Re: Question about sell-3d etiquette

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 15:08:10 -0500
>From: P3D Grant Campos  <gc6094@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Question about sell-3d etiquette

>I have a quick question:

>If I put an item up for sale and the first response I get starts with
>"I might be interested in ... Need some info. . ."

>"Moments later I get a response that starts with "I am interested in
>your items.  Am I too late?"

>Do I sell it to the first person who shows a solid interest (response #2),
>or does the first response, no matter how tentative, guarantee the right 
>to take as long as he/she wants (or a limited time) to decide whether they 
>want it or not?  Or is it case-by-case judgment call?  

It is my strong opinion that unless otherwise stated in the ad,
at the point in time you describe, neither respondent has made a commitment
to buy, so if a few moments later you have heard nothing further from these
two people and a third person sends a message "I would like to buy your items
at the stated price", then that third person has first call on the items
because a commitment to buy was indicated. If the example you gave is an
actual situation, then I believe the fairest solution would be to inform
both potential buyers that the item is available for the first commitment
to buy.

To put down some opinions in a more organized manner:

 - If you place an ad for an item and mention a specific asking price, then
    the first commitment to buy at that price should get it, providing that
    there's nothing questionable about the payment (e.g. "I'll pay that price,
    three weeks from now".) Under no circumstances should a "bidding war"
    for some price above the original asking price be allowed, unless that
    possibility was clearly stated in the ad.
 - If person A puts in an offer for something less than the asking price,
    and you choose to accept the offer, then that concludes the deal -
    no later and higher offers should be considered. If you do *not*
    immediately accept a low offer from person A, and person B comes along
    and makes a commitment to buy at full price, then B gets the deal, and
    A has no basis for claim of prior offer or option to increase the offer.
    If B also offers less than the asking price, then unless there was a
    prior commitment for sealed bids, it's OK to (truthfully) tell both
    A and B what the current top offer is, and let them bid against each other
    until one gives up, or until the original asking price is reached, at
    which point the one who offered that gets the item. Unless the sale was
    advertised as an auction, the price should not be allowed to go above the
    original asking price, because that undermines the credibility of the
    seller. Of course, the seller has the option of refusing to sell unless
    the original asking price is met. 
 - For commitments to buy which meet all the original requirements of the
    ad, priority should be given by the order in which you receive the
    commitments - i.e. time of phone call, and time that an email was received
    by your machine. A certain degree of good-faith impartiality on the part
    of the seller in determining time of arrival is appreciated. If a buyer's 
    network was down and consequently their message was delayed, then that's 
    their tough luck - you don't have to pay any attention to when an email 
    was sent, just to when it got to you.
 - As a seller, it's your option to hold an item for someone who's interested -
    this could include an agreement not to sell to anyone else until the
    interested person has made up their mind, or an option to increase a low
    offer to the full selling price if there's a later higher offer. Whether
    holding items is to your benefit is for you to decide.
 - Once you've agreed to sell to someone, no further offers should be
    considered unless the original purchaser can't pay. You can make a
    conditional agreement to sell, such as "payment must be received within
    seven days to retain priority for the purchase".

With respect to your original question, I would not interpret "I am interested"
as being a commitment to buy. You need words like "I would like to buy",
"I want to buy", "Please send me", "I am willing to pay $xxx for", etc.
to establish a priority.

Auctions are conducted according to a certain set of previously-agreed-upon
rules. I believe that voluntary adherence to a reasonable set of rules for
regular sales is a good policy for sellers, because it allows the buyers to
feel that they are being treated fairly.

[As I recall, it was decided that S3D meta-discussions *do* belong in P3D,
so it's appropriate to discuss it here.]

John R


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