Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Why would someone not post a price?

Trade-a-plane junkie that I am, I've noticed many ads that do not include a selling price. Why do you suppose that is? What possible advantange to the seller would that be? Or am I missing something?

- Jeff

I don't know. But it is one of my pet peeves. If it doesn't have a price, I keep looking, same with real estate.

I guess that they're waiting for some sucker to "make them an offer they can't refuse".

Wishy-washy sellers; don't want to ask too high a price for fear of not making a sale, but afraid of asking too little; waiting for potential buyers to make offer, then get upset because offers are often too low.

The prices listed in TAP and other publications don?t have a lot to do with what the plane will sell for. It is part of our culture to try to beat the seller down on his price. When I have something to sell I set a price and that is it. It makes some sellers mad when I refuse their ?cash? offer that is much lower than my asking price. However, I have never failed to get my asking price for an airplane because there is always someone who is willing to pay a fair price.

If you are just interested in asking prices there are a lot of listings that give you a ball park idea, but they really don?t mean that much.

If you are really looking to buy a plane and not just ?kicking tires? you look for an airplane that is interesting; make, model, age, hours, equipment, time on engine, location, etc. If you are interested in the airplane just contact the seller and find out what his asking price is and go from there. I think that a lot of sellers just are not interested in fooling with someone that is not interested enough to make contact, I know that I am not.

Yup, Me too. If I see an add without a price a little voice in my head says "If you've got to ask then..."

Greetings,
In selling a boat of mine, I listed it with out a price. Big, mistake, got alot of calls that were looking for something that would sell for only a few bucks which was definitly not in line with the item for sale. I then listed it in another publication and make sure that I listed the price------that eliminated 75% of the worthless calls.
Wil
Stoughton, WI

Just a thought here on this one,

I tend to think the theory behind it is, if there is a price there and it looks a little high for you, you will tend to go to the next add and dismiss their add, what I think the seller wants is to get you to call them to ask the price, not so much that they want to tell you the price straight away, but so they can give you the big sell in more detail than what's in the add, and thereby making it more of a chance to sell the item due to the greater background on the item and perhaps getting the opportunity to get your idea on a price before showing their hand,

Having said that, I'm with you - show me the price and show it to me now...dag nabit

Who is selling the airplane is another factor. If it is a broker or FBO, it may be that there are other airplanes available. This gives the seller the opportunity to "sell" another airplane if the inquirying buyer is low on the offering price. I think realtors do this frequently. They find out how much money the contact has available and then try to move them to a property that fits what they have to spend. But with individuals selling airplanes, I believe Hung's assessment is the correct one.

Don

A friend of mine , who's purchased several aircraft in the past, has rarely had any luck buying from a current TAP. He has a tendancy to save the old issues, so he may go back through them in a few months searching for planes which didn't sell because the owners got frustrated with the selling game. He usually stumbles across one which isn't in the current issue but, was in a past issue and never sold. Usually the seller is easier to deal with since he isn't being bombarded with calls and low price offers. You might want to try this approach as it may produce a better outcome for both parties.
Bengie Philleps
Columbus, GA
USA