"I'll take it!"

[coosbaycreep]

What about people who post "I'll take it" when they're on the other side of the state? I don't think it was on this forum, but I've posted stuff for sale on other sites and ended up getting replies from people expecting me to hold it for them for 1 or 2 weeks until they get here to pick it up, get the money together, etc., even when the ad specified local only.

It's not reasonable to expect a seller to wait for you to get your stuff together to complete the deal.

I won't post "I'll take it" unless I have the cash and am willing to travel to wherever it is within a few days at the most, and if that's still not fast enough for the seller, I don't get mad if they choose to sell to someone else instead.

I've had too many flakes and crackheads waste my time because they either don't read the ad or don't care.

 

[toobigtofail]

I've had too many flakes and crackheads waste my time because they either don't read the ad or don't care.

//

You don't mean real crackheads, right? I'll have no truck with dope fiends and I hope it's the same with you.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

What about people who post "I'll take it" when they're on the other side of the state? I don't think it was on this forum, but I've posted stuff for sale on other sites and ended up getting replies from people expecting me to hold it for them for 1 or 2 weeks until they get here to pick it up, get the money together, etc., even when the ad specified local only.

It's not reasonable to expect a seller to wait for you to get your stuff together to complete the deal.

I won't post "I'll take it" unless I have the cash and am willing to travel to wherever it is within a few days at the most, and if that's still not fast enough for the seller, I don't get mad if they choose to sell to someone else instead.

I've had too many flakes and crackheads waste my time because they either don't read the ad or don't care.

Yeah, I gotten several of those. They say "I'll take it." and then after about the third e-mail they add "Oh, I am 400 miles from you. Would you meet me half way?"

 

[Intoodeep]

The trade rating system looks like it needs to be moderated to be effective and avoid retaliatory feedback and could be a ton of work for the mods. If that were to happen likely there would be a bunch of unhappy members and unfortunately the anger could and would get misplaced at the mods.

 

[Outrider]

M4Carbine.net has a good approach to its classifieds that may make sense to adopt here. There, the only person who can post in the thread is the person selling the item. All messages with questions or offers are handled through PM and email. That way there's no chance for a potential buyer to mess things up in the thread by claiming "I'll take it" publicly while trying to negotiate and haggle privately. The answers for any frequently asked questions (i.e. location, trade demands, etc.) can added to the original post through the edit function.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I have had people post "I'll take it" and then vanish from the face of the earth

But in spite of that this is the best forum I have ever been on for trades and unloading extra goodies

 

[unionguy]

If you are selling an item, it is yours to sell to whomever you wish. Period.

+1. Until you have an offer that is accepted, no one has anything to complain about b/c until then there is no agreement of any kind.

 

[raftman]

Doesn't it just become a "he said" vs. "he said" thing then?

That's kind of what occurred to me. Let's say for example, a buyer doesn't show up. The seller waits a good while and goes home, leaves a negative feedback, saying "So and so didn't even show up, I waited for an hour!" The buyer can say, "This seller is the one who didn't show up, and then left me negative feedback to try to seem like the victim!" If the two went so far as to agree on a place and time to meet, but the offending party doesn't reply to any emails or PM's after the failed meeting, then how are we to actually know who is telling the truth? Sure, we could base it on reputation, but that's not an absolute guarantee, or perhaps there's not enough difference between their reputations to say.

 

[MountainBear]

If you are selling an item, it is yours to sell to whomever you wish. Period.

Until you make an agreement. Once an agreement is reached, a contract is established. Sometimes you have to back out of an agreement. Life happens. But when you do, contact the seller and ask permission to back out. The fact is that there is a contract, so, if the other party does not want to release you, you should finish the deal. Don't just tell them you're backing out. That's a breach of etiquette, honesty, and possibly borderline illegal (since a contract has been agreed upon). Especially when you are lying as to the reason you break the contract.

When negative feedback is left, retaliatory feedback should be dealt with. The rating system cannot work when one member cannot leave negative feedback for fear of retaliatory feedback being left for you.

 

[wolfwistle]

I called a guy last week about aArmerlite upper.He said I was the only one to call so far.We made plans to get together the next day so we could tade or I would just buy the upper outright.When I finally got a hold of him on the phone He said he made another deal with someone else. Another words he got more than the asking price. These things happen .Its ok. Is the guy a douche bag ? O yeah he's a douche bag . But it's not enough to get upset about . I'll get my toy's -and you can get your's too.

