Buying on this forum

[troybal]

So what is the correct method of buying on this forum?

I found an item I liked that was posted at 22:35 and I was the only one that responded back at 00:35. that I was interested.
I sent a PM to tell me his Paypal address then went to bed.
He responded at 8:02 stating his paypal address then at 8:46 he responded stating he sold it to someone who already paid him.
I would have paid if I knew his paypal address but it was unknown as it was not in the post.

I replied to him at 9:49 telling him he should deny the payment as I had actually requested the item. However he just told me to not tell him how to do business, and told me that someone had told him last night that they wanted it. He did not care to lock the thread as suggested here.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=179825

So what are the rules? I am assuming there are no rules, and you just have to rely on the seller. Being there is no negative feedback, you are really left on your own.

Then on this post it mentions for us to do searches on peoples prior posts/sales. However if they lock the post, how the heck can someone respond. So as for as a general member is concerned, everyone has a good sale here with no issues.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=4527356&postcount=2

[Pete]

Just chalk this one up as experience, I think. Sellers have a right to sell to whoever they like (as much as buyers can choose who they buy from).

There's no such thing as first come, first served. Sometimes people change their minds or a better suited buyer appears (for example, someone who's willing to deal in person rather than through paypal/postal services).

[Skip Souza]

Pete is correct. No forced sales and no dibs. There are many factors that can alter the sale.

Also, we do not allow feedback to be posted in the For Sale threads. The only place for feedback is ---=MARKETPLACE: Positive feedback=--- (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28608).

[troybal]

My point is that there is no post on how to properly conduct a sale. What recommendations to use etc.. since the thread is locked there is no way to let anyone know that said sale did not go through as planned. So members can only read if a good sale went through but never the bad.

I understand and have chalked it up. But it would be good for a post on how Sellers should show some etiquette when posting/excepting an offer.

[Skip Souza]

You are correct to observe that there is no place to post negative feed back, that is by design. Negative feedback usually devolves into he said-he said contests which are of no benefit to the POTN family.

We therefor encourage parties to prospective transactions to establish separate lines of communications (email, IM, telephone, snail mail) and use them to understand and evaluate the other party. the following threads pretty much lay out the POTN MarketPlace philosophy.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=423242
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=423243

[hfgarris]

If someone states they will buy an item, and then there is a PM exchange with PayPal information by both parties, how long should one wait to actually receive the payment before offering it to someone else? I couldn't find any forum guideline for this.

If they publicly post in the forum that they will take it, it effectively sends other potential buyers to alternate sources and you lose the sale while the indecisive buyer "holds" your item and looks around for a better deal or tries to make up his mind.

This is especially important if there are other buyers waiting on the item.

[Pete]

You simply PM the guy back and say if you don't pay/make your mind up before (name a date), then their sale is cancelled and you sell to someone else.

Nothing concentrates the mind more than a deadline.

Keep it in PM form as much as you can. If someone can't respond for a good personal reason, the last thing they want is for you to discredit them in public.

[hfgarris]

You simply PM the guy back and say if you don't pay/make your mind up before (name a date), then their sale is cancelled and you sell to someone else.

Nothing concentrates the mind more than a deadline.

Keep it in PM form as much as you can. If someone can't respond for a good personal reason, the last thing they want is for you to discredit them in public.


I tried that and his PM mailbox is full and will not accept any more messages. He also doesn't allow email contact through his profile. He seems to be a well established member of POTN, so I don't really want to contact him in the public forum and possibly embarrass him. However, if there is a "waiting grace period" that is normally accepted in this forum, I don't want to abuse that and then have him angry at me for "violating forum etiquette".

[Pete]

People sometimes don't notice when their PM box is full.

[Skip Souza]

It is the seller's choice. If the potential buyer is too slow then the seller may sell it to someone else.
"Too slow" is subjective and the "You snooze, you loooze" principle applies.
Same goes for "unable to contact".

The appropriate course of action would be to post a warning in the thread, if still no answer then post a note in the thread that the item is stiill for sale. It will then become the prospective buyer's problem.