Got to love this. Pump advertised on Craig's list last night $500.00. Emailed this morning and said that I would pay the price and bring cash because I was close and could pick up this morning. Gave a phone number to call. Seller called and we made the deal, gave me directions and said he would wait till the bank opened at 9 o'clock.

Called back in 10 minutes and said that it was already up to $800.00 on ebay and he did not check that this morning. Said that he could not sell me the pump at that price he had listed. There is nothing in the Craig's list ad that said it was on ebay.

I said that you are not selling this pump for the price that you advertised right ? His response was sorry.
Where is our integrity and and honor.

a hand shake or most peoples word
isn't good anymore, not like it
used to be...

It fell out of the trunk on the way to the bank!

I think he is doing the right thing. It would not be fair to the eBay bidder if he ended auction

Craig, I was provided with a lead last week about a Tokheim 39 and a Pepsi Vendo 81. Called the lady in Maple Valley, WA and made the deal with her. Went got the US money, daughter took a day off work as she was going to accompany me on the road trip. Made hotel reservations.

She calls me back the following morning and tells me the pump and machine sold. I inquired what do you mean they are sold??? She stated she got $700.00 more that morning from someone that just stopped by.

Later, I found out it was someone I knew that bought the items. She had contacted them after she had agreed to sell them to me and it was for only $200.00 more.

I was pretty ticked off. I went ahead with the road trip anyway and lined up some other buys.

She was in her 60's. No excuse, for her behavior. It seems like, I run into this moral decay of integrity and core values on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this seems to be the new norm when conducting business for most people.

integrity is spelled w/ $$

Yes, got an email back from the seller who said that he was a Picker and does it for a living. He was sorry, but had it listed in other venues and cancelled the Craig's list ad that was the end of the story.
I understand about the price on ebay thing, but what about as persons word on a deal.
I left it at, It is going to be a life lesson for you and you will not make the mistake again.

Craig, you didn't make a mistake. It's impossible to weed out these people. The only way for it never to happen again is to quit making deals and buying items but we all enjoy doing it 99% of the time and deal with ethical folks. I learned a long time ago that if I buy or sell anything online or over the phone that it's not a done deal until i have the item in hand and paid for. Doesn't make it any less frustrating when you get an ***** though....

This hobby is so much about the money anymore it's getting a bit disheartening for people like me that don't care about the value necessarily, but about the history I (we) are saving.......greed has all but erased the word integrity these days.
Darin

When you say "Deal" as the seller it is sold! NOT I'll sell it to you unless I get a better offer!
The Washington state "lady" with the gas pump and Pepsi machines should have told the next person "They are sold already."
It is so very disheartening and frustrating that dishonesty, lying, cheating, stealing have become so accepted!
Fortunately MOST people still do the right thing!

I don't get it. Everybody bitches if an auction ends early on eBay. This guy obviously was going to end the auction and sell it, BUT when he seen it had bids, regardless of what they are, he did the HONORABLE and ETHICALLY CORRECT thing and honored his commitment to run his auction to the end and respectfully called the craigslist buyer and informed him of the situation.

If an oldgasser was the loser on the eBay end and it was yanked to sell to a craiglist buyer the bitching would all be swayed the other way.

Kudos to the ebay seller for honoring the bidders on his auction.

The lack of integrity today is very sad. We can't make someone else do the right thing.... BUT, Situations like this could be limited if eBay would operate like all other auction houses - once an item is listed for sale, it stays for sale until stated ending time of auction. No sob stories about your dog eating it, dropping and breaking, etc.... Only exception would be if a Buy It Now option is exercised (through eBay, NOT ending early) or the reserve is not met. If you decide to commit to an eBay auction, it stays on. Don't put it on Oldgas or Craig's while its on ebay - other than to refer people to eBay (hopefully its on Oldgas first :)). Sorry to hear about your trouble Craig.

If your shopping off the internet, (or even if it is a fresh lead) then you better be faster to the item, with cash, than ANYONE else.
It just is what it is nowdays because many sellers are figuring out that they have something that is worth something more to someone else than they thought it was, so, sometimes it pays off and they will stick to their word but 95% of the time someone is faster and sometimes it's by only seconds because they lived only a block away. CL asks for a address for all the ads now and some buyers just show up when they see a ad that is close to where they are. Then a seller who committed to some one over the phone is faced with the decision and usually quick money wins out.
Good luck next time Craig & Dave!

