Offer... commitment, or no?

Monstermash

Monstermash

Lock Ness Monster
Silver Member
I would like some opinions on offers received from buyers.

I recently posted a new Carmeli for sale at a 25% discount off of Ariel's price. The cue was purchased brand new at last years SBE and other than a few test hits, it's pretty much brand new.

Not long after I posted the cue, I recieved an offer that was significantly lower than my asking price. I was ok with the fact that the offer was lower because I did include "obo" with the asking price. So my issue is not with the offer but what happened after.

I initially responded that I couldn't accept his offer and that the cue was already discounted but I would be willing to accpet $xxx. The buyer then responded that he recently bought a similar model for that amount to which I responded that the cue I was selling had an additional shaft and Ivory and silver ringwork.

We then traded pm's (about 8 IIRC) and I finally received a pm from him offering to buy the cue at the price I said I would accept to which I responded with my Paypal address. He then promptly stopped responding and never send the payment.

So, my question is this...... if a buyer makes an offer, should it be expected that they complete his/her commitment to buy the cue? Or it is ok to just throw offers out and never bother to actually buy the cue? I understand that sometimes things come up such as a change in your financial situation (eg. bill comes in unexpectedly) or an event in your life comes up that makes buying a cue the least of your worries. But I sent the buyer another pm today after not hearing from him for two days and his response was "Im sorry sir but im not yet still decided. Im still shopping around. Hope you understand. Thanks."

Seriously? Why submit an offer if you're not ready to buy?
 
Buyers who buy are buyers.

Buyers who don't buy aren't buyers.

Myself I try to locate the buyers that do buy and move past the ones that don't. Life is too short to spend much time concerned with why people act they way they do.

Good luck with your sale. I thought that was a pretty nice cue for the money.

Kevin
 
iusedtoberich said:
My opinion is everyone has a right to change their mind.
Click to expand...

This is true, but the "buyer" is entering into a verbal (or even written) commitment to buy the cue. If the "buyer" changes his/her mind, it's common courtesy to send a quick "my apologies, but something just came up, and I can't buy the cue -- please go ahead and consider your other offers" reply to the seller.

If the "buyer" doesn't do that, and stops responding altogether, it behooves the seller to send a timed "if I don't receive a reply from you in 'x' number of days, I will consider your offer to be null and void, moving on to other offers" type of closure.

Just my thoughts -- that's the way I'd handle it.
-Sean
 
It's rude. But it's a lot better than somebody going through with a deal that they are not sure about. That easily ends up with more problems.

Why submit an offer if you are not ready to buy? I wouldn't. But to some I guess they really need to know what will be accepted before they can get real about considering it. Again, I am guessing.

But not saying so immediately is just plain rude.

I tend to be indecisive myself. But once an offer is made and accepted I go through with it.


.
 
Well had that happen two me a few times I think, I know of twice recently. I just usually take it with a grainof salt. I know shit happens but it would be nice to have a response tolet you know. I kept the guy I was buying a shaft from informed at all aspects as I was trying to sell my cue for funds.

But then there is also the " Treat others the way you would like to be treated".
 
Making an offer in person is a commitment.
Making an offer online is a gentlemans agreement (unless noted as otherwise).

However, technically, an offer online is a WRITTEN agreement which should be binding.

The wording is important though.

If he said "will you take $xxx for it"? That's an inquiry.
If he said "I'll give you $xxx for it" then it's an agreement.
If he said "If you will take $xxx for it, I will buy it" then it's a commitment.

It's all in the way the "offer" was stated.
 
As aggravating as it is, once you accept an offer, it would be considered binding in any court. However, do, or would, anyone ever push it? I wonder sometimes, we joke about cuemaker time, but once they commit to finishing a cue and accept money for it, it is legally a contract. I have never heard of anyone pushing that in court though.

But it is a sh*tty way to conduct yourself. I have always said there should be a sticky titled... "Those who propel their tootsies at carbon black colored copolymer donuts"...

JV
 
Inferno said:
Making an offer in person is a commitment.
Making an offer online is a gentlemans agreement (unless noted as otherwise).

However, technically, an offer online is a WRITTEN agreement which should be binding.

The wording is important though.

If he said "will you take $xxx for it"? That's an inquiry.
If he said "I'll give you $xxx for it" then it's an agreement.
If he said "If you will take $xxx for it, I will buy it" then it's a commitment.

