When giving out Paypal address in sales thread.

**milesd** · 10-11-2008, 01:57 AM

I just posted up 4 items for sale and I'm trying something out. Whenever I give out my paypal address I will automatically hold the item for 12 hours. What are your thoughts?

**louisruby** · 10-11-2008, 02:00 AM

sounds fair - your item, your rules!

**Medenblik** · 10-11-2008, 02:18 AM

sounds fair by me also

12 hours is plenty

**Harley357** · 10-11-2008, 04:53 AM

Sounds fair!

**Chris V.** · 10-11-2008, 04:55 AM

sounds fair to me.

**FiFi** · 10-11-2008, 05:34 AM

12 hours is a good time frame to hear back from a potential buyer.

I give the potential buyers in my sales 24 hours and then if I don't hear back from him after providing my paypal info, I send him a PM letting him know to NOT send payment since I've relisted the item.

**Suchecracks** · 10-11-2008, 11:24 PM

Well my DSL was broken for one and a half day - so in my opinion 12 h is not very much.

But I dont think you can geralize - if someone says he will be sending the money "right away" - may 12 hours is enough.

**milesd** · 10-11-2008, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Suchecracks

Well my DSL was broken for one and a half day - so in my opinion 12 h is not very much.

But I dont think you can geralize - if someone says he will be sending the money "right away" - may 12 hours is enough.

Well, that is an extreme scenario.

However there has been a few threads lately about people getting upset that they wanted and item and it was sold out from under them. While I know people want to sell what they have quickly, there is no point in giving out your paypal address to multiple people.

Now I can not say that I don't get frustrated when people say I'll take it and you give them your paypal address only to never heard from them again. But I do think 12 hours is enough time for both seller and buyer.

**DaveF** · 10-12-2008, 12:25 AM

Depending on how busy a person is and what their schedule is a person may not be able to get back to their computer to handle the transaction within 12 hours after they committed to buying something. I just had this happen to me as the buyer.

I made a committment to purchase at 11:30 yesterday morning and it wasn't until this morning that I was able to get to my computer to find the seller's PP address to take care of the transaction. Almost 24 hours had passed. Thankfully the seller waited to hear from me.

**milesd** · 10-12-2008, 12:31 AM

Well, maybe this is something that should be stated in the sales thread. All too often I see a thread that stated that "oh this person didn't wait for me" As a seller, it's hard to say who will ACTUALLY buy the item. That's why I suggest giving any potential buyer a limited time frame to make the purchase so you may move on to the next person who is interested.

You can work it out with the seller if you need more time.

**DaveF** · 10-12-2008, 12:35 AM

This is definitely a case by case decision. If the potential buyer is new to the forum and has no track record and no one knows them versus if the buyer is known and has lots of recommendations may help decide how you want to handle the situation. In the end you gotta do what you feel you gotta do.

**Numonewhiteboy** · 10-12-2008, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by DaveF

This is definitely a case by case decision. If the potential buyer is new to the forum and has no track record and no one knows them versus if the buyer is known and has lots of recommendations may help decide how you want to handle the situation. In the end you gotta do what you feel you gotta do.

Agreed, case by case.

Although the crowd here seems much more mature than members of other forums I sell on, my policy is always whoever pays first gets it.

The only time that changes is if a potential buyer is well known, with a good reputation and several references, or someone I have dealt with before.

**WTFIMI** · 10-12-2008, 01:40 AM

I'll start by saying that I have only bought so far. My SOP for buying is this:
-See the item FS.
-PM the seller to see if its still available and ask any questions I may have.
-After being responded to, make a decision to buy or not.
-If buying, PM the seller back, commit to buy, ask for PP address.
-Immediately after receiving PP address, send the $$.

Its only when things don't happen in 'real time' that there should be any question of how long it will take to send PP. If either party doesn't respond fairly quickly, all bets are off. For instance, if say I want to buy something and ask the seller for his PP, but he doesn't respond before I go to bed or work, then he PMs me with PP info but I'm asleep or at work, then he sells to someone else b/c I didn't respond right away, thats life (and a serious run-on-sentence). No hard feelings from me. Its a timing thing.

Seems like I have diarrhea of the mouth. In short, I think 12 hours is good.

**kookaburra** · 10-12-2008, 03:24 PM

I know it isn't possible all the time, but I endeavour to pay as soon after I commit to buy something as possible. 12 hours is more than generous in my opinion. If the buyer knows he will be unable to do paypal for longer than that time, he should at least have the decency to tell the seller.

There is more of a relaxed attitude to selling ethics here than any other forum I've been on. On most others, if a buyer commits to an item, it is held buy the seller until payment, not sold to someone else who had came up with the money sooner. I really don't agree with those who do that.