I’m brand new to selling on MorphMarket.
I have a buyer who agreed to meet local and would be paying in person. They asked if I could meet last night and I agreed, so I placed the animal ‘on hold’. They didn’t give an ETA, but I asked them to let me know when they were heading out. I never heard back. I messaged them this morning and haven’t heard back.
It’s almost been 24 hours since they last sent a message.
- How long should I give them before I place the animal back up for sale?
- Is there anything else I should do to try to get them to respond?
- are there any consequences for buyers who ghost after an animal is ‘on hold’ for them?
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I highly suggest reading MorphMarket’s rules and default store policy as a new seller. This will help you in the future. As for your current situation:
They never put any money down, you can place it back up for sale immediately.
No, why would you want to go through with a sale to someone who didn’t even have the decency to message you that they wouldn’t be showing up? It doesn’t exactly bode well for their level of responsibility and care for the animal. There are very few situations in which someone would not be able to give a heads up they wouldn’t be making it to the agreed upon meeting.
Not in this case, as no money has changed hands. This is why most sellers have a requirement of a certain percentage deposit that must be paid before the animal is placed on hold. The default store policy has a section about payments, deposits, and refunds.
Take this as a lesson learned. Potential buyers will absolutely waste your time. I’d also suggest paying attention to the buyer history. Their current level, how long they’ve had an account, the number of inquiries and purchases, etc. These will let you get a feel for how serious they are about a purchase and whether to be wary.
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Thank you for your help!
I looked at the MorphMarket rules and policies and only saw if they paid you give them 10 days to respond. I might have not been looking hard enough though it’s a lot of info and likely skimmed over it.
I added to my store policy that local inquiries will need to place a deposit down before an animal is placed on hold and a meeting place established. I definitely learned my lesson.
Again I really appreciate your help!!
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I took a look at your store policy and it looks like you’ve covered yourself well there. Sometimes, for whatever reason, people just ghost you. It’s an unfortunate and annoying aspect of selling, but it happens to all of us. On the up side, since no money changed hands, you can re-list right away and not have to worry about it. I do hope you have better luck in the future!
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I’ll do a little bit of devil’s advocating here - I pay exactly 0 attention to buyer accounts and history. Current level, how long they’ve had an account, number of inquiries, etc. have no real meaning to me because they don’t actually indicate intent. I, for instance, have 67 inquiries on my account and only a few purchases, which would make me a “risky buyer” for a lot of folks who pay attention to those buyer history accounts, but in reality this is because I use parent pictures and personality to determine if I actually want to buy something, so I have to inquire to get information that isn’t in the ad to know whether I actually want to buy something. In my opinion, responsible buyers should do this, so I pay literally no attention whatsoever to someone’s account history, I base my interactions based off of what the conversation is like. I would caution people not to look too closely at account histories, you’ll likely end up prejudicing yourself against someone who might actually make a purchase and then potentially lose sales if you put less effort into those interactions.
That said, I do completely agree with what @noodlehaus said about putting money down. I have people contact me all the time wanting to pick up animals locally, and I require everyone, even local sales, to place down a deposit before I will sell to them. If they’re insistent on paying cash then I just inform them without a deposit I do not consider the animal on hold, and that if someone else places a deposit before I meet up with them, I have the right to sell the animal elsewhere. If they really want to buy the animal they generally relent and put down a deposit, and if they don’t put down a deposit, then you can still meet up with them but are leaving the animal open in the meantime to potentially sell to someone else. If they don’t put a deposit down, the animal isn’t theirs.
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As far as buyer history, I only use it as a guide to see how cautious I’ll be, not as whether or not someone is sketchy. I’ve had brand new level 1 accounts go through with buying, I’ve had level 3 accounts ghost me. If someone is brand new, I often ask for a photo of their ID due to potential fraud issues. Never had anyone say no to that. As for things like inquiry to purchase ratios, it doesn’t mean anyone is less trustworthy or “risky”, but if someone has 60+ inquiries and only 3 purchases, it does tend to mean there’s a higher chance they won’t end up buying from you in the end. They’re good statistics to have, whether or not any individual seller chooses to use them in any way.
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