Thread: "Buy it now" button, question and civility

Originally Posted by Ockham

Normally, the first stating that he is interested has the priority, even if he has a question, because he stated it first. And so on and so forth in line order. What you do as a seller - or at least as I did - was to write all the people giving them order number and stating clearly that X is first but has a question, Y is second but has a question and Z is third but want it... If X is happy with the answer, the razor is his; if not, it goes to Y, and if not to Z... it was the way the BST forum was working... and I think it is a good way to let people ask questions, wait for answers (sometime the seller cannot also answer right away) and decide... I think this is why our BST forum are different form a shopping mall.

Thats what I do. But the principle is similar. Except with the BIN button, they can override the "system." I see what your saying about the comment. But I wonder if the comment even got posted. I've tried to write a comment on one of the ads, but I don't believe it ever showed up. So that might be another problem there.

I think the way the Buy it Now is set up now is fine. It is straight forward and simple.

The thread originator had a shipping plan. He could have used the Buy it Now button and worked the shipping details out with the seller during payment, no problem.

Just a thought.

I could have sworn at some point early on in the roll-out of the new classifieds format (versus the old BST that most of us remember) it was specified at the moderator level that ANY item listed for sale in the SRP classifieds MUST offer international shipping. I believe IIRC the rationale was that SRP has a worldwide membership and the classifieds is not meant to be a free version of Ebay. Maybe SRP can clarify this again.

I could be wrong, but I thought AFDavis had stated that classifieds must allow for international shipping?

Chris L

I've had similar experiences and it has really been difficult to please all those concerned when these things happen. One problem was listing in multiple forums - someone may PM with intent to buy, but subsequently, someone hits the BIN button here. In that instance, I had refunded or rejected the BIN payment in favor of the first PM.

Two things to note about that example are:
1. The BIN is not automatic, and is subject to acceptance by the seller.
2. The first PM was not an inquiry or statement of interest, but an unconditional "I'll take it."

I have also rejected a BIN from an international buyer when my listing stated CONUS only.

What I have learned is, in an effort to be fair, I include a statement in my ads saying that the first unconditional "I'll take it" AND timely payment gets the item. That way, there is a clear order of preference for buyer > someone interested but may not buy depending on the answers to questions. Timely payment is also important, as others will say they will buy, then hold the payment as they think about it, research the item or even shop around.

Bottom line is, most of us don't sell razors as a business. Most sell because they need the money, to fund their own purchase or other reasons. We need to be fair to the seller, too, who only wants a quick, clean sale. I think the BIN is fine the way it is, and besides, the seller always has the option to not allow BIN.

Originally Posted by Chris L

I could have sworn at some point early on in the roll-out of the new classifieds format (versus the old BST that most of us remember) it was specified at the moderator level that ANY item listed for sale in the SRP classifieds MUST offer international shipping. I believe IIRC the rationale was that SRP has a worldwide membership and the classifieds is not meant to be a free version of Ebay. Maybe SRP can clarify this again.

Chris L

Perhaps a Mod can chime in on that. If that is the case, I can certainly remove the remaining razor I have for sale from the classifieds. Since I have been a member here, even in the Old B/S/T the seller has always had the option of shipping the razor where they feel comfortable shipping too..

Originally Posted by Raudrive

I think the way the Buy it Now is set up now is fine. It is straight forward and simple.

The thread originator had a shipping plan. He could have used the Buy it Now button and worked the shipping details out with the seller during payment, no problem.

Just a thought.

Yes, that's possible. The problem is, when doing so you are forcing the hand of the seller: if you hit the "buy it now" button thinking that you, as you have a relay address in the US, can work the details with the seller after payment (not during... with the "buy it now" button you pay directly with Paypal if I am not mistaken)... you are deciding for the seller who may not be comfortable to send a package to a Paypal non-related address in case the package will be lost by the USP - that could also be the case if you want to ship the razor in the US but to another address than yours in the US, to somebody to rescale the razor for instance (this problem does not occur only because of shipping... that was my problem to illustrate this case... you could have a question concerning honing wear for instance)

The "buy it now" button is straight forward and simple - nothing against that -, but cut down discussions, and as I said in my previous post, I think this is dommagable to a site like SRP which is designed to promote straight razor shaving, not selling (that is why we also have a BST here - or at least it is the reason I am thinking of - and that we have not only Ebay). I find that the possibility to ask questions and wait for answer is one of the multiple advantages of our Classifieds... what make it different from a simple shopping mall.

