I recently sold some bars in the Australia & New Zealand (Public) forum using an uncommon method. I used the Expression of Interest (EoI) model for selling, and there appeared to be some confusion and some incorrect perceptions. As I work professionally in one of several industries that uses that model (eg Real Estate, Finance, Government Procurement and more) I thought people would understand it. A good definition of the process is: The property is privately owned and the owner is looking at the selling the site. The expression of interest (EOI) will allow prospective parties to proffer a bid. The EOI is not legally binding. The form will allow you to make contact with the Vendor and initiate dialogue around the selling price. The dialogue will not be legally binding. This example is about selling real estate and is from https://www.chandlergroup.com.au/Chandlergroup/EOI.html It is clearly understood in the industry that the 'dialogue' includes the price others have offered in the process. There is no ethical issue so long as the identity and privacy of the other respondents is respected. In this sale, I had stated a price in the thread ("So far best offer is 550 pick up...") Monday at 11:09am. I received some correspondence and updated the the current offer in the thread at 3:58pm. This caused some responses both in the thread and privately in which I was accused of being unethical for the way I was conducting the process. Firstly, since I clearly stated that no offer was binding, as I stated in Post #7, which, again, is prior to the offers that resulted in trouble. The advice I would give to people who partake in these sales formats is to: 1. Read what the seller has said 2. If you don't understand the format, ask questions before making an offer. 3. Refrain from bullying, bullying is always poor form. 4. Don't make an offer if you are unsure of what is going on and especially if you are going to get angry and start throwing around accusations. In this case, since the offers were not binding, respondents really were able to bow out gracefully and there was no need to behave belligerently. I have been in this forum for many years and from time to time some members, even long standing ones, will resort to bullying to get what they want. I believe that this is not only inappropriate here it is not welcome. This community prides itself on trust and ethical dealings and you can see by my trade history, all of my trade partners have been very happy with the way I deal. Now, the point is, this is far from the first time that buyer who want to low-ball will resort to hassling a seller and even gang up to intimidate them. This kind of behaviour is pretty toxic to a forum like this and results in diminishing the trust and sense of safety we have built here. What do we think?
I think there are well established rules, particularly about interference with sales threads. If you're not interested in the item, don't post. That being said, if you're selling an item there is also etiquette to follow. Usually for EOI everything is dealt with via PM. Offers are not posted publicly. That turns it into an auction. Auctions have a different etiquette to follow. At the end of the day, sellers have final say and interested parties need to respect that. Non interested parties should keep comments to themselves.
I see where you are coming from, and I can cope with different understandings for terms, but it is how people behave that is what annoyed me the most. There are differences between EoI and auction though. Auctions have a fixed end time. EoI is at the sellers discretion. What you state for EOI sounds like a closed EoI, which is slightly different.
I'm not in the industry so I wouldn't know. But should this 'dialogue' be kept private ie. Be limited to private msgs? I don't see real estate agents updating on their window the current best offer in listings with EOI. I once made an offer via pm and the seller asked if it was ok for him to post my offer on the thread, and I said it was fine. Edit: just realised I just copied what 66rounds said.. silly me.
you may want to include link for similar item as a price reference the item is selling for 303 each online store since you are offering here on stackers forum, price wise was lower than that online listed price it is transparent enough for a buyer must know what they are trying to buy
Good idea but not really necessary as buyers should be doing research before hand. Silly to go buy an item without any previous idea of value
can't just blame people, they are busy working so not aware of the current prices, with just a click away, it helps a lot its not silly for people to just grab when prices are up and up a dollar every single day till the top when there was no seller...and so long as there were buyers at $50, people/sellers will supply
I think people can put in whatever price they want to. That is their prerogative. Being abusive or bullying is nothing to do with that process. If people need to let off steam buy a boxing bag and kept it to yourself.
That's some solid advice on sales / auction etiquette. I'm a big fan of auctions, I like the transparency ant the thrill of the chase and i respect the conference of the seller putting their balls on the line by taking the risk of getting sfa bidds and a low price. Obviously best for rare and collectible items that fetch maximum interest from lots of people. I also like it when people know what they want and put a price on it, they've got a number in their mind that their happy with. Or it's simply spot price, first in best dressed. Great for basic every day bars and coins. Then there's the "p.m. me your best offer" setup. I'm on the fence with this one as a buyer. I'd definitely be suspicious if I was told "I've had a better offer, can you do better?" That's the oldest trick in the book. I don't know how that can be controlled. I've never participated in that. Blind or silent auctions (whatever their called) are a bit of a turn off for me as a buyer, probably because I'm a fan of transparency. I guess as a seller it gives you the ideal option of not letting something go too cheep. Probably best for valuable items with a niche market.
The whole buying / selling process can & different for each person. Some take into account what they value the sale item at via the whole gambit of what they went without to buy it, what they had to do to make the money, loss of family time, etc etc. Some look at it through profit / loss, spot V's premium, current greater needs for the cash V's long term plans etc. The buyers do similar normally through their own personal viewpoint made up of many different factors. Most normal people are happy to get something for what they feel is reasonable or a bargain. Some people have a preference for buying or selling in one format or another depending on which they feel will gain the best results. These are simply the personal preference's for each of the parties concerned. If for instance it's Via a pm only situation & they come back saying they have a better offer can you go higher, its your call if you think its worth it (what you know is your max price), if you feel they are not 100% on the level etc, you can either choose to participate or move onto the next thing. If members gain a reputation for not being above board they soon find buys or sellers dry up. Personally i see things going for prices i sometime wouldn't touch but that's just my take of that item, whether I'm right or wrong in that situation isn't the point the point is I'm right from "my perspective" so i don't get bent out of shape. At the end of the day theirs no need to get abusive if someone is being upfront or giving you a chance to stay in the game (you need to decide if what their saying feels right), if you feel they are doing something underhanded or have been rude, insulting or otherwise delinquent its fine to be unhappy about it, take your money or item & move on noting that its not worth dealing with this person in the future. If they continue to harass or hound you block and report and let others decide what needs to happen. Sometimes we all get caught up in the moment, we loose perspective, we are all human & sometimes say or do things in hind sight we don't even understand ourselves. Just my 2 cents worth. Happy buying and happy selling folks.
Let me give you an example of how things can change out of the blue. Recently i sold some items having been away from the game for some time i wasn't 100% what was a fare price but i did have a figure in mind. Not wanting to either give them away too cheap or scare away potential buyers by stating the price i had in mind (then going through the whole "further discounted route) i simply asked for EOI via PM. The plan was if i received the price i wanted no issue if the pricing was to low i would do a little more research & either adjust accordingly or withdraw the offer till a later date (although i did need the cash urgently). In the meantime a well known member made an offer on the post (I'm sure their was nothing to it other than what he deemed a fare price to him) unfortunately that set the price for anyone else looking at the thread simply due to his standing, the price was a little below what i was really needing. I ended up selling the items to another member for a slightly higher price than originally offered, the fellow stacker was great to deal with but when i asked for a little more money their was no wriggle room (maybe because the "pricing" had been set for me). I took the offer & the transaction was great, really nice guy. I could have withdrawn the offer all together, added the asking price to the post etc. Thing is it was my post trying to sell something of mine the way i felt best for all concerned, now without possibly angering others or just withdrawing the post i went with the best case scenario with how it played out. Now if a member had of jerked me around, accused me of not being upfront when i know what i was thinking etc I'm sure things could have gotten heated. So whats in the mind of a buyer or seller can at best be guessed at but asking them preferably in private tends to clear things up without all the dramas, their will always be though who will take even that out of context so i think of it as a mine field LOL.
