Originally posted by Steve Beswick Honestly I'd rather deal with KEH prices or eBay drama than wrestle with this malarkey.
It's unfortunate that you've had a couple of disappointing interactions. Fortunately, there are other options to buy and sell, as you indicate.
In the first instance, if the seller raised the selling price
after a price had been agreed, then I believe that's poor manners or dishonesty on the seller's part. In this type of situation, I suppose
one could post something in the seller's thread along the lines of 'Seller increased the price after an agreement was reached'.
Edit: The Marketplace rules prohibit posting negative comments outside of the 'Feedback' system:
No buyer/seller feedback
We have a dedicated feedback system for this purpose.
While positive comments are naturally allowed, do not use them as a replacement for leaving feedback through our system.
I think that the second instance raises a question of
how to manage the timeline in a sale. I don't think sellers and buyers should be expected to monitor the sales thread or private messages continuously, so there will be delays in reading messages and reaching an agreement. So which buying party should get the item -- the one who indicates 'interest' first leading to a couple of hours to finalize the details, or the one who first commits hard to the purchase?
I would think that a couple of hours is a reasonable period in which to settle a transaction with an 'interested' buyer. While that communication takes place, other prospective buyers may be placed in a queue. The question is,
how much time should a seller allow to the first interested party? And, what action constitutes the first show of 'interest' -- posting "PM sent" in the seller's thread, or sending a private message? Is the 'PM sent' indicator necessary?
I'm not sure that eBay offers a better environment. There's still the issue of communication delays and the potential of winning bidders disappearing.
In my opinion, the Pentax Forums Marketplace presents a generally fair, honest, and amicable place to sell and buy. Folks seem to get along well, and we even see frequent instances of non-buyers 'vouching' for an item or a seller. I'm not sure that hard 'rules' or protocols would improve an already-favourable place.
- Craig
Last edited by c.a.m; 02-11-2020 at 09:30 AM.
Reason: correction on posting negative comments