The only way to back out of a deal on Ebay is to win the auction and then not follow through on the transaction. While the rules here are stated somewhat differently, i don't think that anyone involved in this website or hobby would have a hard time with leaving negative feedback for someone who won an Audiogon auction and then backed out.
As to leaving feedback for "tire kickers" that make promises that they don't keep, that may be another story. I know that it can be EXTREMELY frustrating to say the least, but what else can be done other than what is being done ? You have to draw the line somewhere and Audiogon's decision as to where that takes place is quite clear. Otherwise, you would have "whacko" sellers leaving negative feedback for everyone that contacted them and didn't end up buying, "whacko" buyers that were upset and leaving negative feedback because they never received follow up information on their inquiries, etc...
I have seen some folks leave negative feedback regarding "transactions" that weren't really "transactions" as Audiogon describes them though. If you see one comment that says "backed out", etc... you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt. When that person has several comments like that, the person making the feedback obviously felt strongly enough to warn others. They did this even though they knew that there was no actual transaction involved and that they were actually "breaking the rules" to do so.
This one is kind of a two sided sword: it can cut either way and requires great care in handling. While i am grateful for some of the "non transaction based feedback" that i've seen in terms of being warned, i know that it borders on slander and would boil down to one person's word against the others. Like anything else though, you can't force someone to buy something no matter what they've said or done in the past. Just like they say "buyer beware", i guess we now have to say "seller beware". Both parties should work on covering their own "assets" : ) Sean
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As to leaving feedback for "tire kickers" that make promises that they don't keep, that may be another story. I know that it can be EXTREMELY frustrating to say the least, but what else can be done other than what is being done ? You have to draw the line somewhere and Audiogon's decision as to where that takes place is quite clear. Otherwise, you would have "whacko" sellers leaving negative feedback for everyone that contacted them and didn't end up buying, "whacko" buyers that were upset and leaving negative feedback because they never received follow up information on their inquiries, etc...
I have seen some folks leave negative feedback regarding "transactions" that weren't really "transactions" as Audiogon describes them though. If you see one comment that says "backed out", etc... you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt. When that person has several comments like that, the person making the feedback obviously felt strongly enough to warn others. They did this even though they knew that there was no actual transaction involved and that they were actually "breaking the rules" to do so.
This one is kind of a two sided sword: it can cut either way and requires great care in handling. While i am grateful for some of the "non transaction based feedback" that i've seen in terms of being warned, i know that it borders on slander and would boil down to one person's word against the others. Like anything else though, you can't force someone to buy something no matter what they've said or done in the past. Just like they say "buyer beware", i guess we now have to say "seller beware". Both parties should work on covering their own "assets" : ) Sean
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