Turning down a buyer

Has anyone ever been in the position of refusing to sell to someone? I have a potential buyer who has made me feel uncomfortable about a transaction on multiple occasions. I'd prefer to find a different buyer for the animals, simply to protect myself. Is there a PC way to tell someone "Thanks but no thanks?" I have no evidence that this person is a bad buyer, just an uneasy feeling about a few of our correspondences so far. Plus, I'd have no recourse in the unlikely event that the deal did go bad. Any suggestions?

The only time I have felt uneasy and unwilling to sell to a potential buyer was when they were a minor. And in that situation I told them I was not willing to sell to them because of that unless I spoke directly with their parents and made the deal with them.

I don't really know your circumstances or what makes you feel uneasy, the way I protect myself is I require full payment upfront before I will ship (if it is a personal check, I make sure it clears the bank before I ship). And if they claim a DOA I would make them ship the animal back or take a really good digital picture of it so I could confirm it was in fact the animal that I had sent.

But we all have "bad" feelings about things, maybe just trust your gut and not go through with it. Tell him you've got another potential buyer or that you are gonna take your item off the market for a little while? I don't know, I don't really condone lying, but is there really a tactful way to say, "I don't trust you and don't want to do business with you!"? I haven't found it yet!

Linda,

Thank you for your thoughts. As far as I know, this person is not a minor. They are, however, out of the country so I'd be shipping to a third party within the US. I suppose that could be reason enough to say "forget it," even though there is more... payment method, his urgency to make a purchase, etc. Don't worry, he isn't in Nigeria (lots of scam artists there).

I'll have to think this over a little more, and come up with an elegant way of backing out. At one point I replied, "I'm not comfortable shipping to a third party, and wish you luck finding a breeder better suited to your needs" but somehow we ended up discussing a sale again. Ah, the joys of e-commerce!

Ronda

I get awefully nervous with people who want a third party shipper and then say I'll pay you with a cashier's check from another country. Red Flag for a scam. When people approach me with type of offer I say, I only ship to the continental U.S. only and I only use my shipper! Postal Money Orders ONLY!

Sounds fishy from what you've told me. I would back out if I were you. But that's just my opinion.

Rhonda,
There are many "international scams" going on right now. Check out the BOI, and there are currently two threads about recieving emails from phony buyers outside the US. I myself have gotten these emails for both the "snakes I am selling" (I do not sell snakes) and the small animals I sell.

Danni

I have received several scam buyer emails as well... they are typically perpetrated by Nigerians. I even tried to bait one once because I wanted to receive the counterfeit cashier's check. My day job is an a fraud investigator, so these things interest me. The Nigerians even tried to buy my car when I had it listed on AutoTrader. They're very persistent.

I doubt this guy is a scam artist (and he's in Canada -- hardly a haven for fraudsters -- although in my line of work I've learned that bad guys are everywhere). He wants to pay by Paypal, and I'm not sure how that works with an international buyer. I think you're right about a Postal money order being the only way to go here. And I'd definitely modify my guarantee if I ship to a third party. Hmm... more to think about. Thanks for your input!

I've had a few people request shipment through a third party. Here's my policy. I only use FedEx, if you want me to either use another carrier or go through a third party, I OFFER NO GUARANTEES OR REFUNDS! Kind of harsh, but if they won't ship on your terms then you have no control over what is going to happen to the animals and should not be responsible if something bad happens, in my opinion anyways.

Ronda,
there could be two types of situations.
1.) the buyer being rude and discourtious off the bat..... for example
i had a person whom emailed me " I WANT TWO CHEAP ALBINOS EMAILS ME WITH PICS AND PRICE" first email i directed them to my site told them that what i had avalible and to let me know if the see anything they are interested in. Same person emailed me back a week later same email... i was peeved at this point and told him if he wanted "cheap albinos" to go find some wholesaler or broker where they dont care about the quality health and well being of the animals... and that his money was no good with me and thank you
now on the other hand in the case of a courtious buyer, but you just dont feel right. Just tell them politely, I am sorry but i am going tohave to refuse to sell to you for "whateverreason ", i do hope you understand but thank you inwuiring and for your time spent... or something along the lines of that

I dunno... See, to my mind the first step would be to run BOI checks on both the end consumer and the individual they want to have ship the animals out of country... Since moving animals across national borders requires thirty different kinds of paperwork it would naturally have to be sent through an intermediary who had the legal ability to do so. Finding someone trustworthy who already has the ability is usually faster than having a seller apply for it...

I'm not sure what paypal does with international currency conversions but you'd want to check that out as well... But if the buyer comes out clean and you're not getting sixty cents on the dollar or whatever the Canadian exchange rate is this week and you hash out that your guarantee will extend only to live, healthy arrival with the chosen intermediary... No real reason not to make the sale.

Hit the Canadian BOI, check the person out. Hit the normal BOi and check out the secondary shipper.

I think that is great advice!