You need to tailor the ad to your market. Who is going to buy a used Dakota? Your ad is very neat in appearance and reads like it was written by someone with a B.A. degree in English Literature. You need to dumb it down. Take the photos in dim light with an old cellphone. Inject colloquialisms and misspelled words. Try to write the entire ad in one rambliing run-on sentence.
took a quick look at cl and the first thing that popped out was an 02 dakota 4wd in mechanicsburg that has almost 20k less on the odo for 6k. After that it looked like the avg price was between 4,500 to 5,500. people are lowballing their trucks because they need the money, need to get rid of them, whatever their reasons. Your truck is at a fair price that is true but people will take a higher mileage vehicle to save a few hundred almost every time. Dont lose faith though as I used to say when I was working in the dealership industry "theres an shiny happy person for every seat just be patient"
I feel your pain. Been trying to sell my Saturn and no one will give it a first look much less a second. Too many miles I guess.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/1997-saturn-sc2-5-speed-1650/82013/page1/
Whats with this "artificial" price? You think someone would offer $5981 for the truck he wouldn't take it?
I am speaking from experience. Weird, not overly low prices work.
$6250 is a horrible price. You may only want $5500 but at $6250 you won't show up in under $6000 searches.
fritzsch wrote: HAve you posted it up since you first posted it? Sometimes you won't get any bites the first time, but if you repost it a week or two later you can have half a dozen people contact you.
It has been up since early February, renewed on CL every week. It expired after 45 days so I re-re posted it. Its been on Ebay, in the local paper, in my front yard, in my buddy's front yard.
I've had three legit people come to look at it and probably a dozen phone calls that end up being no-shows.
Here is a classic... I've had two people offer me trades. One was a 93 Cavalier with 175k (listing expired or I'd show you) and the other was this one: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4400236991.html
No cash, she just wants to trade her $500 pile of E36 M3 for my $6000 truck.
I also triple checked on NADA and KBB. (not that they are gospel) but even TRADE-IN value is $5500.
I just don't get it.
curtis73 wrote:fritzsch wrote: HAve you posted it up since you first posted it? Sometimes you won't get any bites the first time, but if you repost it a week or two later you can have half a dozen people contact you.It has been up since early February, renewed on CL every week. It expired after 45 days so I re-re posted it. Its been on Ebay, in the local paper, in my front yard, in my buddy's front yard. I've had three legit people come to look at it and probably a dozen phone calls that end up being no-shows. Here is a classic... I've had two people offer me trades. One was a 93 Cavalier with 175k (listing expired or I'd show you) and the other was this one: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4400236991.html No cash, she just wants to trade her $500 pile of E36 M3 for my $6000 truck. I also triple checked on NADA and KBB. (not that they are gospel) but even TRADE-IN value is $5500. I just don't get it.
Take it to Carmax, or a local dealer that buys cars, go armed with Black Book for a better chance. You won't get $6K maybe $5K.
For what it's worth, a little while back my brother took his Altima to Carmax. When I heard what they were offering to pay for it, I told him to walk home--take the money and run.
Flight Service wrote: Not to be mean but I wouldn't spend $6K on an 02 Dakota, ever.
That's because you're smarter than the average buyer.
You car does a few things going against it, the big one is year. Difficult to get a private party financed enough, especially one that is over 10 years old.
While I agree, I have never been up against this much headache before. I've sold dozens of cars in my front yard from $1500-$9000. I've never seen a market where so few people have absolutely no access to a (relatively) wimpy $6000 cash.
The ad has too many negatives in it. No salvage, no recon, no issues, no CEL, nothing to hide. So psychologically what you wrote is negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, you can't trust this truck because I said you could.
I agree, and thanks for pointing it out. I hope you don't mind, but I basically copied and pasted your suggestion with a couple tweaks. Awesome.
curtis73 wrote:Flight Service wrote: Not to be mean but I wouldn't spend $6K on an 02 Dakota, ever.That's because you're smarter than the average buyer.You car does a few things going against it, the big one is year. Difficult to get a private party financed enough, especially one that is over 10 years old.While I agree, I have never been up against this much headache before. I've sold dozens of cars in my front yard from $1500-$9000. I've never seen a market where so few people have absolutely no access to a (relatively) wimpy $6000 cash.The ad has too many negatives in it. No salvage, no recon, no issues, no CEL, nothing to hide. So psychologically what you wrote is negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, you can't trust this truck because I said you could.I agree, and thanks for pointing it out. I hope you don't mind, but I basically copied and pasted your suggestion with a couple tweaks. Awesome.
Hey man if it sells the truck, go for it!!! Times they are a changing, I couldn't get $600 together right now much less $6000.
dj06482 wrote: If the underside is clean, I'd take some pictures. When I see 12 year old 4X4 truck from PA, I think rust. If that's not the case, then definitely highlight that fact in the text and with some good pictures.
Yeah... um.... you don't want to see the underside. 
In reply to curtis73:
Actually, that truck is probably worth half what your asking price is(not $500)
Hell, if it were here, and non-rusty, I'd happily buy that f350 at that price.
yamaha wrote: In reply to curtis73: Actually, that truck is probably worth half what your asking price is(not $500) Hell, if it were here, and non-rusty, I'd happily buy that f350 at that price.
