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  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

responding to ads

S

sschind

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This question is for buyers and sellers really. For the buyers, If you see an ad for something you are interested in do you simply make a response to the ad in the classifieds section and hope that the seller checks back regularily, or do you email or at least PM the seller?

For the sellers, When you place an ad on any of the classifieds, what order of prefernce do you give people who respond. When I go on line, the first thing I check is my email. If I have multiple responses to an ad I will give preference to the one sent first. Now If I go on to FC I get a notification that I have a PM and I check that next. Only then do I get to the classified section and my ad.

So far there has been no problem as the first person to respond to the ad was also the first person (only person actually, there are only 2 so far) to send me email. I can se a situation arising though where someone wants something you have, posts a response to your ad minutes after it is posted, but loses out on the sale to someone who saw it and posted later but sent an email. My take is that if you are truely serious you should email the person the minute you see the ad. The link is right there and it is actually quicker (for me anyway) than replying to the post.

I don't see this as a big problem since I am sure that most serious buyers would send an email but this forum has slowed a bit and I thought I would try to generate a little more traffic.

Steve Schindler
Tropical Oasis
 
When I place an ad, I simply subscribe to the thread so that I'll get an email when someone replies to the thread. I'm also notified by email when I get a new PM. I've found this method to be a fairly efficient way of making sure I respond promptly to any inquiries.
 
If someone really wants to buy something from me, they need to email me. I really don't want to have to go back to each and every one of my ads to check for replies. I've taken it one step further, and started locking all my ads, so you cannot reply to them at all. This completely eliminates the possibility of missing a reply. I specifically state in my ads that it is LOCKED, and you need to EMAIL me if you'd like to purchase the animal, or if you have questions.

Sometimes, a reply to your ad may give the impression of an animal being sold. Such as "I'll buy (insert animal) today". These people seldom actually purchase an animal, and (in my opinion), may actually cause you to lose a sale to a person who actually has cash in hand.
 
Sometimes, a reply to your ad may give the impression of an animal being sold. Such as "I'll buy (insert animal) today". These people seldom actually purchase an animal, and (in my opinion), may actually cause you to lose a sale to a person who actually has cash in hand.
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Excellent point, and one that I'd not considered!
 
The flip side to that (locking ads) is I've seen ads, that apparently went unoticed for some period of time, then someone answered the ad, bumping it back up, and then 3 or 4 more replies from different people interested in the product.

As for responding, my first priority is to check if the seller had any preferences listed. ie "please call or e-mail" some will even say "calls take priority" or "reply here I check everyday"

If there are no "stipulations" then it would go onto what my own priority was..if it was an animal I have absolutly wanted and knew of the sellers rep already, and was ready to buy on the spot, I'd find a phone number, as the quickest way to try to contact the person, followed up by an e-mail. If I had a lot of questions and wasn't ready to buy "on the spot" I would send an e-mail and or PM.
 
For the buyers, If you see an ad for something you are interested in do you simply make a response to the ad in the classifieds section and hope that the seller checks back regularily, or do you email or at least PM the seller?
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If I’m really interested I will always send an e-mail or call.

For the sellers, When you place an ad on any of the classifieds, what order of preference do you give people who respond. When I go on line, the first thing I check is my email. If I have multiple responses to an ad I will give preference to the one sent first. Now If I go on to FC I get a notification that I have a PM and I check that next. Only then do I get to the classified section and my ad.
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Preference should be given to the one that has responded first. Having said this, it would be important to notify this person that there are other interested parties, as the first one to commit to the purchase might not be the first one to e-mail you. A while ago I was very disappointed at a fairly well known seller. Our e-mail exchange went along these lines. My e-mail: “What’s the best you can do as far as price goes?” His reply: “I would let you have it for “X” amount”My reply:”Great! Which carrier are you going to use for shipping?” His reply:”Sorry he is sold”. Needless to say I crossed him off from the to-do-business-with list, even he is rated high for the quality of his animals.
 
