Exercise Caution dealing w/Shawn Martin

[itjclarke]

Don't want to hijack Pete's thread, but I have a question related to board selling that's probably not worthy of it's own thread, but thought I'd ask since we're on that topic. I prefer to keep the sale/seller anonymous, especially since I'd prefer a consensus as to whether what happened was wrong or not.

My main question is- does the 1st offer on BST (via email/PM) win?? I know this isn't eBay and there's no BIN tab to formalize this transaction.. but I always felt there was a bit of a code here... first full offer gets it... if the offer is serious (like in my instance), or similar to a situation where a buyer is showing interest in individual items before a seller actually opts to break a grouping and price individually, I'd think this would at least informally put the buyer in queue if and when the seller does offer individually. Or conversely, is it generally accepted that a seller can ignore some offers, respond to others days later and more or less sell, or not sell based whatever other factors he may be considering. Basically, how firm or loose do members consider BST "rules" and buying etiquette?

If you care to see the details I've written a description/chronology below-

Day 1- member posts 3 cards for sale on BST (no scans). He offers package pricing on cards A and B, and a package for A, B and C... but does not offer individual pricing or package price for AC or BC combo. I send a PM, asking for scans and after seeing them immediately respond to see if he'd consider an offer for A and C. Using his AB and ABC package prices, my offer is what I calculated as being equivalent to his full asking price. I get no response (me- no problems.. they aren't marked as "sold" so I'll follow up in a few days).

Days 3-10- I send 2-3 follow up emails, indicating continued interest, and also expressing willingness to purchase either cards A or C individually in the event one had sold.. I just needed his asking price. I'm also pretty sure I said I'd consider buying all 3 if he was insistent on packaging them all. I got no response to any of my messages (me- no problems.. he's probably busy).

Day 11- I send one last email, asking if my prior offers had been received and if the cards were still available. He finally responds and says he did not respond to any of my earlier messages because card A sold early on. (no problem I guess??) I tell him that's OK and that as my earlier messages would indicate I was still interested in card C by itself. He responds saying he just posted individual pricing for B and C on BST. I check the board and seeing the price immediately offer to buy C at full price, sending my offer by email, and for good measure posting to the board.

His response is basically- "sorry, someone PM'd me before you and is buying B and C". (me- now I have issue... I guess 10 days of interest got me a spot at the back of the line). By this point, several others had posted to the board wanting to buy it.. to which he responded, sorry "you're all late". That's what annoyed me.. I'd been making offers for 10 days starting on day 1! I sent a few snide emails (generally NOT my style) and asked the seller if he'd be willing to tell me actual time this other "PM" came in, etc.. all in all, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but this exchange probably bugged me more than any buy/sell exchange since joining N54.

Was I justified in being annoyed? or in your opinion does a BST seller have prerogative to sell whenever and to whomever he feels, regardless of who makes first offer?