That may be true for you, but Ebay, Craigslist, NADA, KBB, Autotrader, and most major retailers disagree.
Put it this way... I've been offered $4500 as a trade-in. As someone who worked as a dealer salesman for 7 years, I can kinda feel that pulse. I guess what I'm saying is... I've been in this business since 1994. This isn't my first rodeo.
Few thoughts from my looking at the listing.
I don't care that your life has changed, or that other folk are asking for more money on lesser trucks.
Clean inside and out, yet it's mud spattered and dirty inside.
Extremely nice with flawless interior yet I'm seeing scratches and dents and trash and filth.
No pictures of the engine bay, and one of your patio, with the truck arced invisibly overhead.
No description of things like the ac, heat or radio. Are they there, do they work?
Is there a big dent in the tailgate, or weird reflections?
Looks like a dent. If it's not, get rid of that picture.
It ain't flawless if it's dented. It ain't clean if it's dirty.
Perhaps some text to help people who are searching by keywords. Perhaps "towing" "hitch" "work truck" "family truck" "can be fitted with a ladder rack"...stuff like that. Do you think the lack of a V8 is hurting? Maybe add a line like "power of a V8 but better fuel economy" That would grab people searching for Dakota V8.
Price is high for an '02. Not exactly low mileage, but then for the year maybe. Tires need to match on a 4x4.
I've never had access to 6k cash. Never.
David S. Wallens wrote: For what it's worth, a little while back my brother took his Altima to Carmax. When I heard what they were offering to pay for it, I told him to walk home--take the money and run.
This. The last couple of vehicles I've tried to sell I ended up getting within $500 of what I'd been asking for by trading them in on a new car. I had based my price on a survey of similar vehicles age, mileage, area and no takers. I had what I figured was $500-$1,000 wiggle room on the price (on 3-4 year old 75-100k mile vehicles) and no takers except scammers. I go to the dealer and get as much or more than I wanted with no haggling. My rule now for appliance vehicles is just trade them, it's not worth selling private party.
In reply to curtis73:
I would completely ignore KBB/NADA/etc right now.....
Also, has the truck seen paint work, the lack of decals on the drivers door might be scaring people. 
In reply to Adrian_Thompson:
In PA you pay the sales tax only on new vehicle price - trade-in value so sometimes you can come out ahead on the tax bill vs private party sale (assuming you will still be buying something else you would otherwise have to pay the tax on the full value of).
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: In PA you pay the sales tax only on new vehicle price - trade-in value so sometimes you can come out ahead on the tax bill vs private party sale (assuming you will still be buying something else you would otherwise have to pay the tax on the full value of).
Even more reason to do it there then. We don't have that yet in Michigan, but it was still worth it to me.
Note. When I'm benevolent dictator of the universe I will outlaw any tax on used car sales. It's been paid once, no double jeopardy here. Signed a devoted liberal.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson:
Be glad you don't have to pay a "Personal Property" tax yearly if they are used for a business. berkeleying bullE36 M3.
SVreX wrote: Is there a big dent in the tailgate, or weird reflections? Looks like a dent. If it's not, get rid of that picture. It ain't flawless if it's dented. It ain't clean if it's dirty.
Agreed on the dirt... gotta get that taken care of.
And I never said the exterior was flawless. I specifically put those photos in of all the possible damage. I find that works very well for two reasons. 1) you have accurately conveyed any damage and many people don't overly scrutinize the little things in the photos, and 2) it saves my having to say negative things like "it has dents."
Otherwise people would show up expecting perfection and tuck tail and run. I'm not looking to screw anyone by hiding things. Having a hundred people show up only to leave disappointed is not something I have time for.
I guess I'm saying that in my years of buying and selling a crapload of cars in my front yard, on CL, Ebay, and other places, I have never encountered this kind of market response. One picture of a dent isn't causing 90% fewer responses. The use of a specific word in the ad doesn't cause no one to contact me about it for a week.
I did have it priced at $7000 originally and had just as many (or as few) hits as I have now with $6k OBO. Price is rarely the issue. I could price it at $8250 and still get hits. I could call it a pile of junk in the ad and still get hits.
My big curiosity is why I'm getting almost no response. I would love some lowball offers at this point. I'm just getting nothing. I have a For Sale sign in the window with no price, just my phone number. I've had one phone call. One.
Maybe you are facing the same issue the OEMs do. People SAY they want smaller trucks but when it comes time to vote with their dollars they buy fullsize.
yamaha wrote: In reply to curtis73: I would completely ignore KBB/NADA/etc right now..... Also, has the truck seen paint work, the lack of decals on the drivers door might be scaring people.
Actually, no paintwork. And only one person has asked about the door decals. My friend (former owner) had them all stripped for a wrap advertisement that never happened. Then she got hit lightly in the passenger door. I put a used grey door on for her that still had SXT decals. If you notice, the passenger door is actually off of a regular cab because it doesn't have the black paint/decal between the front and rear windows.
The door I put on was far superior to the one I took off. It was from a parts truck that had an engine fire at 15k.
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