Can a buyer back out with no penalty?

He offered and listened and didn't like it. Did you lose anything more than your time? If not, just move on.

Back in the day when you responded to ads in the newspaper you might work out a price before going over and viewing the item. When you arrived to view, test drive or whatever, you could change your mind if you were not satisfied. That was all part of trying to sell your item and understood.

Now, I have no problem with the offer system on Audiogon but when I am looking for a particular piece and the seller has two days to respond, for which I'm stuck waiting the 2 days to hear back and in some cases the seller never responds, thus wasting my time, that irks me. Also, if the same piece comes up elsewhere for a good price I am stuck waiting for the first seller to respond and can not move on the second piece, which more often than not I end up losing. 

I really think that if the seller doesn't respond in 8 hours the bidder should be released from any commitment to buy.  Sellers play games and often wait for the last hour to respond and at times just let the clock run out.

Sorry to slightly high jack this thread but the system here is not perfect on a number of levels.

Tls49, your prosecutor's presentation is overruled. There are and should be the degrees of wrong. The tricky part is who decides. In this case, it is obvious - the one who started the thread.

I agree with Raymonda's tone - take life easy. People are too uptight these days and demand guarantee. There are no guarantees.

"There are and should be the degrees of wrong."

Thanks for the laugh. That’s funny, like being a little bit pregnant. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but the varying part is the end result of the action. Sure there is a greater loss breaking a $100,000 contract as opposed to a $1000 contract, but one is just as wrong as the other. The varying degree is the amount of loss that is the result of the wrong action. There is no difference in the action, only difference is the end result.

And I totally agree to take life easy, but that doesn't mean to let people abuse and take advantage of you.

"minorl
... when they accept the offer after we communicate via audiogon, phone or email, I have a pretty good idea about the person I'm dealing with."

I agree with you on this, and I make it clear that they are there to confirm the equipment works and appears as represented, not for a test drive to see if they like it. I insist on a phone call before I allow them to pick up an item in person. If the buyer start to balk at that in the least I find another buyer. Also, you should only accept cash if they pick up the item.