I saw 2 vintage metal patio chairs for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Selma, AL offered by…read moreCatherine Gordon for $80. I messaged I'd like to buy them and I'd pick up Sunday afternoon. Ms. Gordon appeared to be an individual seller.I got out of church at 12:12 and found she had messaged me at 10:03 that it is an estate sale, first come, first served, 1 p.m. opening and the new price I saw was $40.I messaged back and told her I had just gotten the message, that I had not been aware of these additional details, as they were not mentioned in the Marketplace ad.I asked if I could Venmo her immediately and I could be there at 1:45 to pick up, or I'd pay $80 cash that I had committed to the previous night. She said, "I messaged you it is an estate sale, we start at 1pm, first come, first served." I asked her to please give me a chance to get there. Or, if they sold, please message me and I'd turn around. At the 13 minute point before arrival, I messaged her I was almost there. She said they "just sold." I thanked her and I turned around. I got a message to rate the seller on Marketplace, even though I wasn't the buyer. I messaged her that I'd prefer not to rate her as I felt the ad had not disclosed the details. All it had given was an address for pickup and she had messaged back in response to my message too late for me to meet the time frame and terms of the estate sale that she had set.
She replied, "Girl you made the choice to get in your car and drive knowing it's first come, first serve. But instead argue? Are you delusional? I said we open at1p.m. First come, first serve.How many times do I have to type that out?"
Then she blocked me. I was not upset at her selling the items while I was in route. It was my choice to try, even as I felt she had 1.) advertised deceptively on Marketplace and 2.) failed to make any attempt at working with me when I was making every effort to buy in good faith when I first responded to the Marketplace ad last night and even later after church when the other details were sprung on me. I've never seen an estate sale ad with the details and timing of it not clearly disclosed up front, instead items being advertised individually as if you're communicating with a private seller instead of an estate liquidation company. Does FB marketplace allow estate sales to market that way? I've only been to 2 estate sales in my life. If I'd known the details up front last night from the Marketplace post, I'd have arranged my schedule accordingly. I thought she'd have some grace and give me time to get there since I'd already committed last night to buy at the higher price. Additionally, her estate owner client's interests were not best served in this sale, as I had committed to pay the higher price without knowing it was an estate sale.
People can get away with misrepresenting the details of their offer to sell in order to bait buyers, then give "the rest of the story" 11 hours later? And call you names when you request merely the consideration of honoring the offer you'd presented in response to the posting when they are well aware of the fact that you are acting in good faith according to Marketplace? As I sit here now, I'm thinking she may have had a "friend/customer" already lined up.If I got there, great, maybe she'd have sold them to me. If I didn't come, it made no difference to her. She most likely knew she had a buyer coming back already. They may be having a good laugh at how stupid I am and what a good deal the buyer got. I guess I am delusional to think people would actually act with integrity under such circumstances. While she wouldn't hold them for me, would she tip the scales so a friend/customer could get the lowest price and shut out someone else to whom full details of the purchase conditions had not been disclosed in the original Marketplace post and who had made a commitment to buy at the higher price without knowing it was an estate sale?
