[Braumin]

I've never been one to sell anything, but since I traded in my e46 for an e90 335i, I just didn't need a set of winter tires that don't fit any of my vehicles anymore.

It was a decent set - BMW 16" steel wheels and caps, and Michelin X-Ice Xi2 tires in 205/55/16, and I posted saying they are for a 3 series 1998-2012.

So I posted them on kijiji.com (local classifieds) on the 28th of October (Sunday).

No responses Sunday to Thursday, then on Friday we get some freezing rain and snow. Friday I get 4 emails. Amazing how no one can plan ahead for the winter, but they have to wait until the first day it snows to start looking for winter tires.

1st guy: Has a 2007 X3. Asks me if they will fit. NO. They won't fit.

2nd guy: Hi I'm interested. Here is my number - call me. So I call him. He goes right into price so I'm thinking this is going well. We come to a price. Then he asks me if they are 5 bolt and I said of course. He wants to know if they will fit his MAZDA. **sigh**. NO. They are for a BMW!

3rd guy: Hi will they fit a 2007 325i? I tell him YES! And he never ever replies to me again.

4th guy: Hi will they fit a 1995 Acura? NO!!! Come on people it's not that hard to find this stuff out on your own!

5th guy: Hi will they fit a 2004 X3? NO!!! Why would X3 owners think sedan tires would be the same size? Plus I had the size in the add!

Sunday again... and now the snow has all melted. Kijiji goes dark for me again. Once again, amazing how people just can't plan ahead.

Then, yesterday we got about 8" of snow. I get another email: "Hi will they fit a 2002 325i?"

YES!! I told him I had them on that exact car (except mine was a 2005). They will fit. He wants to come by. SWEET I am thinking. I give him my address and phone number and then he calls me. He seems really unsure if they will fit on his car because his "mechanic" said they might be too wide. **sigh**. I tell him they are the exact same size as the ones on his car now. The rims are even BMW rims so they will fit. I tell him that if he buys them, I will even swap his tires for him. OK. He is coming by.

The guy shows up, and I try to park his car in my garage to swap the tires, but his all seasons are SO bad that I can't even get the car up my driveway. So that takes about 10 minutes and some pushing but we get it in the garage.

So he looks over the tires, and says OK. I said, ok if you give me the cash, I will put them on right now. He says he didn't bring any money.

WTF who comes to BUY something with no money? Did he think I would take Visa? OK fine. He asks if there is an ATM close, and there is, so I offer to drive him since my 335i is xDrive and has winter tires. Plus I didn't want him to drive away and never come back.

So we go get the cash. We get back, and I ask for the money and he tries to short me $50. I count it, point it out, and he coughs up the rest.

OK finally now I can change his tires. So I get my breaker bar and jack, and get to work. I loosen the four lug bolts, and then I go to get his lug bolt lock key from the trunk for the last one.

I open the toolkit, and the spot where they key should be is empty. OK awesome. he has no key. We dig all through his car, no key. So I load up the tires in his trunk, torque the 4 lug bolts I loosened, and open the garage door. There is nothing I can do without a key. He wants to check to see if he can buy one somewhere - and by now it's 6:30pm on Saturday. Nothing is open, and I tell him he can only buy the key at BMW.

THEN he has the nuts to ask for some of his money back because I didn't mount the tires. Luckily I had the money already, so just said, um, no.

Sorry for the rant, but wow I knew why I never sold things privately. People are just idiots, and if you are selling, you have to deal with them. Never again will I fall for that!

[///M3NACE]

Your way too nice. I would never mount wheels ever. One guy wanted to mount them once and i agreed but just one for fitment.

[fenixxishot]

Cost of doing business my good man. People in general are morons. Thinking has become an overrated after thought no one plans anything any more they just do and hope it turns out in their benefit. No one is appreciative of what is done or offered they just expect it with out understanding who or where it came from. Sorry for my rant I could continue but I fear it will become political and that's not what I want.

[Braumin]

Maybe I am too nice, but I wanted to get rid of them, and I figured if I offered to mount them there is no way he could say no.

