When people buy your plants...

[Dawna]

Dear plant sellers...have you ever encountered really rude buyers before where they either:

1. Want you to throw in twice the portion for the same price enlisted
2. Claim that there is so "less" when the ads clearly states the number of stems/trimmings and the length (and the fact you actually threw in an extra few stems or longer stems due to fast healthy growth of the plants)
3. Claim that your plants are "dying" and ask for cheaper because the tips of the plant is red or brown compared to the bottom due to high lighting and iron supplement
4. Say pet stores are way cheaper then get mad when you tell them to find the same plant for cheaper at the pet store (if you can even find it at the pet stores) and that they have the option not to purchase these plants
5. Throws the bill and grabs the bag of plants in the midst of you, about to tie the bag and walks out the door not looking back
6. Says they will buy all the packages, have you pull out the stems and trim some plants then say they no longer want it except one small package


Because I have just met my first rude buyer today that basically did all 1-6 It wasn't pleasant.

So does anyone else got any good or bad selling stories to share or am I just the unfortunate one?



Its not a person from BCA though. BCA buyers have always been great

[rave93]

i havent sold anything on bca. but i have purchased many things, on here and on other forums for my other hobbies. my one habit is making sure that the seller and I are very clear on the price and what i am getting as i dont bother haggling at the door. maybe try and be very clear with the person before handing out information and having them come over will make it a better experience?

[Momobobo]

"tell them to find the same plant for cheaper at the pet store"

I would have ended it there

I have yet to meet any rude buyers, some hagglers and "thats smaller than I thought it would be", but otherwise nothing bad. While working at a LFS however...

[Dawna]

I placed the stems floating in a water container before i bagged them because it was a decent size batch of mixed plants. I indicated the length of the stems and pictures of the exact plants from my tank and the numbers of stems. For the ones I said were 4-5inches, I gave 7-9 inches, one I said 9 inches I gave 15 inches. Some I said trimmings, I gave them full stem with roots. I threw in two extra stems for a more common plant as well. I gave more than stated because they grew faster than I had thought and I decided to give more so I don't have to throw or sell more anytime soon. Usually I would provide a little or lot more than stated in ads because some plants just LOVE to grow an inch a day or I had more plants than I had expected.

I asked if they still wanted the packages at the end of their rant about my "dying and overly priced" plants and I have explained about the iron supplements, CO2 and lighting but I guess at the end it still didnt work out.

[Dawna]

I would have ended it there

I have yet to meet any rude buyers, some hagglers and "thats smaller than I thought it would be", but otherwise nothing bad. While working at a LFS however...

Haha I didn't literally say "go find the same plant for cheaper" which is a bit rude, just shortened it for the list in first post. I did say it in a longer dialog of "You could try looking for the same plant for cheaper in the LFS but you wouldn't get as many stems and they wouldnt be as healthy and I have actually not seen any LFS selling this specific type"

[TomC]

I've never had an unpleasant experience buying or selling through BCAquaria, but there's always the possibility. Don't sweat the small stuff. Life's too short to waste time worrying about someone you'll never see again.

[DBam]

I certainly have, but never over plants. Over the last few years I've had people:

- not show up for FF goods after I've driven from Abbotsford to sky train stations.

- had me deliver fish, kill them by poor acclimation (I was still there and watched it happen), and then complain the next day.

- had me deliver tank setups, had me help carry them in, and then start asking for a better deal.

Funny thing was they were all fairly active forum members. I'm far more reluctant to deliver anymore now. The itrader system seems to be of little help in these situations because I know if I negative feedback them, they'll just do it back to me. I'm not interested in hashing it out over messages or phone either. If it was face to face I'm sure they would magically change their tone and show some willingness to be reasonable.

If anything, I've learnt to avoid delivery if possible and to count my losses and move on. I might not trust these people as much, but at least I can choose not to deal with them in the future.

[Reptiles&Fish]

I had one experience where I spent a week planning out a deal for me and another bca member only to have them go behind my back. Basically someone was selling a lot of one type of fish that I always wanted to keep, so I got in contact with him and made a deal for all the fish at a set price. The bca member and I where going to split the price and the fish. Once I told her who the seller was and the deal, I found out she went there alone and picked up all the fish at almost double the cost of what the seller and I had come up with. I find this just incredibly rude and selfish of the person to do after I did all the work and there was more then enough fish in the deal for even 4+ people to split.

I really dislike when people agree to a price then try to lowball you on an already well priced item when they arrive. Using the reason "well it cost me a lot to drive here". Then shouldn't they have factored that into their decision before hand? I've never had bestbuy offer me a discount for having to drive 20 minutes to them? Definitely more common on Craigslist sales.

[Dawna]

I certainly have, but never over plants. Over the last few years I've had people:

- not show up for FF goods after I've driven from Abbotsford to sky train stations.

- had me deliver fish, kill them by poor acclimation (I was still there and watched it happen), and then complain the next day.

- had me deliver tank setups, had me help carry them in, and then start asking for a better deal.

Funny thing was they were all fairly active forum members. I'm far more reluctant to deliver anymore now. The itrader system seems to be of little help in these situations because I know if I negative feedback them, they'll just do it back to me. I'm not interested in hashing it out over messages or phone either. If it was face to face I'm sure they would magically change their tone and show some willingness to be reasonable.

If anything, I've learnt to avoid delivery if possible and to count my losses and move on. I might not trust these people as much, but at least I can choose not to deal with them in the future.

Just like plants. He said he would take all the packages for the prices (first come first serve) so I trimmed it all for him and all he did when he arrived was bad mouth my plants and cost just to really try to steal two package for the price of one when its already cheap. Thought that since I trimmed it, I would let it all go for the price he wanted.

[Dawna]

I had one experience where I spent a week planning out a deal for me and another bca member only to have them go behind my back. Basically someone was selling a lot of one type of fish that I always wanted to keep, so I got in contact with him and made a deal for all the fish at a set price. The bca member and I where going to split the price and the fish. Once I told her who the seller was and the deal, I found out she went there alone and picked up all the fish at almost double the cost of what the seller and I had come up with. I find this just incredibly rude and selfish of the person to do after I did all the work and there was more then enough fish in the deal for even 4+ people to split.

I really dislike when people agree to a price then try to lowball you on an already well priced item when they arrive. Using the reason "well it cost me a lot to drive here". Then shouldn't they have factored that into their decision before hand? I've never had bestbuy offer me a discount for having to drive 20 minutes to them? Definitely more common on Craigslist sales.

Mine was a case from craigslist sales haha, guess it is more common