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  3. 1026704609

Is this the normal way business is handled?

Maybe someone has asked this before but being somewhat new I haven't seen this issue addressed.

I was looking into buying a pair of speakers from another member (who lives 2000 miles away) While I was asking the seller the usual questions, I'm sure other people were too.
Well I decided to buy the speakers and told the seller so. I was willing to pay the asked price along with all shipping costs. He stated that a local (to him)person was interested (but had not comitted to buy), and he would rather sell them to them to avoid shipping. I feel my offer to purchase was just used as leverage to make the other person to make a quicker decision.

Since I made the first offer isn't the seller obligated to sell them to me?
74impala
infinitebaffle
51 posts
 
Just because someone offers to buy something from you doesn't make you obligated to sell it to them, whether they are the first offer or the 50th is irrelevent. On the other hand, if you agree to sell it to them then you are ethically bound to, even though you may get a better offer later.
ljgj
955 posts
 
Quite a few credit cards have insurance on your purchases and you can also refuse to pay the charge if there is a problem with the deal or damaged goods come through or if the item is never shipped.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
I must clarify one important misconception. Per Audiogon rules feedback can only be left after money changes hands. No money changed hands so no feedback is permitted. It seems unfair, as does your treatment but, as a buyer, I have had this happen several times. It is just part of the system and apparently well within Audiogon guidelines. Personally, I take the first full-price offer from a member with reasonable feedback unless something in the communication sends a red flag. I have refused to sell to others on a few occasions when the nature of their questions indicates that, in my opinion, they are not familiar enough with the product to know what they are buying or somehow have unreasonable expectations. I met one of my best friends when he contacted me to buy a Mac 230 hybrid integrated amp, he was not a collector and thought the thing would work great in his modern system. I told him that it was in excellent, collectable condition but the 230s just sound terrible; it's the design you know.I flatly refused to sell it to him. We became fast friends and now he stops in to visit when in Oregon.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
porschecab
335 posts
 
I am with Viridian, so many tire kickers, hard to determine those that are serious, versus those that are not. If someone is in, out, in, out, of a deal, and another person comes in with a solid, or strong offer (deemed by 'I will overnight you payment or send it immediately via PayPal) OR is LOCAL, they would win the deal.

Not only has this happened to me, but someone left feedback TWICE for a transaction that never happened!!

Rules of AudioGon, no-no-no, no-no-no.................

Dan
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