Checking out buyers in the classifieds?

[280Ackley]

I’m not against anybody, we were all new guys at on point. I just reached out to a new member yesterday offering up advice and possibly my bear bait this spring. I have had very good interaction with a lot of people on this forum and a few with some grumps. All in all this has been a great place to find good deals and sell off some unused gear. I’ve been able to help multiple people on hunts in my neck of the woods and received some good information from others to help me out. I just don’t like seeing people take advantage of someone else just because it’s a “free market”. Come on who really needs to make $200 profit on primers.

 

[Dos Perros]

Isn’t a free market when a seller can sell to whomever they want, and no one they don’t?

 

[Mikido]

Isn’t a free market when a seller can sell to whomever they want, and no one they don’t?

Lol true

 

[sndmn11]

On a side note...... USE our feedback system

I have thought about leaving negative feedback for an otherwise perfect transaction, when they have not used the feedback feature in order to try and grab their attention. I wonder if feedback can be changed if that strategy did work.

 

[5MilesBack]

Come on who really needs to make $200 profit on primers.

I don't think it has anything to do with "need". But if people are willing to pay $250 for a box of primers, who wants to turn that down. If someone offered me 5 times what I paid for my house...........I'm a seller, whether I "need" that profit or not.

 

[missjordan]

Probably will be vetting buyers too. I’ve gotten lucky that the few things I’ve needed to sell recently have been local and i haven’t had to ship anything


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[TDawg]

Good discussion. As a new guy, this has been a bit eye opening. You have all pointed out some things that I should watch out for. Don't get me wrong... I'm not nieve. I've had way too many online scams tried on me. I'm always cautious. I also understand both sides of the arguement, and cannot blame anyone for not selling to the new guy... he hasn't proven himself. But I have to say, I get damn tired of having to prove myself. I don't practice buy and sell. It's tough times for a lot of folks. I look for things I need as a hunter and father protecting his own. If I can help someone out who really needs it, I will. But I'm not going to get drug through the mud doing it. I considered this site as a bunch of like minded individuals sharing knowledge, adventures, and maybe trading and selling some un-needed items to those who could use it. I'm glad I stumbled on to it. By the way, I found the site looking for reloading components. I've searched far and wide for certain items, driven hundreds of miles for powder, and continue to do so for things I need. I'm glad to be here and will contribute when I can. But I don't live on here. I've got too many higher priorities. If I buy something or offer for trade, its because I need it and I'm a man of my word. If anybody choses to not do business with me, then so be it. I wish you well and will continue my search.
Take care and stay safe.

 

[*zap*]

It is going to get worse before it gets better. Has gotten worse in the last few weeks.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I’m not against anybody, we were all new guys at on point. I just reached out to a new member yesterday offering up advice and possibly my bear bait this spring. I have had very good interaction with a lot of people on this forum and a few with some grumps. All in all this has been a great place to find good deals and sell off some unused gear. I’ve been able to help multiple people on hunts in my neck of the woods and received some good information from others to help me out. I just don’t like seeing people take advantage of someone else just because it’s a “free market”. Come on who really needs to make $200 profit on primers.

How is it taking advantage of someone?
They are not forced to buy it.
They do not need it to live.
Everything discussed so far is privilege. Its what the market is. My mom paid about 40k for her house, its worth about 500k is that taking advantage?

Taking advantage of someone is jacking the price way up when they are in need to sustain life. Water, gas, spare tire in middle of nowhere.

 

[sndmn11]

How is it taking advantage of someone?
They are not forced to buy it.
They do not need it to live.
Everything discussed so far is privilege. Its what the market is. My mom paid about 40k for her house, its worth about 500k is that taking advantage?

Taking advantage of someone is jacking the price way up when they are in need to sustain life. Water, gas, spare tire in middle of nowhere.

I think a lot of people get want/privilege mixed up with need/right. They are so used to getting what they want, that instant gratification has conditioned them that want is synonymous with need.

 

[280Ackley]

How is it taking advantage of someone?
They are not forced to buy it.
They do not need it to live.
Everything discussed so far is privilege. Its what the market is. My mom paid about 40k for her house, its worth about 500k is that taking advantage?

Taking advantage of someone is jacking the price way up when they are in need to sustain life. Water, gas, spare tire in middle of nowhere.

Ok so maybe I am not wording this correct. There is a difference in equity on a house and jacking up the price on reloading supplies. I think you understand on some level what I am talking about, otherwise you would have jacked up your prices on the stuff you are trying to currently sell in the classifieds.

 

[wyodan]

I’m lucky if I get feedback for 1 in 4 transactions. Iv backed out on deals with people who don’t post much if at all. Knock on wood Iv been lucky, I also don’t buy and sell really high price stuff like some do here

That's better than I have done. I don't think I have ever received any feedback on my classifeds transactions.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I'm honestly torn. The only ones I have heart burn with are the ones buying it up with intentions of jacking it up. Just let me buy what I need.
But I've also been holding back on a couple high sought out components. But I honestly stocked up with intentions of my personal use.
But have since bought way larger stock piles to keep the same lot numbers.
So if i post them for auction and they get bid up is that gouging because it ends up selling high?

