Someone contacted yesterday me about the Pogues ticket I have for Saturday’s show. She hasn’t paid for it yet, but we’ve agreed to meet in Bellingham on Saturday during the five-minute stop her bus to Seattle makes.
Another guy also wants the ticket, who contacted me today. He’s ready to pay with PayPal and meet me to get the ticket.
I should contact the first party and ask if she can pay with PayPal. If she can, no worries. Party 2 was too slow. If she can’t, should I accept immediate payment from Party 2? Or should I tell him that Party 1 and I have already agreed to meet, and hope we don’t miss each other on Saturday?
If Party 1 can’t make arrangements to pay by PayPal, I would go with Party 2. If she doesn’t show up on Saturday, you’re going to eat the tickets. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect her to pay up before the day of the concert.
Is there any way for either of them to verify that you have real tickets (or get their money back from PayPal if you don’t)? If there is, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be asked to pay through PayPal. If she doesn’t want to, go with Party 2.
I think it’s fine to give Party 1 the chance to paypal (or come to meet you tonight) and if they can’t then sell them to Party 2. But next time put “First come, first serve” in your post, if someone wants you to hold something for more than 1 day make it clear that you will enforce FCFS if someone contacts you in between. Or be willing to miss out on a sale, which I could live with for a sofa but not concert tickets 1 week out.
As a CL buyer I don’t expect anyone to hold an item unless they know I’m in the car on the way over. But not everyone sees things the way I do, it’s good to reinforce your own policy.
I was afraid of that. I’d feel like a heel selling it out from under her.
How’s this? I can go through with the deal with Party 1. (And save the PayPal fees – I’m already losing money because of bleedin’ Ticket Master.) I could email Party 2 and tell him that he can have the ticket if Party 1 fails to work out. There will be about a four-hour window between our meeting and when I have to leave. Worst case, I can try to sell it at the door. There are usually people looking for extra tix.
Don’t worry about it. You’re going through a lot of hoops when you have someone willing to pay for it the way you want to be paid. You don’t owe person #1 anything at this point, IMO.
So lesson learned. Next time, put first come, first serve. Go take a chance and meet Party 1. If she doesn’t show, sell it at the door.
ETA: And, on preview, I totally agree with Telemark…craigslist is a brutal place where money talks and bullshit walks…but if it’s going to make you feel bad, just try to go through with your sale to Party 1 and chalk this one up to experience.
I’d say stick with your initial agreement to meet buyer #1 on Saturday, and if by some chance she bails or you miss her, I suspect you’ll be able to find another option and still have taken the high road and followed through on the deal you made. And, like you said earlier, it shouldn’t be tough to unload the extra outside the show, considering its sold out, and you might be able to keep buyer #2 in your back pocket just in case.
Of course if you do this to her she can pay PayPal fund it with a credit card then simply dispute the charge with her credit card company (not PayPal) and then she gets a ticket and you get nothing, 'cause it’s a card not present transaction.
Only use cash and hand over the ticket ASAP. Don’t trust PP with things like this