Business Ethics question!

Hey guys many of you know who I am and many fo you don't but I want to ask ya'll a business ethic question...which recently I encountered at the show in South Carolina in which I was a vendor.....here is the story...no names will be applies unless asked so that way I wil not dename another vendor

on Sat. morning when the show opened I saw a group of mammals for sale..I went over and talked to the vendor about them and they said they would do a good price for them for me.....I told them that I would think about it and come back.....about mid day I came back and I asked them if the would take a credit card which they reply they do not have a credit card machine....s6 asked them is it alright for them to take a check and to old it till weds of this week so I can shift some funds around into the account, they told me yes that would be no problem so I was set....I came back a little later, and by this time they only had 1 of the mammals I want to buy left but another customer was looking at it and was contemplating on buying it for the full price...so I told them I undestand and I would wait till the customer decide if they wanted to buy it......about 40 minutes before the show close I saw no one at their table so I went and ask if the customer has bought the mammal...they told me she was walking round and thinking about it..so I say no problem...I come back at the end of the show in Sat. and they still have 1 left for sale....so I ask them is it alright if I wrote them a check now....The vendor reply that there was another customer that was gonna come over to their house to possibly buy it..(by this time I was a bit irked)....so I was like fine...........Noe Sunday morning before the show started I went to the vendor with the mammaland they still had the little one....so I ask them can I pay for him now.........they told me that another customer was gonna come and pay for him after Church.......(so I'm kindda pissed by now)....so I waited...while I was waiting they also brought on sunday anoter mammal which I would like to buy so I told them that I will buy their new mammal that they brought and they can sell the other mammal to the other customer....this is when they retracted their statement of taking my check...so it was at the end of day Sunday which I went back to see if I can buy the orignal mammal I wanted...but when I was their they just sold to some customer that just walked up to them...and I even think they took a check from them but not me......I mean they drag me through freakin 2 days fo crap.....if they did not want to do bsuiness with me then do't !....don't drag me around the mud...and they do not know that I am usually a repeat customer and that I do a lt fo recoomandation to other peopel in the industries because I get asked about my exotic mammals....

So if you were in my shoe would you be pissed or am I just over reacting need some imput please!

Thank you

I don't really think it's an ethical question at all...

You wanted to buy an animal with a post dated check. Which is always going to be less than desireable.

They had paid their table fee for the full duration of the show and wanted to keep trying to sell the animal directly, but were leaving the option open of possibly completing a deal with you if it was still avaliable.

I am having a lot of difficulty reading your post, so I may have missed something but from what I believe I read; there's a big difference between a firm agreement to a transaction and being told that it's a possibility. You were offering something that was far from what a dealer would want and it's likely that they did have the customers who were "considering" it every time you approached them. A lot of people will leave a dealer with a partial commitment, the standard "I'm going to look around a little more, I might be back later." when they're either uncertain of the purchase or uncertain of the price. Since the mammal dealer never actually *took* a check from you, I'm inclined to believe that you and they never really finalized an agreement. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there of course.

Under the circumstances, you may be in a position where clearer communication may have resulted in a better understanding of what was going on. I don't believe you have a BOI worthy kind of greivance...

okay well first of all I did not know where to post so I posted in 2 place....second the transaction was agreed upon and I'm sure they more than the table and gas and all the cost due to the sale of the previous 3 mammals.......
I'll try and rephrase in steps

Saturday
Step 1....Asked about the mamamal#1 and they said we'll do you a good deal
Step 2.....Asked if they would take a check and hold it and they said yes
Step 3...... I came back and told them I'm ready to pay but they told me customer A was willing to buy at full price and asked me to wait I said okay
Step 4......I came back about 40 minutes till end of show and did not see Customer A and asked if I can buy it now ..the vendor reply was Customer A was walking around and thinking about it
Step 5......Came back at the end of the show when all customers was gone and ask if I can buy it now.....they told me they have a Customer B that was gonna go to their place to looka t him and possibly buy him....so I said okay

Sunday....
Step 1........I went over and saw theys till have the mammal I wanted and asked if I can pay for him now...the Vendor reply was there was a Cusotmer C that will come and buy him after church....and asked me to wait again...this time I even offered them full price...but I said okay
Step 2.........I come over at closing time on sunday ready to buy but they sold it to Customer D.........

oh yeah on Sunday they retracted their acceptance of check saying they got burned before...which I understand...but I was willing to give them my SSN if they had asked me to let them knwo I'm reputable enough...

