the woes of retailing. mine is not really venting but more of sharing my experiences:
i hav no experience in dealing musical instruments on a massive scale but i am also a salesman by trade coz i've been involved with a company that sells products to businesses for quite some time now. And in some cases, we do get the 'tingi' inquiries which the company does not cater to. At first i reacted to this policy in a way that said 'hold on this are also prospective customers'. but the anti-tingi policy stands. so on my own pace and as a side line i catered to the tingi buyers and i realised then why the company has such a policy.
i could clearly distinguish the 2 markets right away by the culture/personality of the firms or individuals who bought or at least inquired. sa business to business walang hassle sa inquiry (serious intention from the start), payment and delivery. they protect their reputation and seriously avoid being seen as 'jologs'. and they are very polite and professional pre and post transaction. sa tingi experience ko naman, medyo walang pakialam ang iba kung isipin na jologs, barat, tacky or whatever sila. and dyan pumapasok yang mga problems about reservation, payment as in bouncing checks. shameless, nakakahiya and kadiri talaga. its true that yung iba abnoxious and feeling nila diyos sila just coz they could afford such a thing or just coz they firmly believe that 'customer is king' and 'customer is always right'. i got the best out of the situation most of the time coz i also dont accept verbal reservations. its either you place a deposit or pay in full. it was difficult for me to deal with such people but it was my choice then and i love taking risks. so i decided to focus on the more professional dealings in b2b transactions instead. but im still engaged in straight-up retailing sites where i dont entertain ever entertain 'reservations'.
as a way of getting rid of personal items, i also advertise and sell via the internet and hell, my experiences are even worse, but not all. there are still those hassle-free and honourable buyers which i strongly admire, look up to, accommodate and who simply warms my heart. but there are those who tend to be really tacky and shameless or are plainly pretending to be stupid or cant read and follow directions. so my way of dealin with such is simple and employs a bit of market segmentation. i try to specify everything about the items and transaction conditions such as delivery locations, no reservations/first-come-first-served, no swaps and etc. if a certain query has been answered by my listing, i simply ignore them. that way i can immediately identify who can clearly read and follow instructions. those who can, are part of my internet 'market'.
i do get the odd comments and criticisms such as: 'ser ang mahal eh kaya ko naman bilihin yan sa xxx seller or yyy foreign internet website.' i simply laugh them off and clearly you probably get by now how i am able to segregate my market. i really couldnt care less if one can get my item for a cup of vomit or Mars bar somewhere else. im not forcing them to buy anyway.
bottom line: Try your best to specify everything about your item and transaction conditions. Do not accept reservations.
sorry its a bit of a read, i notice that i can type faster and carried away when im passionate about something. just sharing my piece of mind.