Selling Online Etiquette Question (value, market, sale, items)
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When selling locally to an individual it's up to you if you want to meet them somewhere, or they come to your place. If your place will it be porch pickup which many sellers have gone to?" We never do porch pickup on an item priced more than $5. You can go out when you see them arriving, they can stay in their car if you like as far as Covid 19, they roll their car window down, hand you the money and then you give them the item and they drive away.
When multiplie offers we rank them according to who called first. After we have a short list of maybe three we evaluate when the person first on the list can get there. When someone inquires with: Is it still available? we say "thank you for your messgae and a couple people are ahead of you but we will find out when they can come out. If they will be delayed past today and you can come out today then it's yours".
We never negotiate price after they arrive. Some offers are 50% of what you were asking. Non serious offers. You have to decide what kind of discount to give. We state it this way. We are asking $20 and you have asked us if we are flexible and we can give you a 20% discount and will take $16. We always agree on a price before they come out. Some buyers will try to negotiate when you communicate with them and then again when they arrive. Never negotiate after they arrive. Tell them ok we have agreed on a price of $16 and that price is not negotiable. If you want to come see it, like it, then it will cost you the $16.
We do ship items and on those we require prepayment by Walmart or Postal money order. No paypal or other online payment. It's too easy for them to request a refund and get it. Local sales cash only.
If someone inquires early in the day then you can ask when might you be able to come look at it. Their answer determines if we say ok, we will tell anyone else that inquires it's pending and we can hold it for you the rest of today.
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Ask any questions you might have.
I don't know if this really fits in this category, so Mods feel free to move this if you don't think it belongs here. I know that frugal living folks do a lot of buying, selling, and bartering for used items so I figured this was the best sub-forum.
I have a disagreement regarding the etiquette of buying/selling used items online, or even from an ad in a newspaper or flyer.
If I am selling an object, and place an ad, when someone calls and requests to come and "look at the item" at a later time (maybe 8 hours later, or the next morning), but no definite deal to purchase has been made, am I obligated to NOT sell that item if someone else can come earlier and wishes to purchase it? In other words, should I hold it, and possibly turn away other callers, until the first caller can come see it? Do I need to NOT show it to anyone else, or make a deal, until the first caller has an opportunity to see it and decide if they want it or not? Or is it that the first person who can show up with money in hand can take it away, as long as I notify the first caller about the sale before they come over?
That's all you need to do.
Definitely no obligation to hold. Buyers are notorious for not showing up.
I usually sell things on a first come, first serve basis. I've had a lot of people say they're coming the next day to look at something, then they say it will be a few days later, then say they forgot. Strangely enough, they do the same for free items. You'd think if something was free and they wanted it, they could manage to come get it off my porch at some point, but many of them suddenly have car trouble and want me to deliver.
I also make sure when I buy things, I have exact change and arrive when I tell the seller I'll arrive.
Well, I had a different item for sale after that first one, a shelving unit. Also pretty cheap.
This lady says she'll come see it at 6 tonight (Sunday). So I told another guy that replied after her, after she sees it, if she doesn't take it he can buy it. So at 6 she's no where to be seen. So I call her at 6:30 and ask if she's still coming. (Now it's dinner time, so I'm not happy as I waited to finish cooking dinner until after she would have come at 6). She says she'll be right over, she lives 10 minutes away. She arrives an hour later at 7:30, and can see that I'm about to put dinner on the table. She talks for 10 minutes, then says she can pay tonight, but will I take a check? It's a check from my local bank, so I say okay. Then she says she doesn't have a truck tonight and her hubby will come tomorrow morning (Monday) to get it. Great... I'm not going anywhere the next day, so fine. No one shows up in the morning, and late in the day she sends a text saying they'll come get it TOMORROW (Tuesday), no time indicated at all! As if she expects me to wait all day Tuesday for her husband, after I've already waited twice for her. I was fed up at waiting for this flake and just want this thing out of my house already as I'd spent 2 days already fooling with this woman, and I'm not about to spend anymore of my time on it. I text back that we won't be home tomorrow, and I am putting the item out on the porch tomorrow, and she can get it from the porch. Then an hour later (Monday night, as we are getting ready to go out) she texts that they are on their way over.
Seriously it is just not worth trying to deal with people some times.
We were selling a electric skillet earlier this week. A lady called and said that she was interested in the skillet and she would be down there this evening. She asked for directions and we gave them to her.
That evening, we get a call saying that she wasn't interested because our place was "too far" to drive to. It was the same distance as it was six hours earlier.
The first person who offers you an acceptable payment for the goods is the buyer.
You have no obligation to wait for another person to come and look at it.
If you can, though, call the people who made appointments with you and tell them the item is sold.
First come, first serve, first dibs.
I am confused. People don't agree to buy things unless they see it so if you want to hold the item, let them know you will hold it for them until they arrive. If you don't want to hold it that's ok. I'd just let them know so they are not driving to your house for nothing.
Other people can show up first though. I would never agree to hold an item for someone to look at tomorrow, when I have someone coming tonight to look at it. I would agree to "if it is still here...". I would call anyone else that was waiting, once i was sold, of course.
Honestly- buyers are quite ridiculous about this. It is VERY hard to get some things sold online - a seller needs to do what works and gets it sold. If you are a buyer and you want it, get the heck over there. Otherwise, don't complain that someone else beat you to it.
We don't give pickup location until we have a firm pickup time, phone number. Once we have that buyer we tell others it's pending. We are willing to meet within say a few miles. Nowadays alot of people are using PP. Porch pickup. Item on the porch leave the money under the mat and go.
I will accept the first actual offer, not the possibility of an offer tomorrow. But I make clear in my posts that I'm not holding anything for anyone.
Even when I was giving items away, I always did this and yet still had people asking me to hold an item for them until they could come get it. But I learned the hard way that people--being under no obligation to actually follow through--didn't always follow through and I missed out on opportunities to get rid of an item as planned.
First one with cash gets it. We state this in the ad. Everybody knows the rules up front.
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