Strange/Unique buying or selling scenario you’ve experienced

[383roller]

Have you ever had a buying or selling situation that was weird, awkward or just plain goofy?

Here’s mine:

A few years ago I was selling a guitar locally that I didn’t want anymore. I had this girl (woman) contact me that was interested and wanted to check it out. That was a time when I would entertain tire kickers, my representations are very thorough.


I’ve done quite some deals locally so i had her come to the house (no longer do that either), I felt comfortable after talking on the phone for a while.



She showed up at the agreed time with a large man, seems reasonable in today’s age- now, I’m not small nor am I one to get rolled at my own house believe me. My impression was he was very mellow. Introductions happened and no alarms, in fact this guy has something strange in his demeanor like childish.


Come to find out he’s deaf, and he was the judge of the sound of the guitar. She played for a short time, then asked him in another language which he denied and they left without the guitar.

[drive-south]

Years ago a friend and I rented a table at a guitar show in Rhode Island. By noon I had sold all my stuff (about 20 guitars and a couple amps), and my friend sold nothing. He was very upset because he had put out a lot of cash and didn't even net enough money to buy gas for the ride home. Since I was now flush with cash, I decided to buy one of his queens. I took home a 1994 Gibson J45 which I still own to this day. The guitar was only a couple years old at the time. It's an unusual Gibson as it has the banner logo but the modern Gibson block logo silkscreened on the headstock. I'll post a photo later.

I know a lot of folks don't like Gibson from this era but mine plays great. Many of the guitars in my collection were not purchased with cash. They were aquired through various trades.

[H165]

In the early 1970s I was a luthier at a local music shop. All kinds of stuff came through there; mostly vintage bluegrass and folk instruments. I learned the details of the Martin models. I fell in love with the 42. Finally settled on the 000-42 as my "grail".

I looked for a 000-42 for about 20 years. All over the USA; everywhere. Bought three 00-42s hoping each might alleviate the GAS. Nope.

One day our local guitar wheeler-dealer, Randy Snoddy, called and said he'd found one, and we did sort of a 3-way trade/purchase. When it was my turn to pick up the guitar, Randy gave me the name and address of the seller. Imagine my reaction when I realized the seller lived the next block over from me. I walked over and picked up this guitar:

[Tenn]

I started asking for some detailed pics of a guitar and the seller raised the price all of a sudden. I walked/ran away.

[JackC1]

Not guitars; but guns. Somebody wanted to buy a rifle I was selling. He's coming to Austin (TX) from Houston to pick up; I asked if he would stop by this particular sandwich shop in Houston and buy me some sandwiches (I've made the drive myself to buy sandwiches before). He agreed.

My wife found out later and criticized me for asking him to do such an errant.

Later, when I was selling some reloading equipment and he's buying again... I was seriously tempted to ask him to pickup some sandwiches again but decided not to.

Now, many years later, I'm beginning to see how much of an imposition my request was (I guess my wife was much wiser than me).

[drive-south]

Originally Posted by drive-south

Years ago a friend and I rented a table at a guitar show in Rhode Island. By noon I had sold all my stuff (about 20 guitars and a couple amps), and my friend sold nothing. He was very upset because he had put out a lot of cash and didn't even net enough money to buy gas for the ride home. Since I was now flush with cash, I decided to buy one of his queens. I took home a 1994 Gibson J45 which I still own to this day. The guitar was only a couple years old at the time. It's an unusual Gibson as it has the banner logo but the modern Gibson block logo silkscreened on the headstock. I'll post a photo later.

I know a lot of folks don't like Gibson from this era but mine plays great. Many of the guitars in my collection were not purchased with cash. They were aquired through various trades.

Here's my 1994 J45PXL_20230131_201903748.jpgPXL_20230131_201922780.jpgPXL_20230131_202007257.jpgPXL_20230131_201850256.jpgPXL_20230131_201948465.jpg

[gmel555]

Your post reminded me of a "cute" story...10 years ago i was working ~150 miles from my home. A weekly commute & one year contract, I rented a townhome. I had decided to sell a Rickenbacker 360 on the local Craigslist there. I soon got a call and agreed for two guys to come over to my rental after work. Before their arrival I seriously questioned my wisdom and asked my wife back home to call and check on me ~15 minutes after their scheduled arrival. Right on time two twenty-something guys showed up at the front door. They looked okay and I tentatively let them in. They immediately and politely asked me if I wanted them to take off their shoes! -LOL- I immediately knew they were okay. One, an accomplished player, was there to help his inexperienced buddy checkout the guitar. Before long we were playing (I had an acoustic there too) and singing a few Beatles songs together (what else) for about 20 minutes. The guitar was bought at very close to my asking price...a good deal for both of us.

[cc132]

One time, I posed a guitar on Craigslist. A local guy contacted me about it. He came over, played it for a bit, then paid me the full asking price in cash for it.

Compared to my normal Craigslist experiences, it was pretty unusual.

[para_adams]

I found a rare guitar I'd been searching for in a Craigslist ad in a city 1500 miles away but where my son happened to be living. After corresponding with the seller and seeing lots of photos the seller met with my son who made the purchase for me but not before the seller sat and played the guitar for 10 minutes (really well) as a farewell. When I picked up the guitar from my son a month later the guitar was in perfect condition but had surprisingly poor intonation and some buzzing in the 5th and 6th strings. After studying things, I figured out the saddle was backwards in its slot in the bridge. I turned the saddle around to its correct direction and found the setup, playability and tone to be absolutely perfect. I have no idea how long the seller had it set up wrong or how he didn't figure that out.