I'm using Customer ABCD to illustrate it was different customers ....now I understand about giving customers a chance to come back if you said you would hold something for them...but I thought I saw Customer D writing them a check......After they said oh we don't want to take checks because we have been burned in the past.....

I hope this cleared up some fo my writing sorry if I got people confused..e mail me to clarify...

Thanx

Winston

I think it is unethical. You agreed on a price and you showed up and paid for it. In fact, they should have sold the animal to you in step 3 because you agreed on the price and you came with the funds. Client A was indecisive. It is common in herp events a person want to think. If someone in the meantime comes to purchase the person thinking loses. Now, it was crazy it lasted so many days. I would report it. Either to fair organizers or on message boards and Better Business Bureau.

I don't accept checks because I have got burned. I will take cash, money order, debit, or credit. I took a check once with driver licence information to have the check bounce, person not living at the address on the check (match driver licence), and the driver licence was suspended. The police took a report, but nothing. Burned on $150. If the did not take checks, be man enough to say it outright.

I do not think this was unethical. Annoying and poor customer service, perhaps, but certainly nothing that would warrant contacting the Better Business Bureau like Vidusa suggests.

Winston, perhaps you could explain something to me. On your list of Saturdays' events, between working out a mutually acceptable deal in Step 2 and later returning to actually purchase the animal in step 3, what transpired? Were you one of those numerous customers who showed interest, asked a few question, and then said you wanted to think about it or look around more? If so, then I don't think any deal was ever really settled. If he made an offer for a discount price and even ignored a red-flag like a post-dated check and you failed to accept and pay up, then there is nothing unethical about not jumping at the same deal the next time you show interest, especially if he has people showing interest at the asking price. It may not be a great business practice to turn down a paying customer now for a potential customer later, but it isn't unethical.

If you waffled about the deal and didn't pony up, then he's free to make other deals for his animals. From what you've posted, the seller never agreed to hold the animal for you. As far as I am concerned, that animal was fair game for any of those other customers, especially if they were topping the amount you offered to pay.

Again, I think it is a somewhat dumb way of dealing with a customer. However, I don't think it is unethical to follow through on a scheduled meeting with another customer who is willing to pay more rather than offer the animal again to someone who's already effectively passed on one discounted transaction. That is my take on Saturday, step 5.

Along the way, you say you continued to be agreeable about all of this, and never offered to match the other customer's offers. Nice of you, but you were leaving the doorway open, showing the seller you'd rather risk losing the animal than pay asking price.

Sunday you again try to pick up the animal while they have another customer who is coming to pay (presumably full price) after church. The way you word this is different than the other times, so I can only conclude from what you say the seller told you that this was not a customer thinking about it, this was a customer he'd worked out an agreement with already. Someone who accepted the offered deal, and got an agreement to hold the animal, most likely. Not someone who was offered a deal and decided to look around or think, like customer A and yourself?


In the meantime, they get another animal you want, but you tell them to sell that new animal to the person they've arranged a deal with.

You insist that there were four different customers, but since you never saw customers B and C, don't you think it is pretty possible that B, C and D are all the same customer? That he went and met the customer that night to show the animal, and they made an agreement that the seller would hold the animal and the customer would pick up and pay the next day after church? Not impossible, at least.

So, in effect, when you try to talk him in to selling you 'the little one' and giving the other customer the other one (that you also wanted), you were asking him to pull a bait and switch?

And you say you waited until he told you he had a deal worked out Sunday for the animal before ever offering him his asking price. Did you bother to offer him his asking price on the other one that morning? Did it never occur to you before if you wanted it all that terribly badly to agree to the asking price the previous day, after you'd more or less passed on a lower offer?

At that point, they refuse your business (or at least your check). Granted, I do think it is possible they refused it for no better reason than that you had annoyed the living poo out of them, but that is not unethical. It is their right as a seller, especially after you were the one who walked away from the first quasi-deal you'd hammered out.

Sorry for your wasted time and annoyance, but I don't think anything unethical happened. He wasn't under any obligation to sell it to you, after all. A customer with a handful of cash (or a post-dated check) doesn't mean you have to complete a transaction. A little bit of negotiation is not a verbal contract. It does suck that you were strung along a bit just to hedge the sellers' bets, though.