IMO, if somebody says "I'll take it", they should take it...but if they change their mind before money exchanges hand, BFD.
I've reneged on agreements to purchase, and had others reneg on me. It sucks (I hated doing it), but life happens and as long as nobody gets financially screwed I don't see any real harm.
I'd rather somebody apologize for backing out while using an excuse (be it unforseen bills, wife gonna kick my ass, etc.) than simply stop communicating leaving the sale of the item to anybody in limbo.
I agree. Things do come up. I don't like having my time wasted either, but I'd rather have a guy take care of x bill or his family and not find himself in deep shit than to buy something I have for sale that I can sell to someone else. Shit happens, deal with it. Let the guy know it isn't cool though, maybe he'll learn from it.
Ripping someone off is a different story altogether. So far, I've had nothing but good experiences on the Hide and try and reciprocate. I go out of my way to make the deal a good one on here from my end, and I must say most all the folks I've dealt with on here have done exactly the same. Some folks have sent me free stuff, not even requesting the shipping charges (but I always send that at LEAST). There are a lot of good members on here that are honest traders, let's keep it that way.
But I'm sure I've had to back out on a deal or two in my lifetime. It's usually health related for me though, and I try not to promise on anything until I can follow through and spoke with the wife, and I attempt to make recourse to salvage the deal if I do fall through, but if it sounds like an excuse to whoever and they still get butthurt over it, well, fuck 'em. Must be nice to be able to bitch about the little things in life I guess.
I find the more well off in cash or health are the most opinionated of others less well off in either, and complain about the little things more often. It really borders childishness, but I guess it's the way of the world.
I look at the feedback to weed out folks that misrepresent shit, steal money and don't send the item, and just ripoffs in general. I'm not looking to find that someone got negative feedback because they changed their mind.
If I tell you I'll buy x from you and we haven't exchanged money or gear and I back out because of an unexpected doctor visit or a family emergency, or if I simply find a better deal you refuse to match (I'm not paying double for less, I don't care about our prior deal) and you leave bad feedback for me, I'll leave it for you too. Two can play that game. While some may not want to deal with me because I backed out one time for good reason, others won't want to deal with someone who trashed another person's good name over such petty shit. Remember, you can see the feedback going both ways. Finally, it's better to just not make a big fucking deal about it. Nobody got ripped off. It's a nuisance, it isn't the end of the world, and it isn't worth trashing someone's good name over.
If your finances hinge on an internet sale of an item in a trade forum, you need to find more stable income. If not and you're still bitching, you need to go volunteer at a VA or children's hospital where you'll be tempered by folks that have plenty to bitch about but don't.
