Just Curious as to the Why Behind Purchasing via PM (1 Viewer)

[BarrieJ3]

Hey All,

Just like the title says, I was curious as to the value add from purchasing through PM. I’ve seen it a ton recently, where people are purchasing items full price via PM and was just curious.

The only thing I can imagine is that people may possibly not want others to know what they have to avoid possible outreach? Not against it at all, just a common component of our great marketplace and figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[Statesvegas]

Why do you believe that they are purchasing them for full price ? The occasion or two where I have communicated with a seller via PM, it is in an effort to negotiate a better price or in an effort to convince them to split a package being offered.

 

[Frogzilla]

I always assumed they sent a PM counteroffer to get the negotiation rolling. That’s what I’ve done

 

[Ben8257]

I agree that would be the only reason .. or scrutiny for over paying for something... I prefer when sellers ask to post dibs and then send PM!

 

[Rhodeman77]

Another more deceptive reason may be to not draw attention that you are interested in an item. If someone else that is also interested but waiting to see if there is a price drop sees that some posted in the thread, even to say sending a PM they may now jump into the fray and make an offer too. But if you just send a PM that nobody knows about then you may end up being the only person negotiating for said item.

 

[Saoliver]

Because addicts prefer privacy?

 

[links_slayer]

Because of the BFF club

 

[RichMahogany]

Another more deceptive reason may be to not draw attention that you are interested in an item. If someone else that is also interested but waiting to see if there is a price drop sees that some posted in the thread, even to say sending a PM they may now jump into the fray and make an offer too. But if you just send a PM that nobody knows about then you may end up being the only person negotiating for said item.

100% agree, this is exactly why I do it

 

[saleen121212]

Do you mean listed items or unlisted items?

 

[BarrieJ3]

Why do you believe that they are purchasing them for full price ? The occasion or two where I have communicated with a seller via PM, it is in an effort to negotiate a better price or in an effort to convince them to split a package being offered.

That’s the part I find wierd. I suppose I don’t know, but I’ve now been a part of quite a few sales over the past couple months where pretty immediately I publicly state I’ll take em at asking to find out I was outdibbed via pm.

Given that there hasn’t really been time to negotiate and that seller is not online during my posting and such, I thought it strange that someone would immediately offer full price privately. I’ve also seen others recently where a split is occurring or several things being sold, and there’s someone listed as buying up a bunch on the split at full price without making a public comment. Just found it odd and was curious to reasoning if anyone had done so.

 

[BarrieJ3]

Do you mean listed items or unlisted items?

Listed.

 

[saleen121212]

That’s the part I find wierd. I suppose I don’t know, but I’ve now been a part of quite a few sales over the past couple months where pretty immediately I publicly state I’ll take em at asking to find out I was outdibbed via pm.

Given that there hasn’t really been time to negotiate and that seller is not online during my posting and such, I thought it strange that someone would immediately offer full price privately. I’ve also seen others recently where a split is occurring or several things being sold, and there’s someone listed as buying up a bunch on the split at full price without making a public comment. Just found it odd and was curious to reasoning if anyone had done so.

I mean you have to pm to get shipping and payment sorted so why waste time posting in the thread when you can pm "I'll take them" and get the deal done

 

[BarrieJ3]

Because addicts prefer privacy?

I was legit curious if it’s just privacy. I totally get it if that’s the case. I’ve looked up all owners I can find of Mardi Gras or steamboats or whatever when I’m trying to get some, just to see if people are willing to sell. Despite doing it super respectfully, I could see someone not wanting to be bothered (but that means they’d need to not publicly show them, no prom, etc. as well).

 

[RichMahogany]

I mean you have to pm to get shipping and payment sorted so why waste time posting in the thread when you can pm "I'll take them" and get the deal done

Sometimes I don’t want too many others to know what chips I’m buying to keep my projects a little close to the vest. I prefer a reveal when they’re done.

 

[BarrieJ3]

I mean you have to pm to get shipping and payment sorted so why waste time posting in the thread when you can pm "I'll take them" and get the deal done

Ah this. Yeah this does make sense, don’t know why but hadn’t thought of that!

 

[Marhault]

Personally I bought via pm for years. For several reasons. One I didn't want anyone to know what I was purchasing because I kept my purchases fairly private. The main reason as a long time member of CT I didn't want anyone I may know from CT or in real life to know I was making purchases here or what I was purchasing. Silly? Maybe. My paranoia got the best of me, but I also was able to leverage prices that I might otherwise have not been able to.

