It is NOT that freaking HARD to answer this question.

[Little_Plastic_Ninja]

@Foxy40

I foundd this thread interesting from the start. The fact that you had the guts to ask for payment arrangements on buying something from a private person is amusing. The fact that you actually asked to use it before it was completely paid for is hysterical. (Oh and pay by personal check no less.) Now you are ragging at the seller for not reading your mind to know you actually had the full payment if she really wanted it. (Which of course she did). Simply put, I am sure she kept you around as the last resort in case a reasonable buyer did not appear.

I am not being negative. As a matter of fact, I admire your big kahonas.

Which, yeah, I see. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

But you’re seeing this as something more like me hopping onto Craigslist and doing this. Yeah, no way no how.

And I’m still not ragging on her for not being psychic. I’m just ragging on her for not saying “no” or “yes” or, you know, anything.

At the very least – at the very LEAST – she could have said before she left work on Tuesday: “Sorry, I already sold it. Better luck next time!” But she knew I was there, was waiting, was at work, was getting off at 5, and was stuck at my computer… and she left work and got on half an hour later to tell me.

Or maybe she could have told me at lunch on Tuesday or at any point after it but before I had to leave for work that the guy’d bought it.

[gigi]

@Little Plastic Ninja

…

damn you.

Oh, I’ve been meaning to mention…Have you heard of LiveJournal?

[LinusK]

@Cheesesteak

Sheesh yourself, he wanted to give the seller a CHECK for half the payment on Friday evening, then the rest (presumably with another check) during the week when he takes the tent home, leaving her with two checks of dubious worth. Not to mention the fact that he could renege on the deal, cancel the check, or whatever half way through the next week after she told Mr. Buyer Withcash that the tent was already sold. Or, the deadbeat decides he doesn’t have the money next week, can she wait another few days, or another few weeks, for his next paycheck when he’ll ask for his money back since he can’t actually afford it now, since his car broke down.

You want to buy, bring money, pay for the fucking thing, take it, and leave. This isn’t a complex financial transaction, you’re buying a tent. It’s not the seller’s job to finance it for you or offer layaway when they have buyers ready to pay full price on the spot.

Yeah. If you wanted it, should have been there with the money - cash money, in hand.

I mean, she’s not WalMart, and even WalMart wouldn’t do the deal you’re trying to make.

[Scarlett67]

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

The OP’s problem is NOT that the seller didn’t like her (?) terms, or even that the seller sold the tent to another buyer.

It is the LACK OF COMMUNICATION. It is the fact the she LEFT HER HANGING. What is so hard about responding to an offer that doesn’t interest you with “Sorry, not interested”? Or (as the OP has suggested several times) “I’d rather have all the money up front”? In which case (as the OP has said several times) she would have come up with the money.

The thing about asking a question (as the OP did) is that THE FAVOR OF A REPLY IS REQUESTED. Even if the answer is “No.” The problem is that the seller couldn’t be arsed to reply, at least not for a good long time. The fact that the OP is personally acquainted with the seller, and isn’t just some faceless unknown e-mail, makes it all the more rude.

[iamthewalrus_3]

I agree that this was a communication problem, but not the one the OP thinks it was.

The miscommunication was when the OP interpreted “not in a hurry to sell” as “I’m flexible about arrangements, and will work with you to make the sale happen eventually”, when it should have been interpreted as “don’t lowball me, sucka. I’m willing to sit on this damned thing for years until I get my 400 smackers.”

Thinking the former, the OP set himself (or herself. Sorry,Ninja, I don’t know your sex) up for failure by trying to negotiate and make the deal convenient for himself, while someone else just up and offered cash. I agree with others that anyone offering to pay for something with multiple checks sends up a “doesn’t have the money” red flag, and I’d probably not do business with him unless necessary. Not answering the email at all is rude, but it also protects me from having to deal with the “don’t you trust me?”, “here’s a list of all the reasons I can’t just pay you right now, aren’t they good enough?”, and “well, you said ‘no’, but maybe if I ask again” kinds of emails that often follow with people who try to make a really simple transaction more complicated. I’m not saying that you’d have done that, Ninja, but offering to pay with two checks doesn’t make a first impression otherwise.

[Scissorjack]

@Scarlett67

The problem is that the seller couldn’t be arsed to reply, at least not for a good long time.

Maybe she just couldn’t bear to part with it, and was loitering within tent.