You are absolutely right, once the deal is closed, is closed. If the seller wanted some form of reassurance or deposit he should have bring it up at the time of the phone call where the deal was closed. The described behavior means "No ethics" in my book

Sorry it happened. He does not deserve your help on the MS parts...

 

I'm with you on this too John. That just sucks.

Only had the best of runs with Rennlister transactions myself but have had similar experiences elsewhere. Once bought a car at the other end of the country through an auction site and paid an agreed immediate deposit on it. Was just on the point of booking plane and ferry tickets to collect it and pay the balance in person, when the seller rang me to say he'd instead just sold it for more to a local. Won't share my opinion of him here but I briefly considered forcing the issue before commonsense told me that nothing good could come of trying that, as he was in possession of the car and I was about a thousand miles away. Got my deposit back and ended up with a better (2nd P) car so all not lost. I thought this was an isolated incident but a seller of some moderately expensive art on that same auction site pulled a similar trick recently so I'm getting a bit gun shy now. The problem with such sites is that only the seller seems to be able to be able to apply terms and conditions to the deal, not the buyer.

Didn't think it could be a problem on Rennlist but if it has happened to you, then no-one is immune.

 

I agree with you. If seller wanted a deposit he should have asked.

I have been burned a couple of times on RL. More good experience than bad on RL though. Last time I "purchased" an item from classifieds I told seller let me know how you want payment. Never heard from him again. People!!

 

Sad to hear these kind of stories. You talked to the guy for 30min. He had your phone number and sold to another buyer after your "handshake"!

Don't help this guy with Motorsport connection from Germany. Doesn't deserve it!

 

when you guys did the deal over the phone he should have ended the ebay listing.

If he forgot to end the listing, then he could let the ebay buyer know it was sold locally prior to "buy it now" and still sell it to you as discussed over the phone.

The fact that he asked you for motorsport parts quotes and all that would make me pissed off.

I understand it is not offically sold until money in hand... but in this case he should have communicated to you better...

 

Until an unpleasant Rennlist selling experience last year, I never, ever had a problem with a "phone handshake" deal for parts or a vehicle sale. But what happened has since changed the way I do business with everyone aside from close friends and family.

To make a long story short, at the time my GT3 was for sale. An out-of-area buyer came forward who, after considerable communication over a 4+ week period and the PPI, agreed to buy the car but his work schedule made immediate pickup impossible. He requested that I hold the car for him for two or three weeks as an unexpected overseas business trip materialized. We had what I thought was an amicable and honest working relationship so I did not demand a deposit and agreed to hold the car until he returned home and immediately deleted the ad that was in the RL Classifieds.

Well....when the buyer was overseas, he was evidently surfing the web in his spare time and made arrangements to purchase another Rennlister's GT3 without telling me what was going on. The icing on the cake was that after he took delivery of that car, he sent me an email to let me know what he had done, along with a photo of himself grinning like a Cheshire cat, standing in front of his newly acquired GT3. I was not amused.

Sure, this was an isolated incident dealing with a total jerk but after getting burned on that deal, no more phone handshake deals - at least not on on a vehicle sale.

 

duplicate post - mea culpa

 

I understand both sides but once the added layer of "i'll do you a solid" gets put on top that sucks.

He had the opportunity to wire/ paypal the ebay buyer back...that seems like it would have made a "best business practice" if he did indeed "forget to delete"


Of course my experience with partnerships and trust has been quite rocky over the last 150 days so I don't trust anyone in the car business at all except myself.