Poor purchasing etiquette

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by mark

bet you he had the $40.

He did he wanted to buy more stuff haha.

[freezetyle]

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.

[Aquaria]

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.

[Myka]

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.

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! 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.

[wolf_bluejay]

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
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.

[shrimpchips]

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

[MKLKT]

Originally Posted by wolf_bluejay

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
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.

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.

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

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

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

[Parker]

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.

[fencer]

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.