My Most Memorable Kijiji Transaction
I bought a digital piano about 10 years ago, and recently, I decided to sell it and get one that’s a bit more modern. I had a slight attachment to the old one, I guess because when I bought it, I went and tried every digital piano I could, found the one I liked best, and being tight on money, had to trade a bunch of stuff to get it. It also looked cooler than most digital pianos, which was nice.
When I decided to sell it, I looked on Kijiji to see if anyone else was selling this same model (a few were), and I also saw someone advertising that they wanted to buy one. I wrote to them, and they were friendly, but ultimately wouldn’t pay the $500 I wanted - their highest offer was $450.
While talking to them though, I made a Kijiji mistake I still can’t believe. They asked for some photos of the piano, so I went to send one, misclicked, and selected a photo of my dog. I clicked it again to de-select it, but I guess that on the Kijiji app (which they recently made much, much worse), selecting the photo actually instantly sends it.
When someone “accidentally” sends the wrong picture in some sort of social conversation, I always assume it’s probably intentional for some reason. But this is Kijiji - this is business - I am not messing around. I am just bad at using a phone.
So when no deal came of me talking to this first person, I listed the piano on Kijiji. I got a couple of replies, and one guy was the most serious. His first message asked me to text or phone him, so I knew he was at least 60 or so. There’s a certain type of person who asks you to text or phone instead of sending messages through the Kijiji app, and they’re always older - but also I respect it, good for them.
Now, I will say, he listed his phone number with spaces, like “5 5 5 1 2 1 2 2 2 2”, which was interesting, since Kijiji has never filtered phone numbers or had a rule against posting them. People constantly send phone numbers back and forth while arranging meets to buy/sell things. But let’s let this guy live.
He asked a question or two, if I recall, and then yesterday night, he said he was going to come in the morning, after rush hour traffic had settled down. I said great, and gave him my address.
This morning, he messaged around 10, and said “Okay, I’m coming over now. However I need to know if you’ll accept $400 cash.” First of all, I always think it’s funny when people think they can get a better deal by offering me cash on Kijiji - I only take cash! What are you going to do, bring a money order? A cashier’s cheque? Traveller's cheques? A paper cheque? Other forms of cheque?
People in Canada do use something called Interac E-transfer that many people have, and it works really well, but I always want cash, so if this comes up, I just lie and say “Oh by the way, I have to take cash, my E-transfer is broken”, which nobody has questioned yet.
I replied to guy saying “Sorry, I’m firm on the $500 - I’m on the fence about selling this, and I already turned down $450” (both true facts).
The guy replied to that with one of the funniest replies possible: “460” - no dollar sign, no question mark, not “How about 460?” - nothing.
If he had said $451, I think it would have been funnier, but it also would have been a joke. 460 is about as low as he could go and still think he maybe had a shot, which makes it so funny to me. He thought he figured out the master negotiating move when I said I already turned down $450.. add $10.
So, I said sorry, I can only do $500, I’ve already had a couple of replies, and I’ll feel dumb if I sell it too cheap. This is my favourite objection to people trying to talk me down too low, by the way, just that I don't want to feel dumb later. I have not heard a good objection to it yet.
He asked if it came with the foot pedal and stand that were in the photos. My ad already said that it did, so I took this to be him saving face, so he could just say “Okay well since it has the stand, I’ll pay $500”. I said yep, it comes with both.
He replied by just sending me a link to someone else, four hours away, selling the same model of piano for $450. I was about to just reply that I was firm, then I noticed the ad he said did NOT include the pedal or stand, so I mentioned that, and his reply was, surprisingly, “You sound like a pro. Did you buy it new?”
Not sure how to take that, I just said yep, I did, and he said “Okay, waiting for Google Maps to indicate RABIT speed”. I assumed RABIT was either a pure typo or auto-correct thing, but maybe it was some slang I didn’t know. The all-caps made me think it could be some acronym like SNAFU (Situation Normal Aaaaagh Frigging Uuuugh).
It took him, and I just checked my text messages app to be sure I had this right, 7 minutes to let me know what Google Maps indicated the RABIT speed was, and I said cool, see you in 40 minutes.
