Conduct on Audiogon

Bink,
It sounds to me as though you kinda got screwed, more mentally than monetarily. It's pretty pathetic when a guy who is selling something can't wait more than ten minutes for a reply, particularly when we're all trying to work in between normal business hours. I've bought and sold many times over the last year or so, but I can't ever remember being so "pricky" about people responding. Sure everyone would like a response within a reasonable time frame and many times that's possible. It's not as though cables are perishable so some flexibility in response time would be the courteous thing to do. You know the nice thing about all this is that without being a frequent trader here, you already know what the protocol is, and the seller obviously didn't follow it as he should have. The only right thing the seller did was to email you back. Maybe that's the only thing we can give him credit for. If you follow this sight for any time, I'm sure you'll find that most members are honest, fair and usually more patient.

I would just forget about it & get on with life; there seems to be some considerable over-reaction above. As both buyer & seller I've had deals go sour in various ways, but never bothered to get so bent out of shape over such trivialities. The buyer didn't lose any $ & the seller didn't lose any equipment, so feedback is absolutely unjustified in this case. Otherwise the feedback system would become so clogged & corrupted with insignificant/irrelevant commentary ("seller was rude", "buyer didn't respond to inquiries or in timely manner", etc. etc. ad-nauseum, that it would be essentially useless.

Hi again Bink & others. ...Sorry for the verbal diarrhea, I did get carried away in my last post. …My excuse is that Audiogon's response felt SO wrong that I had to vent. Reason being is: While I applaud Audiogon for responding so rapidly I question what message their post sends.

Posting policy and stating their position (that no foul had been committed) appears hasty and callous. And it let the jerk off the hook. It also informed other would be deal-breakers that there are no REAL repercussions for backing out of agreements. While I’m certain this was not the intent it is nonetheless a result.

Well Bink... as others have said, be glad you don't have that guy to deal with and move on - wiser for the experience. Hopefully I can do the same :)
Cheers,
Mike

These things happen a lot as there are so many people on earth with that kind of attitude. Shame on them. I am so upset a couple of months ago as the same thing happen to me twice!

Yes is yes, why waste the time to re-confirm. If re-confirm is really need, then wait for the re-confirm to come back with a Yes or No within a reasonable time frame, at least 24 hours. Not 1 hour, 2 hours, 10 minutes! Give me a break.

I will add those people into my NOT TO DEAL WITH LIST.

Good luck all.

Angela--I'm not a corporate lawyer, but I have studied contract law. You're right, there was a condition attached to the offer. Bink offered to buy at a given price "IF the seller responded within the day." I'm assuming the seller did in this case. However, if he didn't respond within the day, then Bink's offer was automatically voided. In that case, what we've been calling the seller's "acceptance" would actually have been a counter-offer. Until the counter-offer was accepted by the buyer, there would be no agreement. It's entirely reasonable for the seller to clarify the need for "confirmation" (read: "acceptance") that the buyer still wanted to proceed. However, the seller should have given Bink a more reasonable amount of time in which to reply before going with another buyer, as you and I agree.

Sean--I agree that the line must be drawn somewhere. It would not be appropriate, for example, to allow negative feedback if a buyer wasn't able to cement a deal and just wasn't happy with the way the seller negotiated. But apparently there was a deal in Bink's case, so what we're looking at is a breach of contract on the part of the seller. Offer + acceptance = contract. I think the line deciding what is allowed in the feedback section should be drawn to include willful unethical conduct that arises after an agreement is reached, regardless of whether the transaction is completed. If a member has a history of reneging on his deals, I think you'd agree that's something prospective buyers should have a right to know.