mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
I know, mea culpa!
I have berated the buying side, not without knowing there are some of them that deserve more than being berated but this is not the case.
The best case, and I feel bad about this, is that I sold a very heavy stereo to a person in Oakland. I was going to ship it, at a high cost to me, when he emailed me and said that since he was in the boredom world, he would take his wife and visit me. The stereo didn't have speakers and you know me, I am straight forward shooter so I described that fact.
So, he comes, picks up the stereo with my help, not that he was that old, about 70 years old and he went home. As I had it as local pick up, shipping wasn't a problem anymore. 2 days later he sends me a message saying it didn't work, he had the same unit but burned. Now, I am sweating my conscious here. I decided to let him know I would return him $40 for his pain and suffering and he could keep the unit. He didn't respond at all. I thought the worst and waited for his response. 
Saturday night, a knock on my front door. There he was, with a smile on his face and telling me to please go and get the unit out of his car. I begged him more than I begged my ex to not cheat on me, but the old person, so friendly said that he was bored so it was a good exercise for him. And he refused to take $40 from me. 
@escuintla wrote:I know, mea culpa!
I have berated the buying side, not without knowing there are some of them that deserve more than being berated but this is not the case.
The best case, and I feel bad about this, is that I sold a very heavy stereo to a person in Oakland. I was going to ship it, at a high cost to me, when he emailed me and said that since he was in the boredom world, he would take his wife and visit me. The stereo didn't have speakers and you know me, I am straight forward shooter so I described that fact.
So, he comes, picks up the stereo with my help, not that he was that old, about 70 years old and he went home. As I had it as local pick up, shipping wasn't a problem anymore. 2 days later he sends me a message saying it didn't work, he had the same unit but burned. Now, I am sweating my conscious here. I decided to let him know I would return him $40 for his pain and suffering and he could keep the unit. He didn't respond at all. I thought the worst and waited for his response.
Saturday night, a knock on my front door. There he was, with a smile on his face and telling me to please go and get the unit out of his car. I begged him more than I begged my ex to not cheat on me, but the old person, so friendly said that he was bored so it was a good exercise for him. And he refused to take $40 from me.
And then you opened up the unit and all of the internal works had been removed from the case.
KIDDING KIDDING
It is nice you had such a pleasant encounter with the buyer
Sellers often state that the vast majority of transactions go off without a hitch. Most buyers are good honest people. If they weren't, none of us would be here. If the majority of transactions happen the way that the horror stories on the thread portray, this site and others like it would have closed a long long time ago.
Seller do know that the majority of buyers are terrific. In fact most transactions are accomplished without a single email between trading partners. Sellers list, buyer's buy, buyer's pay and the seller ships. That is how most transaction go off.
I know I've said stuff like this more times than I can count on the threads over the years. But with the nature of threads, these statements often don't get noticed or certainly don't get traction. People come here to vent, complain, find some help or lend a helping hand.
You will notice the feel good stories typically don't get a lot of posters on those threads. Certainly occasionally it happens, but mostly no.
