The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I personally don't think "interested" trumps the next posting that says "SOLD." As someone involved with sales most of my professional career there is no deal until there is a firm commitment.

However, I have been involved with a deal where someone posted "SOLD" and then messaged back with "sorry I don't need it any more". This served only to discourage others whom may have been interested in the listing. So I don't use and never did use the "first one to say sold" line for just that reason, it is unenforceable. The posting message is inconsequential to a PM, email or phone call describing a plan to pay and deliver an item. This is yet another reason why everyone needs to fill out the location field - for seller and buyer benefit.

John

Using "sold" implies a done deal with no questions or negotiation and that can be a problem if you have questions regarding condition or shipping. It is hard to simply say sold if you have not worked anything out yet. Just my opinion.

If anyone has a solid suggestion of how to structure this so that it's fair to both buyers and sellers, and makes everyone happy...I'm all ears

I personally am aggravated by the response "PM sent", as that simply implies that a message has been conveyed. As the seller, I believe that this discourages other potential buyers from making an inquiry as well on my item. The only unmistakable claim to an item should be a buyer proclaiming "Sold" as they reply to an item that has been listed. Only the seller knows for sure the order in which responses, from any method of communication, came to them. It is ultimately at the discretion of the seller to make the ethical decision of who purchases an item that was strongly competitive.

If the seller provides MANY photos and a VERY DETAILED description then I would just go with one word = "SOLD". Sometimes a seller is very vague with his/her description and may only post one blurry or upside down photo forcing interested buyers to use the words "PM SENT" or "I HAVE A QUESTION" or "INTERESTED". If you write a lengthly detailed description and include the max. amount of photos allowed on this forum then "SOLD" should be the lay of the land. (Also PM, email or call me for the price drives me nuts) Just my humble opinion Brandon.

briankeith wrote: If you write a lengthly detailed description and include the max. amount of photos allowed on this forum .

Currently set to 30 images per post, but you can post as many sets of 30 as you have patience for....

HisMastersVoice wrote: Currently set to 30 images per post, but you can post as many sets of 30 as you have patience for....

Really, has this changed recently? I remember several times hitting a 10 pictures limit and thus splitting my pictures over several responses to my initial post.

Thanks
Andreas

alang wrote:

HisMastersVoice wrote: Currently set to 30 images per post, but you can post as many sets of 30 as you have patience for....

Really, has this changed recently? I remember several times hitting a 10 pictures limit and thus splitting my pictures over several responses to my initial post.

Thanks
Andreas

I changed it somewhat recently, yes.

I agree with several of the posts thusfar that indicate that seeing a "PM sent" or "Sold!" for most items for sale pretty much discourages any further interest in a possible purchase of the item as, in most instances, the item ends up being sold to that person.

I know that I don't and won't once I see those comments. However, if the deal with that person falls through for whatever reason I feel that the seller should send a public update for their item indicating that the item is still available for sale.

I also agree with the earlier comment that intent to purchase an item on the Forum should not have to be publicly made. In fact, I prefer to remain anonymous when I purchase an item here on the Forum.

Let's face it, the decision on who will be the buyer of an item ultimately rests with the seller.

In fairness to everyone interested in purchasing a given item the buyer really should be the very first person who responds with sincere intention to purchase and who follows up by paying for it.

I personally feel most comfortable with being able to contact the buyer privately, whether by PM, email or by telephone. It's almost impossible to provide every detail that a prospective buyer might wish to know about an item for sale (especially an item with a considerable price tag) with a few pictures and written description. Unless the item is well described, pictured, location known and fairly inexpensive (say under a couple of hundred dollars) I almost always ask a question or two about it before making the commitment to purchase.

No one can possibly know for certain whether any given seller is being fair by selling their item(s) to the very first responder who is truly sincere about actually paying for the item.

A requirement to publicly express interest or 'sold' for a given item for sale seems awkward and even irrational from my perspective and places those buyers who would prefer to remain anonymous in an uncomfortable position.

From my perspective, the handling of buying and selling here on the Forum is reasonably fair as it is now. Again, it is the responsibility of the seller AND the buyer to be honest and fair with their trading partner. If someone misses out on a deal then that's that. Over the years I'm sure that all of us, including me for sure, have received some good deals as well as missed out on some. That's life and we can't change it.

I admire Brandon's intent here to try to keep everything fair and open with selling and buying but I just don't see any way that's better than what we have now. I'm also interested in hearing other feelings on this.

Doug

If we can all agree that the keywords, "Sold" & "Interested" each give the writer an EQUAL "First right of refusal", then there should be no debate. Thinking that "interested" has less power than "sold" is a fallacy. Many "sold" items had their deals fall through for various reasons, so "sold" is really no more concrete than "interested". A person who writes "sold" is definitely "interested". Until money changes hands, that person is just that: "interested".

Maybe the word "polite" needs to be uttered as well?