I know what you're thinking, you're thinking that you're about to read about the successful sale of the Golf, and to be fair so you should be.
I put the Golf up for grabs on fleabay, and when I put my cars up for sale I like to take the photos of the car that I'm selling on the day that I list it, just so that people can actually see how it looked that day. But,
the day I was listing it, it was raining, and therefore not the best weather to
take photos of a convertible with the roof down, so instead I used the
photos that I had taken just three days earlier, and hoped that this wouldn't be detrimental to the selling of it. One thing that I thought was detrimental to the sale of my Golf is the listing title:- 2001 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. Very Long MOT. no reserve! Which to my mind looks OK doesn't it? But, If you do a search for a Golf it shows up in the search results. However, if you do a search for a Golf Convertible, it doesn't! I thought about the title being this:- 2001 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet/Convertible. Very Long MOT. no reserve! but stupidly I didn't do that. The reason for this was because on the logbook its model says its a Golf Cabriolet, and when I filled out the item specifics part of the ebay ad where it says 'Type:' one of the options was Sports/Convertible, so I clicked on that, and figured that if anyone typed in convertible, as that I'd selected that in the item specifics section it would show up in the search... WRONG!! I've not really made a profit yet on anything, infact, I've not really
totted it all up yet, but I'm pretty sure that so far this year I'm around £1000
out of pocket (shh.. Whatever you do, don't tell Mrs Clint!) I've had to sell all
sorts of other stuff in order just to keep playing, and keep the
project going! But I guess youi live and learn, and now I'm wondering if this is all just part of an expensive lesson!
The winning bidder placed his bid on Saturday evening. Sunday, as the
auction was ending I logged on to see how it was going... Not good! It
was at £800, and I paid £955 for it about a month ago or so! However
there were still five minutes or so left to go, and I noticed I had a couple
of emails, one of which was from the bidder who was winning. He was
asking me to cancel his bid as he no longer wanted it! I thought to myself for
crying out loud (or something like that!) Why bid on something if you
don't want it? I hoped he was going to get outbid, but ofcourse he
didnt! DAMMIT!! So I went out for a stroll, and I was pretty damn angry at just
about everything, including the whole stupid idea of trying to buy and sell a car a month for a whole year! What kind of idiot does that anyway? Why am I so stupid that I
thought this was a good idea? Anyway, after a
good stroll round which lasted over two hours I went home, and decided,
that I would just offer it to the next bidder down, and hope for the
best. So I logged onto my fleabay account, and there's this message from
the winning bidder asking me to phone him, and he'll pick it up tomorrow before 12:00hrs. Great, well by that time it was
after 23:00hrs, and I figured that no one was going to appreciate me
calling them at that time, so I sent him an email saying where to
collect the car from, and at 09:30 the following day I also called
him. No answer, I thought he might be enroute, and driving. So, instead
of heading out with my kids for the day, we
all waited in for this fella to show up. We waited, waited, aaaaaaaand
waited, until about 13:00hrs, when I said, right, thats it, we're off
out. But just to be sure, I called him just before we left... No answer!
Later that evening I got a text from him asking if he could have a few
photos of the interior, but unfortunately for me my phone is the most basic phone you can buy. It does texts, and phone calls, it doesn't do internet, and doesn't even have a camera on it! So, no, I couldn't send any pictures, and frankly by then I was
pretty hacked off that he was even asking me!
But the following day I logged onto ebay
and find that he's sent me several messages asking if he can come and
collect the Golf, and he even phoned me. I must admit, that by
now I had come round to the idea that I was just going to re-list it,
and hope that this time I get a bit more interest, and even more of my
money back, I know, I'm living in a delusional dreamworld! But I thought,
no, if this fellas going to collect it tonight, then I'll just add this
to the losses I've made on all the other cars, and try to work out what
else of my stuff I'm going to need to sell in order to keep playing!
Anyhoo,
he shows up, and starts having a really REALLY good look round the car, I mean he was really going over it with a fine tooth comb, we go for a
drive, and he puts his foot on the clutch pedal, and it creaked a tiny bit as it went
down. He wasn't happy about this little noise, he then went on to
further scrutinise the car, and found various other things about it he
didn't like. This is fair enough, but this is what you should do before
the auction ends. Once it ends, in my opinion, it's too late, you've
bought it. He also thought that at some point one of the hoses to the
radiator had been leaking as there was residue on one of the lower
hoses, and there was a drop of water near the mark. Fair enough, it had
been raining, and it was probably water from that as all the hoses etc
were dry, and we were only looking at maybe half a teaspoon of water at the very most anyway. By this time, and having learned from the previous
selling episodes I've had in the past, I was
thinking that I should just forget it, and head off inside. Infact, by now I didn't
want the guy to have it anyway. So when he offered me £650
for it, I just politely said, no thankyou mate and headed towards the front door of BelongaClint. He tried to justify his
offer by telling me that he would need to spend the difference putting
the little niggles he's found right. I was getting the impression that
he was expecting a concours car, and as its a fairly old Golf it isn't.
Infact, in my
listing I even wrote:- "Please remember that you are bidding to buy,
and not to come and haggle afterwards. As you can see from the photos
it is a really nice example of the VW Golf cabriolet, and possibly even
one of the best examples of it's age and model, but please do feel free
to ask questions, or better still come and have a look at it for
yourself so that you won't be disappointed.
