buyers/sellers that DEFAULT on contract

Well done Elgordo. Consideration, as it respects contract law is always fun to try and get a grip on. I have a law book, here is what it says with respect to contract consideration:

Under a bargain theory of consideration, what is required is that the promise and the consideration be "in the relation of reciprocal conventional inducement, each for the other." In other words, consideration must both be "sought by the promisor in exchange for his promise and be given by the promisee in exchange for his promise. If so, then you have a bargain which is supported by consideration, and may be enforced, so long as the rest of the elements of a contract are found and satisfied. Good stuff, huh? May not have put it all out there just right, and in any case don't have a clue what it means.

Are you kidding? I've had lot's of "done deals" which fell apart. Recently, I had a buyer for speaker cables who wanted them for a little less than I was willing to sell for. After a few emails and a long, long telephone call, he was comfortable and we struck a deal between my ask and his offer. I would ship upon receipt of certified funds. Next day along comes the email that the certified has been sent priority mail. That night I got a call from "Mr. committed" who told me that he had read a review on AUDIOASSYLUM and "DECIDED NOT TO BUY THE CABLES"!

Call me stupid, but, I don't get it. I then ask about the check that's been overnighted. I'm told that he stopped the package???

I think he's a bad guy. I write him and tell him that I'm really troubled with his actions and haven't decided what I'm going to do about feedback, since I feel that he's been dishonest with me. He tells me that he doesn't care if I give him bad feedback, since he has a second Audiogon account anyway!

I litigate for a living. I don't do it for my own account unless it's my business. My time's worth a lot more than "getting even" with this a...hole.

I bet the same is true for you.

Best wishes,

Bill E.

Similar thing just happened to me. I paid via paypal, got an email in return saying he was going to ship it the next day, and it is now 2 weeks later (he said 2-day for shipping), and he hasn't responded to several emails. I'd take him to court if it was more than $30 (just a single MIT T2 interconnect for a center channel). My question is, is it legal and/or ethical for me to post this person's name and email address here? The item wasn't listed here, but was on both ebay and audioreview (didn't sell on ebay, so can't leave feedback there, i think). I feel the need to warn folks about a seller when this stuff comes up. If he'll do it for $30, he might do it for $3000.

Soundsgr8tome, if you've paid already and don't think you're getting the equipment, good luck with the lawsuit. Please let us know how it went.

I have had many deals fall apart when I am selling here on audiogon. There are a lot of flakes out there. I've heard every excuse except the "dog ate my email" and I'm not even a dealer. Cables seem to be flake magnets. But the most outrageous one where some one was agressively bargaining with me over a piece of equipment while he had listed the exact same piece of equipment on ebay, at a time identical to his first email to me, and with a reserve of my asking price! A few things I do. If there are multiple offers I let the second and third person know they are on the list if I don't receive funds. I mark the item sold and keep the ad up until the deal is completed. For all COD's I require good funds in advance for shipping and handling plus 10% non-refundable deposit. No funds in 48 hours, I'll sell it to the next person. I disclose this up front but dealing with these people is always annoying. Now I'm more likely to cut a curt Dealer some slack after about two years here.

I've had a lot of people change their minds for various reasons after "committing" to a deal, but since they let me know ASAP and seemed to be honest, decent people, I haven't left bad feedback or anything. No funds or equipment had yet changed hands. It's frustrating, because I had marked my ads "sold" and everything, but like someone else said, that's just doing business on the net. People do have second thoughts, the check they were waiting for doesn't come in, the amp they thought they had in hand doesn't come in, and that affects their plan to purchase the preamp I had for sale. Oh well, at least they let me know before any funds were lost. I've never had anyone cheat me on this site, or eBay, and I hope I never will. I think Audiogoners are the best buyers/sellers out there.