I never air out dirty laundry or flame other members here but I just had to on this one...
Pretty sure you had to talk to (or argue with) your wife when you were buying that M&P 15-22 from my buddy last month...."Hey...I was arguing with my girl about wasting the money that's why I changed my mind but I finally got through to her, I'd like to grab it still if that's cool."
I wouldn't toot your horn as being a "delight". I think my buddy would beg to differ...
It's worth noting though that 99% of these problems are all protocol based. Flakey people texting each other, etc. Not getting people on the phone, etc. There's usually a decision tree that can be set up as a seller and then you have a queue of buyers to go to. the "I have to talk to the wife about it" that type of thing gets someone pushed to the end of the line. It means they really don't want the gun. If someone wants me to hold a gun for them they better get me a deposit, otherwise it's going to the next qualified guy in line, whoever can "close" the soonest and set up a meet, and agree to it, gets the gun.
"Always Be Closing".
This reminds me of the hand shaking thread. I think a lot of these problems happen because people don't know how to communicate and
conduct business. This is how its supposed to work, kids:
Buyer: "Hey I'm interested in your FartMaster 9000 pistol, when can I come to buy it? Is it still $600?"
Seller: "Yes, $600 cash. I can meet up with you Mon, Weds, Friday nights after 6, where are you at? Maybe we can meet halfway depending on how far it is etc. "
Buyer: "Ok those times work great for me, I live in Franklin, can you meet me Monday night at the Mcdonalds in Franklin by the dunkin donuts, at 7 pm? Here's my phone number txt me and ill add you to my book, etc. Let me know if this works for you. I'll go get some cash for you."
Seller: "Sure thats not too far for me, I'll txt you on my way down monday night to meet @ 7. I got a smartphone so we can do the EFA-10 thing no problem. "
Buyer: "Great, see you monday!"
Generally speaking anything that goes way beyond this type of exchange in complexity is doomed to fail. If the buyer and seller have their
shit together up front, the transaction is literally this easy. If one party doesn't have their shit together, it turns into a dumpster fire. Usually it doesn't take much to figure out when someone doesn't have their shit together. Then if that aroma of feces is detected, it's best for the person to politely bow out before someone gets butt hurt.
Things that carry the aroma of shit- most of them are buyer issues...
-Buyer starts asking legal questions (this is nearly always a bad sign)
-Buyer wants to "take a look at" a commodity gun before committing to buying it. Buyer wants an acceptance test on a
****ing glock? ROFL Not sure if serious.
It's a
****ing glock, you put bullets in it, they come out the front when you pull the trigger. Unless the gun looks
****ed up, a commodity gun is a commodity gun.
-Buyer says stuff like "ill get back to you in the next day or two, I gotta see if I can afford it first" (or similar excuse, this person should have never PMed the seller to begin with, frankly.
-Buyer starts lowballing on a firm ad or propositioning for a trade despite the fact that the ad said "firm no trades".
-Buyer makes vague references of meeting you without confirming a time. "I'll talk to you on monday" etc. Bad sign.
I digress, though.
-Mike