aj986s

Congrats on your deal with Bill.

If you had read my post, you would know that I had initially responded to Bill at 6:09AM. However, according to you, you "responded very early in the for sale thread". Your post about sending Bill a PM was at 9:24AM.

However, if you sent him something earlier than that, I don't have those facts. Note that both of us were preceeded by PSheridan sending a request to Bill at around 1:30AM........though both Patrick & I responded to Bill's post on a different board.

As far as negotiating a price with Bill, so what? As I've said above, I thought I could do him a favor by alleviating the need to haul a tranny and 4 wheels & tires to Hershey. Plus, what I offered him was not a big drop in price either. When he said the trailer was already loaded, I happily offered him full price. I find it interesting that you and Racer911 should harp on this point, because Bill never mentioned any concern to me.

I applaud you & Bill for figuring out that the best buys at Hershey happen on Friday nite when most people can't, or don't know, to be there..... ..

944Ross

+100 ... If I had a buck for everyone who said "hold that for me" or "I'm on my way there to buy" and never showed, or whose wife /mother/dog said he couldn't go thru with the deal....

This wasn't an auction, or even straight sale. Swap meets are First In, first out.
Shame on Bill for even implying otherwise, but that's how it works.

KuHL 951

All of this could have been taken care of without posting PM's or personal emails from the seller. PM means just that, "Private Message", and are not supposed to be posted on this forum in personal disputes. I've been to too many Swap Meets to actually think a seller is going to hold parts if someone else shows up with cash. I've missed some fabulous deals by just being 5 minutes late and it's frustrating but I don't see that Bill did anything wrong from what I read here.

harrisonrick

I agree KuHL. You can type very ernestly, "I will have someone there with the cash at 7AM", etc, etc, blah, blah. That is no guarantee in today's world, or especially at a swap meet. You can **** and moan about honesty and code and whatever, but an online email, or telehone call promise shouldn't and cannot be considered written in stone. First come, first served, bird in hand, buyer beware, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

aj986s

If you & or Iccy928 insist that I remove the PM's, I'll do so. I thought it be more informative than trying to summarize and subsequently debate the content.

I hear what you're saying, but I still think it's possible to conduct business in a trustworthy manner. If I overreacted, cried in my cheerios, etc. its primarily because I tried to pre-purchase the parts and Bill kept coming up with excuses to do otherwise. When my friend showed up at the opening bell of the Swap Meet, with cash in hand, the parts were already pre-sold. Go figure.........

harrisonrick

My guess would be Bill has been burned in the past by guys saying that they will take the parts so he leaves them at home, then they don't show up with the cash and he is out a sale. He's trying to fund a "race" car IIRC, and he needs the dough in hand.

KuHL 951

I'm not insisting anything, or really care that much; and Iccy928can do what he wants. I just wanted you to be aware that PM's are not supposed to be shared on these forums, it's bad form. This was the result of similar bad feelings many years ago when a disgruntled buyer posted a vendors PM's without his permission; the Mods got all over it. I thought Bill's prices were incredible also but realized he was only selling at Hershey and that left me out. It's a shame it turned out the way it did but I've been left out to hang on two vehicle sales where the buyer said they would be over with the money and to hold the car and they never showed. Again I'm not siding with anyone here but a personal matter becomes public when aired for all to read.

aj986s

I do appreciate the info. Quite honestly, I've only been on internet car boards since about 2004, and this is the first time I've seen (or been through) something like this. I understand the privacy thing, and now know the protocol. Fortunately, the PM exchange between Bill and I was very civil, and didn't contain any state secrets, so I thought it would be safe to post. Thanks for the education.

pettybird

The fenders were absolutely Guards Red. I saw them walk away on Friday as i went to buy them. they were later resold by the vendor who bought them for triple the price. I still need them, but I'm not going to whine about it. I got there late--end of story.

NEVER does it say in any exchange with anyone here "I will absolutely hold parts for you, 100%, no excuses." Is this thread full of swap meet newbies? No one holds parts on a promise when cash is in front of them! The early bird gets the worm, and you should NEVER assume it happens any other way! This is a small swap meet, too--the big ones have transactions starting on WEDNESDAY for a Saturday show!

Bill ended up giving me the tan seats for free after I bought the black ones. he gave me a great deal on the hatch, and i bought a number of other pieces from him as well. nice guy.

kccampro

Guys, I appreciate the support. To everyone who bought parts from me I hope they work well for you and I hope I can work with you guys again. I met a lot of good guys at Hershey. Anyone who delt with me at Hershey could clearly see I was just a guy trying to get rid of extra parts most at well below market value – not trying to screw over anyone, I take this very seriously.

And yes, not only have I been burned in the past - I had several people PM me about parts they wanted and Aj986s was the only one who showed up. Unfortunately, I had already sold the parts to North Coast Cab, Pettybird and 911 Racer (great guys BTW). I was sorry I didn't have the parts for Aj986s but all this about trying to screw people over is insane, and I found this whole post over the top and unnecessary - it was a swap meet. But I understand his position and I manned up to my part in this and my poor communication prior to the event.

Aj986s, I thought we discussed this issue fairly thoroughly on the other forum…

moorepower

So......Any good stuff left over?

VOoDOoGTX

haha kids pissed because he didnt get the cheep parts

aj986s

Bill,
We did resolve this, and as you mention, I agree that communication was at the core of problem. Lessons learned for me, and sounds like you, too. Recognize that I'm still a bit of newbie at all this. I didn't enter the world of P-cars until 2004, when my wife & I bought a '00 Boxster S to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Since then I've owned 2 944S2's (one was totalled by another car), a 944 NA that was a former race car and is now relegated to autox & DE duty. Plus I bought a 944 SP2 racer (TD in DC's former car), and joined PCA Club Racing and NASA (I used to SCCA race a Datsun 240Z in mid '80's). My wife and 2 oldest sons autox and DE, hence the multiple cars. I'm also now a DE Instructor and run the Autox Program for our PCA Region.

Unfortunately, I've not been to many swap meets; in fact I've only been to Hershey twice. This year's experience has obviously taught me alot about swap meet protocols. Whereas I think it stinks that norm is not trust anyone before a swap meet, I understand now that has to be the norm. As you've said, a lot more people didn't show than did.

These would be the lessons learned that I've come away from this experience:

• If you want someone to hold parts for you, be very specific about deadlines to meet. Avoid vagaries, be prompt, and make arrangments to contact if something causes you to delay.
• Don't promise to hold parts for anyone if you can't keep that promise. If your intent is first-come first-served, just say it upfront.
• If a seller tells you that parts are promised till a certain time, try to respect that.

In the end, this is all water under the bridge. And I, too, hold no malice against you. Lots of good input on both sides of the matter, and if at least a few people have learned something from it (myself included), its a good thing.

Maybe one day we can laugh about this over a beer.........

This "kid" has been around for a while.....almost half a century

kccampro

Tony, the beer is on me.

harrisonrick

There you go.