seller etiquette

@kennyc 

you tried to encumber the seller to hold the item for you “for free”

I would have long abandoned this thread if this nonsense stopped coming up. Please. I did not pressure the seller to do anything. I committed to 4 hours of driving, an extra $80 on my part to picking up the item. The seller AGREED to this. If he had said: it's not yours until you are here because I am entertaining other offers, I would have asked "how about a deposit?" But he did not. He agreed to the terms, in fact he suggested the terms and I accepted all of them.

What guarantee does the seller have that the future buyer won’t back out?

My word. There is nothing more than that, no deposit, written contract means more than MY WORD.

@ozzy62 

If I were your in person buyer, I would have said: "I am interested, I have the money, can I come by, listen to them, and if my ears like them, I would buy them."

In my story, I told the seller: "do NOT hook it up, I am ready to take them as is, and hand you cash".

@parkergetdean 

Understood. And I didn't relate that story insinuate in aligns with your story. I just wanted to share my experience of what could happen when people aren't on the same page.

@ozzy62 got it. It sure must have been annoying. I once had a fast classic car, when I tried to sell it, I stopped counting how many people test drove it just for fun

@parkergetdean 

Admittedly, I did not read every single comment here, so some of this may have been covered already.

You asked "How could I avoid this in the future?" (Paraphrasing)

Here's what I would have done:

1) Offered to put down a small deposit (Venmo or PayPal) to guarantee holding until agree upon pickup date / time. Don't wait for the seller to ask for one - offer it yourself. This shows the seller that you are now vested in completing the transaction;

2) Did the seller know it was a 4 hour drive for you? Significant information like that should be communicated. If nothing else, it gives the seller understanding that with such a long distance to travel, he needs to be a little more flexible if (for example) you are an hour late getting to him due to traffic, etc.;

3) Unless the whole "I will just pick it up, won't even test it out" angle was crucial to getting the sellers agreement in the first place... which honestly would raise red flags in my mind IF IT WAS... why give up a generally recognized 'right' without getting anything in return? As a person who has both bought and sold in the past, I fully expect that anyone purchasing from me is going to want to test the equipment. If I was buying and a seller said "no testing, just pick it up and go..." that's a MAJOR downward push on pricing (at least what I would be willing to pay)... again, don't give up anything that is considered a standard allowance unless you are getting some consideration in return for giving it up...