Provide wisdom or calm me down!

I had a lens posted for sale on the B&S forum here and on FM. Been there for about a week, not alot of action on it.

I get a PM from a member on FM about today asking if it was still available. I responded with a "yes". Couple minutes later, I get another PM from him asking if I could have the lens to him in "X" city on Saturday. I thought this was a bit weird considering his location was NY, so I questioned hom about it. He said he travels for a living and he would in "X" city this weekend before returning home to Canada. Fair answer, his feedback was good over there, so I said I could pending he picked up the extra cost. Asked a couple questions about the lens and said he'd get back to me.

So while I was waiting on him to respond, I peruse on over here and am making my normal stops. I look in the B&S forum and he has listed the lens for sale in there - same screen name, same location, ships from "X" city, description of the lens is very similar to mine. Someone has contacted him about it as he has asked me some more questions. I have ZERO doubt it is the same guy.

This really chaffes my ass. He has listed a lens he doesn't own, has not made an offer to buy and is actually competing againist me to sell it. If anyone would have asked for pics, he would have had to post mine.

Does this bother anyone else? Is this sort of thing allowed on the B&S board here?

Just pisses me off. Maybe I should calm down but it doesn't seem right.

Unless there is some very unlikely explanation I am right with you on being annoyed. I have seen more than a few weird buy and sells where you really had to wonder what someone was up to, but I can't say I've seen anything quite as you have described. I didn't look the item up, but it seems hard to imagine the buyer could flip it for a profit if you have not been able to move it for a week. Very strange. I'd certainly walk away from it, and maybe notify a mod as well, although I doubt they will jump in.

Keep us updated on what transpires.

Should have mentioned I did sell the lens to another member at the price I was asking as opposed to his higher price. I thought about a mod but figured they have better things to do.

On such shaky ground ss POTN or FM buy/sell forum if something is taking even the slightest unexpected turn you should back out. Better be safe than sorry.

Hmm... so this guys is buying lenses on one forum and selling them on another? Is there money in this? I mean, seriously, enough money to make this kind of thing, worthwhile?

Really?

Todd Lambert wrote in post #12128399
Hmm... so this guys is buying lenses on one forum and selling them on another? Is there money in this? I mean, seriously, enough money to make this kind of thing, worthwhile?

Really?

He's inquiring to buy it, then turning around and listing it as if he OWNS it and has it for sale. I have no problem if he can get a deal here and sale it on FM for a profit. I have a problem when he is offering to sell something he doesn't even own and in direct competition with my original B&S posting.

His implication that he has it for sale implies that he owns it, which, in fact, he does not.

No, I understand that part, and why you'd be upset. I'm just a bit shocked that anyone would go through such effort to make a few buck, if any. Not to mention that he might not be able to get rid of it at all.

Often people do it to remove the competition. He offered you a bigger price and a way to hold the lens till he 'arrives' in your town. You will reject good offers waiting for him to come and the rejected buyers would to to him instead. When i was selling my 70-200 on craigslist somebody tried to do the same to me, Something "I'll give you this very good price, but wait a week till I get a paycheck". Meanwhile he lists his own. I managed to check the guy and got the reply from the same e-mail.

And it was not your lens, it was his but similar to yours.

Of course this could be just a speculation

When you think about it, how is it much different than Amazon listing something that will be fulfilled by a third party.

Refresh Image wrote in post #12128580
Something "I'll give you this very good price, but wait a week till I get a paycheck". Meanwhile he lists his own

This is funny, because I told a guy just last week "will this be available in a week? That's when I get my paycheck".

Paychecks just can't come soon enough...

Amazon is a retailer, we here are not retailer. Assume you were looking at a lens on the B&S board. Contacted the seller, got it finalized and he said, "Oh, yeah, I am buying this lens, don't have it yet and haven't even made an offer, but I'm selling it to you". Not the same as Amazon in my opinion.

Maybe he had his own copy of the lens that he wanted to replace with yours for some reason. Yours could be a newer versioin or worse, there could be something wrong with his lens and he wants to pass it off to someone else. Still sounds a bit shady and you should be happy that you never made a deal with him.

I would just note the users name and move on. I am sure that you have more important things to get all worked up over in your life.

Handled via PM on FM. Really wanted to call him out publicly on his posting, but took the higher road.

huntersdad wrote in post #12130428
Handled via PM on FM. Really wanted to call him out publicly on his posting, but took the higher road.

Sorry, I did not mean to note the user here, more for your own records so you know in the future.

As long as he is paying by PayPal and you are shipping the lens to his PayPal address, you should be fine. Don't ship out until payment is paid in full. Whatever he does with the lens afterward is his business. Unless he is getting the money from his For Sales post and using it to pay for your lens. Whoever paid for his lens would get scammed. He is legit, I don't see the point of doing this unless he is selling his would-be lens far more than he is paying for yours.