Originally Posted by RayG

I've had similar experiences and it has really been difficult to please all those concerned when these things happen. One problem was listing in multiple forums - someone may PM with intent to buy, but subsequently, someone hits the BIN button here. In that instance, I had refunded or rejected the BIN payment in favor of the first PM.

Two things to note about that example are:
1. The BIN is not automatic, and is subject to acceptance by the seller.
2. The first PM was not an inquiry or statement of interest, but an unconditional "I'll take it."

I have also rejected a BIN from an international buyer when my listing stated CONUS only.

What I have learned is, in an effort to be fair, I include a statement in my ads saying that the first unconditional "I'll take it" AND timely payment gets the item. That way, there is a clear order of preference for buyer > someone interested but may not buy depending on the answers to questions. Timely payment is also important, as others will say they will buy, then hold the payment as they think about it, research the item or even shop around.

Bottom line is, most of us don't sell razors as a business. Most sell because they need the money, to fund their own purchase or other reasons. We need to be fair to the seller, too, who only wants a quick, clean sale. I think the BIN is fine the way it is, and besides, the seller always has the option to not allow BIN.

Thats a good idea. Thanks for that. I'll keep that in mind when listing items from now on.

I think a simple solution to this problem is to have the seller list clearly what needs to be done in order to "buy it now"; what payment methods he's willing to accept; when payment should be made; how much shipping is in the CONUS and whether he will ship internationally and if so, if there is a set amount extra or if it depends upon the country. For example:


I accept paypal only, international shipping available for $5 to western Europe & Australia, free shipping to CONUS & Canada. Payment to be made withiin 2 days of hitting the button.

It’s interesting that you raised this issue Joel; I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. I purchased two razors using the ‘buy it now’ button and everything went swimmingly. A little while later I got an email from the seller saying that though my payment had gone through I was three seconds too late; someone had already purchased the razor. Though I was annoyed for a few minutes – mostly because my computer had frozen for a few seconds causing a delay of the PayPal payment – I soon moved on.


My point is that there will always be glitches, but thankfully they are usually few and far between. It’s just a shame that someone else had their beady eye on that beautiful Butcher, Lol.


P.s. Joel, you were the lucky git who had fingers three seconds faster than mine!

Originally Posted by Leighton

I think a simple solution to this problem is to have the seller list clearly what needs to be done in order to "buy it now"; what payment methods he's willing to accept; when payment should be made; how much shipping is in the CONUS and whether he will ship internationally and if so, if there is a set amount extra or if it depends upon the country.

I don't think this will solve the problem I am considering. The problem is not really what needs to be done in order to BIN... this is quite straightforward, as you - and other - already stated.

The problem is: what if a buyer is willing to buy but has a question not addressed in the description (not just want some piece of information for fun)? that could always happen... the question does not have to be related only to shipping, but could be on the quality of the razor, shades on pictures, hone wear...
I think a clear policy must be stated for that: does the seller has to behave like RayG described ("I had refunded or rejected the BIN payment in favor of the first PM"), respecting the line order, or is it the quick and clean solution that must be used in giving the priority of the BIN?

The central problem here is about the possibility of a buyer to ASK a question and still have the possibility to buy the item if he has to wait for the answer...

I just wanted to say again, this razor has been offered in the classifieds here at SRP for over 4 weeks in the past 2 months and I did answer many questions and PM's regarding the razor, it's condition etc....The W&B sale threads alone had over 3000 views between the couple sale thread I listed it in.....The first sale thread was deleted during system maintenance and I had to re-list it......

Also, I had a lot of questions on the Chandler I recently sold, and the Mastro Livi I have for sale....I try and answer all questions as they are received and provide lots of photos and a description of the items being offered with my selling terms......I do think others do the same and haven't really heard of any problems with the system as it is.