Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sell and buy

Someone wants to buy my 4-letter domain. What's it worth?

skywhite — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:40:44 -0800

For a decade I've had a 4-letter English word domain at .be and a law firm contacted me about buying it. Two months ago I got polite emails from a marketing/advertising company asking if I want to sell my .be domain I've had for a decade, which I haven't been using as a blog for a year. I wasn't interested in selling but now I've gotten an email from a law firm, saying that their client previously contacted me indirectly, and now asking me to call them to hear an offer from them.

I previously tried helpfully informing that marketing company that there were other domains which have this word available for registration, but they said they did not want other domains.

I have no idea what the law firm is going to offer, although I assume it's a first offer. I know that the domain frenzy long ago died down but this appears to be a product or name of a Belgian company that wants to brand itself so it might have some value.

Any ideas what range of prices would be reasonable to sell? (If it helps, the domain I have is a 4-letter English word like 'pick,' 'mate' or 'foot' where it can be a noun or a verb.)

Can I buy a car out of state (CA) without changing my driver's license?

betsbillabong — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:03:04 -0800

I am a Rhode Island resident. I'm in San Francisco, CA for several months, working. I've decided to buy a car from a friend here, and today I'm going over to give him the money (I've been driving it for a week or two, since he already bought a new car and we trust each other). Today we are going to make it official. My question: is there any way for me to buy the car without switching my driver's license to a California one? It's just about March now, and in late May or June I will be driving back to Rhode Island. My health insurance is dependent upon my Rhode Island residency (I have "group of one" insurance). I don't know if they could ever find out, but I would hate for this transaction to affect it.

Secondly, I think I know what to do, but am I correct that the steps for me are:

(1) Get car's VIN and get insurance for car
(2) Give seller the money and get signed title and bill of sale, as well as smog report
(3) Go to the DMV with the title, bill of sale and smog report, as well as proof of insurance, and pay registration fees and get new plates
(4) Drive away with new plates!

Thanks for any help!

Should I buy my friend's car? How can we fairly value it?

betsbillabong — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:29:37 -0800

One of my oldest friends is selling his 2002 VW Passat Station Wagon (GLX V6). He bought it new and has taken good care of it (I've known him for 30 years; he takes care of things). He has all of the car's records. As it turns out, I'm in the market for a used car. The car drives beautifully. He is listing it at $6K. But a thorough pre-purchase inspection uncovered several problems, for which he is willing to take the price down. How can we find a fair value for the car? And should I buy this Volkswagen at all? BTW, here's a link to the Craigslist ad.

A bit about what I want it for: I will be driving it around the Bay Area (trips to the mountains, beaches, etc) for the next five months, then driving it cross-country to Cambridge, MA where I have a one-year job lined up. After that I am not sure where I will be (I'm an academic). I'm also hoping to have a kiddo within the next year or two, and I like the fact that it feels so sturdy and safe, and can fit three kids in the backseat for nieces and nephews. And it seems pretty good in snow. After driving this car, the cheaper cars I was considering feel kind of tinny. This car feels luxurious.

Yesterday I took it, with his blessing, to get a pre-purchase inspection from the well-regarded VW indie that has done most of the work on the car. It turns out there's a bunch of work that needs to be done (torn CV boot, leaking engine mounts, breather valve, cracking, serpentine belt, a couple of small oil leaks, and a few other small things I'm not remembering. The work comes out to almost $2400. He is bummed, but is willing to sell the car to me for $6K minus the repair estimate, $3600. The only thing is, I want to be sure that the $6K is a fair value. The Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds values are miles (like almost $3K) away from one another, making it hard to know how to fairly value it. There's also something called Clearbook, which I suspect is closest, but I've never heard of it before. And NADA gives a super high figure, but it's a retail figure. Most of the similar cars we've seen are selling with higher mileage for more money, but most of them are from dealers and who knows whether people are actually paying those prices? It's confusing.

Kelley Blue Book - $7253 (good)
Edmunds - $4507
Clearbook - $5489
Nadaguides - $8700 clean retail (no private party price)

There is no rust at all (car has always lived in the Bay Area). But there are lots of dings and scratches and dents, and I'll need to replace the fuel door. I worry a bit about how those dings and dents will fare upon moving to the land of salt and snow. Would this car be better off staying in SF?

I should mention that eleven years ago (!) I bought a 1996 Saab from him that I drove happily for seven years. I know that VWs are often money pits, but he has not had many problems with this one, and it drives like butter. There are no worries on either side about this harming our friendship, even if things really went wrong. He has more money than I do, and has always been generous. I want to be sure we both get a good deal

If I buy another used car, I worry that I'll just be buying a big unknown. Possibly a more reliable big unknown, but still. And: the heated leather seats! The big cargo space to make it easy to move back to the east coast!

The other alternative is buying a much cheaper new car, like a Honda FIT. I know it's a good car. But I also know it won't be quite as safe, and it definitely won't be as a nice of a ride. And insurance/registration/taxes on a new car will be a lot more expensive, too. On the other hand, there's reliability to consider.

Can anyone help? I don't want to haggle with him - we both want to arrive at a fair price, and I want to decide whether the car makes sense for me at all, period, before I start a discussion about pricing.

Thank you!

Sell our House or Not? We are at an impasse, HELP!

damiano99 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:17:09 -0800

Sell our House or Not? We are at an impasse, HELP! Extended explanation inside. We have a realtor and I know you are not our realtor but we need some objective, outside opinions.

My wife and I bought a charming 1600sf home in our town soon after marriage and we've been in it 7 years. It's a simple bungalow but has a large office space, the three bedrooms we need for our now 4 person family and a huge backyard with trees which is rare in this part of the city. We've updated the paint, trim, and maintained it quite well. It'll need a new roof in the next 2 years and last year we put a new a/c unit into it. We've paid down the house from 124 to 104 in the past 7 years.

I would like to move elsewhere as we are moving out of storage space and I'm afraid we're going to have to do more work on this house before long. Nothing has really shown up other than having to snake the pipes and we'd need insulation but I tend to be a worrier. Plus, having an actual laundry room and not having the washer/dryer in the garage would be fantastic. My wife likes our house and is attached to the area we live in. Unfortunately, to move up 400-800 sf in this area doubles the house prices. With the difference in interest rates, we'd only pay 200-400 more a month, which is stretchy/doable (until the kids are out of daycare in 2 years) but the sticky issue is this:

We found houses last year that we liked (we put our house on the market in the late fall and only managed to get 3 showings) but no one bought our home so we lost the one liked to another buyer. This year, we put it back out and within 3 days have a firm offer with no haggling. With realtor fees and what not we'd still walk away with 20-25K which we're very happy with. However, we haven't signed yet and we're going to lose the buyers if we don't soon. The reason is that my wife is frightened we won't find one she really likes in our price/area range before the close date AND she doesn't think we can manage an intermediate move to an apt both financially and easily considering our toddlers and home office. Also, she flat refuses to go along with the idea as she feels it's too chaotic. She wants to pull out and find one and then take offers/relist/etc.

This was a our first house, so we have no experience in this area. Our realtor says more homes will pop up in our area (Tulsa/Midtown) in the next month and the buyers would give us 8 weeks of closing time. We're not sure if that's true or hopeful thinking because she's obviously out for commission and we've looked at 50 houses and NONE work. Should we jump forward or pull back and sell first? If we wait till next year do we screw ourselves of the good interest rates and the soft market? If we waited the 2 years until our kids are out of daycare (freeing up 1500 a month) would we be in a better position or worse due to IR and market move? Our mortgage right now is roughly 920 a month if we went with a house that ran 225-250, we'd be dealing with 1390-1500. Again doable, just tight. We're just afraid the house we want isn't out there yet and we are still comfortable in this house, minus the storage issues. We're just lost and need any and all opinions.

Buy offers being made directly to (former-ish) owner during lapsed domain's "recovery period". Scam, or windfall?

nakedcodemonkey — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:10:20 -0800

Buy offers being made directly to (former-ish) owner during lapsed domain's "recovery period". Scam, or windfall? A while back I chose to let a domain's registration lapse. GoDaddy, its registrar, apparently put it up for auction soon thereafter.

Google turns up evidence that it generated a bunch of bid activity, and that the auction was scheduled to close weeks ago. The domain is no longer in GoDaddy's auction database. I have no idea what the closing price is, or if there even was one.

WHOIS says its mine for the moment. GoDaddy's control panel confirms it's expired and I can still recover it. The placeholder page says it's expired and "pending renewal or deletion".

Meanwhile I've gotten direct offers via email. The domain is still in the (expensive) recovery period. The offerers are savvy to that. They're also savvy enough to have reached me via contact info not in WHOIS.

a) Scam?

b) Why would it have been auctioned long before ending the recovery period?

What will happen to the old Starbucks signs?

grimace636 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:32:45 -0800

What will happen to the old Starbucks signs when the new logo is put in place later this month? Is there anyway I could get one? If all of the Starbucks are going to be switching the signs to make room for the new logo, than will they simply be throwing the old ones out? Has anyone worked in a store in which a similar event occurred? If so, would my local Starbucks be willing to give/sell it to me?

1975. A great year for cinema. And wine. And pickup lines. Cars? I'm pretty sure no.

rileyray3000 — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:04:41 -0800

What's the best 1975 car a guy can get? So I'm thinking of getting a second car, a classic, for fun. And I think I'd like to get the coolest car I can that's also as new as I can get it. Which is 1975

Why? Emission standards. IN California anything prior to that year is grandfathered in and doesn't need to be smog checked. ANything after that year? Needs to pass a smog. Which is pretty much impossible without a disreputable shop and bribery.

So what's YOUR pick for a good 1975 car? I'd like some amenities if possible - air conditioning. A decent electrical system. But I also want the coolest thing from that year.

Suggestions?

Where do Southland sculptors shop?

Scram — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:53:36 -0800

Where do LA-based sculptors go to buy/sell used equipment? Asking for a friend. Does anyone know where (online) LA sculptors buy and sell used art equipment? I've got sculpture display stands, including some gallery-sized ones, a 7 foot high kiln loading tray with wheels, a wax sculpting pen and handtools plus two big boxes of wax, and three low cupboards on wheels with a lazy susan on top (used for making freeform ceramic or wax pieces), and a box full of charcoal and pastel crayons. I tried the arts and crafts section of Craigslist without much success. Many thanks in advance.

