uh, no.. I'm still working on that.. I am thinking about snorting the rest just to clear some pantry space. Or worse, baking! GASP!!

You do bring up a good point that has been alluded to previously. Not everyone is out to get ya and there are plenty of reefers who will go above and beyond. I have a pantry full of baking soda to prove it.

I take it you haven't read some of my rants! I'm ready to name names!!! :biggrin:

I take it you haven't read some of my rants! I'm ready to name names!!! :biggrin: On the other hand, most transactions have been very pleasant experiences

(Oops, double posted)

There is a certain demographic of hobbyist that you can see coming a mile away.
you could run through a checklist of little things they do to renege on a previously agreed deal...

Its more funny than anything, especially when you see them coming from a mile away...

I have four tanks in my garage that I was going to give away, but after selling a couple of other things in the past i just can't be bothered. Because they are free I'm sure people would ask for everything else for free.. lol

On the other hand, when I've purchased items most of the transactions went pretty smooth.

Or that you sold a fish tank to some guy dirt cheap, sight unseen, have it delivered by your buddy to his FRONT DOOR from Sherwood Park to Okotoks, then have your buddy phones and tells you that the buyer complained extensively about the "dirty" condition of the tank!

Well, I really like to challenge anyone who have the experience of purchasing a USED tank that is pristine in condition!!

When you break apart the plumbing to the sump, all the accumulated growth of years of algae in the pipes, and the return chambers, and tiny bits of sand in the tanks is par for the course.

You won't EVER get that cleaned to the point of brand new again! besides, I don't know how he thinks that I was suppose to take the plumbing apart to rinse and scrub it in my house, when the thing is a 90 gal.

Anyway, then he went on to drag it onto this board for a while. It is a good thing that a few of my Canreefer friends have seen that tank prior to me selling it, or my reputation would have been needlessly trashed!

I did once buy a tank to which as soon as I filled it it collapsed. After tearing down I found a old crack filled w dirt. The crack was hidden buy the trim. I called the person in which they said. Sorry bout ur luck. I thought why u pokin the bear. 900 bucks down the drain. I guess I should have inspected it better but at the same time. I believe they new about it.

I learned this lesson as well for trusting a person to drop off the tank for me without inspection because I thought canreef member are good ppl. So don't trust any one on this forum unless you dealt with them several times before.

Ouch, I have bought two tanks without water in them but they were dirt cheap. I don't think I'd ever spend that kind of money without insisting that the tank be full of water when I arrived. Sort of like test-driving a car, not a good idea to buy it just from the picture posted on Kijiji.

An experience like yours though is a great example of how a buyer/seller rating system would benefit forum members. I do understand the reluctance to provide a place for us to publicly trash each other though.

Funny i always expected offers after agreements had been made,not that it made me happy.Hoping though when i set up a new tank in the future some of my generousity is returned.Not holding my breath though.

This would be very tough to referee and I don't think you would find anyone willing to do it, would become a giant SH*t show. The only way it "might " work is if it was set up like Grizz says in an Ebay form with a bit of a twist.

People list items for sale in a designated forum and if the sale is complete the buyer will be able to select one option only, that would be a "postive transaction". The seller would have all completed transaction attached to their profile and all potential buyers could view the history and see how many "positive tranactions" a seller has. It would still list the transactions that weren't positive but there would be no trash talk. So you would look and say okay total of ten transacations 7 people left "postive transaction" checks and three never. You would assume three people weren't happy. It would unsure that a seller lists his item as accurately as possible and I think most people being decent humans they would leave positive if they were the buyer..

Well, to the benefit of the great members we have here, I was in this position once and I had many people contribute free frags, to the point I filled my tank. In fact, my current tank, out of almost 100 corals, 80 of them were free. All my donations to others, in the form of frags or gear, has come back to me many times over.

I could help you with tank removal from you garage hassle free without wanting anything else. :biggrin:

Thats a positive story for sure brad.

Hi, many years ago a fellow member offer to sell off some sps because he was moving to the mainland, these sps were huge specimen probably about 10 or 12 pieces in great healthy condition. I asked him how much does he want for them all, he said it really doesnot matter, he just wanted a good home for them, taken that this guy really took care of his livestock he knew what he was doing. He asked me for $75 for everything.....I said you got to be kidding these sps are worth alot one colony a lone is worth that, he said he knew the going price for them and they are worth a lot more. I said no way am I'm going to give you $75 for all that, I said considering that you took great care of them and I'm always looking for a great deal just like the next guy, its only fair that I paid him $300 for them. He was quite happy and I still think I got a great deal. When I buy things, I like to pay people for what they ask.......if I don't like the price I don't waste their time or mine, and expect people to do the same for me. Regards Ken

I think the root of the problem is a lot of people are simply insane. Seriously!