But yes people in general are morons. It always makes me wonder what other people think of me... someone, somewhere, must think I'm a moron. Maybe it's someone here when they read I was going to change a stranger's tires.

But I must be too nice when he left I felt bad for him because he had to drive home with those craptastic tires still on his car. He had already gotten in an accident today because of them!

[fenixxishot]

Originally Posted by Braumin

Maybe I am too nice, but I wanted to get rid of them, and I figured if I offered to mount them there is no way he could say no.

But yes people in general are morons. It always makes me wonder what other people think of me... someone, somewhere, must think I'm a moron. Maybe it's someone here when they read I was going to change a stranger's tires.

But I must be too nice when he left I felt bad for him because he had to drive home with those craptastic tires still on his car. He had already gotten in an accident today because of them!

Don't feel bad his lack of planning caused the accident both for waiting to purchase the tires and not verifying that he had the key with him to change the tires.

[BPMSport]

Wow.. what a nightmare..

Sounds like a buyer from hell.

[Bimmer07]

this shit is funny lol and you are a nice guy Braumin. i wish all sellers were like you lol

[Philz BMW]

terrible experience. People are generally cheap bastards. If I see something I want on the classifieds and I know the price is right I just offer the guy asking price. Once someone was selling something I wanted, I offered him $50 more just to drive an hour and bring it to me. He doubted I would pay, I took a phone pic of the money and sent it to him. He was there an hour later. Money talks.

People always want to negotiate which generally pisses me off. You could list brand new wheels and tires on this forum worth $2500 for $1500, and someone would still offer $1000 for them. Ridiculous.

I was selling a motorcycle once, late model, clean with good tires for about $500 under blue book just to get it off my hands. Guy comes and kicks the tires, offers me $2k less than I posted the bike for. Moron. GTFO.

At least you got the cash.

[N8N]

well look on the bright side at least none of the guys with acuras etc. insisted on showing up and trying them! It is funny how people are sometimes. I remember buying and selling a lot of Thule roof rack parts years ago to piece together a working rack for me and another for my parents. So I had lots of leftover fit kits, fairings, etc. I remember one guy showed up to buy a fit kit and fairing and here when he got to the house he had a completely different car even though I'd looked up the applications online and posted them in the ad - and bought the fit kit anyway, he looked at it and said "I think that'll work!" sheesh!

I'd actually gone to a lot of trouble too, cleaned up all the rubber parts and put dressing on them so they'd look nice, printed out the instructions for each kit, made sure everything was bagged and all parts were present etc... *shrug*

which reminds me, I've gone through a couple cars since then, got another few fit kits to sell... bring on the idiots!

[roadkillrob]

In the US it is the same retards, but they shot on CraigsList, but basically the same experiences - everyone calls and is a moron - has no clue about what they want or need. Some even seem to just be shopaholics, they want it, going to come get it right away, get all the info and then never show. Even trying to give good stuff away isn't worth the effort, I just throw half it away - my favorite is the lack of intelligence - even if I put in the add that you will need a truck of van because you are picking up something giant, people just show up in their civic and then think it is my problem to get it to fit!!!

My wife even had one woman buy some new things that we had for our bathroom - towel bars etc - like $150 of stuff for $25 all new in boxes, then she calls back a few days later says they look used, we don't have time to deal with her shit, so we just leave the $25 on the front porch while we are at work and tell her to pick it up and leave the towel bars, but she just drives over, steals the money and keeps the stuff - people just suck - don't really care about the money, but makes me trust people a little less!

[Mavus]

Originally Posted by Braumin

I've never been one to sell anything, but since I traded in my e46 for an e90 335i, I just didn't need a set of winter tires that don't fit any of my vehicles anymore.

It was a decent set - BMW 16" steel wheels and caps, and Michelin X-Ice Xi2 tires in 205/55/16, and I posted saying they are for a 3 series 1998-2012.

So I posted them on kijiji.com (local classifieds) on the 28th of October (Sunday).

No responses Sunday to Thursday, then on Friday we get some freezing rain and snow. Friday I get 4 emails. Amazing how no one can plan ahead for the winter, but they have to wait until the first day it snows to start looking for winter tires.

