venomcro & How far does a seller need to go?

geekswithguns

geekswithguns

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Hi....this isn't a "bad" or "ugly" post- but its not a "good" post either...

A WHILE back venomcro purchased a knife from me for what most would consider a considerable sum. He lives in Croatia and we eventually worked payment out (I have been paid) under the condition that I ship to a US address. He sent me the address, and I checked the zip code and saw that it was wrong. He checked the address again, apologized for the bad address, and gave me the "right" one. I sent it FedEx. FedEx eventually told me no such address exists. I emailed him repeatedly and posted here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=390084

He responded to the post and said he would email me, I never got the email. I asked FedEx to continue to hold the item in the depot near the address he gave me, eventually they sent it back- it now sits in my safe. A few weeks ago he emailed me and asked why I hadn't contacted him and asked me to email him. I have done so...repeatedly. I am not trying to cheat this guy. I, unfortunately, have the knife. I want him to have it. I will even send it again to a US mailing address for no charge, meaning I will eat the original shipping even though I did nothing wrong. I will send him his money back (that will be minus the shipping and transfer fee).

My question is: What should I do? He doesn't respond to emails, or isn't getting them, even though we both have sbc/yahoo based email accounts.

How far am I supposed to go?

Thanks

Jack
 
Jack, wierd situation you have here - here's how I would handle it.

For starters, I'd see about the mods putting a sticky up for me in the forum where I had the knife up for sale - maybe even make the original thread sticky of possible. I'd add a notation to the thread indicating the shipping difficulty as well.

I'd see about doing the same thing in GBU - it's where most of us go to find problems and their resolutions.

As far as how long, I have no idea.

You may want to post a pic of the knife in the "long-term" thread about this issue.

However, since email is not working for the two of you, perhaps either PMs or thru a Mod on the board he can get you a proper address. I don't advocate putting it out in the open, but if the address is PM'ed it seems that the BladeForums comm system can be more reliable than emails at times.

However, after a while you have to wonder, and i think you are at this point, how long is long enough?

I sent a knife to Poland once, via postal shipping which was the receipient's insistence, and it took over a month for the knife to get where it was going. I'll never do that again, it goes Fed Ex or it does not go, period.

It was a very long and unhappy month for both of us.

When you finally decide enough is enough, you still may want to sell the knife. If you reach this point, I would reference the threads back regarding the history of the knife and make a point of disclosing the problems. Sell it at your discretion and put the original funds, minus the cost of shipping into a sort of escrow for the gent who is not able to communicate with you at all.

I don't mean to sound cheap on the shipping, but shipping and insurance across the Atlantic is not inexpensive and you made a genuine good faith effort for him to get his knife at the depot.

The next issue becomes how long do you need to hold this escrow?

I really don't know the answer to that one - I can't really expect you will be able to maintain it forever - I would tell you to consult with a lawyer on this one and follow his/ her advice about how long to hold the funds.

You've done your part, it sounds like, but remember the other guy could be sick, have a family emergency, could have been placed in a wierd situation with work, who knows? Since you have made this public, try contacting him thru a thread in the "For Sale" forum as well as GBU and see if he responds. Keep that active for a month or two and if you feel the inclination to dispose of the knife after that, I would personally think you are okay to do so as long as you disclose in the sale notice the circumstances.

Best of luck,

Parker
 
I had a similar problem with him,....
He has intermittent access to the internet.
I hope this works out.
 
Nothing beats a phone call in a situation like this, and when all is said and done it would be cheaper than all the back-and-forthing with shipping, time-value for money, etc... Plus, when things go pear-shaped on a transaction, it's sometimes comforting to at least hear the voice of who you're dealing with!
 
atomic said:
Nothing beats a phone call in a situation like this, and when all is said and done it would be cheaper than all the back-and-forthing with shipping, time-value for money, etc... Plus, when things go pear-shaped on a transaction, it's sometimes comforting to at least hear the voice of who you're dealing with!
Click to expand...

Yes - normally true, but calling Croatia would be a logistical and costly pain.
 
thanks for the input guys...I'm not planning on selling the knife again, at least not for at least another six months or so (assuming I haven't gotten any contact), and then I'll set aside the amount he paid. Good idea about a sticky thread, I'll have to ask one of the mods about that.
 
Tell him that he that he NEEDS to give any future sellers a US email address and phone number of his friend here, so if he can't be contacted, his friend can. Just a suggestion, but one that I think will save on a lot of frustration.
 
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