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Looking for info on paying for a snake!

Brian Oakley

Brian Oakley

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I hope this is permitted to be here on the BOI. I bet it is something that comes up more often than we think.

I am looking for people's opinions on a situation between a potential buyer and a seller.

Buyer has a snake for sale and has been contacted by approx. 6 people. One person says that he would like the snake and will Paypal the money on Sunday after he gets his new cages set up. This might mean that the money will be Paypal'd on Sunday or Monday, I am not sure.

The two cenarios the seller is faced with are these:

1. Seller holds on to the snake and takes it off market with hopes that nothing happens in the potential buyers world and the money is Paypal'd on Sunday or later.

2. The seller explains to the potential buyer that he would like to earn his business, butif someone comes along with 'cash in hand' that he would not be able to turn down the deal.

Would you choose cenario 1 or 2?

Thanks!
 
I used to take people's word and call the animal sold, but after more back outs than I care to recall, I set up a policy that has worked really well and seems fair.
I will hold an animal for 24hrs w/o payment. After that I need payment in full or a 25% non-refundable deposit to continue reserving the animal. That way, you can tell the others that it is on hold for 24 hrs and you will let them know if the buyer backs out (most are willing to wait that long), and you can tell the original buyer that you have other people interested so you hope they understand that you can only hold the animal for 24hrs--usually they dont have a problem with that.

If they pay the deposit and then back out, at least you have some $ for potentially losing other customers.

Some people just do "first to pay" and that works well too.

Dana
 
If the seller gave his word that he will hold the snake for the potential buyer he should stick to it. He runs the risk of not being paid but he made a verbal agreement (maybe even written if it was via e-mail). On the other hand if he never told the seller the snake was "on hold" (and the seller understood it) then there was no transaction being made, just an interest manifested by a potential buyer. In this case though, I don't understand why does the buyer has to wait until he finishes assembling the cages on Sunday to Paypal the money. Is he going to be working non-stop from now until then!

Regards.
 
I agree with the 24 hour hold policy that is given on the animal, without a deposit, and I also agree with a 20-25% non refundable deposit.. Anything longer then that can and often will end another potential deal (It has happened to me several times as well)

In this instance, if you gave a verbal confirmation on holding the animal until sunday stick with it, if not, I would give the 24 hr scenario.

Later
 
Hold the animal for 48 hours without a deposit. Advise the buyer they have this time to send full payment or at least a non refundable deposit. If there is more then one person interested place them on a list in order of the day/time the email was received with an offer to purchase.
 
Due to a recent situation where we took an animal off the market for 2 weeks on a buyers "word", we have decided that no animal will be removed from the market until someone's payment is in hand.
Dogboa
 
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