-is, cash only, local pickup. If they don't like it, fine, someone else will come by and buy it. I find I often sell to people visiting friends. I sold a bike to a guy from Bend, OR who was in Seattle for a day and a women from Vancouver, BC. It all works out, just ignore the idiots.

xenologer

If you're getting rid of the bike then Why would you bother upgrading it, especially for someone who has made No guarantee of purchasing it??
I would have ignored his complaint it the first place, let someone else buy it if he's not interested.

Flying Merkel

Yup. Should have told him a price for upgrading the BB before doing it. Numbnuts are a dime a dozen, paying customers are priceless. I've had good luck on Craig'slist. Getting folks to show up when they say they will is the trick.

mds0725

It sounds like he was looking for you to lower the price on the bike. Maybe he expected you to say "well, if you're going to have to replace the bb then I'll take $??? off the price instead of having you fix it." Then he coincidentally found other things wrong with it after you told him you'd fixed the bb and adjusted the shifting? I agree with those who recommend that you advertise that the bike is for sale at a firm price in cash to local buyers only.

Rober

Same technique real estate agents use to knock down the price of a house. Tacky way to do business.

CCrew

It's the yard sale/flea market mentality. Which is all CL is anyway..

-R

djwid

The funny thing for me is that if someone gives me grief like this to push the price down, I tend to firm it up even if I had built in a bit of a buffer in the price anyway. When I sold my cross bike an MS employee tried this tactic, and I just decided to not budge for him and his wife. When he left he burned the bridge by insulting the bike and its maintenance. The bike sold the next day to a nice woman from Canada who is happily riding it now, she was nice enough I threw in a set of pedals for her boyfriend.

mijome07

You should of ran over his face!

Esteban32696

He was probably just " blowing smoke " anyway, & never had any intentions of buying the bike. Like stated above, best you didn't sell it to him.
I know a man who bought a 10 year old dirt bike, for his son. OVER one year later, the clutch went bad, & the guy went back to the seller demanding that he pay for repairs !!

kylejack

I would have said "Okay fine, pay me for the bike and then we'll go to the LBS to get it fixed up for you."

Sounds like you guys didn't agree ahead of time on the +$25, though.

Retro Grouch 

Several years ago I had some Thule receiver racks, still in the box, that I was selling at a bicycle swap meet. I had 2 bike and 4 bike receivers and I was selling either for $75.00. A woman argued with me for 15 minutes that I should sell her a 2 bike rack for less since it wasn't worth as much as a 4 bike rack. I told her that it was still such a good deal that she shouldn't even be argueing. I was sure that I'd sell them all at $75.00. Eventually she gave up, called me an idiot, and walked away. Before the day was over I sold out at $75.00 so I guess we both went home happy.

bryroth

I've realized that patience is key with craigslist and bikes. I just sold a Kona for a song on eBay because I wasn't really getting any good bites on craigslist. A few weeks later I got 4 or 5 good offers, and one that was nearly 3 times what it went for on eBay.

Oh, and if you put LOTS of pictures you will get many, many more responses.