Who should we make deals with on here?

[HarryHaller]

A recent deal I set up on here seems to be falling apart, and it's causing me frustration with the feedback system. The guy had no posts beside his two ads, one for a Mosin and one for 7.62x54r ammo. I started a private conversation with him 17 minutes after his posting and said I'd buy his ammo and just let me know when to meet up and I'll be there. We arranged to meet Friday and I said just name a time and place and I'll be there, as I have with many people on this site and have followed through on my word. The next morning he messages me to ask if I want the Mosin too, because he has to give preferential treatment to someone that wants both. I look at his Mosin ad which I had looked at the night before and he's added a line about preferential treatment to buyer of both gun and ammo, I just looked and he also added that line to the ammo ad. So now I figure someone messaged him and said I want gun and ammo but not gun alone. So he tries to back out of my deal to set this up with the other dude or push me in the situation where I buy another Mosin I don't want.

I don't need the ammo so I don't care that much if the deal falls apart but it frustrating dealing with people who don't seem to have the strength of character to follow through with deals they've made with people. I have felt like this site has been great to put me in touch with people that have the values that people seemed to care about more about in the past, like first come first serve and being a man of your word. I think that's something you find in the gun community far more than in general population these days. I feel like the feedback system on here helps too.

The potential problem with feedback system I feel is that people can just create a new profile, post some ads, behave in any shady way they want because if they get bad feedback they can just create a new profile to post ads on. Should I just not deal with people that don't have feedback? Some might think I'm being overly sensitive and that the guy has the right to sell his stuff however he wants, and I agree both might be true. It's just disappointing when people try to weasel around in deals and there's no viable recourse. Except to potentially miss out on stuff you want because someone doesn't have feedback or a post count or deal with potentially sketchy people that will behave badly.

Anyway mostly just venting, seemed like an interesting topic to discuss. I'm sure people will have opinions across the map on the subject.

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[Greenbug]

I am afraid that gone are the days when a "man's word" carried value. It is unfortunate to say the least, but at least now you know who not to deal with. Now it should be your responsibility to warn the rest of us so we don't have to suffer the fool as well.

Most members on here are stand up guys who's word still means something, don't let a this new guy represent all who frequent this site.

 

[41mag]

I don't need the ammo so I don't care that much if the deal falls apart

agree with your post and lament; yes there's an evolving behavioral shift throughout the realm, from 'the good old days' when men followed through on their agreements even after realizing there's something better possible;

I'd feel much the same and strive to somehow overcome my disappointment.

On the other hand, I'm still conflicted about the deal I got years ago on primers in factory sleeve....thrilled to find some components, yet at home discovered each of the boxes within had 2 packets carefully removed, so I was cheated out of 20%.....tight supply, gun show deal with unknown individual. Yeah, I didn't need primers that bad either yet the episode cast a stain on future adventures.

Good luck.

 

[DirectDrive]

I feel your pain.
Look on the bright side, at least you didn't make a deal with an immature jerk.

I was arranging a shotgun buy on here and had a member come into the the thread and try to snipe me.
Luckily the seller was morally sound and made the deal with me.

Positive feedback and/or at least a high post count are a help.

You are welcome to PM me this guy's forum name so I can watch for him.
Thanks.

 

[Mikej]

Phhshtt. An annoyance for sure. Come down here to Porkland and drive around the city for a few weeks and you'll REALLY find something to be annoyed with.
Just my view here...You've got 29 wonderful reviews and I assume those were from good, to wonderful experiences. Meeting new people that are just plain nice. The noob you dealt with maybe just doesn't get the etiquette yet, maybe never will. Some people are just that way. At least you didn't get stood up or ripped off.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

One issue with a "Do not deal with these folks" list...is that it could easily be abused.

I do understand the frustration of dealing with buyer / seller / trader who is flaky , less than honest , says one thing , then does another...
And yeah the feedback reports only go so far in telling the story of the member.

Making a internet deal is tricky at best what with all the legal hoops , much less the reliability factor of the folks conducting the deal.
Good communication and following through seem to be key here...

As stated above read the feed back , look at post counts / likes , use your own instincts and judgment...as well as the "Golden Rule" , of treat others how you would like to be treated....
Andy

 

[GOG]

I got ripped off by a guy with no feedback a couple of months back. I figured everybody has to make a first deal so I took a chance. The guy got the merch but never sent payment and zero contact after several attempts at communication.
However it was my fault. I've grown accustomed to dealing with honorable people on gun boards and I sent the whatever it was before receiving payment. So it's on me and it's a sad lesson learned.