KZ100:
I understand what you are saying, but that was after he made the deal on the phone. Should we all just say well I have to check whatever and my wife before a deal is ok to make? It is the first deal that is done and committed to that I am speaking of. By the way he called me again to say that I could not prove we had any deal, even though I had the emails, directions, and phone call times with the original email saying I will pay what you want, pick up in morning with cash in my file.
It is the fact that a deal was made, and as I explained to him that now it was a life lesson that check all or list all venues to avoid this problem again. I am sure he will be doing just that.

Actions mentioned above are not limited to this hobby or even collecting. It is with life in general. Employment jobs promised then given to a friend or family member. Rental apartment unit promised then given to someone else who offers $50 a month more in rent.
I don't count on anything being mine until I have it in my possession.

What about those people that call about something you yourself have for sale. When you tell them it is sold they respond saying they would have paid more. I get that all the time. They just try to bring you down.

So true

Dang, sorry to hear that

if you don't have your word,you have nothing...I have made many deals here on old gas and 95% have honored there word,,,guys like lotsakegs,etc. etc. however there were 2 deals that after the deal was made and they swore to it, they sold it for more to the next guy...beware of (********** SS) & (****ibby).......they will screw you in a heartbeat...

Oh, i forgot to mention there are a couple more HERE who will lie cheat and steal from you, however they never got the chance with me.....

OR the FEW that keep making offers on item[s] you have that was NEVER Offered For Sale.

I got a completely different take on this one.....you actually had a craigslist seller call you back and tell you the item sold on another venue and that is was no longer available???

That's a nomination for craigslist seller of the year. What would be unethical is if he let you load up the truck and drive to his house expecting to pick up the pump and it was gone.

A craigslist deal is not a done deal until you pay for the item and drive away. Not really sure how long it's going to take for that reality to settle in with some of you.

I don't see that the seller did anything wrong on this one.

i guess people have different opinions on this and mine is, when you tell somebody something on the phone, email, in person that is "your word" and if you don't uphold it, you have nothing........i have made many deals on the telephone and have also been offered more money after the deal i made, however i sold it to the guy who i first told i would sell it to, for less......DB got it right $$$$=integrity

We don't know the seller...he might be an average guy like us. It's very plausible he just flat out forgot to check what the pump was doing on his ebay listing. I suppose none of you ever forget things like that.

The fact that he called back right away and explained his dilemma and said he was sorry leads me to believe he must have some integrity. If he would have said I'll sell it to you for 500 and then screwed the ebay buyer out of the pump for 800, that guy would have started a thread on here that ebay sellers are unethical because they end auctions early.

Now, could he have mentioned he had the pump listed elsewhere on his craigslist ad...sure. But the fact he didn't mention it doesn't make him unethical. The only people that bitch about this stuff are the ones who didn't get "the deal"

This seems to be a trend today.List something for sale on CL and eBay or wherever at the same time,and see what brings more money.
I had a nearly identical situation,but I bid & won it on eBay and the seller said he just sold it locally on CL.
Thought that was odd as he had to pay the ebay listing fees,but he said he did.

When it's not your deal, it's easy to side w/ the one You want.

Ohio Oil,

I read your posts over & over ...

Man, you write well!

Hen

Where one lays their support or sympathy is usually indicative of how they would conduct themselves in a similar set of circumstances.

I agree with the position taken by roadrelics.

Seems the only posts I get in on are one like these, guess It's because I'm no expert "yet" on gas and oil stuff but do try and live my life in such a way that when I die people will at least say "he was a good man" LOL. This guy made a mistake, period... not a ethical one or one based on greed...just a mistake. He should have mentioned he had a eBay listing, he should have checked to see if there were any bids before agreeing to deal verbally but he didn't, that was a mistake. When he did realize his mistake he did the only thing he could, apologize and do the right thing let the listing ride. I completely agree a man is nothing more than his word, and a verbal agreement and handshake is concrete in my book however in this instance because of his mistake (we can only hope it was a honest mistake) his verbal agreement has to take a backseat. Once he had a single bid he was involved in a legal contract with that bidder, if he were to end auction and cancel bids he would not only be breaking his word but breaking a legal binding contract (although it's NEVER enforced!) He did the only "right" thing left he could do which is honor the legal contract and admit fault/apologize. Some could argue it was not a mistake, that he was only looking for top dollar and he wouldn't let the auction keep going if bid was only say $200...That we'll never know but I like to look for and hope for the best in a person and would like to keep thinking this was just a honest mistake....JMO

ebay seller knew exactly what he was doing by listing on CL & ebay at same time, MAXIM ADVERTISING, seller feedback #3705. Anyone w/ that many transactions is in it for the $$$$$. Ebay opening bid was high than CL Price.

