JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
Messages
559
Reactions
422
I'm curious if this has happened to very many others here at the forum and what the general thoughts are regarding agreements that are made.

I've done several deals with many people and this is the first time where my deal was sold to another person. I did have a previous deal where I'd asked the seller to hold until I was in the area and he agreed and then after getting numerous requests for the item, I was contacted by that seller and was informed of these requests (and additional cash being offered). He wasn't asking for me to offer more money but wanted me to come earlier than I had planned. I was unable to make a quick trip to purchase item and told the seller that I would release my claim to the item and he was free to sell it. To me this was perfectly normal and acceptable behavior.

Recently, however, I had my first issue with what I thought was a deal. The item had a price, I was the first person to say "I'll take it" and asked if I could pickup in a few days. This was accepted and some vague arrangements were made asking that I come near to where he lived. I was OK with that and said so and asked for what time they would be available for meeting. I heard nothing in return within a short period of time. I asked again the next morning about time for meeting and the response was "It sold this morning. Had ton of people interested so first person who met and paid got it". My theory is (no proof of this) that the seller was offered more money for the item.

Here are snapshots of the PM (with incriminating details removed):

Screenshot 01.jpg Screenshot 02.jpg Screenshot 03.jpg
 
I'm curious if this has happened to very many others here at the forum and what the general thoughts are regarding agreements that are made.
I haven't had that type of situation come up, but... an agreement is an agreement. In the digital age clear acceptance on both sides is as good as a handshake, IMHO. The seller could have delayed responding/accepting for a bit to see what kind of interest it was generating and cherry pick the offer he wanted, but once the deal is accepted... that's it. Even that is a bit shifty, but preferrable to backing out after the deal is done. Your honor bound to follow through even if a better offer comes in right on the shirt tails.

Reality though is that, for many, personal honor doesn't carry much weight in the world today. If there is the potential for increased personal benefit... bring on the justifications!

Entirely up to you, but I think a negative feedback is fully justified. I for one would certainly take it into account if a particular seller is known to have a tendancy to not follow through with his agreements.
 
I'm a capitalist. I generally think the seller has a right to sell his product to whomever he wishes...Up to and including after he accepts your offer, if he happens to get a subsequently better offer...say either more money, or a buyer shows up in front of his face with cash in hand, etc.

The caveat here is that he must not cause you any out of pocket expense in the process and he must inform you in timely fashion. It's not cool, for example, for him to inform you that he sold the gun to someone else when you're already half way to the meetup point.

I can't theorize every possible scenario here. But if all that essentially happened was that you traded some emails. I would move on with your life. There are plenty of other guns for sale out there and you'll connect with one shortly. It isn't worth the angst. :)
 
I'm a capitalist. I generally think the seller has a right to sell his product to whomever he wishes...Up to and including after he accepts your offer, if he happens to get a subsequently better offer...say either more money, or a buyer shows up in front of his face with cash in hand, etc.

The caveat here is that he must not cause you any out of pocket expense in the process and he must inform you in timely fashion. It's not cool, for example, for him to inform you that he sold the gun to someone else when you're already half way to the meetup point.

I can't theorize every possible scenario here. But if all that essentially happened was that you traded some emails. I would move on with your life. There are plenty of other guns for sale out there and you'll connect with one shortly. It isn't worth the angst. :)
I agree with this point of view but if a company ran their business that way they would certainly loose customers and collect many negative reviews.
 
I'm a capitalist. I generally think the seller has a right to sell his product to whomever he wishes...Up to and including after he accepts your offer,
I agree, except the "including after he accepts" part. I don't think the "I have dibs" rule is iron clad. All a seller has to do though is reply something like, "thanks for your offer. Please give me X amount of time to consider it and I will get back to you."

That allows them the opportunity to entertain other offers without a commitment, but once committed it's kind of a crap move to go back on your word. The buyer may not be out of pocket at that moment, but you also have to consider the buyer may be comitting or moving funds for the purchase, making advance work or family arrangements to make it possible to meet, or passing up on other limited time opportunities thinking he already has a done deal in progress. Not cool.

The same can go both ways. How does a seller feel when someone commits to buy, makes arrangments to meet up then bails. That's no bueno either. Especially if the seller already turned away other buyers thinking the deal was done.

Kind of a case in point of, "Reality though is that, for many, personal honor doesn't carry much weight in the world today. If there is the potential for increased personal benefit... bring on the justifications!"

Maybe kind of old school thinking, but a person is only as good as their word and deed, IMHO. Break one and all other things become suspect. Ie., Is the stated condition accurate?

Kind of going along with what @arakboss was saying about it possibly having an impact on future dealings as well.
 
I've noticed that this kind of thing has become more and more common over the last couple years. I have been a buyer losing a deal over it, as well as a seller recieving this kind of offer more than once now.

Only thing I can do is refuse to participate in these kinds of deals and leave negative feedback when available. I have both turned around and headed home when already on my way to meet, and I do not respond to these highball offers. Not much more I can think of to do.
 
This is barely related but I'll share the info anyways. I recently made an offer on some bullets that had been lingering in the classifieds. My offer was about 40% less than the sellers asking price. I sent the offer via PM and left the offer open for a week. I suggested that the seller bump the ad and see if he could get a better offer before my offer expired. He decided to accept my offer and forgo bumping the ad. If he had decided to wait until the day my offered expired to accept, I would have honored my commitment to purchase the bullets.

Members are free not to honor their commitments but the other party should be free to express their disappointment.
 
