is it me? am i getting old??

its not age, i am 24 and i am of the same opinion! i like to be able to phone the seller, chat about the car and then go view it, though i must admit, i do like emails in one respect, can save seller and buyer a bit of time with being able to send photos to get a general idea before you go buy, though this sometimes fails, there is a capri that pops up on ebay often that look alright, but the pics are from about 15 years ago n now its totally shot at!

At 54 I thought it WAS an age thing - so glad to hear it's not!!

When I first started driving if you wanted to buy anything popular like an Anglia, Mk1 Cortina or Mini you had to buy the evening paper as soon as it came out and move fast or anything worth having was always sold by the time you got there - no Autotrader, let alone internet back then.

Oh lord
Ive been through that process
saw a nice Mondeo ST for sale last year
no phone number, just a email
emailed him asking the relevant questions
had a reply in txt speak
which went a little like this
gd mtr gb m8t
no leeks, sunds orsume
bode is gud
u wll luv it

I never replied
WTF??

don't worry I'm only 23 and some of them even puzzle me. I tend tyo buy off gumtree or facebook because often several pictures, but some ads on there that get replied to with that text speak do my head in. don't get me wrong I will write u instead of you sometimes whilst texting but on an ad where you want to make it look like you're not a typical boyracer and that you have some professionalism text speak just isnt a good thing. And even I struggle with trying to understand half of them so god knows how the more mature generation are supposed to be able to understand it.

with gumtree I tend to deal with buyers mainly on email but thats only because I find it easier to write things than to speak them -really not that confident talking to people on the phone. I'll give them my mobile number if they really want to talk about it (just sold a bike on gumtree today ironically)

but I admit, I do miss the old - see an ad in the paper, ring up and go have a look at it. I remember when I got my first bike I must have rung about 30 people in 2 hours and every single bike was gone. those were the days before we even had internet. (couldnt get it in our old house so relied on papers/freeads and that)

Rule of thumb
never buy anything off an illiterate!!

'Dibs' is something invented by people who want something but either not enough to speak to the seller or don't have finance in place yet, isn't it? I'll only hold something as a seller for a confirmed viewing as generally the potential buyer will take their time and money to travel to see it, anything else is fair game until a deal is agreed between two parties.