I contacted a mod at the time just as an fyi and then just let it go. But if it's becoming a pattern here then we need to know who the jerks are.

This one's on me:

I can't remember what I had for sale some time back, but I was working on a deal already but a member PM'd me and I told him if it didn't go through I'd get back to him. I forgot to do so and he wasn't happy. I contacted him after and explained that I'd just forgotten but like I said he wasn't happy. At that point there wasn't any way to fix it. It was forgetfulness not something shady, but I felt bad and he probably still thinks I'm a jerk.

 

[UserNameInUse]

But what do you say when the person that contacts you has 2 posts and no feedback? They may be a stand up person, but you might not want to bother to find out. It would be pretty rude to just reply you don't want to deal with them.

I joined a well established motorcycle forum when I got my current bike. On that forum you could not even see the classifieds until you had a certain number of "quality" posts. I wanted to try out a number of factory accessories and if they didn't work out, pass them on to someone else. Took me a while before I could do that. And if they saw someone posting "Nice bike." or "Me too." over and over those didn't count. And when you are new on an old forum there is not a lot you can add that hasn't already been said.

I've thought about putting something in my ad saying I will only deal with members with a certain number of posts but on here I think I would get a bunch of nasty comments.

I've got a bunch of stuff I would really like to get rid of but lately I just don't feel like dealing with the whole process.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

With low post counts...maybe ask the new member questions in a PM...or just tell him that you are willing but worried due to the low post count and see how he replies....

Low posts and new members are in a tough spot to be sure...hard to make a deal if no one is willing to take a chance on a new person....
Andy

 

[Lilhigbee]

OP I see you didn't leave feedback for the seller. There is the "Neutral" option that I think would be appropriate in this case, with an explanation in the comments.
As I've stated in another thread, the feedback system is useless without ACCURATE feedback. Personally I review the feedback of anyone who contacts me directly. All positive?? Wonderful. Got a negative or neutral, or two?? Read through them and determine if it is deserved or not, sometimes it isn't deserved at all, just sour grapes. Got no Feedback?? Everyone here was new at this at one time, so I give them a chance, knowing it may not work out. If it doesn't, off to the Feedback I would go, though I haven't had to leave Neutral or Negative feedback for anyone here yet.
I got a message from a new member on my for sale ad, his first post on his first day as a member. A couple of PM's and about ten seconds on the phone and I was sure it would be fine. It was.
MOST of the folks here are stand-up people, Far more so than Craigslist or the general population. Dealing with flakes is just a risk you take anytime you try to sell or buy something, especially online. Know that by buying and selling through this forum you have weeded out the majority of the time-wasters and scammers right from the start.

 

[66PonyCar]

I still believe "A man's word is his bond." But in this day and age it doesn't hold up as well. I've always had good experiences with members on this site.

A while back I had an item for sale. A member wanted it but was going out of town and wanted me to hold it for him when he returned in a week. I told him I would. Sure enough a couple of hours later another member wanted it and was willing to buy it now. It never crossed my mind to sell to the second guy. Instead I told him I had a pending offer and if it fell through then he was next. As it turned out the first member bought the item as promised and didn't give me cause for regrets.

 

[Mikej]

I got ripped off by a guy with no feedback a couple of months back. I figured everybody has to make a first deal so I took a chance. The guy got the merch but never sent payment and zero contact after several attempts at communication.
However it was my fault. I've grown accustomed to dealing with honorable people on gun boards and I sent the whatever it was before receiving payment. So it's on me and it's a sad lesson learned.

I contacted a mod at the time just as an fyi and then just let it go. But if it's becoming a pattern here then we need to know who the jerks are.

This one's on me:

I can't remember what I had for sale some time back, but I was working on a deal already but a member PM'd me and I told him if it didn't go through I'd get back to him. I forgot to do so and he wasn't happy. I contacted him after and explained that I'd just forgotten but like I said he wasn't happy. At that point there wasn't any way to fix it. It was forgetfulness not something shady, but I felt bad and he probably still thinks I'm a jerk.

If I hadn't had dealings/conversations with someone in the past I think I might insist they wait 'till they get the money to send something to me. Always looking for the chance something may go wrong! That's me!

And as far forgetting, stuff happens. If someone thinks you screwed them over still, after apologizing and explaining/showing remorse, well, I got a hunch that person may be unhappy a LOT!