Well if you want a response when interested in something usually the most direct route, a call or direct email, is better than a reply post. Before the classifieds switched over to the new system we locked our sales threads to force inquiries to be sent using the above mentioned methods in the off chance we missed a thread reply. Better safe than sorry.

JMO.
 
When I am ready to buy something I am ready RIGHT NOW. So the first thing I look for is a phone number. Email second and and lastly PM's and replies to threads if there is no other option for making contact. But I always want to have a phone (or in person) conversation before I purchase an animal. I want all of my questions/concerns/details covered to my satisfaction before I hand over my cash. If someone is not willing to hand over their phone number then I am not willing to hand over my cash.

When I am only making inquiries about future availability, advice, product suggestions, etc I use email. That way the seller can respond at his convenience and I am not wasting their time that could be spent on a sale or other things that require their immediate attention. To me it is just the most considerate way to do things.
 
Sammy,

Yes, a phone number (traceable) is an absolute must after everything has been spelled out in writing. There are certain individuals though with whom I don't feel a need to talk on the phone. Davis, Kahl, the Sutherland's, are examples of those with which I feel absolutely at ease doing everything via e-mail. But we are in absolute agreement, if someone doesn't want to provide a verifiable phone # the deal is off.

Regards.
 
Dan,

Yes, I agree. There are those who have proven themselves beyond reproach so that emails are all that is required. Those are the exception to the rule though. :)
 
If I saw something in an ad that I wanted on faunaclassifieds, I would pm first. I consider it one of the perks from being a faunaclassifieds member. If I received no response, then I email. I use the telephone as a last resort due to the fact that many people are very busy and at least an pm or email can be read at their discretion.
I would not reply to an ad on the forums, I wouldn't expect the seller to have to keep checking for replies.
Candy
 
Do any of the sellers have a preference between e-mails or PM? Is ther actually a difference?

Thanks.
 
I do not like to depend on forum PM systems, nothing against fauna or the vBulletin Software, I'd rather have direct email correspondence.
 
Chris,

What I'm actually wandering is if there is a difference or not. When a PM is sent I receive an e-mail stating there's a PM from Faunaclassifieds. Is it because it's faster to receive a direct e-mail rather than click on the link and go to the PM?

Regards.
 
Well on some forums I have experienced times where such notifications were never sent for whatever reason, it could be many things. Since there are some forums I do not frequent as often as others such messages could go unoticed until the forum is visited again. An email is more direct and reliable.
 
Well I do also prefer a direct e-mail. In fact I almost never used the FC PM system.

Regards.
 
I had a good transaction almost end up as a bad experience for me because I relied soley on forum PM's for a while. The seller did nothing wrong, but I was left with the impression that their communication was poor because there were no responses to my PM's. Fortunately I e-mailed the seller, we got our communication on track, figured out it was a PM problem, and it all ended up as a positive experience.
PM is a last resort for me.
 
As mentioned before, I think the first question a buyer would like to ask is, "What is your best price?"

I've noticed (in my limited experience) that most newbies prefer to ask this question in an email, while the majority of phone calls are from the more experienced buyers. Maybe newbies feel a little awkward asking for a lower price, so they take the less confrontational route of emailing. I've done it.

I'd rather call, but if I'm not drooling over the animal and/or do not have the cash readily at hand...I may still email.

Regardless...when asking for a better price, be polite about it. I've had animals that I wanted to sell for X dollars, but the person calling would chat with me awhile (usually about nothing related to the business at hand) and created a good bond. Then I dropped the price some more. On the flip side, I've had people email me with the single sentence, "What's the best you can do?" If that's as friendly as it gets, I usually quote them the same price advertised. I guess it's all about connection.

Or maybe I'm just weird...

Good Things,
Chris =)
 
I usually email directly - you never can tell how often a seller will check up on their ads or PMs (some people use quite a few sites). Usually phone comes after the email. :)
 
I hate phones, phonaphobic I guess. I'd rather do everything by PM or Email. PM and Email also gives a nice written record of all discussed terms, etc. (quotable for the BOI should it all go to hell)
 
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