How Long to Wait On Buyer Before Moving On

A day or two seems more than reasonable.

Move on. Local buyer and firearm takes precedence over out of state, unknown buyer.

You could email the out of state buyer asking him to shit or get off the pot if you feel bad about moving on so quickly.

i may just be a dick. but i've moved on to a 2nd buyer in less time than that. if you start a convo with me and just fall off the face of the earth all of a sudden and someone else steps up. it's theirs. sorry.

esp in this situation. local buyer > stranger online

jrhtx said:

Everyone have to be new sometimes, but buyer with no post, member for 2 years, wants a rifle I have posted. Wanted to pay with pay pal (yes it was a flag). I declined his 1st offer and he sent another. I accepted with stipulation of USPS MO or check with verifiable FFL shipping info. He has gone silent for 12 hrs with a second PM sent this morning,
I have a local buyer now.
Don't want to be an asshole, whats acceptable to move on to another buyer??
Thanks

Click to expand...

Sell it to the guy with cash in front of you.

Well . . . sometimes letters get lost in the mail.

Oh . . . wait . . . nevermind.

48 hours

IMO if there’s red flags that justify moving on than do so.

Otherwise if you made a legit deal with someone I’d give them a day to contact you with the information. If he sends MO than give legitimate time to receive etc.

Otherwise it’s no different than making a deal with a member here that falls asleep or gets caught up at work etc. Than simply selling to another member who’s closer to save shipping, offers more money or pays in a faster method.

If you made a deal and the buyer follows through with the payment and ffl in a timely manner (48 is reasonable) than that buyer should get the chance to fulfill his end of the deal.

Receive the money before shipping the rifle and you won’t loose a penny if he doesn’t fill his commitment. Make the second buyer aware of circumstances and sell to him if it falls through

Generally speaking, I give around 24hrs before I start worrying. Life happens, people get busy. So I’ll send a reminder at the 12hr mark, both as a “hey, just letting you know I haven’t seen any funds come through yet” reminder, and a verification that they didn’t make a typo and send to the wrote place if using PayPal or something.

At 24hrs, I’ll tell them I need a reply soon, especially if I have multiple interested parties. If I haven’t heard back by 36hrs, I usually send a notice that I’ll be moving on to the next buyer at a specified time. If no reply, I’ve given the individual more than ample time to reply given the prevalence of technology.

But I’ve had sellers skunk me after less than 30min without me replying, because, you know, I have a life and a job that I have to tend to sometimes. THAT pisses me off. If I was a noob it would be one thing, but I’ve been on SH for quite awhile with loads of positive transactions on both ends. To me, that tells me the seller is either desperate for a sale, or they’re a shady character I didn’t want to deal with in the first place. Still pisses me off when I miss a good deal because I didn’t treat the seller like they’re my boss and let them know every time I would be out of comms for more than 5min., but if they’re that much of a tweaker, I don’t want the hassle of dealing with their drama anyway...

If you want to establish yourself as a good seller, give them at least a day with ample comms to check in.

The exception here is if you communicate to the buyer early on that you need funds ASAP and will need to move on if funds aren’t received within a certain timeframe. Comms are key for a good deal on both ends. People aren’t mind readers. If you need money NOW, tell them when you establish comms so you don’t look like a douche when you bail so soon. If everybody knows what the other party expects, it cuts a lot of the drama out.

Move on, it was ATFE. Just checking the Hide members. Mac

I think you should wait. The local buyer will still be there in a couple of days.

12 hours seems a bit short of a time for you to be getting all itchy, especially when you wanted him to have to do extra work of going to a post office and getting postal money orders & also wanted the FFL information sent at the same time.

If after a Day or so he hasn't gotten back to you, just send him a nice e-mail and PM here & text if you have a number and just let him know you are checking in to see if all is good on his end and such.

Then if after another day or so he doesn't reply, then follow up with a nice message clearly worded that you have another buyer lined up and can he please contact you by xxx time (and make sure he has your PM, e-mail & a way to text you) and that if you don't hear back, you'll need to move on to the next buyer.

?I think you should go straight to Frank and start crying about the whole thing...

Sell it to the guy, face to face with the cash. Because the guy with cash will move on if you stall him.

Hobo

Following the Golden Rule, I'd give the out-of-state guy at least 24 hours. Between work and family, it's easily possible to get a day behind on PMs on a hobbyist forum.

Somewhere not far past the 48-hour point is where it's definitely time to move on.

The in-between some is going to depend on the situation, and what I get from the above is that it's time to make a deal with the local guy once the OOS buyer has gone quiet for a full day.

If I was seriously going to buy a rifle online, it would take an act of god for me not to think about it constantly until I had it in my hands.

Fig said:

?I think you should go straight to Frank and start crying about the whole thing...

Click to expand...

???☠☠☠??????

if it's still a tentative agreement that you are waiting final confirmation on, then too bad for the snoozer.

if you both firmly agreed, exchanged info, and you are now expecting the check and ffl in the mail, then you need to wait.

next time have the guy email an ffl immediately, and instant-cash you the money at walmart.
.....just make sure you have your concealed carry so you can survive the walmart war zone.

