Selling a car.

[Orrex]

I put it on the local FB groups, asking $250 for a vehicle dating to the first year of the Clinton administration, specifically selling it for scrap or parts because of a problem in the cooling system.

Holy moly I was deluged with inquiries about its history and the state of the undercarriage and how does it handle on dirt roads in snow and will it make a three-state drive and on and on and on.

My response is "It's a 27 year old car going for $250." I would have thought that this would answer all other questions, but no.


In the end, I spoke with a tearful woman about 80 miles away who's desperate for a car because she's in a tough financial spot and can't afford a new one but has a friend who can likely fix this one. Cash in hand, sold!

[Niagara]

1. My neighbors were moving awhile back.

They posted a used decade old 3 piece bedroom set (bed frame, dresser and chest of drawers) in the local FB groups for $75. At least 10 people were interested in their used bedroom set and they let the 1st inquirer see it first.


The guy came over and started nitpicking and pointing out the flaws in the bedroom set. My neighbors flat out told the guy that it was a decade old used set for $75 and that they had other interested buyers.

The guy paid full asking price and left with the bedroom set.

[csziggy]

5. My sister had trouble giving away my parents' bedroom set

Solid maple in good condition, as is, FREE. Sure the set (two dressers, queen size bed, two bedside tables) was made in 1947, but it was still solid, in good condition since it has always been taken care of, and it was FREE.

She did not advertise it other than word of mouth, but it took two years before she found a taker. Then they complained about how heavy the SOLID maple set was.

[Niagara]

6. I bet that was a beautiful bedroom set.

They built furniture that lasted forever back then too.

[csziggy]

7. All us kids hated that furniture

That was in the post war era when maple was stained a deep red - they had the bedroom set, sofas, and a kitchen table (which I still have) that were all that nasty red color.

Other than the family room and Mom & Dad's bedroom, the rest of the house was furnished in antiques, some inherited from family, some they found at "used" furniture stores. Beautiful stuff in walnut, oak, mahogany, and bird's eye maple that was not stained an ugly color. But they kept the same set they had bought as newlyweds for their own use. I guess it had sentimental value to them.

They had a chair that had been built just after the war when metal was hard to find that had no metal other than the tacks and staples for the upholstery. It had been stained red but when Mom recovered it, she stripped it and stained the arms and legs a walnut color to cover up the red. It was absolutely the most uncomfortable chair I have ever sat in. Getting out of it was like climbing out of a bucket stuck to your butt. Surprisingly, that one was one of the first pieces of furniture that went.

I got a mahogany secretary that had been built as a wedding gift to a couple that married in the 1840s, the bird's eye maple bedroom set that was my great aunt's when she was a child, an Eastlake style barrel top walnut desk that was carried from western New York to Escanaba in the 1870's when the family moved, and a small Eastlake walnut dresser that made the same trip. An odd collection, but some really nice pieces of furniture.

[elleng]

2. Nice you could sell it to her.

My '93 Toyo camry wagon from Dad, 180,000 miles, is staying with ME!

[Orrex]

3. Well, I thought so, but she stiffed me

First she said she'd be here late this evening, then when I balked she said "I can be there in two hours."

I messaged her when I saw no sign in two hours, and she eventually claimed that she broke her phone and that her ride flipped out.

I told her straight up that it sounds like bullshit and that she needed to convince me otherwise, or I'd relist it.


Crickets.


WTF? Why would someone do something like that?

[elleng]

4. Damn!