I know..... Impossible, right? Well, it is a rather flaky world today and selling parts on social media pages, like Facebook Groups, can be ridiculously frustrating. There are somewhere around eleventy-gabillion people who express interest, flake out, low-ball worse than the Pawn Stars, and offer even more excuses and reason why your items totally suck and they would be much better with them than you.
To top that, some people get extremely low on a personal level to make you feel bad in an attempt to get your parts for practically nothing. It's pure sadness. As such, here is a list of rules, or guidelines (if you will) to selling on popular social media sites.
Before you meet with anyone, you must list your item. Here are the listing rules:
BE PATIENT
Seriously patient..... I really can't stress this enough. The second you post, there will be roughly 5-10 tags of homies looking out for one another, and not a single one of them will send a message - ever.
It sucks, but guess what? That's just the way people are. It can take hours to sell something, but it can also take weeks. Prepare yourself for weeks.
GIVE CLEAR, CONCISE, ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS AND PICS OF YOUR PARTS
Don'e be unrealistic. If your very common seats have half of the bolster torn off with no padding left, they are not 9/10 condition, and they aren't going to sell for $300 each. On that same note - if you have a pair of seats with a giant rip in them, don't hide it!
You can load up as many pics into the description you want and show every single imperfection. The more honest your post is, the more likely people will buy.
Shady post = shady people.
Your description should include
- What you are selling
- Your realistic selling price (not $9,999,999,999 OBO)
- Your general location, or meeting location cross streets (not "Yo Mamas House Beoch")
- "OBO" or "FIRM"
- ACCURATE pictures. Don't post pics of a 4 year old part as it appeared when you bought it out of the box. Show the pic as it sits right now- as you took the pic when you made the listing.
Remember: Shady post = shady people.
BE PREPARED FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T READ
Ok, that sounds rude, but people either can't read this day and age, or they're extremely lazy. To give benefit of the doubt - they may have simply seen the pic and price, became excited, and immediately messaged you without reading the description.
Either way, you do have to entertain some repeat comments and messages. Not everyone is a professional car builder, mechanic, bolt-on specialist, or fabricator. You will receive questions about specific fitment of a universal product, like: "Will this sticker fit my Honda?" It happens.
If you want to help yourself sell something quickly - answer the questions.
If you feel there is a common question that will net the same common answer, have a response ready to copy and paste.
Don't be rude! It will not help your sale. Nobody is going to show up if they feel intimidated or stupid in your presence.
BE PREPARED FOR THE LOW-BALL OFFERS
You list for $100 - someone offers you $20 and expects you to drive all the way across town where they're just going to flake anyway.
Just don't entertain the low ball offers. Plain and simple. Someone WILL come along and buy your parts.
USE MESSENGER
This is actually just a tip, but if you don't want your personal number to be in the hands of whoever, use messenger. The reason why I stick with it is because there are a lot of people in this world that want their car modified. After all, they wouldn't be on the group page looking for parts if they weren't. I almost never give out my personal phone number because there are a lot of people that will not consider that it is 3:00 in the morning, and I'm not interested in providing a price quote for a bolt-on intake from Autozone (yeah - people have done that to me in the past).
Almost everyone has messenger. If they don't have the app, they can still access messages from their phone or a computer. There is no excuse.
So you have found a potential buyer. Now what? You have to meet them to sell your parts. Here are the rules for meeting:
TRUST YOUR GUT
If something seems a little shady, out of place, just not right, or something about the buyer straight up rubs you the wrong way - don't sell. If the transaction seems strange, say "You know what, never mind." - then walk away. Don't be shamed into selling or thinking you'll ever see someone again after that moment. Yeah, maybe the buyer will be a little pissed, but it's your stuff all the way up to the moment where you accepted payment. Stick with your gut; it's almost always right.
MEET IN A PUBLIC PLACE
I don't care where you live, but criminals do. One of the best ways for criminals to scope a place out is to get an address from you (the seller), come over and check your parts out while looking at everything else you have in your garage or house, decline the sale, then come back later when you're not home. Need I say more?
Choose a PUBLIC location near your home, but not too far (so you don't waste fuel on a flaker). Typically, I send people to the gas station about a mile away from my house. I also pull up and leave from two different directions so clever people are less likely to try and back track to my neighborhood. It helps to have the physical address of the meeting place to send to the buyer handy. There's less confusion about the actual location.
