Buying and selling (slightly contentious content)

[Huntso]

I have bit of a dilemna and would welcome some other views please

When it comes to buying and more pointedly selling do you think the following is a reasonable view or not

Should you always sell to the first person who is prepared to pay your asking price
or
to somebody (who is also going to pay the same) that contributes to the site in lots of ways rather than just using it as a shop or has maybe sent you that elusive missing or broken part

I am leaning towards the latter, this site is an invaluable resource for information and if the helpful people left it would resort to being just a retro goods market.

Would welcome your views, I see it a bit like buying from local shops that are there when you need them rather than from the out of town Tesco style supermarket.

I should add this is purely hypothetical, but could easily be a scenario for us all. So often a new member's first post is to sell an item then they are never seen again.

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Should you always sell to the first person who is prepared to pay your asking price or to somebody - I can't imagen it working any other way. At the end of the day do what you feel happy with, its a free market and you can do what you want. I would be very pissed off if I had agreed to buy something and was told later, I can't because another more active forum member wanted it, seams a bit elitist to me.

So often a new member's first post is to sell an item then they are never seen again. - this bugs me a bit, on another forum you have to make a minimum number of posts (20 i think) before you can sell anything.

 

[Huntso]

I would be very pissed off if I had agreed to buy something and was told later, I can't because another more active forum member wanted it, seams a bit elitist to me

I do agree with this bit and wasn't thinking of a scale of activity more the known traders who buy to resell on Ebay or just come here for spare parts

 

[Agency_Scum]

Trust is more sought after than XTR. I go with the first " dibs " regardless. I've also always sold with a " no reason " fortnight's return guarantee ( " if you don't like it, send it back " ). That second one will seem strange until you experience how much horsesh1t it cuts out between differing people's views of " excellent/good/worn condition. "

 

[Harryburgundy]

Can't see how you could sell in any way other than to the first person.
How would you set your criteria if you wanted to sell to 'veteran' members.....number of posts :?: (could be all those posts were buying/selling anyway etc)
We all started with one post.
My opinion...keep it simple, and I think it would be wrong to try and create some sort of tiered system.

 

[Dr S]

Interesting but tricky subject.
When I have sold to the types you mention- lets call them Lurkers, I have had a few problems, they don't seem to get the fact these are old/ used parts and expect a wiggle/ CRC kind of service. I'm not the fastest at posting out- I live miles from a post office, run two businesses, have a young family etc. time is not something that I have in abundance. Regulars know this and in general are cool about it.
On the other hand, there are some members who don't feel they have anything to say, and although they spend quite a bit of time on here, they don't post very often, but they get what its all about and have the same expectations as a regular.
A Retrobike chap called up to the workshop yesterday that lives locally, he's only made a few posts on here but you could not wish to meet a friendlier more interesting person. I'd have no problems buying or selling from him.
So its a tricky one to answer really.

Si

 

[Huntso]

All good points and exactly why I asked

I do think that if someone had helped me out I would like to return the favour,but it is very awkward and maybe I have too much of an ideallistic view of life

 

[daj]

So often a new member's first post is to sell an item then they are never seen again. - this bugs me a bit

I am sure to anoy people with this but I dont agree at all, I dont think anyone here would complain if someone googled on the web because they found a shed load of old parts that they would rather filter it to people who would want them rather than skip them or put them to the 1000`s on ebay??

I am sure if someone popped up with a full xtr zaskar for £200 on there first post there will be lots of groans

 

[crud]

a lot of people are drawn into this site by the for sale section, if they found it difficult to buy they might not stick around and get hooked, and in future you might not be able to sell at all never mind choosing your buyer.

cheers

crud.

 

[orange71]

I always sell to first with the cash, it's the fairest way. I make it clear in my for sale threads.