I'm TICKED!

[DaveFL]

I agree with most that has been said, my two cents on looking at ebay listing, no bids were made, if you had in good faith made the opening bid, he would have had a hard time pulling out. I would have thanked the dealer for the gift, and have experienced ebay, CL is no better. Try being a seller and see how much time tire kickers can waste.

[Soyboy]

Bummer for you, but there is always another one and after all it's only a travel trailer. Plus like others have said, the dealer must be a decent guy to fork over $200 for your time and travel, as they had left themselves an out. You will likely find another one that will make you breathe a sigh of relief that this deal didn't work out. That is how it usually works for me. Good luck!

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by DaveFL

I agree with most that has been said, my two cents on looking at ebay listing, no bids were made, if you had in good faith made the opening bid, he would have had a hard time pulling out. I would have thanked the dealer for the gift, and have experienced ebay, CL is no better. Try being a seller and see how much time tire kickers can waste.

I'm not sure why it doesn't show on the link, but it was bid up to $3100 something. I've learned NEVER to bid on a trailer until you've seen it personally, which is why we drove 3 hours to look at it. I also have sold things on both ebay & CL, so I've experienced lots of "tire kickers". I bought my current trailer from ebay sellers who also "had the trailer for sale locally and reserved the right to end the auction early". I met their asking price, drove 4 hours to pick it up, found it had a rotten section of floor, took the trailer anyway because I gave them my word that I would.
Call me a dope, but I stand by my word. In the end, that's all you can do.
It boiled down to a case of semantics as to what "crazy offer" is. I think the dealer learned his lesson about that & will say he reserves the right to end the auction early. You guys can give him your business, I choose not to.

[Gene]

Becky,

In the hour you were inspecting the trailer, it's hard to believe someone would have showed up, not inspected the trailer at all, negotiated a price and payment terms, the paperwork would have been filled out and everything signed. Maybe it was a cash deal, maybe financed (more time and papers), maybe a personal check (would dealer have run a credit check or called the bank?).

My guess is the buyer had already inspected the trailer and the dealer and buyer were negotiating when you walked in. Maybe the buyer was sitting in the office when you showed up. Maybe, as already suggested, your arrival was used to get the price up.

The dealer didn't try to getting a bidding war going, but with both parties present that can be risky as emotions can get out of control. But it would have been honorable to inform you there was an interested party present, or to tell you it was sold before you crawled underneath.

Did the dealer know you were coming? Did he know someone else was coming too? Lots of questions.

$200 for 3 hours each way plus an hour inspecting comes out to $28.57/hour not counting gas. That's $14.285/hour each. Better than minimum wage.

Gene

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Becky,

In the hour you were inspecting the trailer, it's hard to believe someone would have showed up, not inspected the trailer at all, negotiated a price and payment terms, the paperwork would have been filled out and everything signed. Maybe it was a cash deal, maybe financed (more time and papers), maybe a personal check (would dealer have run a credit check or called the bank?).

My guess is the buyer had already inspected the trailer and the dealer and buyer were negotiating when you walked in. Maybe the buyer was sitting in the office when you showed up. Maybe, as already suggested, your arrival was used to get the price up.

The dealer didn't try to getting a bidding war going, but with both parties present that can be risky as emotions can get out of control. But it would have been honorable to inform you there was an interested party present, or to tell you it was sold before you crawled underneath.

Did the dealer know you were coming? Did he know someone else was coming too? Lots of questions.

$200 for 3 hours each way plus an hour inspecting comes out to $28.57/hour not counting gas. That's $14.285/hour each. Better than minimum wage.

Gene

The man who bought the trailer had been in on Saturday. They were closed Sunday. We were there when the place opened on Monday. At some point while we were there, the man who was there Saturday came in and made the "crazy offer". No, I wouldn't want to be involved in a face to face bidding war with a gentleman who had no idea what was going on. I actually felt bad for him & didn't want to put him in the middle of anything. I'm just glad it wasn't my only day off for the week. Time is money as we all know. However, it just wasn't about the money here. It's about ethics & integrity.