Of all the nerve.... What are these people thinking?

General Discussion
1

I posted one of my personal shapes on craigslist to get some cash to pay bills and buy Christmas gifts with, thinking that I’d have no problem getting my much lowered asking price of $375… and here’s one of the responses to the add…

"Can you drop your price? I am looking for a board for my 8 year old son, and did not want to spend this much.

Please call me at below or my cell at ______________.

Thank you.

-------

------- -------- ----------, Esq.

General Counsel/COO

_____ ______ ______

— S. Highway 101, Ste. —

Solana Beach, CA 92075

(ph) — ---- ------ ext. —

(fax) — — -----

(e-mail) ------------------------------

CA Ins. Lic. No. --------------"

I was so pissed, that I replied,

"I don’t want to sound frank, but I already dropped the price, and I have three kids… I shape boards because I have to make ends meet somehow, and shaping is something I love to do. The board is brand new, and Sugar Mill charged me $350 for the glass job because it is all resin tint/pigment and custom resin pin-lines from a guy who I had them bring into their shop especially for this board. The board had to be shaped from a $105 Clark foam longboard blank so I could get the right rocker. I didn’t include my overhead or even a shaping fee. You can’t even get a custom hand shaped board for what I am asking. If someone is selling one for less and saying it is a hand shape, they are not telling you the truth… it’s probably a computer shape. The guy at ---- ------- does that. He cuts his boards on the computer and since he finishes up the final sanding of the board “by hand”, he say’s they’re ALL “hand-shaped”. That’s about as misleading as it gets in this industry. I didn’t really even want to sell the board in the first place because it is a board that I spent a long time designing and refining for PB Point. You’d understand if you rode it. It is a very high performance custom shape that would blow your mind if you surfed it at a place like PB Point. Sorry, but I must stand firm on my asking price of $375.

Dave

619-757-0100"

Am I the only one that can’t sell a damn board in this economy, or what? I mean, come on, this guy is the COO of a company in Solana Beach, and wears the “Esq.” title proudly in his reply. Don’t tell me Mr. Bigbucks COO, Esquire can’t afford a $375 custom hand shaped board for his 8 year old son… and if he knows anything about surfing, this isn’t the board to be buying an 8 year old… but it sure would be the perfect size and shape for one of those older executive types. Hmmm… I wonder if he’s really buying for his 8 year old son, or if he’s just trying to low-ball me and take advantage of a damn shaper who is selling off his personal quiver to pay bills and buy Christmas gifts with… some people just blow me away.

There… I’ve vented… thanks Swaylocks for the therapy session!

Ahhh… I feel much better now… I think I’ll go shape another board… maybe I’ll spend $405 on making it and then go sell it for $100… yeah… that sounds perfect!

2

Just a plain old “No” would have been easier.

3

Maybe so, but I wanted him to think about it before he asked the next guy to do the same… or maybe even you.

4
Quote:
Maybe so, but I wanted him to think about it before he asked the next guy to do the same... or maybe even you.

I hate most 8 year olds, so I am not vulnerable. just recommend costco,

Do you always pay asking price for everything you buy??

if so can I be your raw material supplier?

5

I hate craigslistians lowballers and 8 year olds ahhhhhh, I need a job.

6

Hmmm. sounds like you want to argue… no thanks, Retired Rodeo Clown. I’m not stubborn enough to argue with someone who used to go toe to toe with stubborn bulls for a living… just wondering if I’m the only one who can’t sell a damn board without practically giving it away… that’s all.

7

tell him to buy a 50 dollar beater board for his kid if he wants to be cheap. Here’s one:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/spo/944886802.html

8

hey Kawika

There are boards on ebay in Oz that claim !!! to be locally made selling for $285AUD with gloss finish brand new that’s maybe $175 US.

Hard to compete on the internet market with popouts.

Good luck hope you can sell that board to someone who appreciates it.

Cheers

Mooneemick

9

dear coo,

I have an opinion about your request to

reduce the asking price on this fine board produced by my

swaylocks aquaintance Kawika in oceanside.

