Market place ETHICS (not rules) and the lack of!!

As I pointed out in my post a bit further up in this thread, if the seller tells a buyer the item is theirs, the item is available for that buyer to purchase, only. The transaction is agreed when the seller agrees to sell to the buyer, before the buyer has paid, not afterwards. You can't expect someone to be prepared to pay for something they may not be able to buy, which is what this seems to imply. If you make an agreement to sell to one person, you then have to give them the opportunity to pay you...you can't be promising to sell to multiple people and share payment details with all of them and only give the item to the person who pays quickest. That's not how it works. Instead of one or two disappointed, but well-informed potential buyers, you are left with very upset, possibly angry people who feel duped and who would all be entitled to leave you flaky feedback.

The seller can only approach the next person if the first buyer declines the sale, and in that case if the buyer declines the sale after it has been agreed between them, the seller is allowed to leave flaky feedback for the buyer.

This isn't a case of etiquette when discussing how transactions work on Den of Angels, there are specific rules governing how feedback can be left and what is considered an agreement to sell here. If you are talking in a generalised case, be sure to mention this otherwise it misinforms others about how transactions work on this forum.

 

I think sometimes it is really hard for a seller to differentiate between a request about shipping costs and a buying statement. Is every seller supposed to wait 24 hours for an acceptance of shipping costs? What should I do if I get multiple PMs about shipping costs for the same item in about 5 minutes. Do I have to answer one first and tell all the others to wait 24 hours?

 

Can you please clarify this for me? If I told someone I wanted to buy something and they said I could but others were wanting the same item so who ever pays first gets it, is this right or wrong? Thank you..

 

I feel the right thing would be to let the first buyer have the opportunity to buy said item and you notify the other potential buyers there is an inquiry ahead of them and that you will get back to them if that person does not buy said item. Its simple common courtesy to allow the first person a change before you move to the next.

 

I tend to operate on a first come first serve basis. The first person to contact me is given the opportunity to buy first. If I receive interest from other people during that time I will provide shipping costs etc but tell them I have another interested party and I will let them know if that sale falls through. If the first seller doesn't get back to me I'll send a reminder note asking if they're still interested. If I hear nothing back (I'll ususally leave it 24hr to take into account different time zones etc) I'll msg the next person in the list to let them know the item is available.

With any sales transaction, either buying or selling, communication is key! If you're no longer planning on buying, let the seller know and as a seller I make sure I give interested parties the relevant information (and time!) to make a decision. I just think that's decent practice!

 

I often experienced buyers who declined after my reply to their shipping cost inquiry. That's why I usually state that I will sell an item to the person who first confirms buying price + shipping costs, not only confirms the buying price. So, this is wrong?

 

Everyone operates differently, I don't necessarily think that's wrong. As long as you're upfront & let people know what you're doing!

 

I had that happen, it was when i was trying to get a puki off the secondhand once. The lady agreed to sell him to me and gave her payment info after we agreed on everything, but something told me to ask before sending it off because I couldn't find the sale thread anymore. She told me she sold it to someone else claiming she didn't think I was interested anymore. Which I can't see where you get ”I don't want it anymore” out of ”I get paid friday and will send payment on monday when it clears in my bank, thanks!"

I was kinda peeved, actually royally pissed, but what could I do at that point? Be like rawr give that other person their money back and take mine and get two negative feedbacks! >:[ Nah, I moved on and found a better deal for one anyway, but remembered their name with a mental note to not to put too much faith that they won't do it again, should I actually ever engage them again.

On the seller side of things, I have sold something after agreeing to accept an offer, but I didn't know if they were still interested because it had been a while since they sent me the initial pm. I just needed their address and to give my payment info. Someone else pm'd me right on the spot and were prompt in communication and everything the first person took more than 24 hrs to respond so I sold to the second and shipped a day or so later. the first person finally got back to me after I had just dropped the package in the mail, so eh. . . sometimes it really does become "if you snooze you lose". Not every seller does it to be a douche, some of us really just want whatever we're selling gone and the first person to take it gets it.

What I did could've been seen as mean or impatient, but I really needed the space and the cash so I've got no regrets.

Also, to babyelf, no it's not wrong. I've had lots of people do that to me. I don't put things on hold without money down because so many people do that nowadays. You shut people out thinking this person is definitely buying, only to have them back out when they get the shipping quote. It's really annoying. It's one thing to ask for a shipping quote and then back out, it's another to say "Please put this on hold for me, I'm buying it, send me your paypal information and the price with the shipping." and then back out.

 

Exactly why as soon as I could I put my downpayment in..I don't want to be one of those flakes who takes forever with their payments.

 

I've had different experiences that some of you already wrote:
sellers that sell the item before I can answer (because of the time zone; I always say that I'm in Italy, so when they reply to me I'm probably sleeping, but I always reply the day after! no matter if my answer is yes or no, I mean I could be very interested but shipping could be sooo high)
sellers that take offers and they seem to be ok with your offer but then they even increase the price!
sellers that don't reply at all even if they're online almost everyday... I understand if they don't have time once or twice, they're maybe online for a randomness (I do it too, I open a page when I have to do something else) but after some time they have to reply or they shouldn't post sales at all if they can't follow them.. it's ok if they say no, we're all grown-up, we're not offended, instead it's very disturbing not hearing (reading actually :P) a word from the seller! they don't want to send to Italy? ok, if they write it in the thread I don't even ask!