For $15,000, Can You Please Include The .10 Cent Washer?

[toomanycats]

I really do struggle to understand human nature, it's motivations, primary driving purposes, and common foibles. Sometimes I think I've got a pretty good handle on it . . . but then I come across things like this.

Guy lists an ultra high dollar PRS on craigslist, asking 15K for the guitar, and then includes in the description the fact that it's missing a tiny washer that would cost him 10 cents to replace, even providing a diagram of said missing washer.

He could buy a pack of ten of those washers in a little plastic bag at Home Depot for 1 buck, and it would take him less than five minutes to install the thing. But instead he opts to list his guitar for 15K, while giving away as a bargaining chip to any prospective buyer the knowledge that there's a missing part.

I'm puzzled by this one. One could speculate that he doesn't have the time to replace the washer, which is hardly believable. I mean, he had the time to list it on craigslist, and take the photos, including one which highlights the missing washer. It would have taken as much time to replace the washer as it did to take the pic highlighting the fact that the washer is missing.

Just taking a wild guess here, but maybe the guy is a rich lawyer or doctor or something, is completely inept with tools, has no knowledge that "righty it tightly and lefty is loosely," the type who takes his guitar to a tech for a string change, and they simply have money to burn.

Here's another theory: He goes out of his way to say that the guitar is sold "As is," which I read as an admission that he explicitly knows that buyers will point out that the washer is missing, and that he is preemptively saying "I know the washer is missing, and that's already baked into the price I'm asking." It could be that this guy likes the agon of the power struggle, the art of the haggle, and that he is intentionally setting it up to gratify his need to engage in hard negotiation, even giving himself a handicap.

How else would you explain this?


https://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/d/ ... 90385.html

[glasshand]

The rule of thumb I have seen is that if something offered for sale "just needs a cheap, simple fix", there is invariably something else wrong with it, or the seller would have done that cheap, simple fix already. Then again, there are a lot of crazies out there, so who knows.

Also I am reminded of how my Ovation acoustic-electric was missing a nut for years, because I could never find a matching one at Lowes, until one day I said, "Wait, I bet they're the same size on all my guitars, why don't I try one from my junk box..."

[Rollin Hand]

I admire his honesty that the washer is missing, but If he hadn't mentioned it I doubt anyone would have noticed.

[toomanycats]

I admire his honesty that the washer is missing, but If he hadn't mentioned it I doubt anyone would have noticed.

I hadn't thought of the simple explanation that he knows what it's worth, he's an honest guy, and there's nothing nefarious going on. I guess that reveals more than anything how cynical I've become.

[slowhand84]

I really do struggle to understand human nature, it's motivations, primary driving purposes, and common foibles. Sometimes I think I've got a pretty good handle on it . . . but then I come across things like this.

Guy lists an ultra high dollar PRS on craigslist, asking 15K for the guitar, and then includes in the description the fact that it's missing a tiny washer that would cost him 10 cents to replace, even providing a diagram of said missing washer.

He could buy a pack of ten of those washers in a little plastic bag at Home Depot for 1 buck, and it would take him less than five minutes to install the thing. But instead he opts to list his guitar for 15K, while giving away as a bargaining chip to any prospective buyer the knowledge that it's missing a part.

I struggle to understand this one. One could speculate that he doesn't have the time to replace the washer, which is hardly believable. I mean, he had the time to list it on craigslist, and take the photos, including one which highlights the missing washer. It would have taken as much time to replace the washer as it did to take the pic highlighting the fact that the washer is missing.

Just taking a wild guess here, but maybe the guy is a rich lawyer or doctor or something, is completely inept with tools, has no knowledge that "righty it tightly and lefty is loosely," the type who takes his guitar to a tech for a string change, and they simply have money to burn.