I remember selling some new, in boxes bar stools on usedvictoria, a woman sends me an email asking if I'll bring one of them to her house and assemble it so she can see if it looks good with her decor. Really? I replied that I would if she was providing dinner. No response. I don't think some of these people can help it, they were born with a crazy gene...

My wife is always selling kids toys on kijiji. Anyways this guy shows up and he had agreed to pay $40 for something. He apologizes but he only brought $30 and he *did* have to drive all the way from the NW to the SE. So she reluctantly agrees just to move the crap (sorry kids) and he then asks if she has anything ELSE for cheap!

I was not there otherwise buddy would have been making the long drive home empty-handed!

People are pretty unreliable sometimes and I don't currently have time to sell frags when something breaks off or needs to be removed. When I have a frag tank setup at least I'll have space to house the frags until I find them a home. Currently I've just been tossing them away as it's far less hassle.

bet you he had the $40.

Or the stupid gene.....

He did he wanted to buy more stuff haha.

I hate that. It goes both ways though. I was buy a deadmau5 ticket off of some girl and while I was on my way over to pick it up I got a phone call saying she just got other e-mails from people who said they would pay more. That is one reason why I wish I grew up in an earlier generation. People used to stand by their word.

Last year I went to buy my current 20g and stand for 200 which I thought was good since it had plumbing sump tank and a beautiful homemade stand. in my excitement since I had to go 6 months with no fish(poor me!!) I picked it all up without looking it over and got it in the car to go home. Ad said it was all in perfect condition and he had it running for over a year After I got it home I noticed all the silicon was cracked an needed to be resealed after it ran for a month I emptied it to move it and it cracked thankgod it was empty so in all I spent 200 on a fancy stand and 10g sump. Back before I moved I was tearing my tank down and I had a huge piece of gsp and a 13 head Duncan well buddy agrees to it and comes over and starts to complain that people give gsp away and that 70 bucks was way to much for a 13 head Duncan Then proceeds to offer me 30 bucks for both pieces (I got 130 from another reefer) so buddy then offers to take my dottyback for free since he drove out there and I needed to shut the tank down anyway. Needless to say he left empty handed.

Most of my experiences have been really good. There have been no-shows of course, but they all seem to live in Saskatoon. Never had a no-show in BC. :lol:

I was selling a tank and stand a few years ago. I think it was $250. Guy says he's coming to get it "right now". Two hours later I give up on him (I don't have his number) and leave the house. An hour after that I get a call from him (he had my number from the ad) and he's ****ed off that I'm not home! :eek: I tell him I can be there in 15 minutes. So I get back home, and there he is all ****ed off telling me he's going to be late something. He hands me the money, I count $200. I tell him there is only $200, the tank is $250. He says that he thinks it is over-priced and he's going to give me $200 for it and he didn't bring any more than that anyway. I told him to go F his hat (literally). So he left. The next day he calls me and offers $200. I told him due to over-whelming response to the ad I have raised the price to $600. He didn't call back.

Someone came over to buy a $10 frag. I am getting ready to bag it up and then he says oh jeez he only has $5 in his wallet. So I snapped the frag in half and said here ya go! He didn't know what to say, but he took it for the $5. I laughed pretty hard. I would have been nicer, but this guy had already *edit* me before.

I'm cheap
 

I read a lot of post about ppl getting upset about being "low-balled". I'm wondering if there is a different definition than the one I know. "Making a low offer"!
I do low-ball on larger items. And can you really get upset when you post a 10 year old 20 gal tank for $100 and someone "low-balls" you? I have and probably will do again and again in my life, it's called haggling.
The "I've only got $x money with me" is an age old line. I don't think is wrong when it is done as part of the haggling. Agreeing on a price and then pulling it after the fact is just not cool.

As my wife is "de-junking" the house again -- my big one is people who go hunting for free stuff to re-sell and make a buck. If I'm giving something away for free, it's because I don't care about the little bit it is worth and would rather see more people enjoying the hobby.

