To have and to HOLD... but for how long? 1 1

[ESeffinga]

I listed up some stuff in my CAF for sale this last Sunday. I don't put much up for sale regularly, and it's been a few years since I've really done much regular selling. Not sure if I'm getting rusty or what.
Anyhow, so I listed a few things up, and a guy hit me up almost right out of the gate for a couple pages. We had a few quick CAF message exchanges. In the first post said he wanted them, to put them on hold, and to send him a cost estimate for the shipping via 2 different methods to 2 different addresses. He's in Europe, so one there, and one (probably a ship buddy) state side.

So I got the quotes straight off the websites and sent them his way. The cost to Europe was via FedEx International Economy (His request). It was something like $112 or there about. Keep in mind we're talking about 2 modern ages that price out around $300 for the pair. Seemed nutty to pay that too me. Now, the price to the U.S. address was just under $20 I think. Much more reasonable.

Anyhow, I sent these costs his way, and it's been radio silence every day since. Now, I try to give folks as much leeway as possible. Maybe he's just not been on CAF (that's how he contacted me), for a few days. Maybe life's thrown him a curveball? Maybe he just plain doesn't want them anymore? Any of those is fine. I waited a couple days and shot him a message to ask if he got the quotes. Nada.

I'm just wondering how long do you guys hold stuff for perspective buyers that happen to be strangers to you? I wanna be fair and all, but I feel like this used to happen to me a lot. People ask about something and then don't have the decency to at least respond, even with a "not interested".

 

[malvin]

hmmm.. tough.  He did say he want them so that is a commitment.  I think a few days is fair, if you hear nothing in a week, I think most people would agree that it's fair to conclude they changed their mind but didn't tell you.

If someone else asks about the same pieces, I would engage them and tell them about the first party and say if you don't hear back in a week from the original guy, it's theirs.

Malvin

[GotSuperPowers?]

CAF link to look at the crazy cool goodies you have for sale, like the Harren pieces at great prices, and the Mignola/Nixey COMPLETE Batman story:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerydetail.asp?gcat=7723

And a Vess cover...

To answer the question, I'd wait a week and if no response to my follow up, I'd move on.

[The Voord]

I'd give him a week.  Could be he's out travelling (it's happened to me a few times with buyers in the past).

Best story I can recall is that someone once contacted me about a Frank Bellamy SHEPHERD KING (The story of David) episode I had for sale.  The would-be-buyer told me that the artwork had a strong religious connection for him and would I be prepared to give a 50% discount on my listed price with this in mind?  I just said it was against my own lack of religious beliefs to agree to hefty price reductions.  Heard back from him a week later agreeing to my full asking price . . . by which time the artwork had sold to someone else.  He then did a lot of (e-mail) moaning, talking about how he thought we had a deal (which we didn't)?  So, yeah, you do sometimes get weird lines of enquiry through CAF offerings.

Edited July 12, 2018 by The Voord

[dirtymartini1]

A few days is more than enough.

This too happened to me with a CAF member. He reached out and haggled ad nauseum. Finally when we agreed on a price, he would vanish for a week, then resurface and try to add and subtract pages from the deal. After this happened twice, I realized that there is something worse out there than an OA flipper. An OA flipper trying to sell your art to someone else before he even owns it to mitigate his risk and need to lay out any cash himself. A true scumbag if I ever saw one. Every time I see him pop up with a post of new art for sale,  my blood boils in reflection for a few seconds. 

[Mr. Machismo]

I can’t recall a single time holding art without a non-refundable deposit HASN’T backfired on me. I’ve even gone to the point of rejecting other offers, only to get completely burned. 

If someone goes silent on me, doesn’t pay when they say they will, or asks me to arbitrarily hold something without putting anything down, unless I know and trust them, I will no longer hold it for them because it’s a massive red flag which has ALWAYS lead to a fizzled deal.

Waste of time. And this is coming from someone who’s okay with allowing a buyer 2 years to pay...so long as they put down a deposit. 

Edited July 13, 2018 by Mr. Machismo

[ESeffinga]

^ That's more or less what I've been anticipating here. As I mentioned, I've not been big in selling for a bit, but this reminded me that people that really want the art usually couldn't pay fast enough. They are normally attentive, if not downright pushy for the process to go as fast as possible. Either that, or some have on occasion asked if I could hold something for them, but that was usually followed by details as to how long they'd want it held, and a reason why or some such.

I figured since he'd asked me for the shipping quote, the "hold" was just that he was nervous they'd sell before he got the quote or something (i.e. couldn't wait to pay), but instead it's just radio silence. I'll let it run until Sunday, and probably shoot him a message then to let him know that if I don't get a response in 24 hours, I've got to move on. Seems fair to me. Thanks for the advice all!

