I recently listed a baby item on LejeuneYardSales—a First Years Kickin’ Coaster. I got an email from a lady and through a loooong and extensive series of texts, was also going to sell her our swing and some baby clothes (which I just hadn’t gotten around to listing yet). It was about $250 worth…but let me tell you the whole story.
Since the clothes hadn’t been listed, they were not organized or sorted in any sense of the word. There were some in the closet, some in drawers, some on the floor, and some in the garage. I spent a good hour or more today getting it all sorted and counted. Because she had said she would take them all (because I said I would cut her a bit of a deal if she just took everything instead of cherrypicking), I kept texting her as I found more (just two big batches, really) so she wouldn’t know how much cash was required. I even sent her a picture of my scratch sheet showing how many onesies, swaddles, 2pc outfits, blankets, 3pc outfits, pants, shorts, etc., and then sent the sheet showing the breakdown of prices (like 72pcs @ $2 = $144 and 8pcs @ $4 = $32 for a total of $176) and then showing my total price of $150. And I texted a picture of the pile of clothes. So with the other two things she wanted, it was $225. And she was fine with it all. And wanted that total so her sister would have enough cash. And she kept texting me that she wasn’t sure when her sister would be there. Fine.
So it’s getting later and later and just as we’re making dinner and trying to feed the kids at 5:30, a car pulls in. Of course. But I think “This should be easy. We load her car, she gives me the cash, 10 minutes tops.”
Ha.
HAHA.
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
👿
So, first thing…this deal is all sorts of convoluted. The girl who initially emailed me is about 3-4 hours away, but the stuff is for her brother…but it’s a sister (who lives here) doing the picking up. Ay yi yi.
She has a snotty nose kid running around—ugh—that Owen was trying unsuccessfully to engage because he was a little young (poor Owen—he was trying so hard!). But what can you do? This should be quick. She wants to look through the clothes. Okay, that’s fine, I get that—to see that I didn’t misrepresent the quality. I say I’ve also thrown in a bunch of bibs, socks, wash cloths, and some lightly stained onesies. So she picks through one of the five bags and I can see her start thinking something along the lines of “this is not what I expected”…and I get a bad feeling but I don’t say anything and just let her be.
Then she asks about the chair—the Kicking Coaster—which is basically a moving base that the kid lays in and kicks at the stationary piece and it slides along a track and lights up and plays music. I tell her that actually—BONUS!—it’s not missing a piece like I had thought, and it even works better than I thought (both of which I mentioned in the listing). She’s like “Is this it? What does it do?” I explain it. She says she doesn’t want it because it doesn’t do anything. Um, your SISTER is the one who wanted it—you’re just picking it up. But I say okay, whatever.
She says she wants the swing can she see it. Of course. So I haul it over and she looks at it for like three seconds and says okay. Doesn’t ask for it to be plugged in or anything. And at this point, I don’t offer. So we get that in her back seat and go back to the porch with the clothes. She says “So, $150?” I say yes, for the clothes. No, she says, it’s $150 total, for everything. Oh no, I say, it’s $150 for the clothes alone, $225 total for everything. At which point she tells me there must be some misunderstanding because there’s no way her sister would have agreed to that much. I say she did, I texted her everything, with a clothes price and total price and she agreed. She was ADAMANT that I was wrong and her sister must not have understood. I tell her she can text her or whatever. She asks if she can go through the bags and just pick some pieces. I say no, not really, because I’ve already gone over this with your sister and she agreed to take everything if I gave her a good deal. She was still adamant I was wrong…so a call was placed to the sister.
And oh yes—SURPRISE!—the sister wanted EVERYTHING. :rolleyes: But the idiot girl who was picking it up didn’t bring enough cash (probably because she didn’t understand her sister’s texts or just flat out couldn’t believe it)—and then tells her sister it’s a lot of clothes and the mom-to-be probably would be too picky and not want all of them and besides she didn’t bring enough money. And then I get to hear the starting details of the money issues of this family. She was supposed to take the money from her sister’s bank account but didn’t get there so used her own money (which is why I’m guessing it wasn’t the full amount). Then after some back and forth, she hands the phone to me.
😐
Then I get to hear that she was paying out of her own money but her brother was paying her back but not until the end of the month so the $225 (or $150 for clothes) was a bit much. Could I do $100? UM, HELL NO. I said no, we agreed on $150 and that’s a reduction of $25 plus I got everything ready for you on short notice (remember, none of this was listed) and you said you’d even give me $25 for my trouble so really you are getting it for $125. Well, she asks, can she just pick out a few things? No, not tonight since it’s so late (by now it’s like almost 6pm!), but if she’d like to come back again this week, sure. But the prices will be a bit higher since you’re taking up my time and only picking a few pieces. I wanted to add AND THIS IS NOT A F***ING STORE.
So I hand her back to her sister and then they converse in Spanish—which, man I wish I knew Spanish, because up until then the entire conversation was in English so you know it was something they didn’t want me to hear. So the girl tells me she will just take the swing…do I have change? Nope. “Not even your husband?” Nope, sorry, we don’t carry cash. Which we might have had cash but at that point I was done with her. So she’s counting and counting and then says “How much for the swing and chair?” $75. Well she doesn’t have that change, either, so it’s off to the nearest gas station (5 miles either way) and she’ll be back. She unloads the swing and takes off. I haul everything in and Tom is like “WTF? Why didn’t she take anything?” I tell him the story and we make bets if we see her again. About 30 minutes later she pulls in and hands me $75. I say “Oh, so you want the chair, too?” No, she says, just the swing. I should have just taken it, but I am honest, so I said it was just $50. So I get $50, she tells me she’s done doing deals for her sister and she has told her sister that if she wants to drive here she can do the deal herself.
Good riddance.