Classified listings without photos

[Tortugatron]

[Fishslayer]

I know... "My $1500 pistol! Email for pics."

...or upside down fuzzy thumbnails... or gargantuan fuzzy photos... no dash number on S&Ws... laundry list of "rules" & "conditions" for sale...

Doodes... ya wanna sell your gun or not?

[I Swan]

I usually won't bother it is a hassle for the seller and the potential buyer. It saves a lot of time if pics are already there. I sometimes only includes a few but always something.

Some people are not very internet savvy though.

[I Swan]

I know... "My $1500 pistol! Email for pics."

...or upside down fuzzy thumbnails... or gargantuan fuzzy photos... no dash number on S&Ws... laundry list of "rules" & "conditions" for sale...

Doodes... ya wanna sell your gun or not?

I always welcome a very local to me meetup for in person inspection which is always best.

Laundry list of mine separates the wheat from the chaff. If you can't handle my conditions of sale which are all reasonable then I don't need or want to sell the gun.

Frankly I rather usually not deal with many Calgunners, too many problems and lowballers and flakes. More and more of my guns I just keep or end up getting sold out of state even if I lose a little money that way.

[ARFrog]

The lack of marketing acumen or maybe just plain laziness always amazes me. I always laugh when I see an ad like:

"For sale M1 Garand purchased from other Cagunner. Need to sell to fund new project. Asking $12,000 firm. No low ball offers. PM me to keep this thread clean."

This type of ad makes me want to ask "why did you bother dude? Or, where do I get the seconds of my life back for reading a total waste of time? Or, why do I care that you have a ridiculously over priced rifle for sale?

There is nothing helpful to make a purchase decision!

So...

- give me some "sizzle"
- show me some photos
- tell me some history
- accurately describe the markings
- accurately describe the condition

These elements and more validate the value proposition and help to make for a quicker successful sale.


(EDIT: and if you do the above, maybe you will cut down on the annoying "lookielous" who are really just looking for a reason not to purchase anyway, which will be a net time saver for the Seller.)

[LTC-J]

Depends upon the gun. And to a lesser degree, the claimed condition.

Do you really need yet another picture of a used gen 3 Glock 19?

If the ad claims damage, I'd want a picture of the damage.

If the ad is for a collectible gun, I'd want pictures.

[beanz2]

Plain laziness. Some sellers figure what they have is very appealing to others that people will beat a path to their door.

As far as restrictive terms are concerned, however, I think they are necessary. Having been stood up by a wishful thinking Calgunner and flew with an AK to San Diego dealing with all the hassle just to be stood up, I would now always place a for sale ad under my terms. There are real jerks out there, even on Calguns.


.

[M76]

Some guys also outdo others with their pro-quality hi-def pics
with pic hosting sights folding or charging, that plays a part too

[cannon]

If there is not a picture I move on to the next ad.

[LateBraking]

Plain laziness. Some sellers figure what they have is very appealing to others that people will beat a path to their door.

As far as restrictive terms are concerned, however, I think they are necessary. Having been stood up by a wishful thinking Calgunner and flew with an AK to San Diego dealing with all the hassle just to be stood up, I would now always place a for sale ad under my terms. There are real jerks out there, even on Calguns.


.

Hear hear.

As far as sellers go though, the one that really grinds my gears is bidding in the background. We all know it's against Calguns rules, I don't allow it as a matter of principle on not just Calguns but on all my other forums that I sell things now (I've basically adopted Calguns rules for other forums), but you occasionally get posts where the seller "changed their mind" or "decided to sell to a friend" instead. I get curious how much more money the other guy offered to get them to break principle.

As far as pics go, I can understand if some people are really, really bad with computers....but each post allows for 5 attachments and it's not hard to attach them. What I see most often is "text me for more pics" which makes me wonder if they've taken the pictures on the phone, are too lazy to transfer the pics to their computer to make a post, and are just texting off the phone photos.

[bubbapug1]

I have dealt with iswan and his restrictions. The guy is gtg in my book. He won't waste your time. His stuff is clean and if it's not he over states the problems. You know what you're getting into.

Why does he and others have such draconian sounding terms. Because they want to weed out the dirtbags and tire kickers. I'm not a tire kicker but I don't like showing up to find a gun represented as "like new" was used as a hammer to reframe a house.

As to pics I think a lot of it is the incompetence and laziness of some to figure out the process of posting pics. In some cases it's ok, like someone selling a Sig p938 fir $750.00. I'll email for pics. But a guy trying to sell a custom wilson combat for $4,000.00 or a custom Glock 17 for $1,200 is just ruining the odds of cutting a deal.

U reap what u sow in sales. Keep it simple but also provide eye candy to provoke an impulse buy.

[HYPURR]

Some ads are a waste of time

I'm guilty of "AD+++"

Seems foolish and a great incompetence tell when the poster's ad is w/o pics and includes some of the other usual CG FS BS.

> Will post pics later
> PM me for pics
> Posting for a friend
> Off Roster! (Well no kidding, what isn't that anyone would really want here in Libralfornia?)
> Rare!
> Virtually BNIB - Fired once for Function Test (WTF is function test)
> Keep this thread clean don't post here (obviously missing the point of a community forum with comments, thoughts, and atta' boyz)
> If you have a Zero itrader I won't sell this to you (we all started @ 0 itrader)
> Have all of your docs ready (No clue of the purchase process no matter what your status in the hobby is?)
> If you fail DROS i'll keep 25%
> If you were ever a Rodeo Clown this gun is not for you
> You all get the idea...

I'll Take it! Best, D

[TurboChrisB]

My favorite is when you scroll down through the "Back Up's" and see a question asked, then you go back and they didn't even take the time to edit the original post and include that information. And sometimes it's a legit question, like how many miles or does it include this or that.

People underestimate the power of a well written ad. I sold a Porsche to a guy in PA, a BMW to a guy in MI, a Suburban to a guy in TX and ALL of them were sight unseen. Paid for in advance and soley based on the eBay ad. Lots of pics, videos and well written text inspire confidence and get stuff SOLD.

[smoothy8500]

Paid for in advance and soley based on the eBay ad.

Isn't that how eBay works? [Scratching head]

[drkphibr]

If there is not a picture I move on to the next ad.

This ^.

If you can't take the time/effort to post a pic but want to text/email pics to every interested buyer, tells me something is not what it seems.

Saw a recent classifieds post that had no pic(s), directed interested parties to PM for pics. And then bumped the post a ridiculous number of times.

No pic usually means there's an issue from my experiences.