Selling Etiquette Poll

[subdude1974]

Had a deal no go smooth and wanted to make sure I am right in my thinking. It is all done and not gonna out anybody as I don't feel like it was intentional.

Bought a cue with the understanding that it had an Ivory joint and buttcap and there were no issues with it. Work out the details and pay them. Also added cash to cover PayPal fees as they didn't want to do PayPal. Get the cue and the buttcap is Delrin and the cue has big scratches all over it. Looks like the cue has been dragged across something a number of times. The largest scratch is about 1/4" wide and 5" long. Also a good scratch through the finish at the joint. I send the cue back. I was thinking that we would both basically be out money for shipping. But they saw it different. Apparently because I sent it back, I should be held responsible for all shipping charges. Personally, I feel that the seller should have covered all charges as it was their misinformation that caused the whole debacle. I let it go just to be done with it. My question to the community is who should pay the shipping charges?

 

[a1712]

I feel you're absolutely correct. You shouldn't be out anything for something that was misrepresented. Brian.

 

[KRJ]

You got your money back on a bad cue, count your blessings and let the shipping charges go, they won't pay them, and not enough money to fret about....just my opinion... but you lucked out big time....

 

[Poolplaya9]

When a cue is misrepresented, whether or not it was intentional, the seller should pay ALL shipping and the buyer should be out nothing--not one penny. And ivory verses delrin butt cap is not a minor misrepresentation, nor is many scratches with some through the finish and others five inches long and a quarter inch wide.

A couple of separate points though:

1. I am getting to the point where I am no longer feeling sorry for people who are unwilling to name names but who get screwed. It is almost as if you are getting what you deserve (not really, but it sure is getting hard not to feel that way). If you don't care enough about your fellow man to want to help keep them from possibly going through the same thing and getting screwed themselves, then your fellow man shouldn't give a crap when you get screwed either. You don't care about them, why should they care about you?

2. Same thing goes with iTrader. If you aren't willing to leave negative iTrader for bad deals then nobody else should be feeling sorry for you either. You obviously don't care about the others that could take a loss or be highly inconvenienced when you could have prevented it and so they shouldn't care about yours either since you don't care about them.

3. If it is worth making a post about, or especially a thread about, then it is certainly worth naming names. If it isn't worth naming names then it probably wasn't worth mentioning.

You still have a chance to correct things and name the names.

 

[PocketSpeed11]

Damn, I should have read the post before I submitted my answer. I thought this was simply about buying a cue. Of course buyer pays shipping, duh!!! But having read the post now, I think the seller should cover the full shipping cost if his advertising was deceptive.

 

[subdude1974]

When a cue is misrepresented, whether or not it was intentional, the seller should pay ALL shipping and the buyer should be out nothing--not one penny. And ivory verses delrin butt cap is not a minor misrepresentation, nor is many scratches with some through the finish and others five inches long and a quarter inch wide.

A couple of separate points though:

1. I am getting to the point where I am no longer feeling sorry for people who are unwilling to name names but who get screwed. It is almost as if you are getting what you deserve (not really, but it sure is getting hard not to feel that way). If you don't care enough about your fellow man to want to help keep them from possibly going through the same thing and getting screwed themselves, then your fellow man shouldn't give a crap when you get screwed either. You don't care about them, why should they care about you?

2. Same thing goes with iTrader. If you aren't willing to leave negative iTrader for bad deals then nobody else should be feeling sorry for you either. You obviously don't care about the others that could take a loss or be highly inconvenienced when you could have prevented it and so they shouldn't care about yours either since you don't care about them.

3. If it is worth making a post about, or especially a thread about, then it is certainly worth naming names. If it isn't worth naming names then it probably wasn't worth mentioning.

You still have a chance to correct things and name the names.

In most cases I would agree. I am not naming a name because I truly believe that it was a simple error. Don't believe it was intentional. Not saying I was screwed. Just a difference of opinion. Trust me, if I was screwed over, I would have no problem in calling somebody out.

 

[HawaiianEye]

What was the "error"?

Did he mistake delrin for ivory?

Did he mistake scratches for design work?

I would demand the shipping charges back.

 

[Poolplaya9]

I am not naming a name because I truly believe that it was a simple error. Don't believe it was intentional.

As the poster above me pointed out I have a really hard time believing that failing to mention scratches, some very big scratches at that (five inches!), wasn't intentional. Same with claiming delrin is ivory. Both of these might be unintentional from an absolute beginner who is beyond clueless about cues like a widow selling off her late husbands cues, maybe, but it is hard to imagine that from any pool player and even a widow or non player would know what scratches are for that matter.

The other thing that makes me have a hard time believing it wasn't intentional is that they didn't offer to cover shipping once their mistake was pointed out to them. An honest person would typically do that IMO, and not only did they not offer to cover all the shipping, they actually tried to get you to cover all the shipping. Sounds more like the type of person who tries to take advantage of people in every way they can every chance they get than it does like an honest person who made some honest mistakes.

In any case if someone is really that clueless many would want to avoid the hassle and expense (you incurred both of these and the next buyer of theirs might too) of dealing with them and the name should still be mentioned. You could give the disclaimer that you feel they were honest mistakes when you tell who it was and let other people make their own judgments on what risks they are willing to take. There is never anything wrong with telling the truth, ever.

 

[Lesh]

If the seller states all costs and conditions up-front, then there is no room to complain. Stick for $300.00 + shipping - and they should give an estimate on what the shipping will be - take it down to the post office and get an estimate... even pre-pay it if you are confident the stick will sell and then all you have to do is put it in the tube and ship the sucker. Easy.

Lesh

 

[subdude1974]

True. Problem is that it had a Delrin buttcap instead of an Ivory buttcap. This is a $400 difference in the cost of the cue. He hadn't used the cues for a while and I think that he just didn't remember correctly. But I always try to give the benefit of the doubt.