Sold/Paid Pistol: What would you do?
Spider7115
Member Posts: 29,704 ✭✭✭
I sold an antique pistol to a man back in February. The buyer asked if I would take partial payments over a 60-day period until it was paid, to which I agreed. He sent 50% right away and paid the balance in April.
When he paid the balance, he asked me to hold off shipping because he was going into the hospital for hip replacement surgery and wouldn't be home to receive and sign for his purchase.
As of today, I still haven't heard from him. I've sent him several e-mails but haven't received any response. I don't have a phone number for him and since the auction is over 90 days old, I don't know of any other way to contact him. I even checked the obituaries to make sure nothing happened to him.
What would you do? Ship it anyway? Consider it abandoned property? Relist it and send him a check for whatever it sells for? It was expensive and I can't afford to simply send a refund check until it sells. This is both a legal and moral dilemma so I appreciate honest opinions.
Comments
Hold on to it, email once a week and wait. His health may be keeping him occupied. I would not relist as it is already sold and paid for, your just storing it until he can receive. After a year then try to find a relative if no response from buyer. My 2 cents...
same here, you have the $$$. hold it for a year and then relist.
Mail a letter to his home address inquiring about the situation.
That's a tough one. I hope your customer is doing o.k. and is just out of touch. If he is like me, he doesn't have e-mail on his phone. If he had any complications with his surgery he may be in a facility while he recovers and does therapy. If it was me I would wait another month or so before trying to figure out what to do. Fortunately something the size of a pistol is easy to store. Glad it wasn't something the size of a boat or car. Bob
Perhaps for $15 there is info in a seller report history that shows contact info and you could get a phone number there.
I have no problem holding on to it for the guy but I hate being responsible for a $1,300 pistol since it really belongs to him. I'll just keep trying to contact him. Maybe his wife or someone close to him can access his e-mail. Thanks for your opinions.
Well, I found his phone number but all I got was an answering machine. I'll just wait a while longer and see if someone returns my call. I've had non-paying bidders before but never a paid bidder who doesn't want his purchase shipped right away!
Just be patient. Buyer probably thinks the shipper has lost it.
happened too me once here. Like you made all the efforts and after 10 months sold it here again. Only do so much. Imo and I don’t feel any remorse. Think he passed and no other people followed up.
Send a registered letter to his address.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
This
Wheres he live (return address on payments) maybe a GB Member can inquire of him? Google search? Tough spot but he paid he just hasn't picked up and I can't imagine its costing you anything to hold it?
Send certified letter. Good idea. If the letter comes back undelivered, then start searching the obits.
Contact the ffl where it was being shipped to and see if he knows anything about him. $1,300 pistol is probably not the first gun he has ran thru that ffl.
He said it was an antique. No FFL required.
How about getting a box the size that would hold a handgun and ship it to the address. Don't put the gun in it, just a letter asking for a reply by phone.🤔
Use Fast People Search and/or True People Search (both all one word) with his address as the search terms, you may find cell # for others in the house.
Certified letter with return receipt costs less than $5
Good luck tracking him down.
Must admit, Everytime I see this post, when reading the one above it, I see Pelosi. As in, in peripheral below the one I'm reading, I see it's name
Oh buoy...
I would document every time, along with copies of written attempts, and after six months of no response, I'd put it up for sale...just keep it in the safe until that time...
Call the local PD for a wellfare check. Tell them the story but maybe change the type of item.
Often there is never a Obituary.------------Ray
So true. I can attest as my last gun trading buddy didn't have any per his request before he passed/
You should have enough information from the GB information page to track him down. If you know anyone who is a "computer guy", online public records, such as phone directories or property records can often help find the information needed.
Neal
Well, I finally found the guy through LinkedIn. I sent him a message and he replied to go ahead and ship it to him. No explanation, no apology, nothing. I know if I paid $1,300 for something I wouldn't just ignore it for 4 months!
Oh, well. At least I can finally get rid of it to its rightful owner. Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions.
Well, I hope it really is the person.😗
Yeah, it is. Same address that I confirmed.
I've got a small stash of things that are like that here. I'll send a few emails, but after that I just put it to the side. I have too much going on to chase after people. I figure if I retire from this in a few years and give my FFL up I'll own a few things, but until then...if they contact me and I'm still in business I'll send it to them if they contact me.
I've had several instances where I went way over what is expected to do the right thing and every time it was not worth it in the end.
One guy moved away and we had money that was his from selling consignment items. We mailed his checks to him, he didn't cash them and wasn't answering emails or phone calls. Out of nowhere, his name popped up on an auction showing he won something. I confirmed it was him, he sent a check for the item he won and I asked him about the payments he had not cashed. He said he had moved and had no clue. I told him I'd send a replacement payment to his new address. The check arrives, everything is great and then out of nowhere he sends me an email saying the ammo he bought was THREE ROUNDS SHORT!!!! He wants me to "make it right" and went on to complain about the prices we got for his items we sold last year. I was flabbergasted. This guy is comparing prices things are going for now, hasn't said one word or thanked us for the nearly $1000 he had no clue was coming his way and wants me to settle up on three rounds missing from a case of 308 ammo. I swear, if he was closer I'd be rolling his yard.
Another guy died and we had a rifle he paid for here. We emailed a daughter of his saying if she provided an FFL we would ship it to her if she was interested in owning it or if she wanted us to sell it we would list it as her item. She chose for us to list it, we sent payment and never heard from her. I guess that is how things are supposed to go, but you'd think a thank you would be in order.
One guy we hadn't heard from after some time....was in prison!!! We had a large amount of money from items we sold for him. He liked to let his total build up and would tell me if he wanted postal money orders or a certified check to be sent to him. When he didn't contact us after some time we found out there was a raid on his business and a shoot out had happened....killing his business partner in the commotion. I was SHOCKED. He had really nice things, very rare 1911s mostly. I contacted his lawyer and asked what he would like me to do.....he said to send the check to him, payable to his wife, so we did. I was eventually contacted by the sheriff, and they were going to fly me out to testify that we had sold weapons for him, but that never happened. (Thank goodness.)
There have been a few buyers that had things sit here several months, but eventually come around and finish things out. Do this long enough and you'll have all kinds of stories to tell.
Well Spider, I'm glad you got in contact and it worked out.
A few years ago I had a scheduled meeting with a client at his second home.
Arrive a few minutes early and waitedd for an hour or so. No show, I learned later he had died of a massive heart attack on the way to the meeting. Never know why someone goes silent on the other end.
Bad case of CRS can cause some difficult situations to.
Yeah, me too, but there goes my Forum Giveaway! 😆