When he got over here, I met him outside, and then as we were walking in, I said basically “Hey you mentioned RABIT speed in your text, was that a typo?” and he kind of looked at me funny, so I kept going: “I assume it was a typo or something?”
He said “Rabbit speed - as opposed to turtle speed”. Ahh - I almost feel dumb for not realizing that, of COURSE that was it.
He sat down and played the piano for a minute, then asked me if I was a professional musician (I had not touched the piano). Seems unlikely that anyone is a professional musician these days, and I said no, and then 30 seconds later, after he had played a bit - he was VERY good at piano btw - I decided to be polite and ask him if he was. Again, I did not imagine he was, because it’s just 2023, and it just doesn’t seem like there are tons of professional piano players out there.
He said no, but that he’s in a band, and they play every Friday night, although they didn’t play out a lot. I said cool, and asked what type of music they played.
He turned and looked at me for a second or two, then turned back and started HAMMERING the keys. Oh and I should add one thing:
Before he came, I turned the piano to 100% max volume. There’s a phenomenon where people think that to a certain degree, things that are louder sound better - it’s some scientific thing - so I figured I might as well take advantage of that.
If you watch a Youtube video where someone compares 2 audio things - stereos, instruments, effects boxes, etc. - if they have one audibly louder in the video, the comments will usually have at least a few people pointing out that it’s not a fair comparison for this reason. Loud things just sound better to people, at least up until the point where the sounds are annoyingly loud.
He started just playing the piano as loud as he could, and the song sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it - until he started singing, also very loudly, “Mustang Sally! Slow your mustang down!”
And I will say this: He was also a pretty good singer. Which was further proven when, 3 or 4 lines into Mustang Sally, he switched it up and broke into another song - “It’s a Beautiful Night for a Moonbeam” or whatever that Van Morrison song is - and again, he sang a bunch of lines, quite loudly, and did them pretty well.
I’ve never had this happen with a Kijiji deal before, but I did love it. I love those days when something happens that has never happened to you before and this was one.
He stopped singing but played a 2 or 3 minute medley of what I guess I would call.. classic rock? He did some Eric Clapton, Wings, Steely Dan - are those classic rock? I don’t even know what Mustang Sally is, I could not tell you who did that song - is it from the Blues Brothers movie or something? Is it.. rhythm and blues? Soul music of some kind?
This guy did not leave for a long time, I think about 45 minutes. I’ve had Kijiji deals that were maybe AS long as this before, maybe, but I don’t think any that were longer. I think that’d be fair if $500 was just a huge amount to this guy, but honestly I think he was just trying to find flaws with the piano to talk the price down.
He played every key (this was an 88 key piano) by themselves literally 3 or 4 times. He tried every button, he got me to go find headphones so he could try both the headphones jacks - anything he could think of to inspect, he was checking.
At one point, he was leaning down and looking under the piano at the power adapter that was plugged into the wall, and with absolutely no exaggeration, he was just staring at the plug for at least 45 full seconds. I’m positive that he was zoned out and just trying to think of something he could bring up to try and re-negotiate the price.
Sometimes people on Kijiji show up and try to talk the price down, and it never works with me because my view is: You drove over here!
You can’t convince me that you drove to where I live to try out whatever I’m selling, but you’re not really sure on the price - you drove over here, you are fine with the price, and I know it.
One technique that I’ve had 3 or 4 people attempt is to come over and then at the last minute, half-heartedly pretend they forgot to bring all the money. Every single time, when I’ve said “Well there’s a bank machine 5 or 6 minutes away”, they magically “find” the money in their other pocket. I have some thoughts on the psychological reason people try this, but it’s probably not worth going into - the main thing is: You drove over here! I know you also brought all the money!
Eventually, this guy said “Okay the piano is good. I’ll pay what you’re asking” - I kind of wanted to say “Yes, I know you will, because I will not take any other amount!” but I just said cool, and then it was another 5-10 minutes while he loaded the piano in his vehicle, and for some reason got me to go get a screwdriver so he could disassemble the stand, instead of just sticking it in his big covered truck, where I am almost positive it would have fit perfectly with no adjustment.
