Classifieds etiquette: payment

lovestrat74

Cols said:

Sending your PP details to two potential buyers at the same time is cheeky and (if true) would have resulted in awkwardly having to refund the other guy.

I get the point about ‘first come, first served’, and it’s clear that many of the above have suffered from being mucked about by tyre kickers.  It’s also really easy to pay quickly, and once you have someone’s details it’s the matter of a moment to send money.

However, not all of us are constantly checking our e-mails.  If an ad has been responded to with “Hi, I’d like to buy your thing, can you send me your payment details?”, surely it’s reasonable to send them and (while waiting for payment) respond to further buyers with “Someone’s already been in touch - if it falls through I’ll let you know”.  Or at least message the first buyer and let them know “There are others interested - in case I don’t receive payment today, I’ll release it to them”.

Spot on @Cols - this to me is simple etiquette  

Mark1960

I think what we are seeing here is "The letter of the Law vs. The Spirit of the Law". On one side, you have the Forum rules which are fine, and are the default position, which can be refered back to in a dispute, and on the other the " perceived proper way to do business" with etiquette, manners, and respect to other Forum members. Just because you have been messed about before, it shouldn't cloud your view on everybody else going forward.

At the end of the day we all have to do what we feel is right, and if a Forum member feels the he should go by ther letter of the law that's his perogative, but my view is that you "catch more bees with honey"

RaymondLin

I would go by the same rules pretty much, however.

If I am selling.

I list a pedal  £200.

Offered come in to buy, but buyer did not pay immediately.  I would put it to them that I can hold it say "until I am back home tonight at 8pm". If payment doesn't arrive by then I will put it back out on the market.

If anyone else offers to buy then I would point it out to them that I have received interest and that the deadline is in a few hours.

If I am buying,

At that time I can only get on the forum, not the bank or PayPal for whatever reason, app down or etc.  I would suggest the same "I will pay when I get home or back on wifi at X hours (same day)".  If I break my word, I don't hold a grudge to the seller to sell it to someone else.  If it is an expensive item like a guitar and I really want it and payday is a couple of days away then I would offer to put down a deposit to show my commitment to buying it.

SouthpawMark

RaymondLin said:

I would go by the same rules pretty much, however.

If I am selling.

I list a pedal  £200.

Offered come in to buy, but buyer did not pay immediately.  I would put it to them that I can hold it say "until I am back home tonight at 8pm". If payment doesn't arrive before then I will put it back out on the market.

If anyone else offers to buy then I would point it out to them that i have received interest and that the deadline is in a few hours.

If I am buying,

At that time I can only get on the forum, not the bank or paypal for whatever reason, app down or etc.  I would suggest the same "I will pay when I get home or back on wifi at X hours (same day)".  If I break my word, I don't hold a grudge to the seller to sell it to someone else.  If it is an expensive item like a guitar and I really want it and payday is a couple of days away then I would offer to put down a deposit to sure my commitment to buying it.

That’s far too sensible. 

p90fool

If I list something and someone says "I'll take it", but decides to sleep on it rather than spend a few extra seconds actually paying me, then it is not sold as far as I'm concerned. 

We've all been there, you wake up in the morning to either a sob story about the wife's car failing its MOT or just total silence. 

GoldenEraGuitars

p90fool said:

If I list something and someone says "I'll take it", but decides to sleep on it rather than spend a few extra seconds actually paying me, then it is not sold as far as I'm concerned. 

We've all been there, you wake up in the morning to either a sob story about the wife's car failing its MOT or just total silence. 

Absolutely correct. And in this day and age it’s easier to pay for something than ever before. 

fandango

Indeed, blink and you miss it.....

My woe involves my football club giving (without any prior notice) an 8 hour window to renew the Red Membership, via email sent at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. I didn't read it until the Saturday morning, and fvck me, my Red Membership's now elapsed. To say I'm p!ssed is an understatement. I'm now in the queue to start all over again. And to think I was a gnat's whisker away from Silver Membership.

This after several years of automatic renewal.

Bolx.

Wazmeister

fretfinder said:

I bought an amp a while ago off here. I had dealt with the fella before so had no worries sending the money by ppg to secure the deal. But I was a bit surprised when the seller said to me “guess what, your PayPal payment arrived two minutes before the other bloke’s, so the amp’s yours”. I don’t know if that was bullshit to supposedly make me feel better or if he’d really given payment details to two people and said whoever sends the money first gets the amp. If the latter then that is crap and not very community minded imho. I certainly wasn’t told I was in a race to pay and if I had been I think I’d have politely declined to take part. This was with a very well known forum ‘stalwart’ too. 

@boogieman @Dominic - for reference guys

Nigel, Your memory doth let you down...naughty...

What the stalwart actually said to you in a PMs was...


”Lots of interest at the moment, as you'd expect...”

”I've just had a £1500 offer (and a couple of low ballers too !)...

I'll keep you posted.”

”It's neck and neck, but you are closer. I can send the PM from (the other seller) if you need to see them.

First payment naturally gets it, but Id like it to be you, and you are closer.”


So maybe you were aware of the race to pay...

But duly noted for future reference.

boogieman

Wazmeister said:

fretfinder said:

I bought an amp a while ago off here. I had dealt with the fella before so had no worries sending the money by ppg to secure the deal. But I was a bit surprised when the seller said to me “guess what, your PayPal payment arrived two minutes before the other bloke’s, so the amp’s yours”. I don’t know if that was bullshit to supposedly make me feel better or if he’d really given payment details to two people and said whoever sends the money first gets the amp. If the latter then that is crap and not very community minded imho. I certainly wasn’t told I was in a race to pay and if I had been I think I’d have politely declined to take part. This was with a very well known forum ‘stalwart’ too. 