Also remember that although my little Golf Cabrio really is a fantastic
car, and starts first time every time, everything seems to work as it
should, it is still a fairly old car, and not a brand new car, and
therefore although it is in very good condition for its age it is not
perfect like a brand new car is." Despite this, needless to say he seemed a little
dissapointed that I didn't except his offer, and tried to offer it to me
again, but I said that I wouldn't feel right taking his money for a car
that he wasn't 100% happy with.
By this time, even if he had offered me
the £800 he won it for or more I would've turned him down. The funny thing is, once I'd gone in I
looked out the window half an hour later and he was still stood outside
with his mate scratching his head, and looking at the Golf, but by then I was done with him because as far as I was concenerd, he was just wasting my time. I genuinely
don't understand this kind of behavior, I've always been of the mindset
that if you win something in an auction, you buy it, unless its just too
different to the description. I once bought a Volvo 240, in the ebay ad
it was in spanking order, and the photos looked fantastic, in short, it looked
great. When I got to it, it was on rusty steel wheels, not the alloys in
the photos, a headlamp, and a tail lamp were broken, and there were not
two seats in the car that matched, unlike the full set of dark blue
velour in the photos. Plus it was dented, scratched, and very rusty! I
did walk away from that one, but I felt bad about it, even though the
car in the listing was clearly not the car he was trying to sell me!
Anyway, I'm rambling away from the point here, but I like to describe the
things I sell as honestly as I can, in order to avoid dissappointment
when the winning bidder gets to me to collect it. But I guess opinions
can vary, which is why I also say, come and have a look for yourself.
And so finally without
further ado I get to say, AND THERE IT GOES... Straight back onto flippin' ebay!! Hopefully this time, the person who wins the bid will be
happy with it. They should be, it is in great shape, though NOT a
concourse show winner you understand, but pretty good. Here's the funny thing, as the time waster that won the auction
was leaving he gave me some advise, he said that I should hang onto it
until the spring, as I'll probably gets loads more for it, because it's in great
shape!!! What the heck!? I guess that for whatever reason, he just didn't
want it in the first place. But I guess that's just fine, as like I said, by the time he'd
decided to come and have a look at it I really wasn't in the mood to sell it
to him anyway!
The following day after being let down by this ebay timewaster I had a few
errands to run, and decided that I would take the scenic route, and try
to figure out what my next move was going to be. It occured to me that I
had several options, first, keep the car, put it into storage, and
await the next spring. Then pull it out, give it a good wash, and try to
sell it at the begining of the season when the sun starts to shine, and
hopefully, have a big win in the process! Secondly, leave it
on the bay of E, and hope for the best. Or maybe put the word about on farcebook and see if anyone wants a
swap? Or, just drive it to a secluded patch of woodland or field and burn the damn thing! By the time I got back home I was
still pretty despondent, but I was thinking that I should leave it on ebay, with its new photos, and a new write up. Then, hope for the 'Summer sun' to give the sale of my cabrio a second
wind! Besidess, I've got nothing
to lose by putting it back up for grabs, and it's cheaper than buying a gallon of petrol to get it really burning in a field somewhere!
Anyway, while I was out and about mulling things over as I drove around I did see a famillier face, my little StreetKa... I still think thast I should've kept that little thing! I was tempted to leave a note on it sayig if they wanted to sell it I would re-home it! I didn't, however I did leave one on the little gold Peugeot 306 cabriolet. I never really liked these before, but now, looking at it with my new enthusiasm for open topped motoring I find it strangely attractive, and who knows, it might even be better than the Golf!
To be honest, seeing that Peugeot cabriolet and my little Street Ka parked by the side of the road was good to see, and it reminded me that it's not all bad doing this little twelve cars in a year
project. Because, despite the timewasters that infest ebay some good times have been had, and there are probably still more
to have. Hopefully the Golf will sell soon enough, and it'll sell to someone who
will appreciate it, and not try to pick it apart in order to get out of
buying it.
By the time I got home, I just thought I'd check the internet, and see if there was anyone who fancied swapping
their car for mine. I made a few enquiries, including one to a fella
who actually advertised that he was after a Golf Cabrio for his
girlfriend. I figured it might be a fair swap, depending of course one
what kind of condition she was in! However, after checking with the wife it was a definate no-go! It would appear that Mrs Clint has gone back on what she said before we were married. What she said was that I could only have one girlfriend. Now in my opinion, once you've been upgraded from girlfriend to wife, that leaves the girlfriend spot vacant. Therefore I should be able to fill that spot with a new candidate, and still be within Mrs Clints (the wife) rules on only having one girlfriend. But, no, apparently not... Gotta watch these womenfolk, they're tricky, and perhaps I shold've really checked the fine print before getting hitched!
Anyway, apart from offering me his girlfriend he was also offering me a red 2004 ALFA ROMEO 156 VELOCE. It looked pretty nice, and as I've never had an Alfa I thought I'd give it a go. But after making an enquiry it appeared that he didn't care
for my Golf, as he doesn't like green cars.
Fool! But fair enough, each to their own I guess. So, as the sun has got his hat on, I shall be continuing to drive the damn thing atleast for now!
Comments
Post a Comment