1st guy: Has a 2007 X3. Asks me if they will fit. NO. They won't fit.

2nd guy: Hi I'm interested. Here is my number - call me. So I call him. He goes right into price so I'm thinking this is going well. We come to a price. Then he asks me if they are 5 bolt and I said of course. He wants to know if they will fit his MAZDA. **sigh**. NO. They are for a BMW!

3rd guy: Hi will they fit a 2007 325i? I tell him YES! And he never ever replies to me again.

4th guy: Hi will they fit a 1995 Acura? NO!!! Come on people it's not that hard to find this stuff out on your own!

5th guy: Hi will they fit a 2004 X3? NO!!! Why would X3 owners think sedan tires would be the same size? Plus I had the size in the add!

Sunday again... and now the snow has all melted. Kijiji goes dark for me again. Once again, amazing how people just can't plan ahead.

Then, yesterday we got about 8" of snow. I get another email: "Hi will they fit a 2002 325i?"

YES!! I told him I had them on that exact car (except mine was a 2005). They will fit. He wants to come by. SWEET I am thinking. I give him my address and phone number and then he calls me. He seems really unsure if they will fit on his car because his "mechanic" said they might be too wide. **sigh**. I tell him they are the exact same size as the ones on his car now. The rims are even BMW rims so they will fit. I tell him that if he buys them, I will even swap his tires for him. OK. He is coming by.

The guy shows up, and I try to park his car in my garage to swap the tires, but his all seasons are SO bad that I can't even get the car up my driveway. So that takes about 10 minutes and some pushing but we get it in the garage.

So he looks over the tires, and says OK. I said, ok if you give me the cash, I will put them on right now. He says he didn't bring any money.

WTF who comes to BUY something with no money? Did he think I would take Visa? OK fine. He asks if there is an ATM close, and there is, so I offer to drive him since my 335i is xDrive and has winter tires. Plus I didn't want him to drive away and never come back.

So we go get the cash. We get back, and I ask for the money and he tries to short me $50. I count it, point it out, and he coughs up the rest.

OK finally now I can change his tires. So I get my breaker bar and jack, and get to work. I loosen the four lug bolts, and then I go to get his lug bolt lock key from the trunk for the last one.

I open the toolkit, and the spot where they key should be is empty. OK awesome. he has no key. We dig all through his car, no key. So I load up the tires in his trunk, torque the 4 lug bolts I loosened, and open the garage door. There is nothing I can do without a key. He wants to check to see if he can buy one somewhere - and by now it's 6:30pm on Saturday. Nothing is open, and I tell him he can only buy the key at BMW.

THEN he has the nuts to ask for some of his money back because I didn't mount the tires. Luckily I had the money already, so just said, um, no.

Sorry for the rant, but wow I knew why I never sold things privately. People are just idiots, and if you are selling, you have to deal with them. Never again will I fall for that!

I understand your frustration and I had similar experiences in the past. The last one being my former car 2003 Acura TL-S that I sold successfully on Carigslist for double the amount of dealer trade-in offer. The key is to "filter" buyers and not waste time on jokers. Unless I feel that a buyer is serious I do not engage in dealing with him. When I offer items for sale I try to price them at prices that I would want to pay for them to move them quickly and people will still ask to go 20-30% lower. I just don't respond and wait for the right buyer. Most likely I sell them for max 10% lower if a buyer is polite and serious.

Selling privately works just "filter" jokers out and dedicate your time to that one person that is serious and knows the value of items being offered.

GL

[John 070]

I dunno, maybe if this were 1988 or something, but I'm not having whack jobs come over to my house over a $1,000 transaction. I'd meet in a well lit public place. I know someone who went to get snows off of craig list and the guy was a g** person looking to pick him up, give me a break.

The other thing is have the seller email a pic--you ought to be able to say turn the rear left and take a pic from the inside with the Michelin at 3 o'clock, and he ought to be able to email a pic right back, instead of downloading images from the web to make you think he has the goods. Lots of predators out there.