@boogieman @Dominic - for reference guys

Nigel, Your memory doth let you down...naughty...

What the stalwart actually said to you in a PMs was...


”Lots of interest at the moment, as you'd expect...”

”I've just had a £1500 offer (and a couple of low ballers too !)...

I'll keep you posted.”

”It's neck and neck, but you are closer. I can send the PM from (the other seller) if you need to see them.

First payment naturally gets it, but Id like it to be you, and you are closer.”


So maybe you were aware of the race to pay...

But duly noted for future reference.

Always two sides to the story I guess. 

bgmartinsbridge

Interesting debate.

So I've had people on here saying they'll have it, receiving ppg details and then after me chasing, receiving a message that they've changed their mind.

If someone messages you in the mean time and says they'll have it, and you wait till the following day to help the first buyer, then you may lose the sale. 

My mind is ppg can be done in 30 seconds nowadays and OK bank transfer might take 10 mins.

I'll happily hold something if someone says they're 100% but I'd expect I'll pay you first thing in the morning and not I'll pay you tomorrow sometime. 

The challenge I've had when selling something really cheap is that I've had several people message me within a couple of minutes all saying they'll take it and asking for payment details. That's fairly tough to manage! 


I've also seen instances of people asking the weight and then getting a little unhappy as they wanted it but didn't actually commit to buying it - but that's probably a different thread! 


First come first served, commit to buy and if the person is a known time waster take the offer with a pinch of salt until paid. 

sweepy

If there has been a bit of equipment I’m after but it relies on me selling something to fund it, I’ve always found that honesty is the best policy and let the seller know the score and tell them that if they receive an immediate offer then accept it. Many disagreements over sales and purchases on here seem to come down to poor comms and sheer bloody mindedness on either side

bgmartinsbridge

Have a wisdom for that comment. 

robinbowes

I just had the inverse experience.

I agreed sale, exchanged paypal details, sent payment, sent my address along a msg saying "I'm away for a bit so no rush to send".

Couple of days later, got a message back "Oops, I've realised I still need <said items>, can I refund you?". I sat on it for a while as I was pissed off, then got a follow up asking me to confirm my paypal email for the refund, shortly followed by a refund (plus an extra fiver because the guy was remorseful).

I wasn't impressed, but meh.

R.

GoldenEraGuitars

robinbowes said:

I just had the inverse experience.

I agreed sale, exchanged paypal details, sent payment, sent my address along a msg saying "I'm away for a bit so no rush to send".

Couple of days later, got a message back "Oops, I've realised I still need <said items>, can I refund you?". I sat on it for a while as I was pissed off, then got a follow up asking me to confirm my paypal email for the refund, shortly followed by a refund (plus an extra fiver because the guy was remorseful).

I wasn't impressed, but meh.

R.

That’s a new one to me. I suppose you are better off now than when you started although I know you’ll be miffed at being messed around a bit. Hopefully the item/s wasn’t niche.

robinbowes

GoldenEraGuitars said:

robinbowes said:

I just had the inverse experience.

I agreed sale, exchanged paypal details, sent payment, sent my address along a msg saying "I'm away for a bit so no rush to send".

Couple of days later, got a message back "Oops, I've realised I still need <said items>, can I refund you?". I sat on it for a while as I was pissed off, then got a follow up asking me to confirm my paypal email for the refund, shortly followed by a refund (plus an extra fiver because the guy was remorseful).

I wasn't impressed, but meh.

R.

That’s a new one to me. I suppose you are better off now than when you started although I know you’ll be miffed at being messed around a bit. Hopefully the item/s wasn’t niche.

Yeah, a new one on me too. It wasn't anything particularly special, but was a good deal.

R.

GoldenEraGuitars

I’d like to put something “right” that happened in the “Amp £” section. A few of you might have observed me asking quite an open question to someone about money they owe me and would they be able to pay it once their item sold.

This has been rumbling on for months. The long and short of it is the customer owes me money for a business transaction which has nothing to do with the forum. He started ignoring my attempts to resolve the issue amicably a while back and so I took measures to ensure that he was blocked from my social media. He can only contact me via the website, which he has since done. The problem is still unresolved and he has made zero attempt to rectify it. 

Thats the truncated version. I won’t be vindicated or held responsible for the thread heading south. My business is out of pocket due to this and the fact the seller of the amp tried to delete the content and run away shows you all what I have had to deal with.

This is not how SC Relics Guitars conducts business nor has it happened before or since. The underlying problem here is that he received goods (based on trust) which he still owes money for. Moral of the story? Don’t mix business with pleasure.

Wazmeister

@GoldenEraGuitars - good post mate and 100% with you

GoldenEraGuitars

Wazmeister said:

@GoldenEraGuitars - good post mate and 100% with you

Thank you. It doesn’t sit well with me having to type this sort of post. My business has never had to deal with this before which I hope shows that out of everything that we have done this is a very isolated incident. I can’t change the sequence of events but I can ensure it won’t happen again. 

Moominpapa

p90fool said:

If I list something and someone says "I'll take it", but decides to sleep on it rather than spend a few extra seconds actually paying me, then it is not sold as far as I'm concerned. 

We've all been there, you wake up in the morning to either a sob story about the wife's car failing its MOT or just total silence. 

The phenomenon known as Surfing Gear Sites While Drunk - very dangerous to one's wallet!

brooom

So to summarize why doesn't @nickbigsby just pay @GoldenEraGuitars the £50 pounds he still owns...