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markbt73

The lengths we'll go to...

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So there I am, perusing Craigslist for old RC stuff (like you do), and naturally, there's nothing local worth worrying about. Bunch of overpriced half-dead Slashes and Savages, some crawlers, stuff like that. But I keep scrolling, down to the "results from nearby areas," and this pops up...

https://corvallis.craigslist.org/tag/d/corvallis-rc-car/6971326415.html

That's not just a "4WD RC car," that's a Boomerang. And it looks awfully nice, too. And you really only want twenty bucks for it? Sold.

But wait... it's in Corvallis. 90 miles south of me. So it's not really $20 for me. My truck gets 15 miles per gallon on the highway, so that's about 12 gallons for a round trip. We're floating right around three dollars a gallon right now, so that's $36 in fuel. That makes it a $56 Boomerang. Still pretty good, considering the cheapest one on ebay right now has a Buy It Now price of $100.

But that's a three-hour round trip. And the absolute soonest I could do it is Sunday, because I'm entered in a 1:1 car show on Saturday. I think I would devote 3 hours of a Sunday to score a great deal on an old Boomerang, but what will SWMBO say when I tell her what I want to do?

Chances are, someone will snag it tomorrow, and it won't matter. But if the ad is still up on Sunday... do I answer it? And drive all the way down there? I mean, I have to, right?

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Well there’s no point having a Pick Up Truck if you don’t go and pick something up in it once in a while 😁👍🏻

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So the owner doesn't want to send it to you?

Why do you want to take the Chev and not one of your cheaper cars?

I have my c1500, but I also have a bread and butter Honda Fit to drive the 40kms to work 😂

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...Oh, and I put 5 'gallons' in my truck, and it costs me $35USD 😂😂 So it's more a roadside ornament than anything

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Once did a drive for 8 hrs one way 16 hrs total to pick up my nib Falcon because the owner refused to ship. Also did the drive in my pickup truck. 

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2 hours ago, Richardrpm said:

Once did a drive for 8 hrs one way 16 hrs total to pick up my nib Falcon because the owner refused to ship. Also did the drive in my pickup truck. 

Better you don't tell that to anyone outside of this forum. Especially not to your better half, who would only doubt your sanity:D

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8 hours ago, berman said:

So the owner doesn't want to send it to you?

Why do you want to take the Chev and not one of your cheaper cars?

I have my c1500, but I also have a bread and butter Honda Fit to drive the 40kms to work 😂

It's either the Chevy, or my '71 MGB GT, which is spectacularly unpleasant on the highway (no radio and no overdrive, and very hard suspension), or my wife's Ford Explorer, which doesn't get enough better mileage to make it worth asking to use it for such a foolish errand...

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I also have a stripped and caged Honda with a 4:78 fd, which makes it sit at nearly 4k at 60mph, has bilstein coil overs, fixed back race seats, r compound tyres, no stereo, is 76mm off the ground at lowest structural point, (and nz roads are like goat tracks) manual rack, all driver aids/creature comforts removed etc and I drive it 120 miles each way every 3 months or so to meets... 

For $20 I would get it. Take the missus on a road trip and take her to lunch somewhere close. It may cost you $100 but you keep her happy, you get some quality time with wifey, and it 'Only cost $20' because the fuel and lunch wasn't technically related to the boomerang....

Ahem

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I have no issues driving to Corvallis. You should probably snag that before I do :P

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Well, so much for that... someone must have told him what it was worth, and he raised the price to $150. Oh well. Can't afford that right now, no matter what. And I'd rather have other things than another Boomerang for that...

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Just wait him out for a while, it wont sell then make him an offer

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3 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Well, so much for that... someone must have told him what it was worth, and he raised the price to $150. Oh well. Can't afford that right now, no matter what. And I'd rather have other things than another Boomerang for that...

Yep, now must not get

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17 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Well, so much for that... someone must have told him what it was worth, and he raised the price to $150. Oh well. Can't afford that right now, no matter what. And I'd rather have other things than another Boomerang for that...

You procrastinated. For $20 you should have bought it while it was hot. If I was that bothered about fuel/comfort I would have asked a friend/family member if I could borrow their cheap runabout.

Never mind, there will be another bargain.

I am not sure why I am giving you RC buying advice, I should be spending any spare money on my own Chevy... :rolleyes: :lol:

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4 hours ago, berman said:

You procrastinated. For $20 you should have bought it while it was hot. If I was that bothered about fuel/comfort I would have asked a friend/family member if I could borrow their cheap runabout.

Never mind, there will be another bargain.

I am not sure why I am giving you RC buying advice, I should be spending any spare money on my own Chevy... :rolleyes: :lol:

Didn't procrastinate. Saw it on Thursday evening, had to work Friday, and spent the day today with my wife and my MGB GT at an all-British car show. Couldn't have gotten there until tomorrow no matter what.

