Anyone Ever Get Screwed Out of a Really Good Deal?

Magister

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
3,344
Reaction score
956
Location
Lake City, Michigan
Just wondering if anyone had a done deal on a good deal and had the seller turn around and sell the game behind your back to someone else?

I've had it happen a few times. Either because they were offered more money for it, or they just couldn't wait a whole frickin day for me to come and get it. :mad:

Mike
 
What's really crazy is when people come on here and post: "Later today I'm going to pick up a $50 (Insert game here) from Craig's List. Wish me luck!"

Then the next post is: "Who offered $100...."

:)
 
An add was posted on Springfield, MO craigslist for a couple of dead machines. One of them was a William's Blaster in a duramold shell for $100. The picture is from the actual ad. I know time is off the essence for deals, but unfortunately I am 3 hours away. I call the guy up, ask him if it is still for sale and confirm he is selling it for $100. He says yes, so I tell the guy that the ad states it is non-working. I don't need to view it to make a decision, I am bringing $100 to pick up the dead machine. I also inform him of my driving distance to make sure he isn't going to pull the plug on me, and tell him I will be there in 3 hours. He confirms it, gives me directions, and I am out the door in 5 minutes.

I am on the road for more than 1 hour, and I get a phone call. He "informs" me that he has been researching this game, it is worth more than that, and he can no longer sell the game until he can research more thoroughly the "higher" price that he will be selling it for. I let him know I have already been on the road for 1 hour, and will have been on the road for 2 hours by the time I get home for nothing. He told me that he had made up his mind and was no longer selling it to me. So now I am out of 2 hours out of my life and approximately $15 in gas.

The morals of some people are just completely mind numbing. The fact that a deal is a deal, the fact that it was of no concern to him about all the time I just spent on the road is just wrong. So I turn around and come home empty handed, clutching my $100 in cash. I just don't know what else to say, but I think our public schools need to start teaching ethics or something. WOW.

IMHO, I personally believe he sold it out from under me. I wouldn't be surprised if some "good samaritan" told him not to sell it to me and offered more money.

blasterduramold.jpg
 
Wow, good to see I am not alone. I just had this happen to me recently, I won't go into details because it happened with a fellow KLOVer who was the seller.
 
thats incredibly lame


An add was posted on Springfield, MO craigslist for a couple of dead machines. One of them was a William's Blaster in a duramold shell for $100. The picture is from the actual ad. I know time is off the essence for deals, but unfortunately I am 3 hours away. I call the guy up, ask him if it is still for sale and confirm he is selling it for $100. He says yes, so I tell the guy that the ad states it is non-working. I don't need to view it to make a decision, I am bringing $100 to pick up the dead machine. I also inform him of my driving distance to make sure he isn't going to pull the plug on me, and tell him I will be there in 3 hours. He confirms it, gives me directions, and I am out the door in 5 minutes.

I am on the road for more than 1 hour, and I get a phone call. He "informs" me that he has been researching this game, it is worth more than that, and he can no longer sell the game until he can research more thoroughly the "higher" price that he will be selling it for. I let him know I have already been on the road for 1 hour, and will have been on the road for 2 hours by the time I get home for nothing. He told me that he had made up his mind and was no longer selling it to me. So now I am out of 2 hours out of my life and approximately $15 in gas.

The morals of some people are just completely mind numbing. The fact that a deal is a deal, the fact that it was of no concern to him about all the time I just spent on the road is just wrong. So I turn around and come home empty handed, clutching my $100 in cash. I just don't know what else to say, but I think our public schools need to start teaching ethics or something. WOW.

IMHO, I personally believe he sold it out from under me. I wouldn't be surprised if some "good samaritan" told him not to sell it to me and offered more money.

blasterduramold.jpg
 
I look at is as, the seller has every right to sell the games to the first that shows up with money. Verbal, over the phone promises, or negociations don't mean a thing.

Money talks, BS walks...
 
My response: I will be there in 2 hours. Have the game ready or I will be taking 6 hours of life out of your ass motherf*cker..
 
I look at is as, the seller has every right to sell the games to the first that shows up with money. Verbal, over the phone promises, or negociations don't mean a thing.

Money talks, BS walks...

True, I state in my Craigslist ads that I will not "hold" an item I am selling for anyone, you need to come get it or it is still available for the next guy. But as a seller, if you tell someone "yes I am home, here are the directions to my house, yes I understand you are on your way", well then that makes you a morally corrupt person in my opinion to stop them in mid-transit after you told them to come on and get it. Thats just wrong.
 
