Would you...?

[j1133s]

Had 2 separate buyers post an "I'll take it" or agree via PM to purchase 2 of the pistols I had listed. When I contacted them again to iron out details they both told me that their wives didn't ok the purchase so they had to back out. Would you hit them with negative feedback?

I understand that things pop up and do not go as planned, but to say that the wife won't allow it...really!? One the positive side, I now have some screaming deals on the pistols that are up for sale. Thoughts on feedback?

I wouldn't give them negative feedback since they are upfront about it before proceeding any further. If I had driven 2hrs to a dealer and they don't show up, then, of couse, it'd be a different matter. As I read your post, sounds like you guys worked it out over the phone.

I generally give the other party the benefit of the doubt, and it seems to work ok. So, I'd take their word at face value in this case.

[j1133s]

I have had 2 sellers take the money and keep it without sending anything........(HPearce got me for 120.00 + next day postage and 45LC got me for 80.00) When I posted in one of there ongoing sales what happened, the moderator deleted my post, asked me what happened and never did anything. I have not been able to figure out the feedback system here (cut and paste?) but I am going the small claims route....At least with HPearce.

That's a real problem w/ any online private transaction. Seems the standard is for buyers to pay money order first and hope that the seller will send the items. I've been on both ends of the deals. Generally, the seller don't have to worry too much about getting paid, but when I was a buyer, I'd check a few thigns:
1. Ask for a land line to do a reverse lookup (I turned down several sellers for not having a land line)
2. Verify the address with white pages
3. Call and talk to the other party, ask a few simple questions that may reveal whether they have the item or not. For example, ask if they can send you a pic of the item in a certain angle, how they used the item, etc. Basically, just to check if they've got access to the item.
4. Send USPS money order, it is cheap, easy for them to cash, and bring in USPS to help if needed.

[j1133s]

The sad thing is that its not coming from 2 noobs. One of the potential buyers has more itrader ratings than I do. I'm not going to post the PM's here in this thread but if you really want to read the excuses they are posted in their Itrader ratings that I just left for them....neutral.

I've sold a few things on calguns and keep forget to rate the buyers unless they request it. I don't think you can go strictly by these ratings. Check out my previous post, it contains a few things I do to try to decrease the chances of being scammed.

[Rukus]

I realize that the itrader system is not perfect, and was already wary of a noob with low post count and no itrader feedback but when dealing with someone who had double my rating its kind of hard to assume the will be trouble to do business with.

Its all good at this point, I am not out money, gas or time really. Its just a little frustrating.

[DaveFJ80]

A few issues I see from the statement below.

when I was a buyer, I'd check a few thigns:

1. Ask for a land line to do a reverse lookup (I turned down several sellers for not having a land line)
Not everyone these days have a land line anymore. I don't, as I only have a cell phone (2 cell phones for me, 1 for my wife) in my house. I used to have VOIP (that could be used as a land line), but there's no good way to verify a person's physical address with that since you can easily register it with a fake address.

2. Verify the address with white pages
My home address is not publically listed, and I've always had it that way for privacy & security. Plus you won't be in the white pages if you don't have a land line.