After the death of CT I was financially strapped and stepped away for a while to not tempt me to buy OR sell. If I wasn't current on prices then I wouldn't be tempted to sell something I loved to take the easy way out. After I caught up financially I started lurking and eventually got the guts to publicly comment and participate.

To this day my first instinct is to PM before dibs, and even then most times I just post "PM sent" instead of "dibs". There are times I miss things because of PM but it doesn't bother me. They beat me to it either way.

 

[Denali]

My wanted ads rarely work so I reach out to folks, (who may have a line on things I'm after) with the hope of shaking things loose. This works (for me) more often than wanted ads -- seems most folks skip over these wanted ads. This "reach out" stays in PM's. The reverse also happens to me and that stays in PM's as well. There are also dead FS ads that I follow up on to see if items are still available - these also stay PM deals. If it is a live FS/Trade ad I usually post in the thread first. As far a price (full or reduced) all offers are strictly PM turf -- AKA not anyone else's business. So no cloak and dagger, just nature of how the deals come together.

Tangent:
As far a how I treat PM's about my for sale ads, I do stipulate in my ads that posting sold in the thread trumps all dibs or PM's even PM's saying sold, so sometimes someone will miss out during a PM back and forth with me. It's a bummer for them (and me sometimes if the offer is for more) but it seems to be the fairest way to do a listing, as I've had PM versus thread post get messy when both say sold at approximately the same time. By the way dibs is not the same as saying sold -- "dibs" is staking a claim or contingent on X, and "sold" is sold.

 

[gkitt80]

I always post dibs in the thread first, as it seems as a general rule, at least in the transactions I have been a part of, that dibs in the thread > PM dibs.

With that said, I have done a number of transactions (purchasing and selling) via PM only. Most of them have been purchases where someone responded to my wanted ad. A few have been done in private, knowing the other party in the transaction and what they wanted, etc.

 

[Sprouty]

My wanted ads rarely work so I reach out to folks, (who may have a line on things I'm after) with the hope of shaking things loose.

I've done this as well, some are more stubborn than others.

 

[Denali]

I've done this as well, some are more stubborn than others.

Well, you are "The Badger"! lol I learned from the best! I've only reached "The Gnat" status at this point. lol

 

[Geremie]

PM sent

 

[BarrieJ3]

PM sent

Is that you @Josh Kifer ?

 

[Josh Kifer]

Is that you @Josh Kifer ?

No. Losing in poker. Busy.

 

[hdgeno]

I've bought and sold a lot of chips that never saw the classifieds over the years, and actually prefer that anyway. In many cases there are multiple people looking for the same chips, and getting them privately is better than losing out because someone else saw it first. I also agree with @RichMahogany above that I'd rather get them all first before revealing in most cases.

 

[Justin Olson]

I think my first 5 or 6 purchases on here happened because I just pm'd. it wasn't until I realized the feedback rules that I started to use the pm sent or other posts within the ad.

 

[Changster]

I use PMs for all secret group buys. That way, people won’t know I’m in on the action.

 

[BGinGA]

I was curious as to the value add from purchasing through PM.

I was legit curious if it’s just privacy. I totally get it if that’s the case.

Mostly privacy, I think. Some chippers simply don't want their purchase decisions to be trackable, for various reasons.

 

[Eloe2000]

I am still new here but find all of these market characteristics really interesting. Since joining I quickly started to get the sense that there was a lot going on behind the scenes. Sales happening via PM on the back of the classifieds but also just a lot going on away from the classifieds over PMs based on other content posted in other threads etc.

After buying my first full Paulson set here via PMs off the back of the Aransas Queen buy I gathered enough chipping money for an even better set. With the strong suspicion “wanted” ads wouldn’t be very effective I posted a legitimate thread asking for opinions on desirable sets in my budget range curious if I was unaware of something cool, but I also had a strong suspicion that the thread would lead me to a lot more that doesn’t get posted in the classifieds. I was absolutely right. I got so many PMs to buy sets that I am not even sure if I responded to them all. Most of those PMs were in regards to sets that do not pop up often on the classifieds and were even for chips that sit requested in the “wanted” ads for quite some time.

I think there are a lot of people that just want to keep their profile low and really don’t want large transactions that they are involved in publicized. There also may be some personal reasons why they may not want to publicize their frequent transactions in the community.

But also yeah, if you are chasing down some very specific chips you may not want to signal your moves to others that you know that are also hunting in that same chip set. Never give up information for free

 

[Josh Kifer]

When I want to talk to people. I PM them. When I don't. I don't PM them.

You're all welcome!

 

[Perthmike]

I just think to myself.....