Let's Learn English! Topic: Buying and Selling Used Items! 📚📻📺 (Lesson Only)

Well hello and welcome to this English lesson. Today's topic

is buying and selling used items. And you may wonder how I

come up with these topics. Well sometimes they're related to my

life. Currently I'm in the process of selling some used

items. Used farm equipment actually. And so as I went

through my week I thought this would make a great English

lesson. Sometimes it's nice to buy things that are brand new.

Sometimes it's nice to buy things at a store or at a car

dealership. But if you want to save money it can be just as

enjoyable if not more enjoyable to buy things used. I'm sure in

your country there are various ways to find used items. Things

that other people bought new and they are now selling after

using them for a while. So welcome once again to this

English lesson about buying and selling used items. I think you

will really really enjoy it. So There is a person called a

buyer and there is a person called a seller and I know this

is basic English vocabulary but I wanted to start the lesson by

explaining this. If you don't have a car and you have money,

you would say I want to buy a car. If you have a car and you

don't really need it anymore or maybe you want to buy a

different car, you would say I want to sell my car. The person

who is looking for a car, the person who wants to buy a car

is called a buyer. The person who wants to sell their car is

called the seller. So, in the world of used items, you have

buyers and you have sellers and buyers and sellers find each

other through a variety of ways and I'll talk about those a bit

later in the lesson but let me just recap for a second, what

do I mean by used items? I mentioned it a little earlier

in my introduction, a used item is something that isn't new

anymore. Let's say that I buy a guitar brand new. If I sell

that guitar a year later we would say it is a used guitar.

It's not new anymore. It's now used. So this lesson will be

about buyers and sellers of used items. So I won't be

talking about stores or any of the places where you buy brand

new things. But I'll be talking about used. When you want

something we say that you are looking for something. You

could say my brother is looking for a used car. My brother is

looking for a used guitar. So if you know someone who wants

to buy something we use the verb phrase to look for to talk

about that action. Right now I am looking for another mower.

So I want to buy one. So anyone who wants to buy something we

would say that they are looking for that item. They're not

searching for it. It's not like they lost it and they're going

to look for it because we use that verb then as well. If I

lose my keys then I look for my keys. But if I want to buy a

used guitar, you would say, oh, Bob's looking for a used

guitar. Oh, are you selling your guitar? Bob's looking for

a used guitar. Listing or posting. So I mentioned that

there are a variety of ways that buyers and sellers find

each other. One of the ways is when the seller will put a

listing or posting on a website. This has become this

has become the most common way for buyers and sellers to meet

for buyers to find out what people are selling. It used to

be things like a classified ad in a newspaper or people would

put posters up around town you know car for sale. But now

people will instead put a listing or a posting on the

internet. I have a few pieces of farm equipment for sale so I

have listed them on the internet. I have a listing

where people can find the items I have for sale. And the places

in North America particularly oops sorry my bad. Particularly

in my area is to use some called Kajiji. This is a very

Canadian website. I think many countries have the same thing.

I know in France it's I think Freddie Wolfe is mentioning

that in the chat The Good Corner Le Bonque. In Canada we

use Kijiji but we also use Facebook Marketplace. I think

in the United States they use Craigslist and eBay a little

bit more. All of these are websites where you can post or

you can list what you have for sale. So you'll see some

postings here for computers. You'll see some listings here

for computers. Uh let's see here. If you want to sell

something the old fashioned way. You might go and buy a for

sale sign. So this is a sign that you can buy at almost any

store in Canada and it's it's literally called a for sale

sign. If you walked in you can say where are the for sale

signs? I need to sell my motorcycle. And then you put

the item you have for sale close to a street in front of

your house and you put the for sale sign on it so that people

know that that item is for sale I don't have a for sale sign on

the equipment I have for sale but maybe I should do that I

should go get a for sale sign today and put one of the pieces

of equipment close to the road so we use this verb structure

when we talk about selling something we say that you're

going to put it up for sale I don't need my motorcycle

anymore I'm going to put it up for sale I don't need my

bicycle anymore I'm going to put it up for sale or you can

even shorten it and say yeah my bike's up for sale right now.

So basically that means that you most likely have put a for

sale sign on it. But you certainly are eager to sell it.

You hope that someone will buy it from you. And let's talk

about some of the other unique terms. When you have a listing

you usually put an asking price. An asking price is kind

of the starting point for what you will pay. The asking price

for this drill is $10. The person has said that they want

$10 for it. But here's something very interesting

about buying and selling used items. In Canada when you buy

something in a store the price on the item is what you pay.

