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?
@rick_n - That is exactly how sales work on this site, USAM, eBay, and a bunch of other sites. You pay first, and then trust that the seller will ship your purchase to you.
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I admittedly have never bought used audio equipment from a private seller, but I have bought and sold used cars privately a few times. My take on this is that once a price is agreed upon as well as a date and time to consummate the sale, the seller should make it clear whether he wants either full or partial payment in advance to guarantee the transaction. It’s not up to the buyer to make an offer to do so since the seller controls the terms of sale. A potential buyer can only meet the seller’s requirements if he knows what they are. I understand that in this case the seller apparently tried to let the buyer know that he had another offer, but under the circumstances of the prior agreement I think he should have given the original buyer more time to respond. As far as there being "no honor in capitalism", that's a pretty jaded view. And if it's true, then why is a company's good will worth something when it's sold? A business that mistreats its customers will usually not be in business for long. |
"Why would you think a seller would hold his sub for you without receiving either a sizable deposit or payment in full from you?" Maybe because the seller, who controls the terms of the sale since he owns the property being sold, didn't ask for a sizable deposit or payment in full? What if the buyer was on his way to pick up the sub as agreed upon and the buyer got another offer while he was in transit? Would it have been perfectly okay to accept the new offer because after all, money talks? Once again, I'm not aware of any form of commerce where it's up to the buyer to establish the terms of a purchase. I'm finding it hard to believe that so many here are siding with the seller. |
When money rules over the "word given" it is not civilization but jungle or a peculiar zombies hive... The creator of our social fabric design , the Calvinist B. Mandeville, not Adam Smith nor Marx, wiser than them all, knowing the unconscious centuries before Freud, Mandeville, if we listen to Hayek who called him "our master to us all" , Mandevile said it in this way: " the private vices create the public virtue"... I am not very fond of this "virtue"... Ignorants applauded and called this "economy" and "civilisation"... I understand the OP reaction...When i gave my word i mean it...
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