Horse sales - is there any polite/effective way to ward off tire kickers?

[luckycricket123]

I’m selling a horse who has had a fair amount of interest when I post his ads, but I keep ending up with flaky buyers who schedule trial rides and never show up or cancel at the last minute.

I’m a human with a life too, so I completely understand that life happens, but at the rate I’m experiencing it, its hard to imagine everyone is having family emergencies.

Is this just the nature of horse sales or is there anything I can do to actively prevent this? I hate ads that sound combative towards time wasters or tire kickers (even though I share their sentiments) because I think it makes them sound like a jerk, and who wants to do business with someone like that? But is there a way to weed out the flakes ahead of time?

[Libby2563]

I’m not sure that anything you put in the ad could stop flakes from being flaky. One thing I do that helps a little is not provide my address until we confirm the appointment the day before. If they ghost at that point at least then I know they can’t randomly show up and I can schedule someone else for that day.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

How many people have scheduled and cancelled thus far? Two is a pain, but unfortunately not unusual. A friend of mine was selling a grey pony, and said that was the worst–getting him clean for a prospective buyer, waiting and waiting, and no show. I think the third or fourth person bought him.

I wouldn’t put any “serious inquiries” or “no tire kickers” warnings, since that’s about as effective as advertising “no barn drama” as a deterrent.

The only thing I can think of is calling/emailing a day ahead to confirm. I have had many contractors doing work on my house, made appointments, and then called the day before to hear them say, “Oh yeah, we’re really busy with the current job, we weren’t coming, can we reschedule.” It’s ridiculous to do this, of course, but sometimes talking to someone closer to the time gives you a sense of how eager or serious they seem.

[luckycricket123]

I think I’ve had 3 or 4 cancellations at this point, which is honestly more people than I’ve actually gotten out to try the horse.

I am also getting irritated by the people who ask to come try him “later this week”, then never pick a time. Not as bad as the no shows, but I hate the feeling of limbo and its been making it hard for me to schedule lessons and appointments for myself if I am told they’re coming but I don’t know when. Of course most of those people never end up coming, so maybe I should just do my business and if they want to come when I’m busy, then just push them back or up an hour or two?

[trubandloki]

@luckycricket123

I am also getting irritated by the people who ask to come try him “later this week”, then never pick a time. Not as bad as the no shows, but I hate the feeling of limbo and its been making it hard for me to schedule lessons and appointments for myself if I am told they’re coming but I don’t know when. Of course most of those people never end up coming, so maybe I should just do my business and if they want to come when I’m busy, then just push them back or up an hour or two?

If you are communicating with someone and all they say is ‘can we come try him later this week’, then schedule your life like you have not talked to them and when they get around to wanting a date and time it can be scheduled around what you have already planned.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Yes “can we try him later this week” is pretty much code for “not a serious buyer” IMHO. I would just say, “I’ve had a lot of interest in this horse, so I’m afraid I need a definite date and time. Call back when you have one.”

Some people don’t think things through and might believe it’s more polite to vaguely say they might be interested at a future date when they really aren’t interested in the horse at all, after getting more information.

[luckycricket123]

Good point, I definitely wish I had realized this earlier in the process

[exvet]

All the time that I was selling horses I can’t say that I was successful at warding off all the tire kickers but I never got that many. I would stay in contact with those who did actually schedule a time to come see the horse and did have some rescheduling due to reasonable hiccups in their original plans. I was very clear with people from the get-go in that I had a full-time job and had very limited availability due to that; so, the windows for seeing the horse were not plentiful. If someone did not commit to a time, I did not, would not worry about accommodating them. Fortunately, most horses I’ve sold over the years had more than enough interest to get them sold in a reasonable amount of time. I will also say that I purchased a horse two years ago and had no issues setting times to see the horse around the seller’s schedule. She had some days/times that she simply could not/would not show the horse which would have been better for me, but I respected her obligations. Her ‘not jumping through hoops’ did not put me off and in all honesty my willingness to respect her schedule probably told her that I was a serious buyer.

[wsmoak]

Go about your life… then be like the dentists office with reminders about their appointment.

two days out: “I’m looking forward to seeing you on Thursday at 4pm. If anything changes with your plans, please let me know at [number]”

and the day of, “Just checking in for our appointment this afternoon at 4pm”

Note: find out how they prefer to be contacted and use that method. some people are better at email than texts. some people prefer to actually talk on the phone.

