seller etiquette


I have been reading here for a decade, first recent post under my newly found login.

I have contacted a seller about a subwoofer for a fair price. I asked if local pickup was an option. I got a response that it was. I wrote him that I would drive up, from 2 hours away, in 3 days. I told him I don't want to disturb him by plugging it in, I would just pay and pick it up, as I'd trust his word that it works. I was ok paying full price.

I then yesterday afternoon got an email that I needed to pay asap or he'd sell it to someone else as he got another offer. I didn't read the email until this morning when it had already been sold.

Is this normal? Fair? How could I have avoided it? Should have offered to pay in advance?  Should he had been waiting for my response and payment for a little longer?

 

 

parkergetdean

Yes seems perfectly normal, the 1st pd customer wins the deal. The seller did send you an email notifying you that the item was sold, a big plus IMO.

I'd say it can be normal. My guess: the seller has probably had many tire-kickers in the past and when you didn't respond to his email in what he felt was a reasonable amount of time, he made the sure sale rather than holding off for the potential sale.

 

Normal- the seller can sell or not to anyone they choose.  Normally, first come (paid) first served which is in the seller’s best interest - payment sooner/now is much better than the promise/risk of future payment.  AFAIK the only thing that is binding contractually is all 3: offer, acceptance, and consideration (something of value like money) is exchanged.  Without a contractual relationship, nothing is binding.  To get a contractual commitment from the seller, the buyer should have tried to at least make a down payment.  

Post removed 

@dekay 

0) "You appear to have Zero feedback/activity here" that's what I literally said in my first sentence. You looking me up was a waste of your time.

1) I never said it was here

2) it was on a platform where I have 100% positive feedback for 100s of transactions.

3) I do have feedback on audiogon, under another user name I used for a decade, for which I can’t seem to login as