[I wrote this a few years ago and sent it to my newsletter back then, hence the year 2023 being mentioned]
When I decided to sell it, I looked on Kijiji to see if anyone else was selling this same model (a few were), and I also saw someone advertising that they wanted to buy one. I wrote to them, and they were friendly, but ultimately wouldn’t pay the $500 I wanted - their highest offer was $450.
While talking to them though, I made a Kijiji mistake I still can’t believe. They asked for some photos of the piano, so I went to send one, misclicked, and selected a photo of my dog. I clicked it again to de-select it, but I guess that on the Kijiji app (which they recently made much, much worse), selecting the photo actually instantly sends it.
When someone “accidentally” sends the wrong picture in some sort of social conversation, I always assume it’s probably intentional for some reason. But this is Kijiji - this is business - I am not messing around. I am just bad at using a phone.
So when no deal came of me talking to this first person, I listed the piano on Kijiji. I got a couple of replies, and one guy was the most serious. His first message asked me to text or phone him, so I knew he was at least 60 or so. There’s a certain type of person who asks you to text or phone instead of sending messages through the Kijiji app, and they’re always older - but also I respect it, good for them.
Now, I will say, he listed his phone number with spaces, like “5 5 5 1 2 1 2 2 2 2”, which was interesting, since Kijiji has never filtered phone numbers or had a rule against posting them. People constantly send phone numbers back and forth while arranging meets to buy/sell things. But let’s let this guy live.
He asked a question or two, if I recall, and then yesterday night, he said he was going to come in the morning, after rush hour traffic had settled down. I said great, and gave him my address.
This morning, he messaged around 10, and said “Okay, I’m coming over now. However I need to know if you’ll accept $400 cash.” First of all, I always think it’s funny when people think they can get a better deal by offering me cash on Kijiji - I only take cash! What are you going to do, bring a money order? A cashier’s cheque? Traveller's cheques? A paper cheque? Other forms of cheque?
People in Canada do use something called Interac E-transfer that many people have, and it works really well, but I always want cash, so if this comes up, I just lie and say “Oh by the way, I have to take cash, my E-transfer is broken”, which nobody has questioned yet.
I replied to guy saying “Sorry, I’m firm on the $500 - I’m on the fence about selling this, and I already turned down $450” (both true facts).
The guy replied to that with one of the funniest replies possible: “460” - no dollar sign, no question mark, not “How about 460?” - nothing.
If he had said $451, I think it would have been funnier, but it also would have been a joke. 460 is about as low as he could go and still think he maybe had a shot, which makes it so funny to me. He thought he figured out the master negotiating move when I said I already turned down $450.. add $10.
So, I said sorry, I can only do $500, I’ve already had a couple of replies, and I’ll feel dumb if I sell it too cheap. This is my favourite objection to people trying to talk me down too low, by the way, just that I don't want to feel dumb later. I have not heard a good objection to it yet.
He asked if it came with the foot pedal and stand that were in the photos. My ad already said that it did, so I took this to be him saving face, so he could just say “Okay well since it has the stand, I’ll pay $500”. I said yep, it comes with both.
He replied by just sending me a link to someone else, four hours away, selling the same model of piano for $450. I was about to just reply that I was firm, then I noticed the ad he said did NOT include the pedal or stand, so I mentioned that, and his reply was, surprisingly, “You sound like a pro. Did you buy it new?”
Not sure how to take that, I just said yep, I did, and he said “Okay, waiting for Google Maps to indicate RABIT speed”. I assumed RABIT was either a pure typo or auto-correct thing, but maybe it was some slang I didn’t know. The all-caps made me think it could be some acronym like SNAFU (Situation Normal Aaaaagh Frigging Uuuugh).
It took him, and I just checked my text messages app to be sure I had this right, 7 minutes to let me know what Google Maps indicated the RABIT speed was, and I said cool, see you in 40 minutes.
When he got over here, I met him outside, and then as we were walking in, I said basically “Hey you mentioned RABIT speed in your text, was that a typo?” and he kind of looked at me funny, so I kept going: “I assume it was a typo or something?”