Ok so maybe I am not wording this correct. There is a difference in equity on a house and jacking up the price on reloading supplies. I think you understand on some level what I am talking about, otherwise you would have jacked up your prices on the stuff you are trying to currently sell in the classifieds.

 

[Lawnboi]

Have you asked for feedback????

Every sale I do I ask that the person message me when they get it (to make sure it arrives in one piece) and at that time I’ll leave feedback. I do not hunt people down and ask for feedback.

 

[dieselchessy]

I gave feedback to the recent round of buyers, but that's the first time. I'm in my mid 40's and not into facebook, snapchat, ect...... The whole feedback, Likes, Thanks, , ect.... stuff is fairly odd to me. I have no idea when or if I'm supposed to "like" something or give good feedback. It all just seems really odd to me. I've given Likes a time or two trying to wrap my mind around it.
I also think its really odd that folks may hold it against a person for not giving "likes", or feedback, ect....

For some of us this whole collecting of gold star stickers is just alien.

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

I'm a long time lurker but new member, who finally joined because someone was selling a pair of Tract bino's at a great price, that I really wanted. Of course they were sold long before my waiting period was over hahaha!

Anyways, I understand the dilemma many of you have. It's about ethics. We see something offered at 2-4x above it's normal price, and it's offensive because we think all people should embrace the same ethics that we live by (the golden rule).

I'm pretty libertarian in the classical sense and a business major. If I see a way to carve out a profit, my first inclination is to go for it and could care less about ideas of fairness. Ethics be damned!

On the flip-side, I was raised in poverty and we got by through sharing and looking out for one another. Then at 17, I joined the Army and got first-hand experience in what appears to be some form of socialism. I owned nothing, had no control over anything, forced cooperation, communal showers and living quarters, etc.

My experience's, from birth to 21 yrs, instilled the instinct to not screw anyone over and try to help people. It's a strong drive too! So it counteracts what I've learned about business/economics, thru school and owning a few small businesses.

So to summarize my ramblings:
We can have a laissez-faire attitude about the classifieds and let the free market correct itself. Yes, some people will unwittingly fall prey to unethical sellers but most will not. Google is a thing so it's easy to find out if a deal is good. Most price-gougers will simply fail and either lower their price or move on.

The alternative is to start regulating sellers, either officially or unofficially. More limits can be imposed, more hoops to jump through. You could call them out on their ads or whatever else you can think of to block them. Be advised though, that is a slippery slope. Create too many barriers to entry or price controls and the market will stagnate. People, mostly good types, will move on.

That's my unsolicited, long-winded two cents on the matter.

Btw, I'm a fng here so hopefully this constitutes you all "getting to know me" if I should ever try to buy something from you! hahaha

 

[5MilesBack]

Ok so maybe I am not wording this correct. There is a difference in equity on a house and jacking up the price on reloading supplies.

If they're both selling at market value.........there really isn't any difference.

It would appear that the "market value" on GB for a box of primers is right around $250. But I can guarantee you that if I put some primers up for sale locally for $250, my ad will get ignored. So locally the market value isn't $250. But if it was........that's what I would be asking for them if I listed them. Guys can't just list stuff for sale at well above market prices and then expect to sell them for that. The buyers dictate what the market price is, not the sellers. Same for homes. But if buyers are paying $250, then a seller asking for $250 isn't "jacking the price up". He's just listing for market value.

 

[Butler247]

I’m been seeing a ton of buy just to resell locally. Academy ammo shipment comes in, and within minutes I see photos of ammo sitting on a center console for double what they just paid minutes before. Or guys posting for sale “don’t have a gun for these” oddball rounds they just bought to resale.

 

[Hondo]

Having minimum post or member duration requirements won't do a lot to stop those that want to profit by flipping goods purchased on forums. I remember a guy on a knife forum that would snap up stuff on the forum exchange and turn around and post it on ebay. He wasn't a new member and had a post count that did not draw suspicions. Once it became known, he was ostracized by many. I carried a pitchfork as well, so to speak.

I've seen gear recently purchased on one forum show up for sale in a different forums as well. Some folks don't care who they sell to or what they are going to do with the item while others do as they like to help other fellow hunters by giving them a good deal. To each his own. I don't recommend imposing additional rules on all members on the account of a few profiteers. I'd rather just dust off my pitchfork.

 

[fwafwow]

I understand that a new member may be just as much of a stand-up person as a senior member, but for the classifieds, you just have a bit less info on your possible counterpart. (Yes, a senior member is also possibly a jerk, but you can sometimes figure that out from posts.)

I don't care about if someone sells at a high price (I can choose to pass), or buys my stuff and sells at a higher price (doing so is not without risk) - but at one point I was irritated when I was going to give away stuff and I thought it would be resold. Just irritated - not mad.

I have looked up buyers, but more because if you are selling something, there is some effort involved, and it can be a bit of a PITA. At the moment I'm over selling because of the possible problems with shipping and the frequent dickering over price (which in my case has always been at a discount from new, even if my stuff is still new). I'm sure I will go through another period of closet clean out and will forget all of these issues, as when I do sell, I only do it because I really like RS - and I'd not dream of doing so on another forum, eBay, etc.

I've been able to get feedback on (I believe) all but 1 of my transactions. Maybe that's because I've been fortunate in that I've dealt with good people.