For both me and the wife, the trick we find works is this -- TRADE the item for something common in the hobby (almost worthless) for what you were giving away free. I did trade a 3 year old 90 gal for a SPS frag a few years ago :biggrin:
I honestly was giving it away, but the frag shows he at least has an interest. My wife usually asks a stupid low price for things she is giving away as it avoids the "FREE" label, and then just lets them have it for free when they show.

Around Kamloops there seems to be quite a few that spend all day hunting for free stuff people are giving away -- to re-sell and make a few bucks. I sell/give away any older salt water gear to be nice and promote reef tanks, not so some putz that doesn't even know what it is other than he can sell it on ebay.

Quite a few forums have, and successfully use a buy/sell/trade feedback system with little abuse. On my local forum we use the iTrader system which allows users to leave feedback regarding deals they've made with people on the board. The overwhelming number of them are positive - and where a negative rating is left, the mods all get notifications so we know if there's a situation that might arise. All in all though the system works well, and people are nice and leave good feedbacks regarding their dealings with other people which helps you get a feel for what you might be in for:
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/itrader.php?u=2724

Just like in general life, there are a few arseholes out there, but most people are good in this hobby. From all my dealings locally, I've only had a few poor experiences (the examples could go on and on, but usually people trying to stiff you).

All in all, like was mentioned previously, I like to approach most things as pay it forward, and hope that people get what they deserve :)

Most of what these people are talking about is AFTER you've agreed to a purchase and the individuals purposedly do not bring enough cash to pay the initial agreed upon price. The forum is your point of contact, that is where you should get all the info and if you're gonna try to whittle someone down tell them if the condition isn't perfect you might not be interested in paying full. Trying to give someone 25-30% less or even more after they've gone out of the way to meet you is stupid.

That being said I've only had excellent experiences with canreefers, they've always been generous but I'd like to think I'm pleasant enough to deal with too. :)

This is exactly what I was talking about, I think it would work as well.

On a side note SHRIMPCHIPS, anyone on GTA AQUARIA have any nice zoa's that they are selling and would ship :biggrin:

IMO There's a difference between haggling and wasting people time.

I have an item listed for sale on-line ( not here and not aquarium related ) That's a week old and in MINT condition, cost $500.00 Brand New, I'm asking $300.00 for it, a prettt good deal. I was offered $100.00 for it a couple of days ago.

I think if a person responds to your ad and low balls the price you have to choices
1. Not to respond
2. Counteroffer
The reason why people low ball is because of the term obo put in ads

BUT

If you strike a deal and they try to low ball you at the door. They get an invitation to walk right back out. I have no further interest in every selling anything to that party again. Sadly there are some Canreefers who do this.

I hate when you have a wtb post about something and someone pm's you saying they will sell you one. then when you pm them back 2-3 times they never get back to you and you see them online everyday.

I pretty much never "make an offer" unless I am buying several items from one person, like say 6 heaters for $20 each...would you take $100 for all of them? I think haggling is embarassing. When I place an item for sale I always post it for what I think is less than market value, and I expect people to pay full price for it unless they are buying several other items.

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Christy, I can say "Jewed" because I have Jew in me. I am immune. :D

Myka, please don't continue to use that term. As far as I'm concerned it is a racial slur (even though its not "racial" it has that connotation and I don't know what else to call it, for me its equivalent to "the N word"). I don't care what religion you are, what color you are etc. Please refrain from continuing to use it.

Thanks.

What connotation does "Not today bitches" stir up for me..Humm?

What was his name?

:lol:

Is that a formal complaint? without a formal complaint we usually assume everything is ok. Would you like me to remove it?

In my defence, anyone can be a bitch but not everyone is Jewish

I think standard societal rules apply as far as race, religion, color or creed. Bitches are on their own. Let's not use religious slurs here, ok?

Nothing formal, not even a complaint, It's your avatar keep it if you like. It was an observation. The word/term "bitches" refers to a negative as in "my bitch" or "my bitches" IE pimp and prostitute. I suppose if I had a family member as a street worker it would cut a little deeper. If the girl with the wand was saying "not today bitch" it would refer to a singular person not a group.. is it a stretch? maybe. The "J" word is an old school term, "bitches" is more modern obviously but no better, even if it is a liitle girl with a wand is saying it, the same way Myka's heritage doesn't give her free reign to what she said. Anyways just answering your questions and explaining my comment. Don't really want to get into a battle of words...

Oh boy, here we go...