Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Got some good advise to pass along. Now for the rest of the story...
I've been looking for a small ZTR for use on my city lot yard. Up to now my wife and I have kept it mowed with a push mower. It about wears her out, and my knees are saying enough, so I had been looking for a riding mower.
Well last week I found one on Ebay. It definitely fell into the category of a "too good to be true" scam. I almost didn't bid, but since they have buyer protection, I got brave and gave it a shot.
At first I thought it was turning bad. The seller was reluctant to communicate through Ebay Email, wanted to talk on the phone, but I could not understand him, giving vague answers. I did make arrangements to come get it, 400 miles away in Louisiana.
Texting turned out to be the way to communicate. I still wasn't convinced it was for real so I had him send me a picture of it in front of his house with the address showing in the same photo. He did, so I went.
Everything went really well. He turned out to be a really nice guy, met his wife and 2 little girls. He was just as distrustful of me as I was of him at first! First time for both of us doing a "Local Pick Up Only" deal.
His wife told me they personally knew someone that was lured to their death on a Craigs List deal gone bad, so I guess they had reason to be afraid of a stranger coming to their house.
Anyway, what I bought was a 34" Hustler Dash mower. It is brand new, 6 hours on the clock. Got the original paper work where he bought it from Lowes the end of summer. He paid $2400, I got it for $1500 including tax. It's not a real well built machine, but with just me operating it, and as small as this yard is, it will hopefully last the rest of my days.
I asked why it didn't work out for him, said he nor his wife liked it, just couldn't master driving something without a steering wheel!
OK...
Then he starts asking me about what he should look for in a replacement. I told him I would do some research and get back to him. Kinda feel sorry for them, thinking lawn care must be something new to them.
Thanks for the advise!
I've been looking for a small ZTR for use on my city lot yard. Up to now my wife and I have kept it mowed with a push mower. It about wears her out, and my knees are saying enough, so I had been looking for a riding mower.
Well last week I found one on Ebay. It definitely fell into the category of a "too good to be true" scam. I almost didn't bid, but since they have buyer protection, I got brave and gave it a shot.
At first I thought it was turning bad. The seller was reluctant to communicate through Ebay Email, wanted to talk on the phone, but I could not understand him, giving vague answers. I did make arrangements to come get it, 400 miles away in Louisiana.
Texting turned out to be the way to communicate. I still wasn't convinced it was for real so I had him send me a picture of it in front of his house with the address showing in the same photo. He did, so I went.
Everything went really well. He turned out to be a really nice guy, met his wife and 2 little girls. He was just as distrustful of me as I was of him at first! First time for both of us doing a "Local Pick Up Only" deal.
His wife told me they personally knew someone that was lured to their death on a Craigs List deal gone bad, so I guess they had reason to be afraid of a stranger coming to their house.
Anyway, what I bought was a 34" Hustler Dash mower. It is brand new, 6 hours on the clock. Got the original paper work where he bought it from Lowes the end of summer. He paid $2400, I got it for $1500 including tax. It's not a real well built machine, but with just me operating it, and as small as this yard is, it will hopefully last the rest of my days.
I asked why it didn't work out for him, said he nor his wife liked it, just couldn't master driving something without a steering wheel!
OK...
Then he starts asking me about what he should look for in a replacement. I told him I would do some research and get back to him. Kinda feel sorry for them, thinking lawn care must be something new to them.
Thanks for the advise!