Educating Cobra Buyers?

[Tommy]

There are some pretty strict rules against commenting on the values of cars for sale over on the Corvette forum. I suspect the forum owners are protecting themselves and recognizing that a lot of their income comes from Corvette professionals who make a living buying low and selling high. But one thing they do not police is private messages. If I think someone in particular is about to make a bad mistake as either buyer or seller, I can alway send him a PM.

[Buzz]

If someone asks on an open forum for opinions about a prospective purchase, then that is exactly what they should be prepared to receive. It's up to them to sift through all of the information they get from a combination of these opinions and their own research in order to arrive at an informed conclusion.

If someone asks for my opinion, I can choose to respond (or not) without accepting any responsibility for what that person decides to do with the information I do or don't provide. That is - as long as I don't represent myself as as an acknowledged expert or authority in that particular field. Once you present yourself as such (as opposed to an ordinary person with some knowledge and experience) then there is some reasonable expectation that the information you supply should at least be factually sound. Even then however, people must be prepared to accept full responsibility for the decisions and choices that they themselves ultimately make.

[olddog]

Bill,

I value your experience and stead fast opinions. Seems to have little bias one way or the other.

I have noticed that people tend to pick a car for sale apart, where if they were the one selling it, they would have a different opinion. Certainly that may be human nature, but you obviously try to ovoid that.

Sellers seem to pop up with ridiculous claims and prices quite frequently. I have never heard of buyers advertising they want to pay ridiculously low prices. So I do believe that buyers need protection from unscrupulous sellers. I have no sympathy for the predators.

I do not believe one man can impact a market.