Have you had buyers/sellers back out of a deal?

For the first time, ever, I backed out of a deal. There was a CD player for sale here and the ad indicated the unit had a new transport installed and the player was in great shape both physically and sonically. Since the ad was a "OBO" I contacted the seller to make a reasonable offer. He responded with a higher price than the orginal ad...claiming that the power supply was recently changed as well! We finally came to an agreement on an equitable price and I was supposed to meet the gent the following week (he has a store) and exchange cash for the player. The transport AND power supply had crapped out? Got me thinking, my gut said something was amiss. I went to Audioreview.com to research the item more carefully, and man there was a ton of horror stories about this CDP. Very common for the transport and/or power supplies to repeatedly fail on this item. The combination of the up-front discussions re. the transport/power supply and the product reviews caused me to drop a note to the gent and advise him that due to product reliability concerns I would not be buying the unit from him. He responded, less than happy with me to say the least.

I almost went ahead with the purchase for the sake of maintaining a "perfect record" but the more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that backing out was the right thing to do. I often try things for a while then sell it, part of the fun of the hobby. In good consicence I could not sell something problematic to someone, so I shouldn't be expected to buy a problem either. Even though this item was made by a well-respected manufacturer that I have auditioned in my system a few years ago,I would have been smart to read up on the unit before considering buying it. "High end" does not imply high quality. Lesson learned. In any event, although the seller was pissed at me he did not leave negative feedback.

Hello Y'all,

I just had a gent call me on Thursday about the sub I have for sale here on the 'gon. We spoke for about 20-25 minutes. He asked all the usual questions and I answered them all to his satisfaction, as he confirmed when we agreed on the sale price and he asked me to confirm shipping and insurance costs, which we agreed to split as part of the deal. I asked him to confirm all the details of our agreement in an e-mail and I would e-mail him back to except the terms and finalize the details (shipping address, payment arrangements, ext.). He sent me the e-mail. I e-mailed him back and called him to confirm my accepting the deal. I wait for a reply. I wait and I wait. On Friday evening I call him again and he tells me he was just about to e-mail me, that he has changed his mind about the sub and was considering a bigger sub. I asked him, rather sharply, why he did not contact me as soon as he received my e-mail or voice mail. He said he had not checked either. He did apologize but I am not happy or satisfied. I am a professional and I conduct every aspect of my life as such, especially my involvement in this hobby because I know their are people out there that take this passion for audio just as seriously as I do. As such, I feel this person was about to leave me hanging and if I had not called him I may have been waiting for god knows how long for this, (ah hum), gentleman to get off his butt and let me know that he changed his mind. UNEXCEPTABLE!!!!! John

Correction; UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!John

Its ok John we except ;o) your correction

My pet peeve are the people (both members and non-members) who email you saying that they want to buy the advertised item. After you accept their offer, you never hear from them again and they won't reply to your emails. This freezes the selling process for a period of time while I try to determine if the transaction is legit so I don't commit the same discourteous behavior in the other direction if the buyer just got busy at work, for example.

I know the difference between a "would you take" inquiry and an offer that is both extended and accepted, and these are in the latter category.

I've had this happen so many times (at least a dozen times) that I'm starting to wonder if they have computers in prison and I'm getting emails from prisoners who just want to talk to someone and pretend they could be buying some nice component.