You can't ask to pay lower or negotiate a better price. In a

store, you pay the sticker price. You pay the price that

it is that is on the item but when you buy and sell used

items, the price is negotiable. So, this person I could call

and say, I see you're asking $10, will you take $8? If

someone is selling a car and the asking price is $5 thousand

dollars, you could call and say, hey, I see you're asking

$5000 will you take 4thousand500 or will you take

4500? So the asking price is kind of the starting point for

that particular sale. Sometimes people will not put a price on.

They'll just say price negotiable. So if I put my

bicycle at the road and I put a for sale sign on it and I said

price negotiable. It means someone can just come and say

I'll give you $10 for that bike or I'll give you $50 for that

bike. And it means that I just want some money for it. But we

can hawk and figure out what price is appropriate. At the

same time we have a phrase called make an offer. Sometimes

people will sell something and instead of saying the drill for

example was $10 it the person could have just said drill for

sale make an offer. And basically what they're saying

is I'm not sure what this is worth. Tell me what you think

you would be willing to pay for it and we can negotiate. So

make an offer is a common phrase in those situations.

When you sell a used item you usually want to talk about the

condition that it is in. And there are a number of ways to

describe the condition of something. Um this is a farm

piece of farm equipment called a plow. This is actually the

plow I'm selling. And if someone was to say hey Bob I'm

interested in buying your plow. What condition is it in? I

would say well it's in good condition. It's a little bit

rusty. It's actually really rusty. And there are a few

things wrong with it and but other than that it's in pretty

good shape. So it's anytime you describe the state or what the

item looks like. This plow I would say is in good condition

but it needs a little bit of work. So when you buy a car or

when you sell a car someone might say well what condition

is it in? And you could say oh it's in excellent condition. I

just had an oil change. Um it really good gas mileage. Um

there's no rust on the car you would describe what the car

looks like and how it operates. So used we just used the word

used to talk about anything that isn't new. If you buy a

car and drive it home that car is now used. For a while you

will call it your new car. But in reality if you wanted to

sell it you would say that it is used. You can see here there

is a used computer for sale. That means that someone bought

this new but now it is being sold again. That's a good price

By the way. I'm not sure what computer it is but $50 for a

computer sounds pretty good to me. Of course it is used. It

might be four years old. It might be five years old. We

also use the term second hand. Now for me when I talk about

something that's second hand I almost always talk about

clothing or furniture. When I talk about vehicles like

motorcycles or cars I use the word used when I talk about

computers used it's a U Used computer. But we don't use used

when we talk about clothes. We usually say second hand. I

bought some second hand clothes. Um although we do say

used clothing store or thrift store. I'll talk about that in

a bit. But generally used is for machines and items. And

second hand is more for things like oh it's a second hand

couch. It's a used couch. They're kind of interchangeable

I guess. I'm changing my mind on this one. But second hand is

definitely another way to describe something that isn't

new. So a few more ways to describe the condition of

something. So you could say something is like new or as

good as new. You can see in this ad here someone is selling

a watch and it says right here like new Samsung Galaxy watch.

So open box simply means that the box has been opened. That

someone probably actually used this watch at some point. But

there's no scratches on it. Maybe they wore it once or

twice. And the watch Still looks like how it would look if

you just bought it. So you would describe it as saying

like new or as good as new. It's nice to buy things that

are used that are like new or as good as new. We also have

this way of describing it. You could say brand new never been

used or still in the box. This would mean something that

someone bought and they never actually used it. So maybe you

buy a camera and you took it home and you opened the box and

looked at it and you never actually used it. You would

describe it as saying brand new or never been used or it's very

common to say still in the box. Which means that you never

really actually used it. So you can see in this ad here this

person selling I think another computer brand new still in the

box. So basically they're saying hey I bought this but I

never used it at all. You have to trust the person to be

telling the truth in that situation. Now we also have a

little phrase as is in Canada and in the United States when

you buy something and it says as is it might not even work.

So if you were to see a car for sale and it says as is it

usually means there's something wrong with it. They'll usually

tell you they'll say hey we're selling this car as is it has a

funny sound when you hit the brakes. Or we're selling this

car as is. It has a dent in the side. We're selling this

computer as is. It turns on but it shuts off after 10 minutes.

So when you buy something as is. You know there's something

wrong with it. You know there's a problem. They'll usually tell

you what they think it is. But it's just a way of saying hey

this is used and it's a little bit broken but you might be

able to fix it. Uh which spring me to another phrase we have

the phrase needs some TLC. When you sell something and you say

needs some TLC TLC stands for tender loving care usually what

this means is it's not broken but it might not look great or

there might be a couple things wrong with it. If you bought

this tractor and if it said needs some TLC what that means

is it needs to be painted it may be an oil change. Maybe

there's a couple small things that need to be fixed. You

would simply say needs some TLC. Needs some tender loving

care. And then we have the condition for parts. So when

you buy something and it says four parts it really means that

this doesn't work but some of the parts are still good. So

this truck maybe could be for sale. Four parts. You can see

the front end is smashed up. But the doors are still good.