If I accept a deal and terms I honor it period. Been at the short end of the stick many times over the years, so I make things very clear. Not sure I see a date and time agreed upon, but everyone sees the coined deal at a different point.
 
Thanks for all the thoughtful discussion on this. I have had nothing but positive dealings with everyone that I've met to exchange money/goodies up to this point. I was sort of surprised at this potential transaction and reason for the question as I too believe that integrity has become extremely diminished after the last several years and thought there may be a bit of it going on here at this forum. I also believe in capitalism but that belief shouldn't supersede integrity or a person's word/commitment.
I removed the time/date stamps to remove traces of any identifying info but they transpired over an evening into the next morning.
 
I'm a capitalist. I generally think the seller has a right to sell his product to whomever he wishes...Up to and including after he accepts your offer, if he happens to get a subsequently better offer...say either more money, or a buyer shows up in front of his face with cash in hand, etc.

The caveat here is that he must not cause you any out of pocket expense in the process and he must inform you in timely fashion. It's not cool, for example, for him to inform you that he sold the gun to someone else when you're already half way to the meetup point.

I can't theorize every possible scenario here. But if all that essentially happened was that you traded some emails. I would move on with your life. There are plenty of other guns for sale out there and you'll connect with one shortly. It isn't worth the angst. :)
Where is your sense of honor? Does your word mean nothing?

"Yes, I accept your offer." To me that means we have a binding contract. I have given you my word that the item is yours at the agreed-upon price. I am honor-bound to follow through.

It ain't rocket surgery. A man is only as good as his word.




P
 
I just received my first negative feedback ever, 2 years after a similar circumstance when I'd left negative feedback.

On a new member nonetheless, as a warning to others that they might flake out on deals after everything is agreed upon.

Ironically enough I'd even explained my situation to a long time member and they'd suggested I leave negative feedback as a warning.

Just food for thought that they can turn around and give you negative feedback in return, even if it is 2 years later. o_O
 
What was the item? I think I might be the person who bought it out from under you if you were the first. I never bothered posting, just PM'd.
I paid asking, just happened to be able to meet at 8am the next morning.

I always lead my inquires with, "if it's still available". I was told it was, that he made it clear to anyone, first come first serve.

Hence, if that was you, and we are talking about the same item, it's yours for the price I paid when you happen to make it down to 97225.

Edit to add: just read your PM string -- if you're in town, PM me please.
 
I just received my first negative feedback ever, 2 years after a similar circumstance when I'd left negative feedback.

On a new member nonetheless, as a warning to others that they might flake out on deals after everything is agreed upon.

Ironically enough I'd even explained my situation to a long time member and they'd suggested I leave negative feedback as a warning.

Just food for thought that they can turn around and give you negative feedback in return, even if it is 2 years later.
I've given no negative feedback exactly for this reason. If someone doesn't have integrity, then there would be no reason to stop them from lying about you and providing a negative feedback with nothing other than spite/revenge in mind.
 
What was the item? I think I might be the person who bought it out from under you if you were the first. I never bothered posting, just PM'd.
I paid asking, just happened to be able to meet at 8am the next morning.

I always lead my inquires with, "if it's still available". I was told it was, that he made it clear to anyone, first come first serve.

Hence, if that was you, and we are talking about the same item, it's yours for the price I paid when you happen to make it down to 97225.

Edit to add: just read your PM string -- if you're in town, PM me please.
I appreciate your reaching out to me, definitely not expected result of this post. I really hold no ill will towards anyone (even the seller) as it's not my nature, but especially the buyer. The buyer has no pre-existing deal that the seller made and in my opinion is under no obligation to honor that prior agreement. It would be nice, as you stated to inquire "if it's still available" or even "let me know if the deal falls through" to happen but often the buyer only knows what the seller tells them. Curious if you simply paid what the asking price was (it'd shoot my theory about price increasing due to lots of interest though).
Even though you offered, and the selling price was pretty great, I will happily decline your offer as it sounds like a standup guy got it and that works for me!

If you want to shoot me a PM to verify, I could confirm if we are talking about the same item. I have zero interest in calling this person out, or providing negative feedback, so please keep it private.
 
I'm old fashioned, if I agree to a deal, I honor it. Backing out of deals occurs on major sites like Ebay, even. An item sells, then somehow it's no longer available to the buyer and the seller cancels the sale. It's no way of doing business in an honorable way.

I'm a capitalist. I generally think the seller has a right to sell his product to whomever he wishes...Up to and including after he accepts your offer, if he happens to get a subsequently better offer...say either more money, or a buyer shows up in front of his face with cash in hand, etc.
Even capitalists can have scruples.

I however do not consider a deal done until cash exchanges hands.
There is this. Because enough deals here can fall through, sellers are right to be wary of taking the first offer to purchase. A seller could put a caveat into their listing saying something like, "First cash in hand takes it." That would rule out some of the people who want the seller to hold the item for them. I've found that requests to hold as often as not result in a flake-out.

"thanks for your offer. Please give me X amount of time to consider it and I will get back to you."
This might be construed as pimping for highest offer; auction method of sale isn't allowed on this site.
 
This is, unfortunately, not the first and likely not the last time this type of thing has been complained about on this site. Not everyone has a moral compass and even those who do, may not have theirs pointing to the same North.
 
This might be construed as pimping for highest offer; auction method of sale isn't allowed on this site.
Then I go back to my original suggestion. 😜 A seller can give it a little time before responding to anyone. Cherry pick which offer/buyer you prefer, then honor it.
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top