Time payments are another great topic I've not seen mentioned on here before. Glad you brought it up!
I too have done and will do time payments for people, but I guess I've not typically sold pieces so spendy they'd require a 2 year span. You sir, are awesome!

I did sell one piece that took a guy a year and a half to pay for, which I "held" for him at his request. But he was a friend, and the art wasn't going anywhere til he got around to paying for it, so totally no biggie. And when he eventually paid me, it was all in one lump sum. Just around 18 months after he first asked me to hold it. Most of the time folks pay for the art within 6 months. And MOST guys I've done time payments for have paid them off faster than the time we've agreed to. Similar mindset as what I mentioned about contact. The guys who really want a piece of art WANT it. They want it more than the money, so as fast as they can pay, they do. Thankfully I've never had a deadbeat in that regard.

Thanks for the opinions guys!

 

 

Also... Simon, thanks for pimping my chit!
I suppose I could post a proper FS thread in the Marketplace, but does that really work for anyone? I figure now that CAF labels the art as FS on CAF, it finds it's audience that way. Or is that not true? I frequently forget there are a lot of folks that don't pay for CAF memberships, and I'm not 100% sure what features are standard and what are CAF paid member features...

 

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by ESeffinga

[Rick2you2]

I wouldn't just wait a period of time and then re-list it. I would first send him an email telling him if he doesn't respond with a firm acceptance in a week (and payment, if you want) then you are planning to again re-list it for sale.

My suspicion is that when he realized the total cost, he changed his mind and didn't want to say so. In his own head, he probably figures that if you sell it elsewhere, he can rationalize that he didn't change his mind, but rather you were at fault. He's wrong, but people hate to admit some things to themselves.

[ESeffinga]

That's what I normally do. And yeah, I too don't appreciate someone asking for what amounts to a favor, and then disappearing. I thought I mentioned that above... I've sent him 3 reminders. The one this Sunday will be less friendly. And because I can occasionally be childish, I planned on sending him the same request for info, even if it sells to someone else. At least until I get a response... no matter how long it takes.

I'm not spending any more time trying to suss out what he's thinking in his own head though. I'm sure it's any number of things like I also mentioned above.

But I am thinking that requiring a deposit before holding something from now on is a good idea. Thanks to Mr. M for mentioning that. I've considered it before, but the way strangers act over art deals that I've observed lately is absurd. This hobby has a long memory. Why make that kind of impression?

 

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by ESeffinga

[PhilipB2k17]

17 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

I listed up some stuff in my CAF for sale this last Sunday. I don't put much up for sale regularly, and it's been a few years since I've really done much regular selling. Not sure if I'm getting rusty or what.
Anyhow, so I listed a few things up, and a guy hit me up almost right out of the gate for a couple pages. We had a few quick CAF message exchanges. In the first post said he wanted them, to put them on hold, and to send him a cost estimate for the shipping via 2 different methods to 2 different addresses. He's in Europe, so one there, and one (probably a ship buddy) state side.

So I got the quotes straight off the websites and sent them his way. The cost to Europe was via FedEx International Economy (His request). It was something like $112 or there about. Keep in mind we're talking about 2 modern ages that price out around $300 for the pair. Seemed nutty to pay that too me. Now, the price to the U.S. address was just under $20 I think. Much more reasonable.

Anyhow, I sent these costs his way, and it's been radio silence every day since. Now, I try to give folks as much leeway as possible. Maybe he's just not been on CAF (that's how he contacted me), for a few days. Maybe life's thrown him a curveball? Maybe he just plain doesn't want them anymore? Any of those is fine. I waited a couple days and shot him a message to ask if he got the quotes. Nada.

I'm just wondering how long do you guys hold stuff for perspective buyers that happen to be strangers to you? I wanna be fair and all, but I feel like this used to happen to me a lot. People ask about something and then don't have the decency to at least respond, even with a "not interested".

 

The simple way to hand this is to say: "I will hold these for a week, and unless you send me a $_____ deposit, I am opening them back up for anyone to buy." The deposit can be a down payment on the final sales price, if he chooses to buy them. But, you can't be expected to hold them indefinitely. At the same time, you should let me him know that, and under what conditions you are willing to hold them.

[ESeffinga]

Well in hindsight yeah. I need to make that my standard going forward. I’m rusty and forgot what a PITA people can be. Initially he sounded like he was ready to go go go, from the quick succession of emails. Normally that bodes well. I didn’t think anything of the hold, just because I figured it’s reassuring to some folks to think work won’t be sold out from under them, even if it’s only held for a few hours.

On this case my intuition was way off. But you are right. If it’s stated up front, it’s all right there in what is being agreed to.