[LexxM3]

Minor rant ... I do a fair amount of buying/selling/trading behind the scenes, both here and on Kijiji. Kijiji is mostly annoying, but the experience on the forum is by far very very pleasant and constructive, literally at least 100 times better than Kijiji. So when I see a behaviour on the forum that is rampant to contributing to the shitty Kijiji experience, I feel compelled to comment. Thanks for indulging me. So ... just had this:

• member here, a few trades on their profile, but not a lot (correction: no trading stats! should have been a flag); not a lot of posts, but some
• has an item for sale
• I contact them, offer exactly asking price under their exact conditions; done deal, right?
• no response day 1, no response day 2, a reminder in PM and then on a post, no response day 3
• checking profile, the member has been on the forum regularly throughout all of those 3 days
• this evening I check and the FS post is gone (it was there earlier today, so was removed sometime today)
• ok, fine, item sold ... but here is the rant ...
• ... the member didn't have the courtesy of responding at all, either before or after taking down the post ...

This kind of thing happens non-stop on Kijiji, both buyers and sellers. It's ridiculous, particularly when a seller doesn't respond to an asking price/conditions offer. It's by far not the worst thing that happens on Kijiji, but contributes to say 25% of the shitty experience there. Let's not let this happen here. Talk to each other, talk to us. Even a simple "Sorry dude, it sold locally and I forgot to take the post down" would do. But if you don't respond at all, you're a dick (and you're definitely not getting any offers or responses from me in the future as things stand).

I am not butt-hurt or anything, it's just some random gear, it doesn't mean anything. But I just want us to remain the bastion of civility that we normally are. Notwithstanding the Political forum, of course. Rant off ...

Update: I just discovered a couple of posts by the specific member complaining about being mistreated by a few forum buyers/sellers in an older thread. LOL. The hypocrisy definitely undermines those claims.

 

[mhammer]

Courtesy is a rapidly-diminishing skill, isn't it?

I am often pleasantly surprised by the courtesy I experience on Kijiji. People will write and tell me that unfortunately the item has been sold. I tell them I appreciate them getting back to me. What goes around comes around.

That said, you reminded me of an incident that WTF podcast host Marc Maron rambled on about recently. It seems he had not seen an e-mail he received from a fellow he had previously interviewed, asking if Maron would be interested in coming on that fellow's podcast. Because he didn't see it, he obviously didn't respond. The fellow's wife is actress Kristin Bell, and Maron wrote to the guy some time later asking if Kritin would be interested in coming on Maron's podcast. Well, the husband's take was "You expect me to be your go-between and you don't even have the decency to answer MY request? Screw you and the horse you rode in on."

The two of them ironed things out and everything is copasetic now, but it goes to show you that simply by not being absolutely meticulous in attending to all outstanding correspondence, people can pooch relationships.

 

[WCGill]

Is it the internet that has led to an increase in flakiness or were people always like that? Courtesy hardly has the importance it once did, nor does commitment. Cases in point: I recently advertised a lot of speakers at dead cost on this forum. I sold many to members who said "yes" and followed through. The ones I tried to be extra nice to by offering to deliver to a western city the following week gave me the runaround. One sold the amp the speaker was to go in and "forgot to tell you", the other backed out citing scheduling and deadline issues, none of which were mentioned in prior messages. Did their intransigence cost me sales?-possibly. Few things get me going more than people who say they will, then don't. Bugger off!

 

[LexxM3]

Did their intransigence cost me sales?-possibly. Few things get me going more than people who say they will, then don't.

Ugh, frustrating when it has a real impact (at least in my case, it's just annoyance, no financial impact). But ... so what do you have left from that set, LOL (probably a PM or direct email is best for a response, if any ).

 

[mhammer]

Anonymity can do "interesting" things to people.