 

[MountainBear]

I called a guy last week about aArmerlite upper.He said I was the only one to call so far.We made plans to get together the next day so we could tade or I would just buy the upper outright.When I finally got a hold of him on the phone He said he made another deal with someone else. Another words he got more than the asking price. These things happen .Its ok. Is the guy a douche bag ? O yeah he's a douche bag . But it's not enough to get upset about . I'll get my toy's -and you can get your's too.

So it's okay to break a contract if you find a better offer? I'm not sure how other people were raised, but my parents raised me with a better sense of honesty and ethics than that...

 

[JAFO]

I think it's good form to respond to all questions Pm or posted! I also think telling a guy he is second in line is good form too.

I don't quite agree. There are several people on this site who don't seem to read an ad and send or post that they want to trade. I have had this happen with several ads that say "NO TRADES" right after the price. Sometimes I reply "no" and sometimes I don't reply. I don't mind if I don't mention trades or not, or if I specify trades such as S&W revolvers, except these particular people offer crap to trade.

 

[dave]

A good general rule of thumb that I find useful is to only deal with reputable or "paying" members on this site. Those willing to donate to the site seem to uphold their obligations more Ive found.

But lets not forget, this is a free and open to the public classifieds we are dealing with.
No real reprecussion other than bad feedback. Most flakes are not bothered by this. Just us honest people get our panties twisted by it.

By "reputable" I meant established with transactions, posts and time in membership.

 

[ZeroRing]

What would be helpful would be for the seller to post SPF to ____ in the thread. This would establish to all that a public contract is in process and then if either party backs out for lame reasons a negative feedback would be in order.

If nothing else it would take the air out of any he said/no he said arguements.

 

[fletcher]

This has been a good discussion. I would suggest that a sticky be made that contains a standardized selling form, which could be copied and pasted into every ad, with the seller filling in the blank. That way, the seller is disclosing all of the nuances of a potential sale in the ad before being contacted. Outside of the general firearm description, the sticky would have things like:

"I am willing to travel _____ miles from ______ to complete the sale."

or

"I will consider offers for the next ____ hours, but full price offers get priority."


Probably part of the problem is that less frequent traders need help in writing the actual for sale ads, because they don't know what type of details to disclose. I think if one of the moderators would make a standardized form for the seller to disclose preferences, then transactions might be more transparent and a lot smoother.

 

[trainsktg]

If you are selling an item, it is yours to sell to whomever you wish. Period.

Yup. 'Nuff said. Unless the deal is agreed to by both parties, the seller can sell to whomever he/she wishes.

Recently, I had an agreement with a seller to buy a rifle for X price and drove over 120 miles (one way) to get it. He had been offered full cash price the night before, but held it for me as we had made our agreement subsequent to that. I appreciated that. There were some other issues that arose when I arrived which might have gotten some folks ticked off enough to leave Negative feedback, but in the end I got the rifle for the price agreed on and I left Postitve feedback for the seller. I recieved no feedback either way from the seller, but whatever.

Keith

 

[ZachS]

This has been a good discussion. I would suggest that a sticky be made that contains a standardized selling form, which could be copied and pasted into every ad, with the seller filling in the blank. That way, the seller is disclosing all of the nuances of a potential sale in the ad before being contacted.

That would be a pretty long form...


But suggesting that sellers state the most important terms of their offer is an excellent idea.


For bubblegums and giggles, I feel like noting that every WTS ad is an offer, every "I'll take it" is an acceptance, and all terms not stated in either are listed here.

Obviously, it would be unworkable for transactions here (like most small-$ FTF sales) to be policed on that basis. The golden rule should be more than good enough for this community.

 

[Trlsmn]

For bubblegums and giggles, I feel like noting that every WTS ad is an offer, every "I'll take it" is an acceptance, and all terms not stated in either are listed here.

Ah but by your legal disclaimer you would need to saw the item up and distribute it to all the "I'll take it's"

 

[ZachS]

Ah but by your legal disclaimer you would need to saw the item up and distribute it to all the "I'll take it's"

Hey, stop looking at me like I have some kind of idea what the stuff in that link actually means..

 

[Bazooka Joe]

Until you make an agreement. Once an agreement is reached, a contract is established... That's a breach of etiquette, honesty, and possibly borderline illegal (since a contract has been agreed upon).

+1. For values not exceeding $500 in both Washington and Oregon, you do not need a written, signed contract to have an enforceable contract that the courts will uphold. For values over $500, people should understand that forum posts and PMs and such DO count as valid contractual writing even if it hasn't been decided, yet, if your forum name counts as a valid signature. Do you want to be that test case?