Recently, I sold a watch to a fellow overseas, something a rarely do. This is a rare occurrence for a few reasons, namely it's very expensive and time consuming process, and I've been badly burned in the past. However, I received an acceptable offer and in the interest of making a deal, I agreed to the sale.

Of course, not more than a few hours after I agree to the sale, I get multiple, full price offers from local buyers. I much prefer dealing locally as it saves me a lot of time and money.

At this point, I contact the overseas buyer to confirm his intent, mentioning that I prefer a local deal, but if he could wire the money I would honor our original agreement out of respect for the buyer. He replies that he can only paypal and it will take 4 days to transfer the money, he also says that he is very dead set on the deal.

This puts me in a bit of a pickle, not only am I forced to wait 4 days, but I will lose over $100 in paypal fees, about $100 in price reduction and about $100 in shipping fees. This puts me out around $300 compared to doing a local deal. Not a ton of money, but enough to cause me some stress.

In the interest of doing the honorable thing, I respect my original deal with the overseas buyer, and ship him the watch, at great personal cost to me.

My question then, is this... Would you, as a seller, honor an original agreement, regardless of sacrifice? At what point is it allowable to back out of a deal due to unforeseen circumstance?

In the future, I will be far less lenient in making compromises to make a sale. Lesson learned, though I am still feeling a bit of anger over the whole thing, and my fiance chewed me out good for losing the money... but that's another story.

Anyone ever been in a similar circumstance? What did/would you have done?

 

Tough call and what you did was very nice. My usual philosophy is that once a deposit is placed, the item is sold. I've been burned too many times by people who 'need a couple days' or 'will do it tomorrow' so I never consider something 100% sold until I have the money in my account. I am always completely upfront about it though and will tell the buyer that the item remains for sale until I receive a deposit.

That being said, I really value my reputation as a seller and will usually try to do nice things here and there whenever I can. Like if next day is only a bit more expensive than ground, I'll pop for it on my dime because I know that the buyer is probably really excited to get it.

 

If you're selling the DMH, sell it to me

In all seriousness. It's a tough call - you probably will never run into that buyer again IMO. I don't see why he can't Paypal right now? That would seem fair.

 

This is a great idea, thanks for the tip. Prior to listing I'll put more thought into a strategy like this. Thanks!

If I ever decide to sell, you'll be the first to know

As for that buyer, I would prefer not to deal with him again. But I pride myself in maintaing a great reputation as a buyer and seller, sometimes I feel that means I get taken advantage of, unfortunately.

 

IMO, you agreed to a deal with the reduced price knowing the shipping fees and allowing the use of paypal. He stuck to that agreement, so the only ethical thing to do was to complete the sale exactly as you did. I don't see how getting offers after the item was sold should change your opinion of the deal you made. You didn't consider it great personal cost to you until after you got offers for higher, with less overhead, but the item was sold at that point.
In the future, you may want to specify wiring funds as part of the deal up front, and maybe charge the international buyers shipping fees over and above what they would be if shipped domestically if you don't feel your profit margin is acceptable the way your deal was structured on this sale. Also, define the point at which an item is considered sold up front. If you need a deposit to hold that item, let them know up front that any delay may cost them the item if somebody is willing to pay more.

 

I've bought and sold probably 5 to 7 high-end watches online and luckily have never been burned. I put a lot of info in the ad and always mention that I prefer and welcome local deals, the buyer will cover shipping costs, and that international buyers will pay any and all additional shipping/insurance associated with the deal. I'm also very upfront about the buyer covering any paypal or wire transfer costs.

As long as you put it in the ad and are up front and straight forward about it, then the original agreement will have all these details already covered.

When it comes to holding a watch, I do exactly what PorscheAudi mentioned. Let the interested party know that the watch is on the market until a non-refundable deposit has hit my account.

 

All great points, though I did tell the buyer upfront that I preferred a wire. I suppose there is a difference between "preferring" and "requiring". Furthermore, anytime I agree to sell an item internationally, I consider it a great cost to me, as I usually pick up shipping. All things I willingly walked into however, which is why I honored the deal at the end of the day.

 

I usually have a fear of losing a buyer if I ask them to cover all the fees. Great advice though on being more upfront in the original ad.

Does it turn you off as a buyer if you see that you must pick up PP/shipping fees?

 

If the buyer chooses to use PayPal then it's up to him to pay the fee's IMO. Shipping is always on buyers tab if nothing else is agreed upon.

The only troublesome part of this deal IMO is that you have to wait 3-4 business days for the money to land in the US which always sucks for us Europeans wanting to send $ to you guys. If you are unsure on an international buyer next time maybe he/she can send 10% deposit directly after agreement of purchase via PayPal so that you know that he's serious while you wait for the rest of the money to land at your bank via wire?

 

It pisses me off a bit when I see that nickle and diming. Even worse for low dollar items where the paypal fee is no more than a couple of bucks...

No business charges me (except for the ludicrous NJ gas stations) to pay with a card. No different online, I think it should factor into the price of the sale. Of course a local, cash buyer could get a discount, but if you put the ad to the world, I would say it is reasonable to expect that you will be shipping.

That being said, unless it was uber high dollar, I would expect to pay more for international shipping.