bmattock
Veteran
I have bought and sold on RFF, very infrequently. I may do so again, but frankly, I feel funny about it. With eBay, one has a feeling that the deal is done when the deal is done. Money and product change hands, and that's that. On RFF, one feels that the deal is not done if the other party is the least bit unsatisfied. Nothing against RFF, indeed this feeling is caused by the friendly family kind of atmosphere that exists here.
An example - I sold a car to a relative. They wrote a check for it. Check bounced. Caught me at a bad time, and caused several of my credit card payments not to be made on time. Credit card companies raised my interest from 9% to 22%. OUCH! I asked the relative to make good on the bounced check and pay the bounced check charges from my bank. They did, but very slowly. Lots of "the check is in the mail, I don't know what could have happened" nonsense. If it had not been a family member, I'd have called them a damned liar and called the police.
I eventually got the money back, plus the bounced check charges, but I'm now stuck with damaged credit and higher interest rates. I've called the credit card companies, they refuse to lower my rates again. All I can do is pay them off, close the accounts, and try to open accounts with lower interest rates someday. I've been seriously and semi-permanently damaged by this thoughtless act by the relative.
If it were a stranger a) I would not have taken a check, and b) I would have gone after them tooth and nail for ALL the damage they did to me, including the high interest rates I'll have to pay from now until whenever. But since it is 'family' I have to grin and bear it.
Of course the end result is this - I no longer do business with family. Period. Not worth it.
I guess I feel the same way about RFF. I'd hate to sell something and have someone angry at me because we disagreed about price or condition, and I'd hate to buy something and feel taken advantage of, but not want to say anything because we're all 'family' here.
Dumb? Probably.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
An example - I sold a car to a relative. They wrote a check for it. Check bounced. Caught me at a bad time, and caused several of my credit card payments not to be made on time. Credit card companies raised my interest from 9% to 22%. OUCH! I asked the relative to make good on the bounced check and pay the bounced check charges from my bank. They did, but very slowly. Lots of "the check is in the mail, I don't know what could have happened" nonsense. If it had not been a family member, I'd have called them a damned liar and called the police.
I eventually got the money back, plus the bounced check charges, but I'm now stuck with damaged credit and higher interest rates. I've called the credit card companies, they refuse to lower my rates again. All I can do is pay them off, close the accounts, and try to open accounts with lower interest rates someday. I've been seriously and semi-permanently damaged by this thoughtless act by the relative.
If it were a stranger a) I would not have taken a check, and b) I would have gone after them tooth and nail for ALL the damage they did to me, including the high interest rates I'll have to pay from now until whenever. But since it is 'family' I have to grin and bear it.
Of course the end result is this - I no longer do business with family. Period. Not worth it.
I guess I feel the same way about RFF. I'd hate to sell something and have someone angry at me because we disagreed about price or condition, and I'd hate to buy something and feel taken advantage of, but not want to say anything because we're all 'family' here.
Dumb? Probably.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
