People who "flake out" on deals.

Mercer Don · May 12, 2004

You run an ad for an animal. People reply. Somebody COMMITS to purchase/trade your advertised animal. Days pass, you do not hear back from the individual. You email them, no replies. Maybe you do hear back and they claim money problems, life crisis or what have you. You realize you have been flaked out on.

The above situation has been happening WAY to often lately in this hobby/business. It is not just some "Joe Blow" that nobody has heard of, but well known, respected people. Yes, things happen, problems occur, but lets be real. What, if anything should be done??? Oh yeah, I am guilty of "flaking out" once, many years ago, but thats it.

dumje · May 12, 2004

This poll is not complete. The option should be there for re advertise the animal and forget about it. This happens in a business with many small timer organizations...I am guilty of it. I usually try to send an email that says hey forget about it...I cannot get it at this time. My reasons are my reasons and no explanation is needed.

Darin Chappell · May 12, 2004

If a guy tells me, "I want that snake! Don't sell it to anyone else ... the money is ON THE WAY!" I take that animal off of my "For Sale" list and place it on the "Sale Pending side of the ledger.

Now, if that same guy comes back to me in a few days and says, "Hey forget about it...I cannot get it at this time," I take the animal back off the "Sale Pending" list and put it back on the "For Sale" list. Does that guy owe me an explanation? Nope.

Will I sell to him again? Yep ... But I'll never hold an animal for him again. It's cash up front to me, or the animal you wanted can very easily be sold right out from under you, pal!

It may not seem like a big deal for buyers, but there is real damage in pulling a snake off of the "For Sale" side of an ad, even for a short period of time. The reason is because there are only so many potential buyers out there for every snake offered for sale. If I pull my snake so you can take your sweet time to think about things, another guy (one who is ACTUALLY serious about BUYING a snake from me) will not look at my stock, and he'll likely buy something from someone else while I'm messing around with someone wasting my time.

Anybody can do me that way ONE TIME! Nobody gets to do it to me twice ... I promise.

DAND · May 13, 2004

The next poll should be about the sellers that can't bother to reply to buyers.

Darin Chappell · May 14, 2004

I've never done it on purpose, but I have, inadvertantly, neglected to respond to a buyer before. There's no doubt that it makes a negative impression on people when sellers don't respond to those inquiring about their animals.

However, when I'm in the "buyer's chair," I try to remember that while I, as a buyer, may be extremely interested in that snake being offered, and I have every motivation to make cetain that I contact THAT seller as soon as possible, the seller may have dozens of people interested in the same snake RIGHT NOW!!!
He or she has to wade through all of the emails, try to determine which ones are serious, which one came in first, and which deal is best for him (regarding multiple sale items, shipping requirements, etc.).

None of that excuses rudeness from a seller, but having been on boths sides of the deal, I am certainly willing to understand a less than initially responsive seller than I am a flaky buyer. Someone who strings yu along in a sale only to then say "Nah, forget it!" is either unaware or uncaring of the trouble they cause. Either way, it shows a lack of comittment to me, that I will never again trust. To me, it is the same as a seller that backs out of a deal, because he got a higher bid. I have no tolerance for that either!

Mercer Don · May 14, 2004

When I list an animal for sale, I try to put every detail in the ad. If somebody emails me saying "How big is it?", and my ad says (5'), they will NOT get a reply from me. If a person is to lazy, stupid etc, to read thru a whole ad, I don't want them having my animals. Just a peeve of mine.

Neverending · Jun 17, 2004

When I list an animal for sale, I try to put every detail in the ad. If somebody emails me saying "How big is it?", and my ad says (5'), they will NOT get a reply from me. If a person is to lazy, stupid etc, to read thru a whole ad, I don't want them having my animals. Just a peeve of mine.

..thats the best thing ive read all day.

gr8fr0g · Jul 12, 2004

Everyone flakes for a reason. Some are good reasons and others are bad. The buyer shouldn’t be required to give an explanation although one would be nice. We shouldn’t be thinking “That buyer wronged me. I am going to bash their reputation.” We should be thinking that fate (or whatever you believe in) intervened and maybe that animal is better off not going to that home.