I believe you should recieve the board as a gift.

To facilitate this gift your appearance

at kawika’s house to perform the equivalent

effort and time to make this board

would be more than fair.

AS in the precept that the most effective

transaction in human interaction

is the win win ttransaction.

That beautiful mind guy won the Nobel prize for

proving the win win formula mathamaticly.

In this difficult economic time we all share

the appreciation for your respectful aquisition

of this fine board from kawika would go far

beyond the purchase price at a much greater

amplitude,perhaps double the asking price.

The availiability of Imported boards made

in Thailand and china are to become of historic

benchmarks in surfing history and disposable

culture.

I currently have for sale a used 7’10 nsp

including leash for less than 200.oo

these type boards should satisfy

your pride and joy son of 8 years.

if in fact your son deserves the best

paying kawika 500.oo for the board in cash ,product and or services

would surely open the door to such intangibles

as friend ship let alone a personal shaper

prompt and reasonable repair service

surfing knowlege and comradeship

all of which you automaticly deny

when you persue a transaction

of an adversarial tone I.E.

driving a hard bargain ala

mercado shopping in mexico

or bazaar shopping in morroco.

the fortunate aspect of this encounter

is that you have penetrated

the inner circle of concerned participants

of the surfing subculture.Kawika has done

his concious best to make a fine board

any successful and concerned Father

would be proud to provide for

an athletic and talented son.

good luck and happy holidays.

…ambrose…

this board is easily worth

$650.00 sight unseen.

10

Just to play devil’s advocate…

Do you really expect this guy to know or appreciate what goes into the production of handcrafted surfboards if he doesn’t even surf himself? Seems like bargaining would be right up a COO’s alley right? I mean, all he did was ask…someone once told me that it never hurts to do so…just sayin.

oh and shame on you for letting such a board go for that price. But you gotta do what you gotta do i suppose.

Good luck!

11
Quote:
Just to play devil's advocate.....

Do you really expect this guy to know or appreciate what goes into the production of handcrafted surfboards if he doesn’t even surf himself? Seems like bargaining would be right up a COO’s alley right? I mean, all he did was ask…someone once told me that it never hurts to do so…just sayin.

oh and shame on you for letting such a board go for that price. But you gotta do what you gotta do i suppose.

Good luck!

quit arguing

12

times are tough. A lot of artists and craftsman get pissed when work gets pimped on craigslist.It brings everyone down.

Just think of the guys renting space to sell their work.

I heard a rumor that QS might be close to chapter 11. Any truth to that?

I feel for you,just let it go.

13
Quote:

I heard a rumor that QS might be close to chapter 11.

any company that had CFO’s pimping the “high performance” balance sheet will be close to CH11 imho…

industries that ran on day-to-day credit to cover liquidity, be it factoring or otherwise, will be gasping…

14

i agree with you dave!!

its always the people who can afford it that try to haggle!

had a ceo in a new porsche drive in the other day and try to get me to knock off €300 of a jim phillips longboard, all i said was theres the door!!

15

Why would you let the fact that some random dude does not want buy your board at the price you want to sell it at, make you mad?

Do you get mad when the wind blows, or the tide changes, or the swell stops?

Life happens, deal with it.

IMHO, turning mole hills in to mountains is a bad example for 3 children.

16

It could have been the machine shape guy tryin to piss ya off posin as esq.

just remember, good thing is, it wasn’t you. For that fact you can be thankful.

17

There always has to be someone that makes a negative / argumentative / aggro comment to a post that another person is trying to get an actual answer from regarding his question. If I thought I’d get a response like yours, I would have gone to the SurferMag.com Forum.

Once again, Ian, I was asking if anyone else was experiencing the same thing…

I wasn’t mad… but I was in disbelief that someone thought my asking price needed to be lowered from $375 considering what I put in to it. Do you just give away all the boards that you shape? Well if so, it must be nice to be able to do that.

