Need Advice from Mod

[Skywalker]

Today I put up a DAVIDYR1 Vader Suit for sale. I had a lot of interest and back and forth between several interested buyers. I eventually sold it to a fellow RPF'er. However one RPF'er was not happy with the way I handled the sale. Needless to say the guy who was not happy was not the one who I ended up selling the suit too. Having said all that this was my first sale in the junkyard or on the internet for that matter and I am concerned that I somehow unintentionally mishandled the sale. Could you offer me some advice on how I should sale items in the future. Basically the way I handled it today was I sold it too the first person who was ready willing and able to buy the suit. I had several people request pictures and want to check sizes before committing. Did I handle this poorly and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Sky

 

[Skywalker]

Originally posted by dualedge@Nov 5 2005, 03:53 PM
First off, just for a general overview, I'd recommend reading Jedirick's tips for buyers and sellers on having good and safe transactions (never hurts to get general good advice, y'know?). That can be found here (and in the Help/FAQ page linked to at the top of each page: http://www.rpf.invisionzone.com/index.php?...&CODE=01&HID=26

Based only on what you said above it's tough to say definitely one way or another. I'd just be clear when you're selling anything (anything from a $2 action figure to a $1,000 Elite MR replica or whatever) that you are going to sell to the first person that pays you if that's the case and not going to give anybody 'dibs' on it for being the first to contact you.

The only real trick to this is good communication and follow through. If someone promises to pay, you can post a message saying 'tentatively sold' and tell folks that contact you via PM that someone has agreed to buy it but if that person doesn't come through you'll give subsequent buyers 'dibs' on it.

Just be as clear and polite as you can (and also do whatever you tell them you'll do) and it's not likely you'll have that many problems. I've sold a few items and often there are multiple interested parties. I often give first right of refusal to whoever contacts me first (by checking the timestamp of PM's or posts). If they pass or procrastinate on paying, I'll let them know the situation and move on to whoever contacted me second.

Good communication and following through on what you promise is all there is to it though. If you've done that and somebody still wants to get angry, there's not much you can do about it. If you didn't do that, just be careful about it in the future and it'll be fine.

Hope that helps.

Rob

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It does. Thanks a lot Rob.