Here's another theory: He goes out of his way to say that the guitar is sold "As is," which I read as an admission that he explicitly knows that buyers will point out that the washer is missing, and that he is preemptively saying "I know the washer is missing, and that's already baked into the price I'm asking." It could be that this guy likes the agon of the power struggle, the art the haggle, and that he is intentionally setting it up to gratify his need to engage in hard negotiation, even giving himself a handicap.

How else would you explain this?


https://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/d/ ... 90385.html


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To be fair, these have sold for close to $20K...so his price is actually reasonable (relative to market value, anyway). The washer doesn't give anyone any bargaining power because, as you said, it is a 10 cent part...but yes, certainly odd that he wouldn't just make the guitar whole before selling.

I also just absolutely love that at a price tag like this PRS cant be bothered to properly bookmatch a top. Hilarious.

[uwmcscott]

I hadn't thought of the simple explanation that he knows what it's worth, he's an honest guy, and there's nothing nefarious going on.

Try that explanation more often and it will save you a lot of headaches, worry and antacid funds. Life's too short to worry about such things IMHO.

[Flatline]

A missing washer you say...

[mozz]

So, the washer is missing, that means it came that way from the factory, or it was worked on before. Anyway, i see no PRS worth anything near that, as around here all you see are SE's which are $300 and up. I don't see how the asking price is crazy high, not worth it. Many companies flood the market with cheap items, then ask a crazy amount for their "higher quality" priced line. Nope, i never saw a company cater to all price levels that just didn't want a piece of the higher profit/ higher priced items. That's a reason i never try to own GM vehicles.

[BatUtilityBelt]

This doesn't apply as well to a CL ad, because the assumption is you can check out the gear in person. But I tend to not bother with any gear listed "As is". That is legalese for "if you can't find what's wrong before buying, it's your problem". If a seller doesn't say "As is", but does claim the gear to be in a specific condition, I expect that to hold true, even a couple days after the sale as I get to know the instrument.

All that is because there are plenty of people who try to sell broken gear without disclosing problems they know about.

[slowhand84]

This doesn't apply as well to a CL ad, because the assumption is you can check out the gear in person. But I tend to not bother with any gear listed "As is". That is legalese for "if you can't find what's wrong before buying, it's your problem". If a seller doesn't say "As is", but does claim the gear to be in a specific condition, I expect that to hold true, even a couple days after the sale as I get to know the instrument.

All that is because there are plenty of people who try to sell broken gear without disclosing problems they know about.

Actually these days "As Is" is primarily used in online listings because buyers are a little wacko and think they can return something purely due to buyer's remorse, not meshing with a neck profile, the guitar was listed as mint but they found a micro scratch inside a control cavity, or some other totally inane thing. More than a few friends I know list all their gear on Reverb with that categorization specifically because they have been the victim of these types of situations and dont want to deal with having to relist their stuff over and over.

I avoid all of these migraines by only selling locally, luckily .

[BatUtilityBelt]

Actually these days "As Is" is primarily used in online listings because buyers are a little wacko and think they can return something purely due to buyer's remorse, not meshing with a neck profile, the guitar was listed as mint but they found a micro scratch inside a control cavity, or some other totally inane thing. More than a few friends I know list all their gear on Reverb with that categorization specifically because they have been the victim of these types of situations and dont want to deal with having to relist their stuff over and over.

Any seller is free to claim "As is", but I see it as a red flag. As a lefty, I've had to buy most of my guitars sight-unseen. I have also had to deal with serious undisclosed problems like most of us have. For me, "As is" is a trap, so it is a hard pass for me, no matter how good it looks otherwise.

I avoid all of these migraines by only selling locally, luckily .

Good idea, and I do find it easier to tell the good from the bad locally too. If only the lefty market existed locally here.

[slowhand84]

Actually these days "As Is" is primarily used in online listings because buyers are a little wacko and think they can return something purely due to buyer's remorse, not meshing with a neck profile, the guitar was listed as mint but they found a micro scratch inside a control cavity, or some other totally inane thing. More than a few friends I know list all their gear on Reverb with that categorization specifically because they have been the victim of these types of situations and dont want to deal with having to relist their stuff over and over.

