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IA | I've sold and bought a lot of items over the years on online classifieds and the majority of transactions have gone over without any problem, however, in more recent years some of the people that have responded to my ads really make me question if selling things that way is worth it. My latest experience was probably the nail in the coffin.
Young cow/calf pairs were bringing $2500-$2900 earlier this spring and I lost some pasture last fall so I listed 80 head of young pairs for sale on the local classifieds at the end of April. I didn't absolutely have to sell them as I have enough pasture for the summer but winter feed would be a little tight so I decided that selling them was the best course to take. The first call I got was strange immediately. The caller asked if the cows were still for sale which I thought was odd because the ad had only been up about 30 minutes. He then proceeded to go on a long winded spiel about how he didn't really need 80 more head but he would try to "take em all" to help me out. He then proceeded to make an offer that was over $1000/head lower than my asking price. I politely told him "No thanks, not at this time." The very next guy took all 80 head that night for my asking price.
Fast forward to today the first guy called me asking about the pairs even though they had been marked as sold and the ad removed. He said he was still willing to "take them off my hands" and he would "even raise his offer $100." Not $100/pair but $100 overall!!!! At this point, I thought someone was playing a prank on me or something so I just told him "Thanks for your call but they're sold." Well it was like I set off a bomb. The guy went completely crazy. Called me every name in the book and told me I should have called him if someone else was interested. I told him that courtesy is only extended to people who make serious offers. The situation really escalated after that and he started making threats against me, my family, my property, and my livestock. Thankfully my wife started listening in when he began and was recording everything with her phone. The conversation ended when I told him that his number and a copy of the conversation would be sent to the local sheriffs office. That seemed to cool him down quite a bit but I'll still be checking the feed mixer for car batteries in the morning.
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Classified Ads. Are the people who respond getting crazier?