I have always went with the first person with cash in hand. Especially if the person hasn't been responsive. Your not being a dick, just trying to sell your stuff.

local buyer first, 1 day on online stuff is my rule....

Local buyer with cash homie! Don’t sit around and wait you don’t owe anybody shit here look out for numero uno

jrhtx said:

Well he flaked because, he says, I won't take Pay pal. His previous conversations had been with a few minutes of any of my responses until I said deal.
No need for further comments. Moving on.

Everyone has to be new sometimes, but buyer with no post, member for 2 years, wants a rifle I have posted. Wanted to pay with pay pal (yes it was a flag). I declined his 1st offer and he sent another. I accepted with stipulation of USPS MO or check with verifiable FFL shipping info. He has gone silent for 12 hrs with a second PM sent this morning,
I have a local buyer now.
Don't want to be an asshole, whats acceptable to move on to another buyer??
Thanks

Click to expand...

I usually wait a day.
That being said, if the prospective buyer suddenly goes dark and I can see that he's been visiting the site, I move on. If he has time to peruse other topics, he has time to respond to my IM

Darayavaus said:

next time have the guy email an ffl immediately, and instant-cash you the money at walmart.
.....just make sure you have your concealed carry so you can survive the walmart war zone.

Click to expand...

Sorry but if some seller was that desperate I'd tell them to go enjoy selling to somebody else.

Someone trying to rush you into getting them money in a huge hurry or the deal is off and such is generally regarded as a near sure sign of a risky / fraudulent transaction.

Also you are way behind the times on FFLs, around almost this whole area for the past 8 years all the FFLs have been following the ATF "advice" to not send their FFL to anyone but another FFL directly after the FFL contacts them by phone or fax to request it & verifies they are an FFL.

I usually pay with paypal, but im also responsive if i am buying. I messed up a couple things recently with a couple guys, but i fixed it. Life sometimes gets in the way, people make mistakes, but if i am selling, someone wants it, i give them the heads up and tell them whats up. If paypal is a no go for you, it should be in your ad upfront, so buyers know. Some guys won’t ship, thats on them.

24 hours MAX. If theyre serious about buying it, theyll make time to set things up and buy it. Nobody is THAT busy that they cant take 5 minutes from their oh so busy day to reply to a message or send money via paypal. Bullshit.

Ive sold quite a bit on accurate shooter. And have great feedback over there. I had a guy give me a run around on a barrel for weeks. He was the only guy interested in it, so it wasnt a big deal to me. When he did finally decide he wanted to buy, I told him it was already sold. When in fact, it was still sitting in the safe. The hell with guys like that.

308220 said:

24 hours MAX. If theyre serious about buying it, theyll make time to set things up and buy it. Nobody is THAT busy that they cant take 5 minutes from their oh so busy day to reply to a message or send money via paypal. Bullshit.

Click to expand...

Except, in this case the seller did not want to take PayPal and would only take postal money orders so depending on someone's work schedule that may be several days before it can get done.

W54/XM-388 said:

Except, in this case the seller did not want to take PayPal and would only take postal money orders so depending on someone's work schedule that may be several days before it can get done.

Click to expand...

True. But in my selling experience, a serious buyer always has a MO tracking number headed my way in 24 hours. 24 hours basically gives you 2 working days to get a MO in the mail.

I've bought and sold stuff in the PX. Comms and commitments are key. Give him 24 hours then shoot him a PM. If no reply in 12 hours move on. Especially if you see him browsing the forum. Just my .02 cents

W54/XM-388 said:

Sorry but if some seller was that desperate I'd tell them to go enjoy selling to somebody else.

Someone trying to rush you into getting them money in a huge hurry or the deal is off and such is generally regarded as a near sure sign of a risky / fraudulent transaction.

Also you are way behind the times on FFLs, around almost this whole area for the past 8 years all the FFLs have been following the ATF "advice" to not send their FFL to anyone but another FFL directly after the FFL contacts them by phone or fax to request it & verifies they are an FFL.

Click to expand...

oh, there's more. I also want a letter from your pastor assuring me that you have not voted for a democrat since ago 20, and a note from your wife or mother guaranteeing that you never "liked" a post written by a member of ANTiFA, move-on.org or the open borders society.
otherwise, I aint selling you nuthin.


now seriously, the only place I do sell anything, GunBroker, has 20 years of A+ feedback on me. So if somebody bids without asking a question and ignores my terms of sale, then begins projecting their own "red flags" onto me, then F them. I'll report them as a non paying bidder.