He said “Rabbit speed - as opposed to turtle speed”. Ahh - I almost feel dumb for not realizing that, of COURSE that was it.
He sat down and played the piano for a minute, then asked me if I was a professional musician (I had not touched the piano). Seems unlikely that anyone is a professional musician these days, and I said no, and then 30 seconds later, after he had played a bit - he was VERY good at piano btw - I decided to be polite and ask him if he was. Again, I did not imagine he was, because it’s just 2023, and it just doesn’t seem like there are tons of professional piano players out there.
He said no, but that he’s in a band, and they play every Friday night, although they didn’t play out a lot. I said cool, and asked what type of music they played.
He turned and looked at me for a second or two, then turned back and started HAMMERING the keys. Oh and I should add one thing:
Before he came, I turned the piano to 100% max volume. There’s a phenomenon where people think that to a certain degree, things that are louder sound better - it’s some scientific thing - so I figured I might as well take advantage of that.
If you watch a Youtube video where someone compares 2 audio things - stereos, instruments, effects boxes, etc. - if they have one audibly louder in the video, the comments will usually have at least a few people pointing out that it’s not a fair comparison for this reason. Loud things just sound better to people, at least up until the point where the sounds are annoyingly loud.
He started just playing the piano as loud as he could, and the song sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it - until he started singing, also very loudly, “Mustang Sally! Slow your mustang down!”
And I will say this: He was also a pretty good singer. Which was further proven when, 3 or 4 lines into Mustang Sally, he switched it up and broke into another song - “It’s a Beautiful Night for a Moonbeam” or whatever that Van Morrison song is - and again, he sang a bunch of lines, quite loudly, and did them pretty well.
I’ve never had this happen with a Kijiji deal before, but I did love it. I love those days when something happens that has never happened to you before and this was one.
He stopped singing but played a 2 or 3 minute medley of what I guess I would call.. classic rock? He did some Eric Clapton, Wings, Steely Dan - are those classic rock? I don’t even know what Mustang Sally is, I could not tell you who did that song - is it from the Blues Brothers movie or something? Is it.. rhythm and blues? Soul music of some kind?
This guy did not leave for a long time, I think about 45 minutes. I’ve had Kijiji deals that were maybe AS long as this before, maybe, but I don’t think any that were longer. I think that’d be fair if $500 was just a huge amount to this guy, but honestly I think he was just trying to find flaws with the piano to talk the price down.
He played every key (this was an 88 key piano) by themselves literally 3 or 4 times. He tried every button, he got me to go find headphones so he could try both the headphones jacks - anything he could think of to inspect, he was checking.
At one point, he was leaning down and looking under the piano at the power adapter that was plugged into the wall, and with absolutely no exaggeration, he was just staring at the plug for at least 45 full seconds. I’m positive that he was zoned out and just trying to think of something he could bring up to try and re-negotiate the price.
Sometimes people on Kijiji show up and try to talk the price down, and it never works with me because my view is: You drove over here!
You can’t convince me that you drove to where I live to try out whatever I’m selling, but you’re not really sure on the price - you drove over here, you are fine with the price, and I know it.
One technique that I’ve had 3 or 4 people attempt is to come over and then at the last minute, half-heartedly pretend they forgot to bring all the money. Every single time, when I’ve said “Well there’s a bank machine 5 or 6 minutes away”, they magically “find” the money in their other pocket. I have some thoughts on the psychological reason people try this, but it’s probably not worth going into - the main thing is: You drove over here! I know you also brought all the money!
Eventually, this guy said “Okay the piano is good. I’ll pay what you’re asking” - I kind of wanted to say “Yes, I know you will, because I will not take any other amount!” but I just said cool, and then it was another 5-10 minutes while he loaded the piano in his vehicle, and for some reason got me to go get a screwdriver so he could disassemble the stand, instead of just sticking it in his big covered truck, where I am almost positive it would have fit perfectly with no adjustment.
[I wrote this a few years ago and sent it to my newsletter back then, hence the year 2023 being mentioned]
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