Classifieds - private auction or sale??

[EirAnne 0]

I had a recent experience on the classifieds forum that I think goes against the spirit of the forum and is quite unethical. I wondered if it was an isolated incident, or if this kind of thing happens regularly.

Scenario:
Someone had their rig for sale. It was a good price and nice looking rig. I offered to buy the rig at the full price. The offer was accepted and after several emails I had got to the point with the seller that we had agreed to do the deal through a particular dz using Escrow. We had agreed a time, a place and an amount, pending inspection of the rig. The next email informed me that another person had offered a higher amount. I was told the amount and was encouraged to place a higher bid. At no time during the correspondence was I informed that the seller was negotiating with other buyers. I no longer trusted the integrity of the seller and withdrew my original offer. The seller pleaded ignorance of the code of conduct of the forum.

I found this disturbing for a couple of reasons:

1) DZ.com is not an auction site. Sellers can put in best offer on their advertisement and can take the highest offer, but if they solicit higher bids who is to say whether those bids are genuine. A seller should not be in charge of a private auction.

2) If the seller had used Ebay, they would have run the risk of the rig going for a lower amount than they wanted. By setting up a private auction and being the person in charge, they were stacking the deck. They get the minimum they want and try and push the upper limit as high as possible, with a few buyers bidding against each other, but no one really knowing the full details.

Obviously I lost no money on this deal and whether other people choose to enter into a private bidding war is their own concern., but I do think that using the forum in this manner lays it open to abuse. Most auctions are done through a 3rd party for a very good reason.

[freeatlast 0]

I have also been involved in a similar scenario and in actual fact have been contacted after the original deal was agreed and then encouraged to offer more - my policy is not to negotiate once a deal has been agreed.

In fairness i understand that the seller wishes to obtain the best price and that they may be negotiating with several parties at once but also assume that they would be very unhappy if i did the same - i can see the sort of post that would be on the forums if i came back to someone and said 'you know that you agreed to pay X for a cypres2 - well the price has now gone up $50 as i've had a better bid'!!!

I now assume that until the payment is made that the deal is not done!!

[mcordell 2]

I recently bought a reserve from someone here on DZ.com. I called him and spoke with him about it and when I told him I wanted to buy it he immediately went on the ad and listed it as sold. I didn't have the money to pay him for about a week and when I finally did pay him, he already had it boxed up with my name and address on a UPS label which was already paid for. That is how the sales should go on here and I couldn't have been happier. My reserve will be in Tuesday and I'm pretty psyched. Thanks Dave Chrouch!

I don't agree with someone calling you back to solicit a higher bid once a deal has been made. I wouldn't do business with someone after that.

www.facebook.com/FlintHillsRigging

[likestojump 3]

I too have encountered such situation. I believe it to be unethical. If you are asking xxx for the rig - then the first one to agree to that should get it. Starting a bidding on an item which had been listed with a fixed price is silly.

[SethInMI 145]

Having bought and sold a few things through dz.com and ebay, I will say:

The only problem I have with your experience is the fact that the seller accepted your offer. Once that is done, that should be it. When I have sold on dz.com, at least a few times after agreeing to a price with one buyer I kept getting offers, some higher than the agreed price, but I stayed to my agreement with the original buyer.

This has nothing to to with auctions though, if you put an OBO by your listing, you are in fact making a private auction of sorts, and if you want to pit buyers against each other, fine, but then you should be saying to each, "Thanks for the offer, I will let you know what happens, etc". Now I think the or in OBO means if the buyer offers full price it is like the ebay "Buy it now" the sale should go to that buyer, but that is not the major fault with your experience, it is the seller agreed to sell to you, then backed out.

Conduct your sale how you wish, but don't make agreements and then back out.

It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

[timmyfitz 0]

Quote

The next email informed me that another person had offered a higher amount. I was told the amount and was encouraged to place a higher bid.

I wonder if he truly had another offer or was just trying to get more money out of you. Sounds like a used car salesman.

Could you post a link to the ad?