How long should I wait?

[PTownSubbie]

Well for those that sell thing here......I have a question.

If someone posts to your thread that they are interested, how long do you hold a lot for them until you sell it to someone else that is interested?

I sent this interested party a PM which has not been replied to. I checked their status and they logged in the following morning after I sent the PM but has not been on for the past week.

My concern is they have their PM notification turned off and didn't see the PM. They don't have the option of receiving email from other users either in they profile.

So, how long would you wait?

 

[beck3906]

Post to the original thread asking them to contact you. Wait a reasonable time (2-3 days) and then decide if you want to offer to the next person.

 

[Daniel]

Fred, I basically keep my word, I also expect others to as well. I never had this sort of problem in the forst few years I did group buys. but in the last couple of years it has become more and more common. I have had at least one or two people place orders in group buys and then never pay for them. I never heard from them again.
I have an order that has been paid for from way back when I did the drill bit sets that is still setting in a shelf in my shop. I have never gotten an address to mail it to even though I have heard from the person two or three times. so in that case I think I have held an order for about two years. IF it is just a post that says I am interested it would be first come first serve. If I had already sent a total and payment info to buyer one I would hold out for there payment and let buyer two know that is what I am doing. I would let both know that I am willing to wait X number of days for payment etc. this lets the person waiting know just how long they will have to wait and lets the buyer know just how long they have to get payment made. I have waited on payments for a week to eventually send a PM or whatever and find out the person had completely forgotten about placing the order. All this stuff is not always at the top of someones priority list. If everything I can do fails. i move on and will do whatever explaining I need to later.

 

[mredburn]

Basically you need to develop a policy right at the start.
IF you have an interested party but no commitment that yes I will buy it. Your response might be "thank you but I cannot hold that item without a deposit or I can only hold it 3 days without a deposit.
if they are interested but not enough to put a deposit on it right now you might hold it 3-7 days, waiting on a deposit or full payment. Once you have a deposit very clearly state the terms that require full payment and time frame. clearly define your refund policy and time frame for refunds. As to your current situation if they aren't responding to emails or Pm's post a " i am awaiting a response, will hold pen x amount of time" or just "I haven't heard from you and have a buyer, the pen is no longer for sale. There is some responsibility of the original buyers "I would like to buy your pen " commitment to follow through on his end. There can always be extraneous circumstances as to why he hasn't responded but that has to be the buyers dilemma to deal with not yours. Mike

 

[snowman56]

Frist come fiist serve.