I have picked up a lot of tack advertised online over the years. I look for unusual things to collect or things to rehab and resell. Sometimes, people can't even believe the bargains I've found. Like, if there was a tack bargain hunters' Olympics, I'd have a wall of gold medals. I would hold the world's record nth gazillion times in a row.
You know how I do it? You want to know the big secret to getting the best stuff at a price I can afford before anyone else beats me to it?
I don't dick sellers around. It's that simple.
Really.
Simple.
I don't pester people about things I can't afford, I don't make insulting offers, I don't give them the runaround about meetup times, and I won't be baited into arguments with even the most committed asshole if it's something I really want.
I get off my dead rear end and show up on time with cash in my hand. I'm so polite it's sickening. I make sure it's what it was supposed to be, and if everything is as represented, I pay them an agreed price and I leave with that 'thing' I wanted.
Everyone wins.
Really.
Simple.
Facebook Marketplace and its various groups have opened a market that already has a base of billions, literally. Cars, property, shoes, furniture, tack, everything... and horses. Of course, the current rule is no animal sales, but that was circumvented from day one with things like "PM for more details" or a "rehoming fee" in the thousands.
Any and every time I bother to look, hundreds of times a day, someone has a horse for sale and mentions something like "PM for details," and the next many many many comments all say some variation of "price and video," and that's all.
That's it. That's all they write.
Because, of course, they don't bother to read. Ever.
Because they don't respect the group's rules.
Because they don't respect the seller's request.
Because something about that horse made them mildly curious, just like the last six.
Because it's a day that ends in Y.
Because they're a pull string doll with only one phrase installed.
Because window shopping for shit they have no intention of buying costs them nothing. They invest and commit to exactly zero.
There's no exchange of pleasantries, no pertinent horse buyer-type questions, nothing whatsoever that says this person is seriously interested and can probably afford this horse.
It amounts to a drive-by, not even a drive-through.
It's free entertainment, or a fact-finding mission, often to start an argument with the seller or other group members; to pontificate, embarrass, assume the role of resident expert or otherwise act like a horse's ass.
These people are not buyers, they're lookie-loos and provokers. Every listing is an opportunity to make the seller publicly justify their price - or some detail - on something they have no intention or means to buy.
"I can't believe they're asking $7500 for a weanling."
Believe it. And shut the fuck up.
"I can buy off the track Thoroughbreds for $2500 all day."
Then go buy one, someplace else and from someone else, identical to this particular OTTB you seem to like and can't afford. And shut the fuck up.
Remember the part about PM for details? No, that's too much commitment for them, far too revealing. They might have to admit they really weren't a serious buyer, the horse was out of their price range, and this was the 5th horse today and 11th horse this week they regurgitated their "price and video" demand as not-serious or underfunded buyers.
Sellers don't owe these people shit, except for basic courtesy, and they already know this random person parroting price and video has disrespected their request to deal with them privately.
Price and video drive-bys never leave the comfort of their keyboard. They don't even have to use their real name. They demand and demand and invest nothing, particularly sincerity.
All I can say is, I'm glad I'm not in the horse-selling business, because these price and video people are now their own legion of chronic time-wasters and Komplaining Karens with a grievance theater base of millions.
Thanks, Facebook. Not.
As I said, I get great deals because 1.) I don't dick sellers around and 2.) I don't shop for things I can't afford or am not ready to buy. If horse selling was more like selling tack, the serious shoppers would find and get what they want, and sellers wouldn't suffer exhaustion from being dragged by countless, casual, unqualified, tire-kickers.
For the record, if anyone ever ignores my usually-very-detailed ad and demands price and video for, say, a saddle, I'm probably going to say if you get off your butt and show up with the right amount of cash, you can buy it if you like it. Or don't, and politely move along. No harm, no foul.
Because that's how it's done.
Really.
Simple.
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