From: John Seidts (jseidts@astory.com)
Date: Tue Feb 03 2004 - 11:53:45 PST
Seeing this request brought to mind the comments of my Drill Sergeant in
Basic Training on the occasion of our first bivouac. He had been getting
questions from the rest of the platoon, (curiously from either the big city
folks, or the back country boys) about lions, tigers and bears, and he got
perturbed enough to call a "CF" or otherwise known as that informal military
formation of "Cluster F***" to tell us, "Men, quit asking me how many
f****** turkeys are in the woods."
Similarly, I was asked for use of my aircraft tracking skills during a
transaction on an M151 by a real nice guy who had been asked to find a P51
Mustang. See, I have acquaintances who have such things, and was able to
quote him a reasonably accurate price for everything from projects to
completed aircraft. When I gave him the price, and he relayed it to the
interested party, the person balked at such an exhorbitant rate for
something so common as a P51 Mustang, and feigned present disinterest at
that price. I hate to tell him, but he's not going to find one for less
than I quoted him, unless he's willing to go negotiate himself with foreign
governments who still own them...
On another side of the issue, I lost a friendship when a former friend who
found a buyer for a third party's vehicle was not paid commission after he
sold the car to people (although he did not ask for it up front). Here is
how the conversation went down over the phone (fairly accurate, and
happening after the transaction).
I ask, jokingly, "So what do you want for commission?"
He said, in seriousness that I didn't understand at the time "My usual 5 or
10%."
I respond jokingly, "Sure, I'll tell him."
Problem was, he was serious about his commission and wanted me to pass the
message on to the third party. In my past, I have done these things for no
fee and assumed since he didn't ask for a fee up front, that he didn't want
one. But because I misunderstood him in his affirmation that he should
receive commission and was asking for it after the fact, he no longer speaks
to me. This is something that I truly regret and am sorry for.
So in the interest of dispelling all ignorance in these matters, I invite
the list comments on
1. The threshold of interest- where that point is that you should earnestly
begin searching for something when somebody asks for it? I also ask this in
the context that there are those people out there who don't have millions of
dollars to pay for people to search for things for them.
2. When should you ignore such interest because it is not serious? (the
million dollar question)
3. What should you say up front to somebody who asks you to find something
for them as far as your terms, conditions, expenses?
4. How do you resolve disputes regarding finder's fees AFTER THE FACT? (I
know, write a contract before hand, but lawyers are expensive, time is
prescious. This did come up and I have a story about it that might give the
idea different spin).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adams-Graf, John" <grafj@krause.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 2:21 PM
Subject: [MV] Any M26s Pacifics out there?
Believe it or not, a fellow called me looking an M26 (G-160 Pacific). Does
anyone know of any out in the wild that might be available? Does not matter
if it is armored or unarmored. With or without trailer is fine. US, UK, or
continental Europe is fine. Drop me an email if you have any possible leads.
Many thanks for the help!
John A-G
Iola, Wisconsin USA
(MV Magazine...not a broker!)
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