Most of us here buy and sell and use various venues to do both, I do. However once you list an item on Ebay and have bids, the ethical thing to do is see it thru. The seller should NEVER have listed items on Ebay AND other venues at the same time, that is just asking for trouble.
As buyers when we make a deal we should at minimum get a downpayment to the seller right away via Paypal or whatever so the seller knows you're a serious buyer. I have been stood up by buyers that promise to "be there on Saturday" and never show up. My personal pet peeve is the guy who drives from two states away to purchase something and then wants to write a personal check.
When an agreement is made it should be honored. This seller put himself in a bad situation that was not going to end well.

I am heading out on a 10 hour round trip drive this weekend with a couple thousand US dollars in hand. All I have is the sellers word that he is holding something for me. I will call again before I leave. Don't think there is much more that I can do.

A deposit works with some but I have done deals with this seller before and he only works with cash.

Thankfully only 1 or 2 out of a 100 deals go bad. The vast majority of people I've dealt with are trustworthy. Greed does trump integrity once in a while unfortunately. I deal with people the way I expect to be dealt with.

I am not sure what Ohio oil meant by that, if it was sarcastic or how it came out. Never swore at the guy, called him names, just told him that he made the deal on the phone and in my thinking if I would have been closer and came earlier I would have possibly owned the pump. By the way it was not just minutes later, probably 10 at least.
Again, it was a mistake on his part and I showed him or tried to that it was a life lesson and even he had to laugh when I told him that the mistake would probably never happen again.
I have had many people honor what they said on the phone even later when others have asked to sell for more. Even gave a guy an extra $100.00 for doing so, In fact still have the pump. The Bowser 310 in which I was trying to match.

Craig, I meant my response to be more generic in nature, absolutely not personally directed at you.

My difficulty in these type of threads talking about deals gone bad, is it's just so easy to call someone nobody here has ever met, dishonest, unethical, lacking honor, and use $$$ signs when talking about them.

We've all been disappointed about losing out on a purchase, sometimes it just doesn't work out. Doesn't mean the guy is dishonest..stuff happens.

How about riding about an hour to an estate sale where they had a nice gas pump in jacks book worth about 1200 unrestored. Said they were taking silent bids and at 3:30 that afternoon high bidder gets pump. Gave a bid and a phone number and left . Got a call about an hour before it ended and lady says you are still high bidder but we have had so much interest we will hold a live auction at 3:30. I said ok withdraw my bid she of course says what if you are still high bidder , I said withdraw mine and hung up . Greed , they were going to do that all along even had it in newspaper as silent bid.

Hey Craig,
You have to wonder if he didn't intentionally plan on playing CL and EBay both to get the most, but once he told you sold, it should have been sold. I have committed to deals before where I could have gotten more before deal was finalized. Guess I'm old school where I like to think you can give someone your word or shake their hand and it's a done deal. Have to agree, it's about greed. Reason for my pm is is to ask your opinion. I bought an Oregon Pride pump plate at Iowa Gas. It is a 9+ condition. Did not buy to sell, but a good friend wants it to pair up with his. Haven't seen any for sale lately and am trying to come up with a fair price for him. Seems like they used to be all over the place from 1k to 3k. I know you might be prejudiced being from Oregon, but was thinking you may seen them sell lately. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pat Anderton

Pat, do not know much about pump signs, but a guy here PDXgasman would be the guy to ask. His name is Glenn and he has the Astro stations here and is very up on the prices of that item.
Thanks Craig

Bottom line here is that I appreciate all the different viewpoints and some that I did not even think of or see that direction. Good to have the discussion about this to maybe see someone elses way of thinking.
Thanks Craig