It's all in the way the "offer" was stated.
Click to expand...

This is how it was received...

"How about 600 shipped Usps priority to calif. Paypal as gift?"
 
IMHO, when selling a cue here (or anywhere for that matter), a sale is final when the purchaser submits a payment. Now to be fair, if someone tells me they're buying it and another subsequently offers to buy it, I would communicate with the original buyer advising them of the offer and letting them know I would hold the item for 24 hours. If no communication or payment by then, I would then move to the second buyer.

There are exceptions and extenuating circumstances with everything. Communication is the key. In the event the original purchaser isn't communicating promptly and indicating their effort to finalize the deal, I see no reason to hold the item and lose a potential sale with another buyer.
 
I just checked my PM and had a guy back out this morning, it stinks. He asked if I would ship to Canada and that he would buy it if the cue and shafts were straight. He has a 40 iTrader, even sent me his address to ship it to, we agreed on extra shipping if it went over $20 and he just wanted payment info. I said let me check it out wanting to be 100% and I did yesterday, I sent a reply later on that it was straight along with my payment info, took the cue down for sale and even turned down another buyer on the cue. His reply was he picked up something else and could not afford to buy this one, I am not happy about it since I turned down another buyer but what can I do?

I guess I could leave negative iTrader and make a thread but I am not sure if its worth being bitter and making a scene on here about. Its not the first time its happened to me and I am sure it wont be the last, lesson learned do not to mark it sold and first come and first serve. I could only imagine though if I sold the cue to the other guy how pissed off the person who said they wanted it would be, they probably would start a thread saying I sold it out from under them, haha.
 
It's certainly poor form imo......but nothing new when it comes to selling cues and dealing with pool players.
 
Monstermash said:
I would like some opinions on offers received from buyers.

I recently posted a new Carmeli for sale at a 25% discount off of Ariel's price. The cue was purchased brand new at last years SBE and other than a few test hits, it's pretty much brand new.

Not long after I posted the cue, I recieved an offer that was significantly lower than my asking price. I was ok with the fact that the offer was lower because I did include "obo" with the asking price. So my issue is not with the offer but what happened after.

I initially responded that I couldn't accept his offer and that the cue was already discounted but I would be willing to accpet $xxx. The buyer then responded that he recently bought a similar model for that amount to which I responded that the cue I was selling had an additional shaft and Ivory and silver ringwork.

We then traded pm's (about 8 IIRC) and I finally received a pm from him offering to buy the cue at the price I said I would accept to which I responded with my Paypal address. He then promptly stopped responding and never send the payment.

So, my question is this...... if a buyer makes an offer, should it be expected that they complete his/her commitment to buy the cue? Or it is ok to just throw offers out and never bother to actually buy the cue? I understand that sometimes things come up such as a change in your financial situation (eg. bill comes in unexpectedly) or an event in your life comes up that makes buying a cue the least of your worries. But I sent the buyer another pm today after not hearing from him for two days and his response was "Im sorry sir but im not yet still decided. Im still shopping around. Hope you understand. Thanks."

Seriously? Why submit an offer if you're not ready to buy?
Click to expand...

I used to sell cues....people would come to my home, purchased any of the ones I had or even search for cues in the internet. Cash always upfront. No IOU's or anything. If they promised to purchase by a certain date, and didn't bother calling or coming by, I just took it like they were not interested and proceeded to offer the item forward.

If this guy has made no payment, why bother sending him an email or calling? Silence means a thousand words, and in this business "silence" means I'm not purchasing.
 
If you offer... you must buy.

If a potential buyer comes in with a very low-ball offer, and the seller says yes, the terms should be that you must buy right then and there. Not tomorrow, not next week.

If a seller is motivated to lower their original price, the buyer should be as equally motivated to move to the next step, and that's completing the sale.

If the sellers counteroffer is not to the buyers satisfaction, and the buyer wants to think about it, then both parties should come to that agreement with a deadline, but under no terms is that item considered on hold.

I know as a seller, tire kickers suck. As a buyer, when a seller says yes to my offer the deal gets done right away. Back to being a seller, when a buyer low-balls me and flashes the cash, they get what they want, and I get the convenience of not having to deal with what I just sold anymore ie: Cars, trucks, motorcycles, power tools... cues.

Convenience, sometimes that's worth more than what you just sold.

Cheers.
 
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