I like to Barter - A Contest
February 1, 2008
I have been in the market for an auger. I was really dreading the thought of having to use a shovel to dig the holes for our pier foundation. I have been keeping an eye on Craigslist to see if any came up for sale. Finally, last week, I saw an auger for sale. For $300! What a deal, considering it came with 6", 8" and 12" bits and had a 5HP engine.
So, I email the owner and ask him a few questions about it. He answered them and I asked if he could send some pictures. I guess after he pulled it out of his barn to take pictures he decided that he didn’t want to sell it anymore. He emailed me back and said he wanted to keep the 5 HP engine that was on it and use it for a brush cutter he had - unless I had a 5 HP engine I wanted to trade.
I did not have an engine to trade. So, I looked on eBay to see how much engines were selling for. I found a Briggs & Stratton 6.5 HP engine for sale for $210 plus shipping. I emailed the seller back to let him know about the good deal. I was thinking I would give him the $300 for the auger, then he could buy the engine himself and have a little money left over.
He emailed me back and told me he thought it was a good deal and if I bought it he would trade me straight across for the engine. Wow! I ordered the engine and 3 days later it was here. I emailed the guy and got together with him yesterday to exchange the goods.
I like bartering! Who do you think got the better deal?
Now for the contest. Tell me your best barter story. Do not leave your story in the comments section - Email it to me. You have until Sunday, February 2nd at 10PM PST to email me your stories. We will sit down as a family and choose the winner. I am not sure yet what the prize will be. Now get writing!
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February 1st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Score! Isn’t it awesome to take advantage of the ignorance of others?? Congrats on your new auger.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I did not take advantage of the man! I offered to give him the amount he wanted and even sent him a link to the good deal on eBay. I don’t know why he chose to do it the way he did. Maybe he was just trying to be nice… or, maybe he was just afraid to make a purchase online… or something.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Or maybe he was ignorant. Like I said!
February 1st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I told Katie some people are just freaked out about ordering anything online and would rather lose money than have to do that. If it were that unsafe, millions of transactions would not be happening. :) Oh well, his loss!
February 1st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Not a very nice response there, Ginger. As Debbie says, some people are afraid to order on line.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Oh, I didn’t mean it to be rude. It would have never occured to me that anyone is afraid to order online. I was just saying that I wasn’t accusing Jeff of taking advantage, my point was that the poor boy couldn’t do math. You’ve seen it at the grocery, I’m sure. People can’t do math!
Are you insinuating, Barb, that not everyone thinks like me and is unafraid to order things online? Hmmmm.
;)
I’ve noticed that a lot of people confuse the words ‘ignorant’ and ’stupid’. Ignorant just means that you are unaware. That’s how I meant my original comment. Sorry!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I knew what you meant, Ginger.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I knew what you meant too, Ginger. We use the word “ignorant” here all the time, but the word “stupid” is not allowed in our home.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Ditto that, Debbie. “Stupid” is just mean. Not my intent.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 pm
When we had our B&B, we regularly bartered accommodations for goods and services. We had all of the window treatments for our cottages made on barter (I supplied the fabric.) This would have cost me THOUSANDS of dollars otherwise. I bartered landscaping and handyman work and photography (commercial and portrait) and tons of dental work - all for rooms at my bed and breakfast.
I’m thankful that our current business idea will be something we can use to barter with! It’s something I really appreciate being able to do.