Last edited:
I look at is as, the seller has every right to sell the games to the first that shows up with money. Verbal, over the phone promises, or negociations don't mean a thing.

Money talks, BS walks...

agreed, but thats not what happened to that guy in hsi story right there
 
Wow, good to see I am not alone. I just had this happen to me recently, I won't go into details because it happened with a fellow KLOVer who was the seller.

Hey I did sell you that game and even delivered it for you. :p

Just kidding man.
 
Pinball machines are the worst. If a pinball machine gets posted for sale cheap, 100 good samaritan assholes from all over the WORLD email the clister immediately to tell them that the game is worth way way more than that, blah blah blah even though they live thousands of miles away and have no intentions of paying anything for it.

I read about it everyday on the pinball newsgroups.

If somebody is asking something for something, and you're willing to pay it, why would a third party but in and make both parties unhappy? Assholes.

Your duramold guy would have been happy with $100, you would have been happy with $100. Whoever emailed him pissed you off, and made him think he was getting screwed in the deal, even though HE set the price!
 
Backing out on a deal goes both ways. There was a guy selling a nice Gauntlet: Dark Legacy that I really wanted. It was the huge 2 piece cabinet with the 36" monitor. At least I think it was a 36" monitor. Told the guy I wanted it for sure and made the trip down state to get it. Got to his house and walked inside and there it was. Holy Shit it was huge. The thing was 32" wide exactly and so was his doorway. I tried and I tried to get this thing out the door, and it had to be perfectly straight or it wouldn't fit through. Well, I couldn't get it out the door, plus this thing weighted a Ton. Hell, I think the control panel alone was 200 lbs. As much as I wanted it, I had to back down on the deal. If I owned a house, I might have tried harder to take it home, but because I rent for now, there was no way I was going to move that thing into my place and have to move it again once I bought a house. Still wish I could have got it though. :(

Mike
 
Wow, good to see I am not alone. I just had this happen to me recently, I won't go into details because it happened with a fellow KLOVer who was the seller.

If you haven't had it happen to you, then you don't deal on craigslist. It is a rite of passage for everyone.
 
Just happened 2 days ago, guy told me I had dibs on an Asteroids and Missile Command for $125, planned everything out and he sold them out from under me... total asshole.
 
True, I state in my Craigslist ads that I will not "hold" an item I am selling for anyone, you need to come get it or it is still available for the next guy. But as a seller, if you tell someone "yes I am home, here are the directions to my house, yes I understand you are on your way", well then that makes you a morally corrupt person in my opinion to stop them in mid-transit after you told them to come on and get it. Thats just wrong.

Totally agree! Sure, verbal communications and promises over the phone *should* mean something, but often they don't. If that is the case...DON'T MAKE PROMISES and be clear about it. I highly doubt the guy would have risked it if the seller said, "I can't hold the game and if someone else shows up, it is theirs." Let people know that. And changing your mind after someone has been on the road for an hour is just plain wrong. Do the research before posting if you want to maximize the sale price. If someone says I am on the way and is driving a long distance, I will hold it for them until that time frame and at least give them that. Holding a game for a couple of hours doesn't hurt anything, it is when people want to pick it up days or weeks later that screws up potential deals.
 
I look at is as, the seller has every right to sell the games to the first that shows up with money. Verbal, over the phone promises, or negociations don't mean a thing.

Money talks, BS walks...

Man I would love to see your reaction if you drove hours to pick up a machine only to see some one else loading that machine in their truck. If I promised someone I would hold a machine for X hours and I did not, I would be a scumbag. If you didn't show up when you said you would and did not call to say you were on the way, that's a different story.
 
I had this happen a few weeks ago. I had a deal all set up and a pick up date. I get a email a hour later saying someone else was going to come and if they didnt get them. (they did) then they would call me back to come get them. good thing i didnt go rent a trailer and leave. they were a 2 1./2 drive each way. Oh well
 
Here is a good one that happened yesterday. A few weeks ago a guy I work with told me about his friend that a [quote un quote home use only]Judge Dredd pin and 2 slot machines for 1400 I ask if his friend would separate the pin from the slots which I had no interest in he said he would check weeks go by. I finally see him in person and ask him about it he said oh he sold it for about 300 or 500 he couldn't remember I was speechless. Edward or JJ if it was you at least rub it in or something anyway sounds like someone got a crazy good deal.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom