Yellow kettle acquired, lessons to be learned

[Jeff]

So some of you may remember a posting on here for a yellow 22" kettle in Duluth.   This ad had not gotten a whole lot of interest for the most part.  It was listed at a "Packer grill"  I know that myself and Greg (glrasmussen) had emailed him and expressed interest.  The original listing price was 50.00.  The kettle was in good overall condition. 

I was to be up in northern, Wi. for vacation and wanted to pick it up.  Greg (not to my knowledge at that time), had plans too. Basically a first come first basis.  So a day or two prior to heading up to Wisconsin, the seller of the grill called me to say that the grill was still available as of now, but the price had gone to 150.00.   I asked him what happened?  He told me that he had been contacted by another interested buyer in Georgia.  He said this person was asking him many detailed questions...about what was on the top vent, and other odd questions of great detail.  This person offered him more money than was being asked, and still wanted it shipped at an additional cost of course.  The seller told me he wondered why someone in Georgia would want a grill in Duluth, and have it shipped so far away.  What happened was the seller went online to do some research on what exactly he had after what he thought was an odd request for someone to show so much interest from so far away.  Detailed questions, willing to pay more than the asking price, and knowledge of this "basic grill" far more than any novice would know...single handedly caused the seller to investigate this grill.  He found our site and learned that a yellow Weber is pretty rare and collectible.

I spoke to Greg after this and told him the buyer raised the price to 150.  Greg wasn't happy when I told him what happened.  He wasn't going to pay that much, either was I.   I spoke to the seller again and said I was still interested, but not at 150.  I told him he wasn't likely to sell this grill to anyone for that price plus shipping on top of it.  Before I went up north, I spoke to Greg and asked if he minded if I continued to negotiate with the seller.  He told me he didn't mind since he wasn't wanting to pay that much. 

I spoke to the seller again and made him another offer, he accepted it, but told me if someone came before I got there and offered him his asking price, he would still sell the grill to that person. Fair enough.   So that next week I headed up there and met the seller.  Nice enough guy.  I sat and talked with him for awhile.  He told me the guy from Georgia was still trying to get him to sell it to him for more money than the asking price (even though the seller told him he had a deal worked out with me), but they couldn't come to an agreement on the shipping charges.  So long story short here, I got the grill (for another member).   

I guess I would say if you are dealing with someone that has a grill you really want, and if it happens to be older, there really is no good that can come out of throwing your knowledge around about something rare or uncommon.  All you will do is tip the person off and make them question what exactly they might have.  It ended up costing one of our members some extra cash.  But anyways, I got this grill despite the person from Georgia

[1buckie]

                    What a pleasant vacation story........

[G]

Glad you got it Jeff.  We are all after vintage kettles but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about acquiring them.....

[sparky]

I was in Duluth and seen that grill on CL for $50 on the  31  then $150 the next day i wondered wth was going on ! Glad ya got it !

[Peaspurple]

That's strange. Someone needs to read the kettle etiquette thread!!

[landgraftj]

Georgia huh?...Imagine that  Glad one of the good guys got it though. I understand prices rising due to more interest and exposure, partially due to our site. We really need to stop and think before we contact sellers 1/2 way across the USA and offer stupid amounts of money.

[Chasing_smoke]

Glad you got it jeff, sorry to hear you had to pay more than expected.


 "my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[Jeff]

I do think a lot has to do with our site, plus other sites as well.  Our site focuses most on the collectibility of these grills.  We show the most pictures of rare stuff to and get lots of comments that lurkers read too.  I don't think one person is solely responsible for the price escalation though...we (this site) has opened a lot of eyes on what a fun hobby it can be to cook on something and own something different than the basic black kettle. 

[Duke]

[G$]

Thanks for the story jeff. I think many of us are not at all suprised at the details.

Others will never understand how gratifying it is to share a weber grill with other friends rather than to aquire them from all the far reaches of the land for themselves.

[Hogsy]

Glad you got the yellow...... but What a shitty thing to do!!!

[Bbqmiller]

Part of the fun is jumping in the car and driving to see the goods waiting in the driveway of the seller 

[DoppelBock]

 

[Troy]

glad you got the kettle.

but lets keep in mind we don't know how much of what the seller told you is true.

I once had a car salesmen tell me that he had a solid offer from someone via email that morning that was VERY interested in the car.
What he didn't realize, was that very interested emailer was ME - and I had never made any offer.
I confirmed it later that night when the salesmen emailed me (not making the connection) and told me that a very interested buyer checked out that afternoon.
The salesmen admitted to fibbing to the potential buyer (me) about the email buyer (me) putting in an offer in an effort to give me a chance to match that offer.
But then he took it one step further and told me that the in-person buyer (again, ME) ALSO made an offer.

people do shitty things when there's money involved.
none of us have all the facts.
we all like kettles
lets play nice

[Jeff]

Thats fine.  All info from the seller gave me was unsolicitated regardless.  He said details about the questions that were asked of him about the grill that no novice could come up with on their  own.   He also mentioned nothing of what the other potential buyer offered, other than more than the asking price. 

I worded the original story on the vague side for a reason, not to indite anyone directly, but to point out that an out of towner gave up too many details to the seller.  Everyone is free to create their own conclusions.