Classifieds: do's and dont's

[1BigDog]

Several weeks ago, a member posted an item for sale. I responded immediately. A few days later we talked on the phone to clarify some things and agree on a price. Once the total cost with shipping was determined I would then PayPal him. Said Item was never shipped. Several emails, PM's and voice mails later, and almost 3 weeks, still no items or responses, other then 1 post that it would be mailed out in the AM. Now the ad is marked sold. Another voice mail requesting an update...again, no response. So, the only assumption that I can come up with is the item was sold to another. Now, that little bit of background being said, there should be a list of do's and dont's when either buying or selling something in the classifieds.

 

1: Be honest. If there are any flaws, make them known. I was burned once before like that a long time ago on another cycle forum, even after a phone conversation with that seller who flat out lied to me.

 

2: Be a man, or woman: If you agree on something, stick to it. If something changes, let the buyer, or seller if your the buyer know. Don't like the price you agreed to? Let the other person know.

 

3: Be responsive: I know we all have our lives to live and sometimes we get delayed, but just what is a reasonable time to respond back to a seller or buyer? One person either wants to sell and another wants to buy. They want to get the deal over and done in a timely manner. One shouldn't have to leave multiple messages over weeks to get a response. Non-communication leads to assumptions. Most of the time I have found that those assumptions are usually right. But I have been known to be wrong too.

 

It's simple.....just communicate with one another and there wont be any misunderstandings or assumptions.

 

Have a nice day......

[Yammer Dan]

I hear ya Ruff. Lost a item not long ago that was a little strange. Stayed in my corner.

[SilvrT]

I totally understand and agree with your comments; however, is it possible something happened to this person that they are unable to respond? Is there any way anyone here who might live close to the seller can check up on him?

[Trader]

If after a fair number of attempts to rectify the situation, perhaps such deliquent sellers (or buyers) should be identified as a warning to the rest of us.

 

Obviously as a last resort.

[BigBoyinMS]

Great common sense suggestions, Ruffy. And Trader beat me to it... I have no problems with someone being ID'ed when the deal goes south like yours did. And even quicker if money had changed hands. I actually lost about $20 on a deal I did once because I estimated shipping way too low. But that was my mistake, not the buyers.

[massey130]

maybe we can make it a VR club only rule the buyer sends half the agreed on price, the seller sends the item, then the buyer sends the second half of the money. this won't work for a full bike sale, but for a lot of stuff, it may work. that way both parties are at risk.

[Eck]

Ruffy,

In the 7 (or so ) years that I have been a VR member, I was only burned once.

Was it a misunderstanding..Not at all...

When I created and ran the free parts list on the site here a few years back, I was contacted by a member for one of the free parts.

Some of you might remember that during that time, I always paid the shipping no matter who it was for or where it was to be shipped.

Well this individuale lived in Canada, and I told him I would still pay yhe shipping.

It cost me $14.00 to ship the item to him..now rememeber this item was FREE to him..

Well about two weeks later I had a notice on the door of my house stating I had a package at the post office..I went to the P-Offfice and behold, the same exact package I mailed to Canada but it had writting on it stating return to sender..!!!

The postmaster said I owed $14.00 for shipping..so now I am out $28.00 plus my time and gas for this FREE item..

I get home and open the box and there was a note inside that stated:

Eck, sorry, but I changed my mind...thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh was I ever P-O'd...and yes, that individuale recived a drive by email from me..

I have never had another issue since..and I still would pay the shipping to help someone.

 

All in all there is a VR family trust here. It is expected, recieved and is honored by everyone.

Im sorry if you feel you got burnt, but as stated in a posting above, something might have happened to this individuale and he can not contact you right aways..(accident/ hospital..who knows).

Hang in there for a little while longer and lets see what emerges out of this.

[Guest]

Sometimes it is what it is...........ya know???

[spear]

Hey Ruffy.

Doesn't PayPal have 'protection' for this sort of thing - like insurance against getting dudded?

