Post #414018 by ikitnrev on Sat, Oct 18, 2008 4:26 AM

I may have to disagree with kingstiedye here - from the limited information I have, I think that tiki-meli may have acted in a proper fashion.

Much of this is due to the nature and limitations of handling a purchase via e-mail. One can never be sure that the e-mail messages one sends are read immediately after they are sent. You may send a message thinking 'Yes, its a deal' - but until the seller responds in the affirmative saying 'Yes, the item is yours at that price', there is no deal.

Here is a scenario to illustrate my point.

Person S is selling something - posts a notice on several boards to gain attention of interested buyers.

Person A replies, asking how much the items are. Person S provides a price list.
Person B replies, asking how much the items are. Person S provides a price list.
Persons C, D, E, and F ask how much the items are. Person S provides a price list.

At this point, all that Person S has done is provided a price list to several people. No 'deal' has been completed.

Person S goes away for a few days, or is unable to check any messages for some time.

During that time, Person D writes and says 'yeah I will buy the item at that price. How shall we proceed and arrange for shipping'
5 minutes later, Person E writes and says the same thing.
10 minutes later, person F writes and says 'Oh, I was willing to spend more money than that for the item'
15 minutes later, person B writes and says 'I'd be willing to match any price that is offered ... and I'll come to pick it up.'
5 minutes later, Person A responds and says 'yeah I will buy the item at that price. How shall we proceed and arrange for shipping'

At this point, there is still no deal between Person S and any of the potential buyers. It is as if Persons A, B, D, E, and F are standing there with open hands, ready for the handshake that will close the deal - but Person S is not there to extend their hand and complete the deal yet.

Person S finally comes home, checks e-mails, and only then sees the messages that D, E, F, B, and A sent - and due to the limitations of servers and networks, they may have reached Person S at varying times. In my view, Person S is not obligated to accept the response from the earliest time-stamped e-mail. Person S can choose to close the deal with any of those respondents, or conduct further e-mail exchanges for clarification. In the business world, this is the point equivalent to 'evaluating the proposals'

The seller has all the power and freedom to sell to who they want, using whatever criteria they wish (barring race, religion, sex - there may be laws against that) They can sell it to the first person who comes to their front door. They can choose to interact with only one person, perhaps someone they have already know and trust. The seller can also wait for better offers to come in, or even decide not to sell at all.

Conducting business via Tiki Central or craigslist is always a bit iffy. In my view, the main problems are those where someone actually sends in money, and never receives a product in return, or someone buys something and is sent a cheaper inferior product. I don't think either applies at all to the above scenario.

You may do everything right in hopes of buying something, but the deal can fall through for any variety of reasons. At times all you can do is just set it aside and wait for the next worthy sale.

Vern