Am I the only one?

It happens all the time. Don't forget, you are essentially in the sales business on Audiogon.

It happens quite often. Not everyone is like this, but there are a lot of tire kickers out there. Many people will make it sound like they're interested, just to get some info or even to chat just to satisfy some curiosity, and then never follow through. It's part of the process, not much you can do about it. Until someone actually writes "I'll buy it", you can't really get upset with them for backing out. But if they give you a totally firm and unequivocal commitment and THEN back out, you have every right to put it on their feedback. It won't do you any immediate good, but it will serve as a warning to others and might also get that person's attention that their word ought to mean something.

It happens a lot, take it from someone who sells a lot. And then, just so you know, an item that was listed here Sunday night, a Technics tuner, I bought, no questions asked. Guy wrote back, said we had a deal, asked me to call next day to work out the shipping and such. I call him next morning for particulars, he tells me that his son wants it and he won't be selling to me. Peeved, you bet, but in the grand scheme of things not worth staying upset over. And that was from a buying standpoint. From a selling standpoint, I get 5 to 1o inquiries asking all sorts of questions for every buyer I get. Some even invest in long distance phone calls, and yes, in a few minutes you realize they only want to talk audio, but thats part of it. Please realize as well though I have made some tremendous friends and made some tremendousm deals from buying and selling on the internet, I have been invited and am going to Hong Kong shortly because of it. Something we would not have been able to do just 10 years ago. The pain is worth the gain. Good selling.

I had an item for sale recently, one gent was quite interested. After several emails back and forth, he told me he was making a commitment to buy and asked me to delete my ad. The money order would be sent off within a few days. Since he was the first person to inquire, and the first to make a firm commitment I informed other interested parties the item was sold. Done, the thing is sold, right? Nope. Same gent writes me back the next day; there was an illness in his family therefore he could not follow through on the purchase. Bizarre excuse. In any event I relisted the item and sold it for my asking price two days later. One thing that came to mind in reading your post: if your item isn't selling quickly it's either because it's an odd-ball item that few want, or the price is too high. Price can be fixed, odd-ball stuff, well...it could take time. I dread selling things, but quite enjoy buying stuff here. Best, Jeff

I even had a guy send me two checks, one for the product + shipping and the other one to upgrade his shipping to express. Before the checks even arrived, he decided to change his mind. I didn't want to be a prick about it and returned is his checks. The whole deal was just a waste of my time.

I wouldn't really consider the item I had for sale as odd ball. Maybe it is, and I just don't know it. The price is within the range of others listed. I actually like talking audio with people. Even if they write me to ask about the ad and then switch to general conversation about audio, that is cool. It is the people that say they want the piece and then decline it in the very end with some lame excuse that drives me up the wall...sounds like it's all part of the experience of high end. As mentioned above, 10 years ago, none of this would be possible. Happy listening!

i've sold more audio stuff (mfsl lp's) on ebay than i have on the 'gon but my last selling experience here is worth mentioning. i put my accuphase dp-90 cd transport on sale last week and sold it in 2 hours! i marked it "sold" in the listing immediately but still got 325 "hits" and 2 more offers in <48 hours. i DO think much depends on what you're selling. -cfb

Karls (and others), a point of order - feedback can NOT be posted unless a transaction takes place and money/gear changes hands. Audiogon rules. (Surprised CFB didnt' catch this!) Simply having people back out of a verbal or written committment to buy or sell a piece does not allow for posting of feedback. FWIW,

-Ed

Had to laugh. I went after the same tuner as John on Sunday night and never got a reply. Now i know why : ) Sean
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Viridian brings up an interesting point. I guess I just assumed that someone inquiring about a product would know about it. I can't imagine someone being interested in a kilobuck amplifier without knowing anything about high end audio. We have to admit, this is a prretty specialized hobby. I know there will be newbies that show up all the time, and that's great. Those people usually get hooked and add more to our population. However, I guess I just thought they would start out with a really small system just to get their feet wet.

Sean, at least we got stood up in good company.

And Viridian, PLEASE, geez. I will wager that most people/business's on this site don't want people buying things they don't need or won't do the job. Someone that has been in business a long time selling any merchandise, from audio to zirconia, will always put the customer 1st. It is the easiest and is the most profitable way to stay in business. You get a lot less sales resistance from a customer the 2nd time around, and you wind up having a lot less problems in the long haul. Plus there is a trust factor that starts building up both ways. Its the lizard racers that show up and waste time for the seller and the next potential buyer that makes for threads like this.

::: S7horton, Sounds like a thread I could have started.-- The only difference is my buyers just backed out--no apologies/reasons--I never asked why.( The mo never came/ the finalization of a meeting place for the exchange,never took place,on a local sale.) In both cases; I got more money than the price on these deals,that fell thru. "devine-financial-intervention"?

Practice makes perfect