[Squeeze]

Well, i've been out the wet too. I was asked from Member here if i could get him some Memorabilia from a former Brewerie over here. I asked around, found some really nice Things at a fellow Vmaxxers Basement, which he finally was willing to Part with, packed everything up nice and safe, as there where also some Beer Glasses in the Package, and asked a Friend to ship everything to avoid creating insane Shipping Cost. I paid the Beers (actually a Lot of them) for getting even with my Vmax-Buddy, paid shipping Costs and all Feedback i got back was the Question if i was the Guy who send the Package to him. I said, no, that's my Friend but i had have him ship this. Never ever heard back from the Member, not even a Word.

 

We all know, things like that happen. It shouldn't, but it does. I for one, get over it and do it again next Time i've been asked. I had Lots of exactly the opposite Experiences here and elsewhere and that's what counting. We are seldom Breed and i for one, not only thank Don for making and keeping us the Room to gather here, but all Members, they all contribute in this (some also in that) Way, and it's making my Life better. So why should one bad Story make my Life miserable. I found Friends here, enjoy being here and that's what counts, the Rest doesn't matter to me.

[Hummingbird]

A while back, a year, 2 years, I really don't remember - I bought an item on Ebay, paid for it and awaited shipment. Didn't happen, waited, waited and finally got really pi$$ed that someone would act like that.

I sent several scathing emails to the individual and finally received a response.

 

" I apologise " he said "I had a medical emergency and have been in the hospital, I'll ship your parcel as soon as I can get to the PO "

 

nuff said -

[Guest]

In this case no money changed hands. It was just a lack of response and no follow through on the sellers part. I probably posted this out of frustration but I stand on what I said. If you say your going to do something, then do it, or let the other person know why it wasnt or cant be done. Like I said: be a man about it. It was something I wanted.........but, life does go on.

[massey130]

Ruffy said "Now, that little bit of background being said, there should be a list of do's and dont's when either buying or selling something in the classifieds."

I see a lot of us have a story of a transaction that went bad in some way, but it is the buyer who "generally" gets the poor end of it unless the seller makes a mistake and charges/accepts less money for whatever reason.

we are not talking about any deal that goes as it should, but deals gone bad.

Ruffy is looking for suggestions on how to improve transactional success and make those a part of our process.

any suggestions that become part of the classified sales process make "rules" that we are supposed to abide by. we would be creating rules for the majority because of the minority. there seems to be no easy way of handling this and we would have to have Don on board. how is a rule adopted anyway? is there a vote process or does Don say yea or nay? there are no shareholders here that I know of, so this appears to be a sole proprietership and Don would have to adopt rules if I am on the right track. would moderators be expected to enforce sales rules?

are there any other suggestions other than those posted so far?

What are your thoughts on the currently suggested do or don't methods?

If any suggestion is adopted, all members would be expected to abide by that, so would there be a penalty for clearly found out rule breakers? we know there will be a rule breakers because rule breakers are the reason for this thread.

[Carbon_One]

It's all really quite simple IMO. As either a seller or buyer you need to communicate both ways so that both sides know what's going on. If there's a problem then it needs addressing ASP letting the other person know whats what.

Like Squeeze & Eck says there may well be a time you get burnt but those times are the exception rather than the rule. In that case you just chalk it up and move along. I guess I've been lucky thus far as I haven't had any bad dealings with the members here or at other sites I frequent. At least that's been my experience so far.

Take the high road & treat people like you would want them to treat you and it'll work out in the end.

Larry

[Guest]

Like Larry says so well....its really quite simple.

 

We dont need major changes. It doesnt happen that often. Whenever I sold something I always looked at the earliest date/time to see who responded first and went down the line. If it was something expensive I also made a phone call. But thats just me. What im saying here is if you decide to sell or buy something in our classifieds, make sure that you clearly state what you are looking for and maintain communications if anything pops up. This doesnt require any earth shaking forum changes, just some respect for one another.

 

Ok, im done.........

[Carbon_One]

This doesnt require any earth shaking forum changes, just some respect for one another.

Ya my point exactly. Amen

Larry

[Yammer Dan]

I lost something I really wanted in my incident but out of respect for this club I let it go. Probally would have done no good to complain anyway and I could have been wrong. But don't think so. Had it been anywhere else I wouldn't have given up so easy. I keep telling myself I could be wrong but.... Its over and done.