And no, I don’t get mad when the wind blows, or the tide changes, or the swell stops. I get on swaylocks and try to gain more knowledge about surfboards and shaping.

And yes, I know “Life happens”! I deal with it every day by not letting comments like yours (and the person’s who inquired about me lowering my price) get to me.

Also, in response to your comment, “IMHO, turning mole hills in to mountains is a bad example for 3 children,” I didn’t see my post as turning a mole hill into a mountain, but obviously you did. Do you have any kids? Is your 9 year old, 21 month old, or 2 month old on Swaylocks trying to learn by YOUR example? My 9 year old would love to have that board in his own quiver… so would I. I can’t afford to give it to him. That breaks my heart… which is EXACTLY where I was going with this whole post.

Surfboard shaping is an art. Hand shaping is a dying art form. This is something that we ALL (on Swaylocks) obviously love and enjoy, or I don’t think any of us worth our salt in the shaping bay or in the ocean would be on this website.

I was reflecting on where our art form has gone and where it seems to be heading.

It’s getting to the point where some of us can’t even afford to keep it alive because we can’t sell our art… regardless of asking price… because it costs money to rent the shop, buy blanks, pay the glasser, make the fins, restock the supplies, keep the tools in working order, and to find the time outside of our working and family lives to do what we love – make surfboards.

I’m not looking for sympathy… I just thought some people on here could relate.

Be positive, and enjoy your day / evening… and if you got anything out of this… just try to see where I’m coming from.

18

In the future add something to the effect of “firm price” or “nonnegotiable” to weed out the morons.

19

Kawika,your fault for selling that board too cheap,you attract cheapos with no appreciation of the crafted product,but when you need money,you gotta do what you gotta do.Now you know,that’s the rule when selling anything,if it’s quality made,ask for the right price,even more,you will attract the right kind of buyer who will appreciate it.A lot of these guys with fancy titles are cheap fucks,you would not believe,and don’t take it personnaly ,they do it to everybody.Just ordered my favorite shaper and friend a new longboard,his buddy price is $575, clear sanded polish finish!Add $200 for resin tint & gloss polish.Then add air freight from his island to mine.And I consider that a real good deal,that board would easy get $1200 in a shop on O’ahu.But then again,we appreciate good custom work here,das why we’re broke!

20

Well, I apologize for the way I delivered my ideas regarding your email conversation. I was lazy and didn’t explain myself well.

I commend you for not dropping your pants and not allowing the COO to low ball you. It is a race to the bottom if you play that game.

My point is more in regard to your emotional response to his inquiry for a lower price. That happens in every business in every part of the world (unless the government is running the business, of course, they ask to pay more), and it is especially common when making deals on Craigs List.

I just don’t think that you should let the fact that someone asked for a better price ruffle your feathers. There are bigger fish to fry.

One thing that I have learned (in business in the real world, and in business on Craigs List) is to leave yourself a little negotiation room, i.e. list it for a little bit more than you want/need. That way when the prospective customer asks for a discount you can give it to him.

Buying toys, like surfboards, is an emotional act. Everybody wants to feel like they are getting a deal. Give your prospective customer a happy feeling and give him a little discount.

I don’t sell any surfboards, and I don’t plan to start a surfboard business. I like shaping, and building boards just like I like riding waves. I don’t want to bastardize my fun activities by injecting serious business into it.

The good thing about ART (and shaping is an ART, among other things), is they don’t rely on businesses and business dealings to survive. People make art because it fulfills internal desires, not because it fulfills external bank accounts. (not that they are mutually exclusive)

Hand shaping will not die as long as people are surfing, because there will always be surfers like me and you who want experiment with different designs. Did Simmons, Quigg, and Kivlin start making boards to make money, or did they do it for a better ride/thrill/experience.

I see where you are coming from, but don’t think that it is a healthy, successful position. Instead of getting angry at the prospective customer, get creative.

I apologize for my tone, but I hope you can understand where I am coming from here.