How to buy a car from a person

exceptinsects — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:26:59 -0800

I am looking to buy a used car for cash from a local (CA) private party, not a dealer. What do I need to know? I am mainly looking on Craigslist, but other suggestions are welcome. I'm looking for a Toyota Echo, if it matters.

So...what should I look out for in terms of scams? (I am already aware of things like shipping cars from far away, etc.) I will of course get it checked by a mechanic but what else should I be aware of?

How should I actually pay for it? Certified check? Giant wad of cash? Goats? I'm expecting it to be in the $5k range.

I am also going to be selling my old car, which is a 1997 Corolla in "fair" condition. Is it better to try to sell it myself, or should I go to Carmax? If I do sell it myself, how should I ask for payment?

Someone bought THAT?

SweetTeaAndABiscuit — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:39:11 -0800

Help me find some hidden treasures. With an eye to both decluttering and raising some much-needed cash, I've been looking around my home for things that might be resaleable on Craigslist, eBay, etc. It occurs to me that there are probably things that would be sellable that simply haven't occurred to me. What are some unusual, obscure, or downright off-the-wall things you've bought or sold or heard that someone else has?

Buy. Sell. Trade.

sixcolors — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:31:58 -0800

Interested in buying and then selling stuff. I am running into two (and I assume, very common) problems. 1. The high quality stuff I find tends to be too expensive to buy. 2. The cheap stuff I find is really crappy. I know in order to make money, you need to buy low and sell high. But, this seems a LOT easier in theory than in practice! What am I doing wrong? I am interested in selling video games, dvds, CDs/tapes/records, magazines, and books. I am also interested in selling vintage collectibles and jewelry.

I search thrift stores and pawn shops, and have little luck in finding quality items. When I do, it is too expensive. I don't know much about garage sales, is there a way I can find out who's having one? Are there any other places that I should check? Any other methods I should use? Any other items I should try selling?

I'd prefer to sell things through ebay, but craigslist is an option also. I heard of people selling things through resale shops, but I heard that it is really hard to make money that way.

Amazon CD Seller Woes

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:23:45 -0800

I've had some problems selling CDs on Amazon. Will what I consider to be unfair buyer feedback end my ability to sell CDs there? I've been selling my used CDs on Amazon for a couple of months and doing pretty well, but I've ran into a couple of snags recently.

First, four of the CDs I shipped this month seem to have disappeared into thin air even though I shipped them to the addresses I got from Amazon and they all had my return address. I print my address and the buyer's address (from Amazon's packing slip), and tape the addresses securely to the envelope.

I've only sold 114 CDs, so having four go missing seems a little sketchy to me, especially since one of the CDs was rare and sold for $50. I've issued full refunds for the CDs and started tracking all of my shipments. I've always sent shipping notifications and I recently started including the tracking number with a link to the tracking page on the USPS web site.

Second, one of the people left negative feedback on my seller account, which I think is unfair because (1) Amazon's expected delivery times are "4 to 14 business days after shipping (may take up to 21 business days)" and it was less than 21 business days and (2) the buyer didn't contact me first to resolve the issue even though that's what Amazon recommends. If they had contacted me I would've done what I did with the others: remind them of Amazon's expected delivery times, and give them a full refund after 21 business days. I emailed the buyer and said I thought the feedback was unfair, but didn't explicitly ask them to remove it.

I suppose I'm partially to blame because I send CDs first class mail (because it's the cheapest option), which is supposed to take 2-3 business days, and I used to say that in my shipping notification, which created an expectation for delivery sooner than Amazon's guidelines. Still, I don't think it's fair for them to have left feedback before the time that Amazon allows for delivery had passed.

No one's bought any of my CDs in the three days since the buyer left the feedback, after I'd sold 43 CDs this month.

So, I have some questions:

Do you think people aren't buying my CDs because of the negative feedback? I've only had one person leave negative feedback--most of my ratings are five out of five--but it makes a 5% negative rating because 20 buyers in all have left feedback.

Does having 4 out of 114 CDs go missing sound sketchy to you, or is it about what you'd expect?

Should I be doing something different, or do my business practices sound OK?

Should I email the buyer and ask them to remove the feedback?

I'm posting here instead of dealing with Amazon because they basically say the feedback's there unless the buyer removes it.

What are the implications of buying an existing LLC in Massachusetts?

pikaboy202 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:48:34 -0800

What are the implications of buying an existing LLC in Massachusetts? I'm currently thinking of buying an existing law practice (LLC) in Massachusetts. The previous owner is a friend of mine and she wants to sell it to me.

She's going to close down all operating and IOLTA accounts before transferring it to me. She also rents an office space which I hope will be re-leased by the time I take it over in March. If not, as the new member/manger of an old LLC, am I responsible for the lease? I do not want to take over the lease since I have my own separate office space.

Am I responsible for any malpractice she might have committed while she was the member? What other things should I consider before doing this?