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"I'll pay you later today"

I've been buying and selling on Audiogon for a while, and as a seller I've had my share of tirekickers and "What's your best price?" fishermen. Lots of people ask questions, then are never heard from again. That doesn't bother me. The one thing I haven't experienced on Audiogon until recently has been someone who commits to a deal and then doesn't pay.

The last several times I've attempted to sell something, I've received quite a few "I want to buy your stuff! What's your PayPal address?" emails from zero-feedback members. I've got nothing against zero-feedback members - I was one once myself - but way too many of them send these emails, and are never heard from again.

Even worse are the ones who say, "I will pay you later today/tomorrow," basically asking you to hold the item, and then never come through. I've missed a couple of opportunities to sell because of these people, because I feel that if I've promised something to someone, they should get it.

So, is this some sort of sick joke than I'm too clueless to understand, or is it some sort of scam to build a database of PayPal email addresses for hack attempts, or what?

I suppose I need to start setting time limits, i.e, "My PayPal address is xxxxx, you have four hours to make your payment." I hate to be that way though.

Suggestions? Sympathy? Scorn? :-)
rex
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
The "happening just recently" portion I think is due to the fact that the number of members on this site is growing substantially. I'll bet ebay was great before they had millions and millions of people cruising the site every day.

There hardly ever used to be scams on this site. Now, they are almost second nature. That's what happens when you put more and more people in one place. I expect that eventually, audiogon will have the same feel as Ebay.
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum
1,403 posts
 
Overall, my experience with the A'gon community has been very positive. However my last sale had two different folks who backed out after committing to buy. It was a really frustrating experience and I'm sure I lost a few buyers who would have come through with the cash. However, I refuse to believe that I am witnessing a trend. I'm gonna stay positive and figure that I just hit a slippery spot in the road. I think the most important thing I ask people to do as buyers is send me an email as soon as the funds are on the way. I don't change the listing to "Pending" until that happens and don't mark it "Sold" until I have cash in hand.
glory's avatar
glory
1,614 posts
 
Nine out of ten times I can tell the amount of feedback one has by the way they ask questions. When I check their history, or lack of, I don't get my hopes up as I know they will disappear into the night.

I will not respond to "What's your best price". If you list at 50% off retail then you should be able to sell with success here on the Gon.

When one has a good positive history then you are half way home on your deal closing out. If one has more blameless feedback then I do I will ship before payment.
kgturner's avatar
kgturner
663 posts
 
i'm with bdgregory on this. i just tell them that nothing is held and if somebody comes through with the money while they're still contemplating the purchase or whatever they're doing that they need to wait "later today" for then the item will be sold. when i make an offer, i always say i can paypal immediately. once i get the thumbs up from the seller, i paypal right then.
johnjbarlow's avatar
johnjbarlow
175 posts
 
Yeah it like there is an epidemic or something. I had a guy from Australia practically beg me to sell him a record I have listed for sale in the US only. He was persistant so I reluctantly agreed. I emailed him my Paypal ID. I don't hear from him for a day. Then he email's me the next day and states that he doesn't want to spend that much on a record. ARRGGGHH!
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