I know the short answer: Yes. But just wanted to share my story and see if anyone else had experienced anything similar.
Scenario: Selling a 2021 CS Tele (in the classifieds right now), had interest from Gumtree from a guy who lived nearby. He came over to try the guitar a couple of nights back. Played it, adjusted the action to his liking, kept playing it, loved it etc. Nice enough guy. He spent 2 hours at my house. All fine.
At the end of all of that, he offered me a few hundred quid lower. I asked why, as I had priced the guitar fairly (£2750). He didn't really justify it, but I said if it hasn't sold in a couple of weeks then I can consider it. (Had only been for sale less than 48 hours at the time).
Fickleness: Upon reflection I don't want to sell him my guitar any more. Even at the asking price. There is a disgruntled part of my brain yelling he doesn't deserve it. If he could play it for 2 hours, love it, and then happily walk away from it - he does not deserve it.
If it were any other object I wouldn't care in the slightest. But in this instance it's really gotten to me!
Comments
I understand the miffedness, but if he comes back with an acceptable offer don't cut off your nose etc.
Buy something else with the proceeds and piss off the buyer by spending two hours in their house followed by some hard negotiating!
You agree the price before you come into a man's house to test a guitar. Unless he found a flaw that impacts the guitar value, I would probably feel the same way as you.
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/202071/nco
The issue I'd have would be with the playing for hours and the fucking about with the action and then the deal doesn't get done. You should know after 10-15 minutes really.
https://edmorgan.info
If he'd offered you a couple of hundred less without visiting your gaff how would you feel?!
Personally I'd trouser the wedge for a nice quick sale and a collection rather than having to piss about shipping it :-)
Having said that, I wouldn't pay more than 2500 for a used CS in the current market.
Was he a good player?
Why did he have to adjust the action ? Was it cheese grater high? Was it a single string - the top E was off?
Even so - someone getting out a screwdriver screams tyre kicker to me.
Personally that's a complete no-no for me - I once got admonished for daring to change a guitar strung in Eb to E standard in a guitar shop!
As for bartering.. yeah sure. He might have seen other comparably priced guitars in the area so he might have been weighing them up - I don't see anything wrong with that and besides ..there's always room for manoeuvre right? You figure that into the selling price.
My band, Red For Dissent
I appreciate you feel miffed but hey, it's a buyers market out there and I think perhaps a compromise may have been a good way to go. If you find a buyer at the full price, fine - if not, you may end up having to drop the price anyway, and perhaps even a bit more.
As for being in your home 2 hrs and adjusting the action, it's entirely up to you if you let someone adjust the action and how long they stay in your home. An option to get him out earlier was perhaps to say, hey great to see you and thanks for coming round, you seem a lovely guy if you'd like to buy it at the price that's great, and I can see it will be going to a good home but if you're not sure or if the price is a bit more than you want to pay, I completely understand but I'm afraid I then need to call 'time' now as I've got someone else coming round to see it. If he thought he might lose out, it might encourage the sale, & you've still kept it all friendly.
I've learned never to take these things personally and to always keep the door open.
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
1) He wasn't a very good player. I actually stopped humouring him after about 20 minutes and started doing some work on my laptop. Was a bit weird after an hour in.
2) The missus was sick in bed, had her headphone on watching a movie so didn't even really know what was happening.
3) As for the price - I would have been open to a negotiation beforehand. It's more the premise, that he clearly loved the guitar and couldn't put it down, then was happy to potentially lose the sale over a couple of hundred pounds.
I think another huge factor I should have mentioned is that I'm not desperate to sell. I really love this guitar and I'm not selling to buy again, simply trying to slim my collection down with the intention of "doing more with less". (that's why most of my pedals, and all of my amps except one are currently for sale in the classifieds).
I agree with the comments about the current market, but this particular Tele is unique in that it's a great example of a 52' spec blackguard that addresses a lot guitarists gripe with the chunky U shaped neck. Which is why I think the price is fair. It's also exactly what I paid for it 18 months ago.
stick to your guns. If he gives you any shit, I'll send Wilf round
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.