Our first concern should always be for the welfare of animals!

John316 · Aug 23, 2004

I had recently purchased a pair of VERY expensive animals from a well known breeder. I sent payment via bank transfer and two days later my transmission went out on my vehicle. The seller had no problems refunding my money and was very prompt in returning my funds with a note hoping everything turned out.
Fortunately for me the seller was not as hard nosed as you!
In a perfect world things would ALWAYS go as planned. However cars break down, air conditioners go out, people get injured etc..
The point is, when I am able to afford the animals again the first person I will call will be the dealer who was very understanding to my plight. He earned my business by showing he actually cares about his customers and not just selling the animal/s. If he had made a huge stink over the situation I can guarantee he would never see my business again.
Try putting the shoe on the other foot. You may just find it fits quite comfortably.
Cynthia

Pug · Aug 24, 2004

This is sort of off topic because it doesn't involve animals, but it is about flaking. I had (still have now) some water cooling gear up for sale on a couple of computer and modding hobbyist forums. Two weeks ago a person PM'd to ask if the stuf was available and I said "sure, make me an offer". The guy then told me he was going to buy everything I had and at my asking price ($100 shipped), but he needed to get his Paypal set up. He sent another email letting me know he was still waiting and was dreaming about setting up his soon-to-be water cooling. Then, a week passes and there is no money or response, so I email him asking what's up. He then said that he bought a Playstation 2 instead!

AARGH!!! I had to turn another buyer away because I was waiting for this guy to buy my stuff. I lost what could have been a real interested buyer for that hooligan to lead me on and then buy something else instead of what he exclaimed he wanted oh so very bad. At the very least, I'd like to string him upsidedown.

sschind · Aug 24, 2004

Darin makes a good point. Why eliminate a customer just because they flaked? Just don't hold anything for them. I have had customers bounce checks on me and I was not able to recover the money for whatever reason. Will I prevent them from buying from me again? no. I will not accept any form of payment other than cash however.

Steve Schindler

DAND · Aug 25, 2004

It's not just the buyers who flake out

I just recently had a seller flake out, or something. The whole thing sounds like there is something else going on that I haven't been told.

I was going to purchase a 50 lot of assorted corns. I sent the postal money order and then got a call from the seller stating he can't ship through Delta even know he had (once) before. He went as far as to ask some other people he knows who are known shippers to ship for him. He said this one person would but it would be in a few days. He was going to try DHL but the corns were "rattling their tails too much". Instead of calling me to inform me he wasn't or couldn't ship, he waited until 1:30 in the morning to e-mail me this information (about a half hour after I had finally given up and gone to bed after waiting and checking my e-mail for the tracking number I was promised).

So I e-mail him asking him why he waits until 1:30 to inform me about what is going on and no response. The next day I e-mail him again and he responds that he has refunded my money plus 10% (which just about covers my phone calls and over nighting the PMO). He said he just didn't want to drag this out any longer. He said that he wanted to send me some free snakes when he moves and can ship legally. Something tells me that I won't be seeing those snakes either.

craig kade · Sep 6, 2004

I just had to post here, I have been noticing "flaking" being much more common the last couple months, I don't know why, but it really ticks me off. The latest one was a guy said he wanted to see the snakes before he decided, no problem since I was going to a show that was local for him. We had already agreed on $500, he just wanted to see them before he purchased. I went to the show, kept them under my table, he came in after the show was about 1/2 over and said they looked great and he wanted them. I was bummed he did not get them that day, but I am going to be in his neighborhood next week anyhow, so we were going to do the transaction then. Today he emails me and tells me he still wants them, but wants to pay $400. Beleive me, the snakes were already priced just over 1/2 market value at $500. So basically I wasted a show and still have the snakes. What makes it worse is I sold the females at the show really cheap, because he was buying the males, so now I am stuck with three lone males and I wasted a show in the process. I would not be against a seperate forum on here just dedicated to "flakers". That way you could know who not to waste your time and energy with. Craig Kade

TooManyBurmese · Sep 6, 2004

Although I deal in small animals and not reptiles, I do get several emails about a single animal once in a while. Since my animals are a lot lower on the monetary value scale, I post in my ads, "$5 PayPal deposit to hold/reserve animals" That right away stops most "flaky buyers". Right away they have to go through a process to get an animal on hold. Makes it harder for them to "forget".

