Poor purchasing etiquette
 

I appologize if this is not a topic I can post however I feel people should not be taking advantage of others when purchasing from a fellow member.

Recently I sold my tank off as a package. The purchaser and I agreed upon a price well below what I was asking for due to the fact that I was in a hurry to take it down. Taking their word in good faith I began tearing down my tank. They then told me they needed to run to the bank to get the rest of the money and assured me I could keep taking things apart.

Once my tank was taken apart, deep sand disturbed they came back telling me they had $30 less than what we had agreed to and wanted to take less than what they had agreed to.

In the best interest of my livestock and to prevent them from living in a half torn down tank with a disturbed sand bed possibly releasing toxic gases I was forced to give away my tank for 30% less than the price we had agreed to which was much lower than what I was asking in the first place.

I guess the lesson learned for everyone is ask to see the money up front. Seems like even in a hobby we cannot trust others.

This is the first and will definately be the last time I will be running into a situation like this.

I understand we sometimes don't have what we think in the bank account but wouldn't common courtesy suggest bringing the money you agree to even if it is the next day or week?

Anyway I appologize for venting on the board but I just hope others might learn from my loss.

I share your frustration. I sold a light fixture to a person in Calgary, we agreed on a price online. I even agreed to bring it to him at my cost (apparently going from Calgary to Medicine Hat is like going to the moon but everyone thinks the other way around is like walking across the street). When I get to the guy's house he tries beating me down even more on the price and wouldn't take the fixture until I gave in. I felt like wringing the guy's neck!

That happened to me once and I told the guy to walk. He came back 2 weeks later and met my price and I told him 2x of what I orignally asked...he turned me down :)

I guess my situation wasn't as bad as yours. At least he came to my house.

This is a common occurrence and we all have our stories. I have even made deals with others, for FREE stuff, then after weeks, still no show. You all know who you are! HEHE :biggrin:

So, if I sell something, first to my door gets it. That is the way I work.

Oh well, just the way it is.

People are animals.

I usually have to write in comments like "DO NOT REPLY UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PICK UP". In Ontario no shows are a big problem. Lowballers too, but people agreeing on a time even calling and confirming and never showing up.

I'm all for trying to get the best deal if the person is wiling, but once you agree to a price that's it. Even if I found a better price I'd feel like I have to pay it because once I tell someone I'll take it at agreed upon price I feel like I've given my word.

That is the worst someone could do. I thought about selling my 60 and ordering a new tank only to remember all troubles i went through trying to sell my cube. Ive met alot of decent guys in this hobby and there have been times where I have even given the seller more than the price they were asking.

One thing that grinds my gears... low balling. it happens everywhere and its not like your going to do it at a store. Also how is a healthy coral worth less than one at a store... that has grown. Or established fish that are proven to be great eaters.


thats what I do. I give everyone my contact info, first person that calls and shows up gets what ever i am selling. btw i think silentcivilian still owes you $10 lol

You have to realize that not everyone here, even someone that partakes in threads, is your friend. They aren't really even fellow hobbyists. We have countless "members" here that are only here to to get a good deal on your misfortune. In Victoria, we had a Canreef member systematically go through every for sale post in town and do the old " show up, need to go to bank, come back with less money" trick. I had 15 reports of it in 3 weeks. If you tried to lend the guy a hand, he tried to take your arm.

Essentially, unless you personally know someone here, or know for certain that they have a solid long term history on the board, don't trust anyone to do what they say or give you what they said they would. If I'm selling something to anyone, I don't count it sold until someone actually knocks on my door and hands me the correct amount of money. Especially with livestock. If anyone even tries to renegotiate at my door, I'm closing it.

It's too bad that the world is like this, but it is, and we can't put our tank inhabitants at risk over it. It's not sold until the buyer actually shows up (so rare these days) and hands over the correct amount of cash or gold. Nothing else works. If the sale falls through, I'd rather give the stuff to the LFS than get taken in by one of these losers.

Same here, I call it SCRAM, LOSER!

I could not agree more with you.