What I don't understand is why someone who knows what it is would tell him he should raise the price, instead of just buying it for themselves at $20. Are Tamiya collectors really that scrupulous to a fault?

No matter; I got a package from RCMart today with a new bumper for the Boomerang I already have...

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I have no idea how Craigslist works, but is it not like eBay where you could have bought it with a buy now/binding contract and picked it up later?

Yeah maybe someone messaged him and told him it was worth more? 

Maybe he saw the other boomerangs and realised it was worth more and is trying his luck.

Is it worth messaging him and asking why the price changed?

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8 hours ago, berman said:

I have no idea how Craigslist works

Craigslist is a circus. Honestly its like online classified ads from the newspaper. The only problem is its free to post and free to view. Add that to the added anonymity of emails and texting and you get the potential for a mess.

Generally on the seller side you have RC cars being offered at ridiculous prices. Most everybody has caught on that Tamiya is collectible so they "know what this is worth, so don't lowball me, these sell on ebay all the time for $100000, etc, etc." There are stock, used Stampedes on my local Craigslist with prices higher than what Traxxas sells them new at currently. I personally met sellers for 1:1 cars that actually weren't going to sell the car they had posted for sale. They just were trying to "gauge interest" or wanted to talk to people or string them along. What a waste of time!

Buyers are worse. You get a lot of "is this still for sale?" questions but never get anymore replies after you tell them it is. In an effort to understand people better I've actually researched this phenomenon and it is a "thing" people do so its not uncommon. When I tried to sell my Mustang years ago the ad specifically said no trades and yet I was offered a re****erator (plus half the asking price in cash), a row boat with a hole in it plus a home entertainment center and an Playstation (plus a personal check, lol). One gentleman asked if he could take the car now, but promised to make payments on it. Another gentleman asked if my town was within walking distance of his town (he lived about 50 miles away) because he had never heard of my town. BTW, the location, plus a map is shown on the Craigslist ad.

I generally cut the prices of RC cars in half when I used to post ads. I'd still get lowballed by ridiculous offers of $15. I've had people downright threaten me because I was unwilling to meet them halfway to sell the vehicle when halfway meant an hour and a half drive for me to sell a $40 Hornet.

None of this garbage happened in the newspaper days. You spent money to place the ad so you were serious about selling. You had to call about ads and people generally never got so strident with someone on the telephone. So there's Craigslist (in my area) in a nutshell. Your mileage may vary. 

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Back several years ago though, I had two good Craigslist experiences with sellers. One said he chose me because I wrote him a grammatically correct and coherent email, the other seller and I became friends and he's a member here :) But. I generally try to steer away from Craigslist nowadays in 2019. It seems all the vintage RC stuff has dried up on there anyways. Offerup is ridiculous because every dude-bro thinks their RC wreck is worth a goldmine. I saw an RC car on there for fairly cheap and made the seller a reasonable offer about $10 lower than his asking price, because you know, it's called "Offerup". Guys says he's got a full-price offer and meeting the guy tomorrow. Less than a week later, the same car is up for sale again. At that point I just laughed and kept looking.  

 

 

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Yep, Craigslist is more or less a waste of times these days, I know. But I keep hoping, because I had such good luck on there a few years ago (seriously, eight or ten really great deals over the course of two years). But these days, it's more like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football: you think you're in luck, and then...

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On 9/6/2019 at 3:04 PM, scoobybooster said:

Especially not to your better half, who would only doubt your sanity

She might even go with you ;) , and why not

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On 9/7/2019 at 2:19 AM, markbt73 said:

he raised the price to $150

Had a similar thing eBay . An item I saw that went unsold for 3 or 4 listings . I asked a question about it while it was still on sale for the 4th or 5th time  , and the then starting price doubled - so I blew it out as it's taking the mick

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On 9/8/2019 at 12:01 PM, markbt73 said:

Didn't procrastinate. Saw it on Thursday evening, had to work Friday, and spent the day today with my wife and my MGB GT at an all-British car show. Couldn't have gotten there until tomorrow no matter what.

What I don't understand is why someone who knows what it is would tell him he should raise the price, instead of just buying it for themselves at $20. Are Tamiya collectors really that scrupulous to a fault?

No matter; I got a package from RCMart today with a new bumper for the Boomerang I already have...

Ok well if it is like a online newspaper, as saito2 said, fair enough. The point I was trying to make was completing the transaction before someone else bought it or as you said, bumped the price up. Even if you could have messaged him and credited his account before the price hike, you could have always picked it up later.

Here's a strange story, I listed a 65" tv and home theatre last week for 630 reserve, and had a 650 buy now. One guy asked me if I would take 550 for it, I said no and let the auction run. On the last day the same guy hit the reserve, then another buyer bid against him. This went on with him and the other buyer and it sold for 1200... nearly twice the buy now. 😳 Now I am not complaining, but some people...

The item is pick up only, and the buyer is 5 hours away.

Sheesh. 

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