I also deal with a lot of children. I always have to battle to get them to have their parents' call, and children are also a LOT more apt to flake out than a million dollar herp breeder hee hee. That is another reason I require the $5 deposit. I feel $5 is a small not unreasonable amount to ask.

I TOTALLY agree about your statement about not reading ads! I post EVERYTHING in my ads, including my location in the title of the ad. I include my zip code, DOB of animal, size, color, sex, temperment, and anything special about it. I even put a map of my location on my web site due to the large amount of people that are too lazy to use MapQuest! I also will not respond to an email inquiring about information in an ad.

But I voted to let it slide. What can I do? I do keep a mental note of people who constantly flake, and eventually ask them to stop contacting me. People do have things come up.

Sorry for the babbling, I am waiting for an upload

Sand&SunReptile · Sep 6, 2004

I have to agree with some of the people who have posted.
If I sell things and get a flakey, which has happened to me, with these 2 particular snakes sooo much, I decided to keep the darn things because it was less trouble.
I advertised 1.2 Ball Pythons, youngins. I got about 20emails, over the course of 2 weeks, all asking pictures. Half the people were lost after that. Then I got about 10 replies asking for weights, lengths ect... They were clearly listed in the add, but what the hell? After that, about 5 people were intrested. They all made offers. I took the highest one, who said "Nevermind". So I took the next highest. He said he decided on a Boa instead. The 3rd bidder told me he wanted only 1 female. I didnt want to sell the females alone, because nobody would buy the male at that point. The 4th bidder let me know he though my pictures were false, and never replied to anything. My pictures had a date on them, I took a picture of myself with the snake, then kindly sent him a picture of a middle finger, because a month after this, he sent me an email calling me a fraud, a liar, and a scam artist.
I dont think he believes my pictures are false anymore LOL.
The 5th buyer told me he wanted them, was still intrested. The he told me he lived in Canada. It clearly stated in my add, that sales are strictly kept in the states only.
I still have the snakes, and if anybody wants them, they can drive their a$$ to my front door, and hand me the cash before I even do more so than crack the door open.
Just my own experiance and humble opinion.
Last time I'd ever take those 20 people seriously.

Sand&SunReptile · Sep 17, 2004

Jeez, I'd figure more people would list their experiances here. People are just letting this thread fade into the abiss.

MGReptiles · Oct 5, 2004

Nope I have some. I am selling some snakes right now and some supplies. I have had 40-50 questions a week on these guys. I actually enjoy answering the mails as I love talking snakes. I mean it isint a lot of hard work to take some pics and answer the mails but it is time consuming. I have had the guys that ask the exact same queston that I have answers in the post. I beleive half of them are teens that really do want the animal but do not have the recorces for them...I just want to sell these buggers...
-Matt

Sand&SunReptile · Oct 5, 2004

Indeed. Hey, I told you I would take those supplies, and they are on the way.
When I get you full payment, and recieve my supplies, I'll give you some seller feedback.
I guess thats the only way to figure out who is the best buyer. By feedback. I like for the seller to give me feedback if all goes smooth and well, and I likewise give them seller feedback.

MGReptiles · Oct 5, 2004

Ya know I have only had one seller to give me feedback at it was Natures spirit. I really appricate that. I will buy all my racks from them if thay have what I need. I always leave feedback for every transaction I do, good or bad I want people to know. Ya know, if someone mails ya and says I want some pics of theose snakes u have for sale, can then take there name and check them out on the BOI to see if they have a flake out rep...

Sand&SunReptile · Oct 5, 2004

That too.
Casey is a great guy, and Darla is very helpful. Not sure who sends all the emails too me lol. They are both very qualified.
I loved the Natures Spirit rack I have, It works great, reliable, and defenitely worth the money I spent for it.

People who "flake out" on deals.

What should become of the "Flakes"???

Let them slide and just mentally note not to deal with them in the future.

Hang them out to dry on the BOI.

They entered a legal contract, sue their worthless a$$

Plan revenge for your wasted time and possible lost sales.

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