Suggestion for buying and selling on the site

Nice post Sean. Yet I understand what PI is saying, and I too like the "finality" of an eBay auction. If the item sells, a legal CONTRACT then exists between the two parties. I think PI is saying it would be nice to implement something like a CONTRACT with Audiogon's classified ads.

But of course this would require audiogon to be much more of a party to all transaction, and would also likely have some legal implications.

Contracts with classifieds anyone? Craig

I think though we could pull it off if there was an icon to click that says I will buy this item. Once its clicked it would dissapear because the item would be sold. It would garentee the sale to the one that clicks it.

You could take it one step further like ebay and only be able to leave feedback for the people that clicked the icon and vice versa. Then it wouldnt be up to the individual to judge whether it was a transaction. This would also stop someone from inflating there own feedback.

You could of course still email with questions and maybe even have an icon that says make offer. The seller would then either accept or deny. If accepted then again the icon would dissapear.

This would also cut down on the false offers because of the repercusions of the action.

Its not a perfect system but I think with a little thought it would work.

I must disagree with Perfect. You simply have to manage your own dealings; not expect someone else with a big stick to force the issue. There may be perfectly legitimate reasons for backing out of a deal; it's happened to me both ways. Sure its kinda disappointing, but having feedback postings regarding everyone's little bitches does not serve anyone & clogs the system with irrelevancies. In the end I've always ended up with a better buyer anyway. Ever made an inquiry, expressed some interest, then you ended up going in another direction? I have & plenty of others have. Punitive policies such as the proposed would only discourage business & gain me nothing. You can easily manage other inquiries & offers by stating that "while interest has been expressed & the piece may be spoken for, I haven't seen the $ yet, so the unit may still be available to you. I'll get back to you within X days". I always do this as a matter of policy. The system works well enough as-is; I say leave well enough alone.

I agree with Bob. I recently had a buyer back out on a
sale of an item here for what I consider a very minor
reason. Despite that, I'm sure I will sell the item to
someone else. I did not feel it was necessary to post any
feedback on the buyer - as the reason he backed out my be
very legitimate to him. Again, it is simply a matter of
my word vs. his.
Life is full of all sorts of uncertainties - and we
all have choices we choices to make. My feeling is that
if you want a sale with some sort of certainty; you have
the option of going on E-Bay. They play by different rules
there - and if that's what you want go there. As it
currently is right now, I enjoy the Audiogon board a lot.
I've had very good success buying and selling so far -
and look forward to more transactions in the future.

I have experienced the "disappearing sale act" many times from buyers via the web too! However I don't think making a forced sale is the way to go. My advice (for what its worth); 1.) Include "serious inquiries only" in your ad. 2.) If you have multiple people interested, then let them know that you will make the sale to the 1st person with a firm commitment who responded with a price your agreeable with. 3.) Be patient, they are a lot of gold diggers out there!