 

[rick49]

A recent deal I set up on here seems to be falling apart, and it's causing me frustration with the feedback system. The guy had no posts beside his two ads, one for a Mosin and one for 7.62x54r ammo. I started a private conversation with him 17 minutes after his posting and said I'd buy his ammo and just let me know when to meet up and I'll be there. We arranged to meet Friday and I said just name a time and place and I'll be there, as I have with many people on this site and have followed through on my word. The next morning he messages me to ask if I want the Mosin too, because he has to give preferential treatment to someone that wants both. I look at his Mosin ad which I had looked at the night before and he's added a line about preferential treatment to buyer of both gun and ammo, I just looked and he also added that line to the ammo ad. So now I figure someone messaged him and said I want gun and ammo but not gun alone. So he tries to back out of my deal to set this up with the other dude or push me in the situation where I buy another Mosin I don't want.

I don't need the ammo so I don't care that much if the deal falls apart but it frustrating dealing with people who don't seem to have the strength of character to follow through with deals they've made with people. I have felt like this site has been great to put me in touch with people that have the values that people seemed to care about more about in the past, like first come first serve and being a man of your word. I think that's something you find in the gun community far more than in general population these days. I feel like the feedback system on here helps too.

The potential problem with feedback system I feel is that people can just create a new profile, post some ads, behave in any shady way they want because if they get bad feedback they can just create a new profile to post ads on. Should I just not deal with people that don't have feedback? Some might think I'm being overly sensitive and that the guy has the right to sell his stuff however he wants, and I agree both might be true. It's just disappointing when people try to weasel around in deals and there's no viable recourse. Except to potentially miss out on stuff you want because someone doesn't have feedback or a post count or deal with potentially sketchy people that will behave badly.

Anyway mostly just venting, seemed like an interesting topic to discuss. I'm sure people will have opinions across the map on the subject.

I've dealt with OP on more than one occasion. Rock Solid with more than a 5 star rating.

 

[HarryHaller]

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't leave feedback because I hoped to give him a chance to make things right. For now it sounds like he wants to proceed with our original deal. I will update the thread, hopefully to say we've got a cool new member to the forum. I wondered if I was creating this thread too soon but I needed to vent.

This is only the second time I've had a frustrating experience on here on a deal. Previously I had a guy sell me 1000 rds of .223 in an ammo can, we met up, went fine, did seem like he was in too much of a hurry. When I got the ammo home it was all damaged, cases had huge dings and divits, case necks ripped up. I tried firing some that didn't have superficial damage and the primers popped out. I was pretty bummed that I trusted this dude not only on the number of rds but also that they weren't trashed. I left negative feedback but he only had a couple of posts and I suspect if he's still on the forum it's under a different name now. That's part of what motivated this post, feeling like negative feedback in a situation like this felt like it didn't amount to much if they can just create a new account.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Sorry you got stood up like that. I had a guy flake out on DW revolver sale some years back. I got the cash and was getting ready to drive up from Vancouver to Tacoma to make the deal and He flaked out on me. He said he was tired of everyone flaking out on him, that was his reasoning for flaking out on me. I called him out on it in his ad, the forum took care of it from there.

 

[Colts4me]

You won't find feedback on me in most cases, I tell the folks I buy from its nobody's business what I buy so don't leave a feed back score. The guys I buy from know I am good for the money and go out of my way to see a deal through but privacy is important to me.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Just a thought here...if privacy is a concern...

You don't have to go into detail with what you bought or traded for...
Comments like:
Excellent communication ...
Item was just as advertised...
Quick and easy to deal with...
Item was packaged nicely and securely....

All can go a long way in helping someone decide whether or not to make a deal with a member.
Andy

 

[Colts4me]

I prefer phone communication once a contact is made and after that it's nobody's business if the sale went through or not. Telling the world what you buy and sell in today's world is pretty dumb in my opinion. As more laws hit the books that regulate what you can own it becomes reckless to post your business. You guys do what you want.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

. Telling the world what you buy and sell in today's world is pretty dumb in my opinion.

That is why I suggested / used the word Item....instead of what was actually sold , bought or traded...
But you are correct in that it really is no ones business ... I was just making a suggestion that might be helpful for you or someone else....
Andy

 

[Sandaholic]

Welcome to the internet. I say that half jokingly though as many folks still stand by their word. You just gotta sort through who is who.

Last time a similar topic came up I suggested that before deciding to deal with someone here look through their posts and take your own measure of the person by reading what they've said.