when is a deal considered a deal?

[yankees24]

this is a little off topic, but when negotiating with buyer/sellers when is a deal considered closed? a couple of days ago I offered to sell an item for $450, and a potential buyer asked me if I would consider his offer for $385 which I agreed and asked him to send me payment via PayPal. I have not heard from him since, sent him another e-mail , and PayPal money request and haven't heard back. since he offered the $385, does that bind him to purchase the item or can he still pull out even though I agreed to his offer? thanks.

[legaleagle92481]

this is a little off topic, but when negotiating with buyer/sellers when is a deal considered closed? a couple of days ago I offered to sell an item for $450, and a potential buyer asked me if I would consider his offer for $385 which I agreed and asked him to send me payment via PayPal. I have not heard from him since, sent him another e-mail , and PayPal money request and haven't heard back. since he offered the $385, does that bind him to purchase the item or can he still pull out even though I agreed to his offer? thanks.

How are you going to bind him? Go to court over $385? Depending on how he stated it a contract may not even have been formed. Just let it go it happens, people decide they don't want the item, don't have the money or get a better deal elsewhere, and it happens all the time.

[otismalibu]

Well, many would consider that a deal, but folks back out on deals every day. There's nothing binding him to the deal, except maybe honor which has gone the way of the VCR.

A Done Deal would be where you've received the money, he's received the item and both parties are content. And then tack on another week to that, just to make sure his funds clear and you don't get a dose of the "I never received the item" scam.

[karamaxjoe]

The deal is done when you have cash in hand. You should get used to the fact that people in this hobby accept deals all the time, but renege when it comes time to pay up. The cyber world makes it easy for people to make and accept nice deals and then dissapear.

[jobathenut]

Happens to me all the time.But then when you selling on craigslist it's to be expected i guess.I am sorry to hear it happen to you.But believe me i feel your pain on it.In honor the deal should be considered a deal when you agree to pay so and so amount for the item and both parties agree to it.But it's been my experience that the deal is not considered a deal until you payment in your hands.As up to that point they can back out of it.What's even worse and again it happens all the time on craigslist.You never hear from that person again.And you email them and email them and they dont have the respect to email you and tell you yeah i dont want it.

[Neely8]

Just chalk it up to another tire kicker. What's even better is when someone solicits you out of the blue to buy a jersey you don't even have offered for sale, agrees to buy it, and then disappears without even the courtesy to respond to emails.

[NEFAN]

I've been on both sides of the issue (sort of). I've had a seller offer an item at a set price then inform me someone offered more and cut me off. Either way, it's less than honorable, but that's the world we live in.

[cohibasmoker]

A deal is a deal when;

1) both sides agree to terms;
2) the item is paid for and shipped; and,
3) the Buyer inspects the item and is happy with the item.

Jim

[PwKw13]

I would think it's a deal when both parties agree on price and method of payment. At that point, I don't think a seller is free to continue to shop the item around (ethically speaking). Of course, deals fall through after that point for various reasons, but I think yankees24 (or people in similar circumstances) get caught in a dilemma of when to put the item back on the market. This can be resolved by specifically stating that payment must be received within x number of days or the deal is off. There's a difference between having a deal and completing a transaction. Having the money in hand is completing the transaction in my view.

[woody1351]

i had this same thing happen to me on an item i listed in the C2C section. i havent been able to get back to him for 2 weeks.