Mr K
Member
Should responses to adverts in the selling forum saying, e.g. "that's a bit pricey, mate" be banned/discouraged?
I recently advertised our old A2 in the Selling forum and was disappointed that one or two members felt the need to offer pricing advice, essentially spoiling the ad. I'm not sure what their motivation was - maybe they were being smart alecs or are just immature, but it wasn't welcome. Another member, unprompted, criticised the "advice" on my behalf and an administrator offered to remove the offending comments without being asked (so don't bother searching for them).
I realise it's a bit academic, as not many cars sell via the forum, but this sort of thing grates a bit, in what is otherwise a very friendly community.
In case anyone remembers the offending posts, you may be interested to know how bad the unsolicited advice was. I put the car up initially at £5850 to give me some negotiating margin, with the aim of getting £5500. We were told by my unsolicited advisor that I'd be lucky to get £5000.
I stuck it on eBay, Pistonheads and Autotrader. After nearly selling it the first weekend I dropped the asking price to £5650 (eBay reserve £5600). On Monday a nice chap from 200 miles away phoned me and offered £5500 having seen all 3 ads. He collected it this morning.
So, not only was the advice unwelcome, but it was £500 off the mark, and didn't take into account condition, options, servicing (past and imminent), etc.
It's possible I was lucky, but then I usually get a decent price when I sell, so maybe it's something other than luck. The accuracy or otherwise of the advice is not the point, it is that it is unsolicited, and could potentially damage a sale. After all, would the poster stand outside random main dealers, pointing out how overpriced their cars were to potential customers?
I recently advertised our old A2 in the Selling forum and was disappointed that one or two members felt the need to offer pricing advice, essentially spoiling the ad. I'm not sure what their motivation was - maybe they were being smart alecs or are just immature, but it wasn't welcome. Another member, unprompted, criticised the "advice" on my behalf and an administrator offered to remove the offending comments without being asked (so don't bother searching for them).
I realise it's a bit academic, as not many cars sell via the forum, but this sort of thing grates a bit, in what is otherwise a very friendly community.
In case anyone remembers the offending posts, you may be interested to know how bad the unsolicited advice was. I put the car up initially at £5850 to give me some negotiating margin, with the aim of getting £5500. We were told by my unsolicited advisor that I'd be lucky to get £5000.
I stuck it on eBay, Pistonheads and Autotrader. After nearly selling it the first weekend I dropped the asking price to £5650 (eBay reserve £5600). On Monday a nice chap from 200 miles away phoned me and offered £5500 having seen all 3 ads. He collected it this morning.
So, not only was the advice unwelcome, but it was £500 off the mark, and didn't take into account condition, options, servicing (past and imminent), etc.
It's possible I was lucky, but then I usually get a decent price when I sell, so maybe it's something other than luck. The accuracy or otherwise of the advice is not the point, it is that it is unsolicited, and could potentially damage a sale. After all, would the poster stand outside random main dealers, pointing out how overpriced their cars were to potential customers?