offthearkexoticpets

Also...Has anyone brought this thread to the sellers attention. It would be fair to at least let him know this thread is out here.

Originally Posted by DemmBalls

Also...Has anyone brought this thread to the sellers attention. It would be fair to at least let him know this thread is out here.

Seller is banned from this site it seems, so no point in that .

Originally Posted by ozz465

Seller is banned from this site it seems, so no point in that .

Oh...Ooops. Guess I should have checked before asking.

I see both sides. But I will never conduct sales like that. That's just me I guess. If I have given a buyer all the details, agreed to a ship date, accepted a counter offer to my listed price and given my paypal, then in my mind they are sold unless I don't hear back for an extended period of time (longer than 5 hrs lol) more like a day or so. And if I don't hear back I send a email asking if they are still buying and if I don't hear back soon they are still fair game to other buyers.

They already told me someone called in with a cc and paid no other contact before with the buyer. I had no clue who they were and did not know they had a call in and pay with cc option most don't or I would have. Ether way I think the horse has been beaten.

I won't send money until all terms have been agreed to but that is just me. Maybe ill re think that method but more than likly not.

Thanks for all the points of view though, as always its been interesting.

Figures - with the length of my post, I still managed to leave out an important thought:

It bears remembering that Off The Ark is a pet shop. A real store that people can walk into and buy things...not an internet only business handled by email and an occasional phone call; and not a hobby breeder that only sells the babies he produces.
The latter certainly allows for a lot more flexibility in sales.

In the emails you sent him, did you give him a definite "Yes I'm going to buy them I'm going to pay you via paypal in 5 hours" ? Yes you asked for price and shipping information but that's not always a clear answer for someone who is running a business.
I work at a garden center. If someone calls and inquires about our mulch prices and delivery schedule but they don't give me a definite answer, I'm not going to hold that spot open especially if someone else calls and says " Yes I want to place an order for Mulch, here's my CC number." And yes I do get people who think they deserved that spot even though they didn't give a definite yes or no for an order.

I'm not saying this to be mean but just adding my two cents.

In this situation it seems like you were very committed to making the purchase. I feel like the seller could have at least contacted you in the interim to let you know there was another party interested. Maybe if you had known the animals weren't being held for you, you could have payed sooner and secured the deal.

Personally, I believe that communication in these situations is key. If two people are interested in the same animal, the first person has "dibs" if they want to go ahead and make the purchase and I inform the second person that there was already someone looking at that particular animal. That way no feels like an animal was sold out from under them. The idea is keep everyone happy whether they purchase or not. It's called customer service.

Originally Posted by Sushi Dragons

In this situation it seems like you were very committed to making the purchase. I feel like the seller could have at least contacted you in the interim to let you know there was another party interested. Maybe if you had known the animals weren't being held for you, you could have payed sooner and secured the deal.

Personally, I believe that communication in these situations is key. If two people are interested in the same animal, the first person has "dibs" if they want to go ahead and make the purchase and I inform the second person that there was already someone looking at that particular animal. That way no feels like an animal was sold out from under them. The idea is keep everyone happy whether they purchase or not. It's called customer service.

Telling the first person that somebody else is interested often comes off as sales pressure, IMO. Even when it is legit, I think a lot of people receive it that way.
Telling other interested parties that somebody else is "looking at" an animal is great for the first person...but not everybody is receptive to that when they're prepared to make a purchase. Speaking only for myself, if I'm turned away, I generally won't look back.

[QUOTE=hhmoore;1423829]Telling the first person that somebody else is interested often comes off as sales pressure, IMO. Even when it is legit, I think a lot of people receive it that way.
Telling other interested parties that somebody else is "looking at" an animal is great for the first person...but not everybody is receptive to that when they're prepared to make a purchase. Speaking only for myself, if I'm turned away, I generally won't look back.[/quote]

I agree. When I sold one of my first clutches, I had several people interested in one female. The first person to email me seemed serious, so I turned away 2 buyers waitingon payment. It never showed up, and the other buyers moved on. Now my policy is first to pay gets the animal. Its not because I don't care about my customers. I've just learned that its a logistical nightmare to do anything else. Especially doing business primarily by mail, I ended up waiting on emails from everyone and it was a huge headache.

Originally Posted by ozz465

Ive had the same thing happen to me, i take too long to send an actual payment and miss out on awesome deals .Seems this thread is in retaliation for them not selling the snake to you and actually going with someone with cash in hand.Next time have then payment ready when buying or make arrangements with the seller .

Sorry but agreed. :/ If I'm gonna be running out somewhere while waiting on a reply from someone, even if I got no reply, I let them know I'm heading out and how long it'll be that they'll hear from me. I at least let them know I'm still definitely interested and once the info is sent and I get home, I'll pay in full that second.

That way, while I'm gone, it just strengthens the chance of someone else coming up and buying it and the seller saying "Well I haven't heard from them in 5hrs so since your ready to pay right this second, and I have no clue if they're gonna respond, go ahead".

I understand it's frustrating to lose out on something like this, but an email could've been sent out to let them know you were gonna be away from the comp for an extended period of time so they knew for sure you still wanted them. There really are a lot of people who go "Yeah I'll pay" and never do and you keep emailing em and harassing em and bugging em about it just for them to say "Nevermind, found something else, thanks". Hell, that's happened to me TONS, /RIGHT/ after I made a deal with someone and sent them info to pay!!! Lots of flakes out there - in business you HAVE to make sure you let them know you aren't one. :/
Just IMHO.