Personally, I'm very easy going until someone proves themselves to be an asshole. Sure, I'll take somebody's check. As long as they agree they'll wait every second until the bank clears it. Or I'll gladly take a USPS MO, and I'll even ship it the same day the payment and verified FFL arrive. Or if they are insisting that they needed it yesterday, I'll take their FFL/Walmart cash payment and mail it same day to make them happy. But I dont do paypal either. And as far as FFL's go with gun sales, I follow every law to the letter. If somebody's "policy" requires more, they can pay for the cost. I wont eat the expense, but I'll be happy to comply with any legal request if they are paying for it. And I only sell my own unique or rare things on occasion if I get bored with them, things you rarely find. So if somebody wants to be an ahole and give me a hard time, after they read my terms of sale, F them. They can go buy that pristine 1942 zf41 sniper rifle at Dicks and suck one while they're there. This is not dime-a-dozen, buy anywhere retail bullshit from some online store. Anybody can buy new anywhere and haggle over a dollar.

Darayavaus said:

oh, there's more. I also want a letter from your pastor assuring me that you have not voted for a democrat since ago 20, and a note from your wife or mother guaranteeing that you never "liked" a post written by a member of ANTiFA, move-on.org or the open borders society.
otherwise, I aint selling you nuthin.

Click to expand...

Well, fuck...

I don't have a pastor... I've also "liked" and follow almost every commie shitrag to keep tabs on what they're up to.

Good thing I already have the guns I want, and TSUSA doesn't GAF who I am.

First "I'll take it." Don't care who said what prior to that.

Once posted a very popular item with "First I'll take it gets it." Check messages and I have several offers. First message was a lowball, second was I'll take it. Edited thread to state sold to XXX. Get a message from lowballer pissed that I didn't respond so he could up his offer. He liked my response even less.

I tried to buy some reloading equipment on here 2 years ago or so. Was actively PM'ing with the guy, told him I was hoping on an airplane and would respond within about 2 hours. Landed to a PM saying "ok sounds good" or something like that, so I PM'd him back saying "ill take it, whats your paypal" and he responds "sorry I sold it to somebody else because you didnt respond"... I sent him a not so nice response about me being on an airplane and TELLING HIM such....

About a week goes by and he PM's me again saying the other guy didnt come through... I told him to go fuck himself for selling it out from under me and he deserved to get fucked by the other guy.

So I think 24 hours is fair game... unless something else is stated.

30 minutes

Darayavaus said:

They can go buy that pristine 1942 zf41 sniper rifle at Dicks.

Click to expand...

For that I'd suggest they ask Empire Arms to see if they can source one. Better chance with them than Dicks HA!

But seriously if you are going to be "My way or the highway" and not at all willing to work on very common things (such as demanding that the FFL accepts things from an individual), you may wind up not getting as much for your item as you could from another party.

I sell things on the business side all the time in the regular marketplaces and to stay competitive we have to be flexible with what payment methods people want to use, what shipping carriers & services they would like to use, what financing houses they want to work with, what timeframes different organizations have for approving estimates and purchase as well as approving payments and such.

No posts and he's a member but he's not REALLY a member now is he?

Fuck it, go with the FTF I say. Much easier for the transaction anyway.

But FWIW, I sometimes get sidetracked, appointments, whatever, I may contact one of you guys about something and then not be able to respond for a day or two, sometimes more. Not that I'm not interested. And it happens to me too. But I don't get the deal with Paypal, I've been using them for years and they just get it done.

I've also noticed that with others longer time between replies indicates a waning desire. In sales, close shit fast is the one and only rule.

Based on his edited post above the transaction is over

As a buyer negotiating, I must realize that someone may come and pay full price, or better than my offer, and the item may get sold. The only time I have any claim to something being sold is stating "I'll take it" at full asking price. Even then, the seller is the owner of said item and can do whatever the fuck they want with it. It may have consequences down the road, as stated above, but it's their property until a legal transaction takes place. Anything else is moral/reputation based opinions. ?


And as noted in the OP's OP, there's a reason to take the money in front of you. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Fickle buyers are fickle. No problem, but you may lose out while you're "thinking about it". I've been there and learned to be a bit more decisive and less emotional about purchases of "things".

I've sold some stuff on here recently. I've had several "deals" go down the road you are on. Depending on how much or how often they communicated on how long I gave them. I worked with someone who would take longer to respond, but worked out. Also was ghosted several times by these new "members"

Money talks and bullshit walks in my book.

jrhtx said:

Well he flaked because, he says, I won't take Pay pal. His previous conversations had been with a few minutes of any of my responses until I said deal.
No need for further comments. Moving on.

Everyone has to be new sometimes, but buyer with no post, member for 2 years, wants a rifle I have posted. Wanted to pay with pay pal (yes it was a flag). I declined his 1st offer and he sent another. I accepted with stipulation of USPS MO or check with verifiable FFL shipping info. He has gone silent for 12 hrs with a second PM sent this morning,
I have a local buyer now.
Don't want to be an asshole, whats acceptable to move on to another buyer??
Thanks

Click to expand...

If you are apprehensive, that is enough. Write him a note and state your reasons for your change of mind. Really don't matter if he agrees or not.

I just bought an AI AXMC for a shit ton of money from another member who had been a member for many years and only had one post in all of those years. His comms and his way of handling it put me at ease. Your intuition is your best friend