BRING A BUDDY
If you have a friend that isn't doing anything, a GF/BF that wants to get out, a neighbor that has nothing going on, or anyone that can tag along for 10 minutes - ask them to join you. There have been a few tragic stories over the years regarding people getting jumped, robbed, or even killed during a fake sale. Most people are less discouraged to do anything if there are more people present. Eyewitnesses are not a criminals best friend.
Also note that some people chose a gun as their "buddy", and they aren't afraid to make it known. If this happens, and you are uncomfortable with that situation, decline the sale and keep rolling.
Now, if the thought of that discourages you from selling anything completely - don't sell at all - period!
DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS TOWN TO MEET THE BUYER
Just don't. You know it's going to be a headache when you get there, and quite often, the buyer flakes. Now you still have parts for sale and you just lost money on time and fuel.
If someone wants your parts bad enough, they're going to drive across town to meet you.
LEARN TO NEGOTIATE OR STAND YOUR GROUND
There is a general rule of thumb called the "Half Rule" or "Half-sies" which states (for most people):
If the price is $100 OBO - I'll offer $50. The seller will half-up an say $75..... etc.
If you know you want $100 for your parts, list them for $150-$200 OBO. You may end up with more than your lowest if your negotiating skills are up to par. If not, you don't end up with anything less than what you actually wanted.
One mistake I often see is preemptive negotiating where the listing states:
Price is $150 OBO but I wont take less than $120
Nobody (unless they are extremely kind or just plain stupid) will pay your full asking price when you just told them your lowest. You should also know that someone else will come in and low-ball you even more when you list like this.
Post your price. If it is "OBO" - WAIT for the negotiation.
If your price is FIRM - STAND YOUR GROUND AND DO NOT NEGOTIATE. Someone will come around eventually to buy it.
There are hundreds of ways to tempt people to into giving you the better deal. However, if you put a price tag of $100 on the parts you sell, don't take anything less unless it is within your margin. Remember - someone is out there willing to pay. You absolutely must remain patient.
ONLY NEGOTIATE IN PERSON
Buyers flake out. There is no easy way to put it.... they just flake. If you get tired of people wasting your time with message negotiations, make it very clear that you will ONLY negotiate in person. Do not bend on that rule. If someone wants your parts, THEY WILL show up
ACCEPT MULTIPLE PAYMENTS
We're definitely in a new day and age where cash is becoming less than king. PayPal, Square Up, and even Facebook Messenger are new ways to complete cash-less transactions.
This helps you (the seller) offer up your products to a bigger crowd of people, and also helps them (the buyer) provide payment without carrying a wad of cash if they aren't comfortable with it.
On the same subject - absolutely meet in a public place as listed before, and accept payment ON LOCATION. You can often add pictures of the products they purchased from you to the transaction record to prove that it was paid for and in the condition listed. This helps you later if they want to claim it was fraudulent or are trying to scam you out of your parts. It really helps to have their picture holding the parts, or in possession attached to the transaction record. Most honest people wont throw a huge fit over it. You can nicely explain the reason for it to them.
The biggest downside to electronic payments is the added fees for use. You can simply add on the fees to the sale amount. If they want the parts that bad, but don't have the cash, they'll pay the fees. If they don't want to pay the fees, move along - someone else will.
BE PREPARED FOR EXCUSES
Here is a general list of common buyer excuses and responses I often give:
"Oh.... snap. I forgot to grab more money"
- There's an ATM inside the gas station right there.
- I accept credit cards (get the reader and app)
- Come back when you have enough.
"The other guy said he'd sell me his for less." or "My homie has these cheaper"
- Go to the other guy/homie and buy from them
*Don't be rude about it, but do be firm. There's no point starting an argument. If they don't buy - someone else will. BE PATIENT.
"These are cheaper online."
- Go buy them online, then.
- That is true, but if you want them right here and now, without waiting for shipping, this is the price.
"I'll give you half because I have to buy other stuff to make this work on my car and it's expensive."
- No.
- No, sorry. Either way, it's still cheaper and you're still saving money at my price.
- It's not my problem that you have to buy more parts.
- Try shopping around for less expensive parts.
With a simple list of rules to follow, selling on Facebook can be a breeze. Just remember at the end of the day, you are your biggest enemy about selling if you are impatient. There are tons of experienced buyers out there that WILL score the better deal if you let them. They know what they are doing - you should too.
Do you have any suggestions to add to the list? I'd love to hear about them. Drop a comment in the box below or Email me!