It looks like the tires are still good. Even parts of the

engine might still be good. So if I had the same truck but I

needed some parts. I might buy this truck to fix my truck

because this truck would be really really cheap because

they're selling it for parts. So when you buy something for

parts you're literally buying it because you want the parts

that are in it. Whenever you sell something or when you are

looking for something when you're looking to buy something

the listing or posting will have a description. The

description is just some more information. So here's a couch

for sale. The asking price is a 00. And it says comfortable

seven foot couch available for pick up before Friday July 29th

at noon near Young and Davisville. By the way this is

an actual ad if you need a couch and you are near Young

and Davisville today. You could buy this couch. It's a

beautiful couch it looks like. But yes when you sell something

there is usually a spot where you can write a small

description of it. And then we have when people start to

express interest. So let's say I was selling a guitar. We'll

use that example again. I would put a listing on Kijiji or

Craigslist or eBay or Facebook Marketplace or if I was in

France. Um and then you might get a you might get some

interest. You might get some inquiries. You might get a few

nibbles. This is what we would people showing interest. Is

this item still available? Yes okay can I call text you please

give your phone number. By the way that's not proper English.

It's a it should be please give me your phone number. Or please

tell me your phone number. Um this if you put a listing

online and noone inquires? That's not a good thing. But

usually when you put something online for sale you'll have a

few nibbles. You'll have a few inquiries. You'll have some

interest shown. By the way nibble comes from fishing when

you're fishing and sometimes the fish will nibble on the

bait. So we use the word nibble when talking about buying and

selling as well. And let's talk a little bit about to make an

offer to accept an offer and to make a counter offer. So these

two gentlemen are negotiating a price. So the person says hm

and then the other person says I'll give you $50 for it. So

the person on the left is offering. He's making an offer.

He's he said to his wife maybe I'm going to go make an offer

on the guitar. I'm going to offer him dollars. So he's

making an offer. I'll give you $50 for it. The other guy says

hm and then maybe he thinks that's great. He says you've

got yourself a deal. And the other guy says awesome. Or you

could say sounds good or that's great. $50 sounds good. Uh but

you could also counteroffer. So he says I'll give you $50 for

it. And the other guy says how about $60. Maybe the asking

price is $70. The first person I'll give you $50 for it he

makes an offer and the other guy makes a counter offer how

about $60 and maybe they'll meet somewhere in the middle so

to make an offer means to say I will pay you this much for your

item to accept an offer would be to say that amount sounds

good I'll take it the item is yours or a counteroffer would

be to kind of negotiate the price Um we have another little

phrase when something is for sale and it's the phrase OBO

which stands for or best offer. If I was selling to think of

something else to sell, I've I've been I'm selling a couch

and if I said $500 or best offer, it means that I'm asking

for $500 but I'm willing to negotiate quite a bit and if I

get a number of offers, if someone says, I'll give you

400, I'll give you four 20, I'll give you three80, then

after a few days I'll call the person who offered four 20 and

say look you're the best offer so it's yours if you want it.

So usually when someone says or best offer it means they're

willing to negotiate on the price. Now the opposite would

be to be firm on the price. So you can see here someone

selling some Prada glasses. Price firm. Here's someone

selling a ten karat gold bracelet and it says price

firm. When someone says they are firm on the price. It means

that's the price they want. If you called the person with the

sunglasses and said I'll give you 70. If you were to make an

offer they would say no I'm firm at $80 dollars. I want $80

for it. So it means the person is not willing to negotiate.

And then sometimes people will list something and they don't

get very many inquiries. There's not very much interest.

They don't get any nibbles. And so they would they decide oh

it's time to reduce the price. When something is reduced if

you look over at the price there it means they were asking

a hundred and fifty dollars. The asking price was a hundred

and fifty. But they've decided to instead ask for

1twenty-five. So it's reduced. This little fireplace is now

only $125. By the way this is still for sale. This is from

yesterday. If you're in Toronto and you on a little fireplace.

It's 1 25.