[TheJenners]

Since most* people use social media like Facebook to sell these days, utilizing FB’s messanger app is amazing because you can see if your messages were read or not, and if there is no reply you can guess you are being ghosted and go on with your day.

There are other messaging apps that do this, and I know Apple to Apple will, but unless you know what phone they have… I love FB and surprisingly, IG messaging, for showing message status. Phone calls are great too, but there are all sorts of reasons people don’t/can’t answer a phone and you’ll never know if it’s because they are ignoring you until, you know, 45 minutes after their appt time.

Last time I tried to sell a horse, I just stayed patient and made appointments that worked with my schedule already in the event of no-shows.

• yes I am aware some people use other means to advertise horses, I do, I promise, I don’t need seven tags telling me

[eightpondfarm]

Tell everyone everything. Emphasise the WORST about the horse. I am more of a buyer than a seller, of most everything in life…but when i DO sell something, i never oversell, i do the opposite. The prospective buyer hears all the bad stuff and if they are still interested, a) i’ve been responsible by telling them allthethings and b) it’s probably genuine interest.

[Paint_Party]

In my experience, a potential buyer who says they’ll try to come out next week, or will see if they can make it this weekend, is usually a tire kicker.

Often it’s because you’ve shared something in the horse’s description (including the fact that you are firm on the price) that turned them off. But instead of politely saying, “Thanks for your time, but I don’t think your horse is a good fit for me,” they make a vague promise that they’ll be out in the near future. Most of the time, you’ll never hear from them again.

Instead, just end each conversation with something like, “Thank you for your interests. If you’d like to see him in person, I’m available on _________ days, providing you contact me first and arrange a time.”

Put the responsibility on them to arrange a trial. If they’re truly interested in your horse, they’ll make the effort.

[Bogie]

What is worse than the no shows (IMO) are the ones who show up, ride your horse, love your horse and then ask if you would consider a free lease. The next time I sold a horse, I put no leases in the ad.

[beowulf]

Like others said, it’s impossible to eliminate them completely but I’ve found small things that help.

1. Put everything in the ad. Photos, at least three videos showing the horse in various situations (especially if going to a multi-purpose home), the exact price you want, and any details that might pertain to a buyer’s interest.

2. Do not schedule your life around their time. If they are interested in seeing the horse, say “sure, he is available for viewing on Sunday at 5 or Tuesday at 6. Which would you prefer?”

Language like “sometime later this week” doesn’t throw red flags for me as it could be a non-assertive buyer’s way of trying to get a feel for what availability the seller has, which is why I always put the ball in their court to commit to a specific date and time.

Do not jump through hoops to sell a horse as I think this is the real way we collectively enable tire kickers.

[KBC]

@wsmoak

some people prefer to actually talk on the phone.

There’s what?

Lol, that’s my personal decider if I am interested, after looking in horror at the “call me” request, if pick up a phone, I’m serious

[luckycricket123]

@beowulf

• Put everything in the ad. Photos, at least three videos showing the horse in various situations (especially if going to a multi-purpose home), the exact price you want, and any details that might pertain to a buyer’s interest.

Can I also just lament the fact that I created an ad on facebook, linked to an external site with a price (because you can’t explicitly state price on facebook) included photos, videos etc and still got half a dozen messages asking for price/videos

[luckycricket123]

and while I’m out here venting, I had a trainer call me about their client at 7am, asking for new videos which I took and sent over and then no response.

Generally speaking, I don’t keep track of every potential buyer who ghosts me, but if I get a phone call from you before 8am, you should be legally obligated to buy the horse

[KBC]

My friend and I stayed with her daughter while helping out at a horseshow a couple of weeks back. We were up at 6:30 on the Sunday morning, daughters phone rings, someone asking about her horse for sale. After weeks of tire kickers, and not right fits, no one was hopeful when the caller said they would be there with their trailer on a certain day.

They came, they loved them the mare, they took her home!

[endlessclimb]

Hey, there was just a thread recently where people were arguing that it was ok to tire kick. I disagree, IMO. It’s ok to window shop. It’s not ok to ask for additional video and then ghost.

[trubandloki]

@endlessclimb

Hey, there was just a thread recently where people were arguing that it was ok to tire kick. I disagree, IMO. It’s ok to window shop. It’s not ok to ask for additional video and then ghost.

I must have missed that thread.

I think it is OK to look at for sale ads all you want.
It is not OK to take the seller’s time if you have no intention of ever buying.