A warning to sellers in the TT classified ads

I placed an ad to sell a black leather chair on Toytown and a user named Dare made an offer ... we arranged a pickup time for today (Saturday) at noon. She gave me her cell phone number and seemed in order.

After wasting half of this beautiful day at home to be here for the pickup, I called when nobody showed up. It turns out that she was doing this for a friend (a Nigerian woman named Jessica), who has a habit of making appointments to buy things and not showing up.

"Dare" had called me once at 7:30 in the morning but I was obviously still sleeping since it's Saturday. When I talked to her later, she was very apologetic, gave me all of jessica's numbers ... Jessica does not answer any of her numbers so that didn't really help. I'm tempted to post them here...

Just wanted to pass along this info so they don't waste someone else's time as well.

Thanks,
Mia

These things happen all the time. People say they will come by, and they don't. It's happened to me at least 5 times.

There's no need to take revenge by posting people's private numbers on a public forum. Just accept it. It's all part of selling things privately on a forum. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

After reading your post, Mia, I was left wondering why was it relevant to inform us of Jessica's nationality? Furthermore, how do you know she has a habit of making appointments and not showing up? Has she done this with you more than once or are you referring to other people she's done this too. Or is this simply hearsay from her friend? If you knew she had this habit why did you want to do business with her any way?

People who express interest in buying an item should reserve the right to change their mind, but out of courtesy should call to cancel.

This is the risk you take when you put yourself out here to sell something.

Get over it. Your time is just as important as everyone else's.

Well, I'm on your side Mia. Calling at 7.30am on a Saturday is out of line, and not turning up at an agreed time to complete an agreed purchase is downright rude. The fact that these things "happen all the time" is hardly an excuse.

I think it's a good thing to warn who the people are who arrange to meet and don't show up or are seriously late without calling. I want to know, so I don't waste my time with them in future if/when I sell something.

I agree strongly with SmallTown Boy and with Gills - it´s just not on to piss people about like that - and calling at 7.30 in the morning it just downright rude!!
Whilst Jessica´s nationality is irrelevant to the situation, I do think that Mia is right to post the name of the "purchaser" on here if she hasn´t even had the decency to call and apologise...

this happened to me a couple of times when I was selling stuff a while back. so annoying not to turn up without notification.

For me, Jessica's nationality is important because it's only one of two pieces of information that I have about her ... in other words, I used it in a descriptive sense for lack of any other info. It was "dare" who pointed it out to me and I was just passing it on.

Glad you guys feel the same. A simple phone call telling me she couldn't make it would have sufficed...and she can't be held accountable at all because she had a Toytown member make the appointment for her.

I was telling Editor Bob that I wish there was some type of rating system for buyers and sellers, so that there is at least some accountability. I've had great experiences with Toytown buyers before and would love to tell other people about them too.

have a great sunday everyone!

No one is stopping you from stating who was a good buyer. Just like no one stopped you from saying who was a useless buyer.

Why don't you sell your stuff on Ebay if you want some accountability?

eBay no longer offers the rating of buyers, only of sellers, and you didn't have much say over who purchased your items even before that rule-change.

In response to Lavender Rain ("If you knew she had this habit why did you want to do business with her any way?") ... obviously, I didn't know this was her habit BEFORE she didn't show up. Why would that make any sense? When I called "dare", she was distressed because she suspected that her friend had done this again.

Again, if someone said I was American, I would not be offended. People need to be so much less sensitive about race. It's a fact, I was pointing it out, no more no less.

Ebay is great, but it is not only quicker and more practical to sell things to people who live in your town and are part of your own community (i.e Toytown vs. ebay), it is also less expensive (fees, etc).

Presumably you received permission from the individual in question to distribute their real name.

I didn't give her last name, so it's hardly identifying is it? I also think that it is Editor Bob's call. He optimized the post and moved it, and if he found anything wrong with it, I'm sure he would have done something about it He moved it to metachat, and when i couldn't find the original post and wrote him, his exact words were "your post was never removed, nor would there be any reason for removal."

Are you just angry about something?

Angry? Haha, don't be daft. No, not at all, just asking the question.

Ok I have not bought nor sold anything on here, but I hardly think this is a big shit deal. It is not something that would prevent me from selling something to this person if they expressed interest. This is part of selling things. If you can"t handle that perhaps you should have someone else sell things for you, rather than wasting our time complaining about your wasted time.

I think it's wrong, but not as bad, if it's something you can easily re-sell. It's bloody annoying though if for example you are moving that day and thus need rid of the furniture or if they are tickets to an event that day and re-posting and finding a buyer in such a short time space of time is nigh on impossible. Sometimes things just come up, I think anyone can understand that, but it is annoying when you plan your time around someone showing up who then doesn't. Just don't let it wind you up Mia, not worth it!

Keydeck does have a point about posting of personal details. I had overlooked that earlier. "dare's" real name has now been removed. I think the name "Jessica" can remain, however, as it's fairly common, it doesn't uniquely identify the person involved, and as far as we know she doesn't have a TT username instead.

Might I suggest allowing the printing of a either a username or real first name and the last three or four phone digits? The latter is in line with German data protection laws and at the same time makes mistaken identity more difficult.

woof.