[Fortyb]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

In the US it is the same retards, but they shot on CraigsList, but basically the same experiences - everyone calls and is a moron - has no clue about what they want or need. Some even seem to just be shopaholics, they want it, going to come get it right away, get all the info and then never show. Even trying to give good stuff away isn't worth the effort, I just throw half it away - my favorite is the lack of intelligence - even if I put in the add that you will need a truck of van because you are picking up something giant, people just show up in their civic and then think it is my problem to get it to fit!!!

My wife even had one woman buy some new things that we had for our bathroom - towel bars etc - like $150 of stuff for $25 all new in boxes, then she calls back a few days later says they look used, we don't have time to deal with her shit, so we just leave the $25 on the front porch while we are at work and tell her to pick it up and leave the towel bars, but she just drives over, steals the money and keeps the stuff - people just suck - don't really care about the money, but makes me trust people a little less!

You left the money on the porch and expected the woman to be honest..Ummmmm! Ok

[N8N]

Actually I had a good craigslist story like that. Bought a warning triangle and something else (I forget what) off craigslist from a local guy. Ended up having to run into work and called the guy an apologized. I left the money in an envelope in my mailbox and the guy left the goods underneath my Jeep which was up on jackstands in the driveway as I was in the middle of a TC/trans/axle loob change and my diff covers were cooking in the derust tank. Had a nice chat with the guy afterwards about what I was doing. Not all people are nimrods apparently.

[mccannable]

selling privately is a pita but i just made an extra 5 grand private selling my wife's car instead of taking the trade offer at the dealer. I will probably be doing that next time.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Been selling on here for over 3 years- never a problem (well almost never, but 2 "issues" were my ignorance on parts needed and were fixed with very cooperative buyers).
Bottom line is you have to choose your buyers carefully- i've turned some down based on some red flags I have come to recognize- it comes with time
Sorry to hear your bad experience.

[R608]

OP - I completely get your frustration, but don't let the one experience deter you from selling privately again. I've sold a car on Craigslist along with a set of wheels and other parts and accessories for my old VW via online forums, all with no problems. I think if you put the right information in your ad, and ignore brainless responses, you should be able to complete your sale just fine. A few thoughts:

- If your price is firm, say so. If possible, have similar items that you can point the buyer to as proof that your price is fair.

- If it's wheels and tires you're selling, put the tire size and wheel specs in the ad, let them know what car(s) you know they will work on, and state right in the ad that they likely fit other makes and models also, but it's up to them to confirm compatibility *before* they contact you. If they don't, ignore them.

- For car parts and anything else where there's apt to be an enthusiast following, I'd much rather sell via forums like this one than deal with local classifieds or craigslist. I think you just have a better chance of getting good buyers.

- It was nice for you to offer, but I'd be extremely reluctant to go changing anyone's wheels like that. I wouldn't want to be on the hook for damage to the buyer's car if anything went wrong. I'd rather deliver the wheels to the buyer's house, possibly bringing someone with me for safety's sake, or to a dealer/repair shop and let the buyer worry about getting them on. If that's really enough to lose a potential buyer, so be it.

[cmyk]

I applaud your patience in this situation, OP. I think I am a little more jaded than you are when it comes to online selling I would have told the guy to take a hike pretty early in your scenario, haha.

As others have mentioned, you learn to weed out the crazies. I actually buy and sell on Craigslist fairly regularly. There is an art form to it, I think. Lots of idiots out there, and they vastly outnumber the serious buyers. It really makes you wonder about the future of our nation(s)

[catherineanh]

not many nice patient people like you!

[E92 M Sport]

Just wait till you try and sell a car! What a pita.

[BOBKUR]

Sometimes i think you are better off throwing the stuff away. Some people are complete idiots that want stuff for nothing and you pay the shipping.

[Tom K.]

Guess I was lucky as I had the same 16" steelies with winter tires from my '99 E46 and put them on Craigs List a couple of years ago when I bought my E91. A fellow with a Z3M coupe mounted two of them in my driveway, decided they would fit and paid my asking price in cash.

Tom