Any seller is free to claim "As is", but I see it as a red flag. As a lefty, I've had to buy most of my guitars sight-unseen. I have also had to deal with serious undisclosed problems like most of us have. For me, "As is" is a trap, so it is a hard pass for me, no matter how good it looks otherwise.

I avoid all of these migraines by only selling locally, luckily .

Good idea, and I do find it easier to tell the good from the bad locally too. If only the lefty market existed locally here.

I buy pretty much everything sight unseen, I dont recall the last time I bought a guitar off CL or stepped foot in a shop. Just about every single score you see me post here is courtesy of GC Used, where you can not only take advantage of them having no clue what they're selling but every single purchase is 100% risk free

[toomanycats]

This same PRS Super Eagle II is now re-listed on my local craigslist, though not at the bargain basement price of $15,000.

It's now being offered for $25,000!

Yep, you're reading that correctly. The price has been bumped 10K. And you still don't get the washer!

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/d/ ... 93882.html


The seller goes into the same awkward spiel about the missing washer, even elaborating that:

"As for the washer, epic fail on my part. Lol It came off because I accidentally knocked the nut loose too many times inadvertently playing to the point the the nut and washer fell on the stage. I saved the nut but forgot to look for the washer and our church cleaning crew vacuumed it up! Madness."

That he would elaborate on the washer thing at such length tells me that people have addressed that point with him, he's taken it very personally, and he's doubled down on his position by astronomically increasing his asking price in order to prove a point.

What point? That he's on crack? That he really doesn't want to sell the thing?

I appreciate all the feedback on this thread about what motivations the seller might have. However, now that I see the guitar re-listed several months later, bumped up $10,000 in price, with continued and ornamented references to the circumstances surrounding the washer's misplacement (and now the nut, and a vacuum), I recognize that this seller is a bona fide nutter.

[BatUtilityBelt]

I think a lot of sellers relist at significantly higher prices with an odd expectation that they will always get offers of (x)% under their asking. So if the offers are too low, they up the asking, expecting at least one sucker. I have no idea whether that works, but it jibes with the guy's "I play at church so I must be a righteous dude" approach.

[mozz]

Looks like something a cat or dog would see, only shades of gray. Maybe his 0 on the keyboard sticks and only wants $2500. Anyway, I think it's ugly.

[jhull54]

This same PRS Super Eagle II is now re-listed on my local craigslist, though not at the bargain basement price of $15,000.

It's now being offered for $25,000!

Yep, you're reading that correctly. The price has been bumped 10K. And you still don't get the washer!

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/d/ ... 93882.html

I recognize that this seller is a bona fide nutter.

Hahaha...I think the guy is trolling. Maybe he's just lonely. Regardless, I don't think he has any intention of selling that guitar. The troll is now less believable since he hiked the price though.

[toomanycats]

This same PRS Super Eagle II is now re-listed on my local craigslist, though not at the bargain basement price of $15,000.

It's now being offered for $25,000!

Yep, you're reading that correctly. The price has been bumped 10K. And you still don't get the washer!

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/msg/d/ ... 93882.html

I recognize that this seller is a bona fide nutter.

Hahaha...I think the guy is trolling. Maybe he's just lonely. Regardless, I don't think he has any intention of selling that guitar. The troll is now less believable since he hiked the price though.

For the record, I don't hate the guy or anything like that. Heck, I don't even know him. If anything, I've drawn more attention to his listing, which is to his benefit. I just found it absurd to see the price of the guitar bumped another 10K. Maybe he's trolling. Maybe he's just eccentric. Maybe he'll recover the vacuumed up washer, restore it to the guitar, and re-list it at a new valuation of $35,000 right before Christmas. More power to him if he can get some sucker to cough up that kinda dough.