Non-finalising buyers

[KatshirT]

Just wanted some opinions....

I have sold some animals to a person in SA, they did know full well I needed these things gone. It's been a month and they have yet to get back to me with permit ok or made any contact BUT they have made full payment for these goods.

At what point can I just get rid of the anmals to someone else and do I have to refund their money in full, half, a quarter or what.

They have made no attempt to respond to emails which is my only source of contact with them as my email for a phone number went un-answered.

 

[gecko-mad]

is it illegal to keep the money and give it to someone else for half the price or nothing?

 

[euphorion]

i would charge them a handling and inconvenience fee if they get back to you before you sell the animals to someone else. ie, advertise them and if someone takes them before you hear back from these guys then refund their money, problem solved. if they get back to you before you sell them explain that you will not release the animals unless they pay a bit exptra for the food and care the animals received while you were waiting on the sellers, ie, the cost of extra food since, and any enclosure cleaning etc, will only be minimal but still, thats what i would do. but personally i would sell the animals to someone else, then refund the money to these lazy so and so's

 

[itbites]

That happened to me once before...

I sold the critters said they needed to be gone asap

they paid in full didn't hear from them for a month or more.

Then they finally called said they'd be organizing it for a few weeks later..

Then for some bizarre reason I never heard from them again..

Tried calling etc had no way of refunding because I had no details other than a number to call..

It wasn't a small amount of money either :|:?

I say if you don't hear from them ever again that is the only time you should keep the cash.

If they contact you again & things don't work out take out what percentage they cost to keep fed

for the amount of time they have been on hold & give back the rest

 

[mysnakesau]

They could very well be out of computer range but considering they have paid for them you would expect that they be trying to get in contact to collect them. But if it were me I would say don't wait for them. If you need them gone them re-advertise them. Send these ppl an email with a cut off date. IF they don't answer thats their problem. You don't have to refund their money. Their money was taken up boarding and feeding their animals. But specify your expectations in your email. Say something like, "If I don't hear from you by June 30 I will presume you are no longer interested in the animals and I will relist them for sale. Also, unless you reply to make some arrangement, you will not be refunded your money, as I have had to house and feed these animals waiting for your collection. "

I don't know, something like that, perhaps you can take a cut for looking after them, refund only a percentage of their money.

 

[funcouple]

wow how lucky are you. maybe they have dropped dead. legally i dont know where you stand, but i would send another email saying that if you dont hear from them in the next 7 days you will re-advertise the animals at their cost. i would refund their money, less advertising cost and the price difference if you have to sell them below the original sale price. i would then keep the remainder of their money aside for a period of time. maybe 3 months, incase they make contact. if you dont hear from them after this time keep the remaining money

 

[Jay84]

i agree with shoo shoo.

i would readvertise the animals. if someone buys them before you hear back from the original buyers then go ahead and sell them. keep the money from the original buyers aside incase they contact you again. that way u can return the money to them and wont be out of pocket.

 

[Jay84]

make sure you keep all corresponding emails too. just incase something gets nasty. always keep your emails calm and to the point.

 

[dragozz]

That is why it is good to make specify terms and conditions when you are selling. for eg. Payment to be made within (however long), movement permit to be organised within ( specify certain time you would accept), otherwise $ . (percentage of of the selling price) will be withheld/lost by buyer and the reptiles are back up for sale. I have had problems with people like that too and I find that this works well. You have to cover yourself these days with all the time wasters.

 

[Renagade]

A month isn't that long, hold tight if they have already paid.

 

[mungus]

wow how lucky are you. maybe they have dropped dead. legally i dont know where you stand, but i would send another email saying that if you dont hear from them in the next 7 days you will re-advertise the animals at their cost. i would refund their money, less advertising cost and the price difference if you have to sell them below the original sale price. i would then keep the remainder of their money aside for a period of time. maybe 3 months, incase they make contact. if you dont hear from them after this time keep the remaining money

Hope your joking.............:|
I wish you bought something from me, paid up front, then dropped dead.
How lucky would I be !!!!

 

[Bushfire]

If I were you, I would get proper legal advice as something like this has the potential to turn very nasty. Keep records of all attempts to make contact. You would be entitled to charge a boarding/feeding fees. If the animal must go and no contact, re-sell it. However you may have to pay any money paid back, if the total boarding/feeding fees does not exceed the amount paid. So now you must work out what is a reasonable fee and notify or try to notify the buyer that from today or a date in the future you will be charging x amount per a day till collected (You wont be allowed to back date the fee). If you sell it obviously the boarding/feeding fees stop.

So for example someone paid $300 for an animal, you cant start charging them boarding/feeding fees till you notify or try to notify the buyer that you are charging them. Say you were charging $5 per day but re sell it after 10 days of notifying the ex buyer. You will owe them $250 which they can claim back for quite some time. Thats how I understand it but get proper legal advice so your position is very clear.

 

[Troyster]

I dont think they should have bought the animals in the first place if they werent ready to take ownership in a timely fashion.
I also live in Adelaide and recently purchased a python from interstate and it only took 3 working days for me to have the Import Permit back in my possesion,allowing the freighting to take place almost immediately.
I guess it depends on how serious you are about getting the animal and how serious you are about not messing the seller around

 

[KatshirT]

Thanks for the responses guys,

I have made countless attempts to make contact, it works out to 1 email per day.

In the process of originaly purchasing the animal contact was made 2-3 times per day, then once I received payment (I only wanted a 20% deposit and they made full payment), I then contacted for licence details for export permit and gave them mine.

They responded a 2 days later with theres and I had my permit 5 working days later which I then Emailed to them.

Since that I have not received a single email back, I have even taken off all Junk Mail filters in the case it was going there.

I can understand the legality impication behind withholding the money and selling on the animals but what exactly is a fair day to day cost?

If it were a lizard -

If it were a snake -

I mean I could send an email saying in seven days the daily cost of the animal housing will be $100 then in a week the animals will be paid off??

Whats fair??

 

[Khagan]

They can't be that interested in them if they are taking this long.. Give them a deadline and if they don't meet it sell them on to someone who actually wants them, and refund their money minus the cost you spent looking after these animals for a month.

 

[richardsc]

there puter could have crashed,i guess they could access another puter,but maybe they dont realise theres a rush,could be many different reasons,did u tell them they needed to go fast,from the start,i think u said so,i think with transactions,sometimes fone numbers are good to get to,odd though,when paid for in full kinda strange u havnt heard from them in a while

 

[geckodan]

It happens quite a lot more than people expect. Give them another chance with a couple of weeks notice. If no reply, you are well within your rights to readvertise. I would set their money aside to refund them if and when they get back to you. The idea is to play it fair and not burn your bridges with buyers but not put yourself out either. Even in NSW (the slowest of the lot) permits are making it through within a month at the moment so give them another 2-3 weeks grace and then politely give up on them. You have a right to refund minus permit fees and costs incurred in establishing the transaction but realistically, what has been the cost of housing the animals for that period - bugger all I suspect.