And sometimes people don't actually want to sell their

item. They would be willing to trade their item as well. So

this car is for sale for $6500. We would just say 6500. But if

you look down here you'll see contact Paul or trade for

trailer. Four by four truck, ATV, lawn tractor. So instead

of giving him money. If you have a big truck for sale or a

trailer he's willing to trade. He'll give you his car if you

give him his trailer. Um by the way Also it says here

lowballers will be ignored. A lowballer is someone who offers

a really really low price. If you called this person and said

I'll give you one 000 dollarsfor that car. We would

say you are lowballing him or you are a lowballer. And so

he's basically saying don't call me if you're only going to

offer me one or two thousand dollars. I would like something

closer to 6500. But also he will trade for any of those

other He's willing to trade. When you list something for

sale sometimes people will give the reason why they're selling

it. This is a way to let the person know why you're getting

rid of it why you're selling it. So that they trust you a

bit more. This person says I'm selling because I bought a

bigger boat. So you know then if you trust the person. He's

not selling it because it doesn't work. He's not selling

it because there's a hole in it. He's selling it because he

bought a bigger boat and he doesn't need this small boat

anymore. Actually for me that would be a big boat. But he

bought a bigger boat so he doesn't need it. So he has

given a reason. I have farm equipment for sale. In my ads I

said no longer need this equipment. My neighbours are

doing my farmwork for me. Okay so I'm giving a reason why I'm

selling something to assure the potential buyer that it's still

a good item. Uh sometimes we'll say something is a bargain or a

steal or a deal. Uh by the way the verb to steal means to take

something without paying. But when you say something is a

steal you mean that you don't pay a lot of money for it. If

you saw this car and the asking price was five hundred dollars.

You would say that's a real bargain. That's a steal. That's

a deal. You would be really happy to pay that much money

for that car. Now I think maybe that's actually a toy car. I'm

not sure. We'll find out. Um so Sometimes you describe the

price as steep. So if the person instead wanted five

million dollars for this car you would say that's too steep.

That's a steep price for that car. That means you think the

person is asking for too much money. You think that it is too

expensive. When a buyer and seller agree on a price we say

that you've closed the deal. So tomorrow I hope no. Monday I

think I'm going close the deal on another piece of farm

equipment. I think someone might come and buy it. So then

we will shake hands. People still shake hands when they

close a deal. It's nice that the pandemic isn't as bad right

now. You can shake hands with people but that's how you close

a deal. When the buyer and seller agree on a price we say

that you are going to close the deal. Sometimes when you try to

sell something there's not a lot of demand for that item. So

here picture this. If I try to sell a snowblower right now in

the middle of the summer there's not a lot of demand. We

use the word demand to describe how many people are interested

in buying something. In the summer there's not a lot of

demand for snowblowers but in the winter there's a lot of

demand for snowblowers. I have a snowblower that I might sell

but I'm going to wait till late fall because there will be more

demand. Nobody wants a snow blower right now. But I sold my

lawn mower yesterday or a mower yesterday because there's a lot

of demand for mowers right now because the grass is growing.

Sometimes people will say that they'll pay you cash. When you

sell something used people usually pay by check. The most

common way to pay now is with an E transfer. So they transfer

money directly from their bank. But sometimes people will say

give you $3000 cash for that car. Or I'll give you $2, 000

cash. Because cash still has a bit more of an appeal to

people. Um it's easier to not your earnings if you sell

something for cash. And then just a couple places where you

can buy used things but places that aren't exactly the same as

buying it from one person. So a garage sale or lawn sale or

yard sale. There's three words by the way. Is when you put a

bunch of things on your front lawn on a Saturday morning

usually. And people come and they buy things from you. You

put your asking price on everything with a sticker.

People will make an offer. They'll say oh I see you want

20 dollarsfor this table will you take fifteen. You make an

offer. But a lawn sale, garage sale, yard sale is a place

where you a time when you sell items on your front lawn to

people who are driving around on a Saturday looking for

deals. We also have stores called thrift stores or second

hand stores. Some people just will call it by its name. Here

we have a store called Value Village and we have a store

called Goodwill. But a thrift store is a place that sells

used clothing. They sell second hand clothing. They sell all

kinds of things that have been used by the previous owner. So

a thrift store shop is something that teenagers really

like to do. They like to look for name brand clothing at

thrift stores so that they can get a real deal. If you can

find something made by Prada in a thrift store it's probably a

steal. It's probably a good deal. And I'm going to end with

a couple buying and selling phrases that make me smile. One

is the phrase when something is too good to be true. So if you

did actually find this car somewhere and if you told your

friend I saw a Lamborghini that is a Lamborghini right? Yes I

saw a Lamborghini and it's only $500. Your friend would

probably say that's too good to be true. And what they mean by

that is there's gotta be something wrong with this car.

There must be something broken. There has to be a reason. It

can't be a perfectly good car. That would be too good to be

true. And then the other phrase is the phrase you get what you

pay for. So let's say this tractor is normally 20 thousand

dollars. And I buy it for $10000. And then the wheel

falls off. Because I paid so much less than what people

would normally charge for it we would use that phrase well you

get what you pay for so when you pay well below the asking

price and something breaks quickly we often will say hey

you get what you pay for basically meaning well you

didn't pay enough for it so there had to be something wrong

with it