There’s nothing worse than getting stood up. And it’s the same with a sales transaction.
If someone wants to buy your good or service, it can be extremely frustrating when someone skips out without any communication whatsoever. The time that is taken to prepare and set aside for the sales transaction is time that can be used elsewhere. There’s an opportunity cost – and it can often be more than the sales transaction itself, so no show buyers are a real pain!
I may have failed in making this post more informative than whinge-y, but buying and selling stock is something that small scale farmers often have to deal with.
One of my recent posts discussed the merits of selling our Plymouth Rock cockerels, who are about three months and starting to get too big for us to handle. And we certainly want to move them on before they crow!
It’s likely there will always be problems dealing with others. While I have been having real difficulty with the buyer of the cockerels (a no show buyer twice), hopefully I can sort out the purchase of the cockerels soon – before they start to crow!
Facebook is the most popular platform for buyers and sellers to interact with one another. It’s also a place where anyone can get into groups and there is very little information on the buyer or seller – unlike eBay and other sites. I found my buyer on Facebook.
A new feature from Facebook allows buyers and sellers to rate each other after a sale. I’ll be watching this closely, as it will mean those that are good to deal with should do better. The only issue is that no show buyers or dodgy people in general will probably make a new or alternate profile.
My experience selling the cockerels has discouraged me from potentially incorporating selling animals once we have our own farm set up again. Together with the recent farm robbery, specific animal buying and selling might be more trouble than it’s worth. What do you think?
Update: The cockerels were all taken. Almost certainly for the pot by the looks of the set-up in the buyer’s van. Still, they’ve had a good life and we couldn’t accommodate them any longer. We’ve kept the two girls and one boy (my favourite, Tommy). and they will move to Red Hill as a temporary home within the week.
