But if the deal had gone through she would have had more miles on the clock and wear and tear on the vehicle!

I would keep the $200. But this sounds fare to me. If he wants the $100 back he can come pick it up at your house tomorrow at 6:45 AM before you leave for work. Ten hour round trip for $100? I don’t think you’ll see him.

How do you come up with a week, or any number of days? The deposit was a commitment to buy. Period dot!

O my, a pinball 2000 disassembled and wrapped and loaded. Forget what i said about half, that deposit is all yours.

To me, a week is no big deal if someone wants a refund, life’s too short to argue about petty things like a $100-200 deposit. If you start going beyond a week or so, then the issue of lost sales starts to become more of an issue, to me.

My inclination is always to be incredibly lenient but after seeing your screenshots omg F no. Keep the $200- no brainer.

keep us updated on how this goes down.

He is one of those guys that puts his wants and needs in front of all others. No reason to refund. He used you. Keep it.

It’s lame the guy asked. Show him your effort and then ask him if he’s really going to be that guy. And then close by telling him it doesn’t feel right or even close to fair returning anything at this point.

Keep the deposit.

That's why I don't deliver!

how did he pay the deposit?

paypal?

You are right. Life is to short and there are times when a deposit could be refunded, but I don’t think this case warrants a refund.

If I was the buyer, first I would never keep looking or entertain other “opportunities” to buy another game. But let’s say I was that sleazy, I’d still expect to lose my deposit. Basically the iron man would cost me $200 more than what I paid for it.

Keep the deposit.

Friends and family or purchase? If friends and family at least he’ll have a bit of trouble doing a chargeback.

Dude probably did not know all the trouble and expense you went through. It's always worth asking for your deposit back but he should know you are not obligated. I don't think it is fair to trash buyer. Nobody knows him. He should be more careful about putting deposits down unless very serious but he could just be new to hobby and excited. If he is being polite and cool, I would give him half back. That's more than fair. If he is a jerk, keep 100% since it is technically yours.

In legal terms a deposit is always non-refundable unless it’s stated otherwise, so that’s the default. Morally it can vary but in this case you went to quite a lot of work, keep the deposit.

No

If that is the case, then I would pull the funds from your account to atleast put up an extra line of defense.

I would also take the time to explain to the guy that deposits are non-refundable, that you already have substantial time and real money you have wasted on this, and that his has breeched your agreement.

I would do like others and give him the option of picking up the game from your place by Wednesday this week in order to avoid the loss of deposit.

Probably best to call him and talk it out TBT. Text is really hard to read and he honestly has you by the balls since he paid via regular paypal.

Good for you Man!

That's pretty rad of you. Nice!

Don’t feel bad either. It was his choice & he broke his word. Nice or not nice. It’s business baby.

I would keep deposit under these circumstances

He used you, and let's be honest a 5 hour drive one way in a Ford explorer is easily near a tank of gas, you'd be spending 100 in gas and 10 hours alone just to hand deliver the game (because he has to get it before work) I'd tell him you're keeping it, he wasted your time and your mother's time, and your friends time, all so he could make another deal and go back on his word. Tell him if he charges back, you will name him here and no one will ever deal with him again.

Don't mistake self serving bullshit for nice. He said you are maybe the coolest guy he ever dealt with. He was trying to play you. Good call on friends and family getting the tank of gas and a dinner.

keep the deposit. and don't think twice. im with the majority of the others, even if you didn't do all that you did (truck, gas, breakdown and load, etc.) he broke the deal. the deposit is yours.

I say no refund. Period.
This is something I learned the hard way over the years trying to be overly fair.
In the early days of doing this I would accept the games with no deposit at all.
After a while I figured I was storing and insuring them on my dime and when people would bail it was actually costing me money. It also made it impossible to understand my true workload or inventory.
Then I started doing a $500 refundable deposit.
Flakes would send games and either move the money from one job to the next or transfer ownership and move it from one owner to the next or use it to ship the game back.

Next I went to a $1000 non refundable non transferable deposit and that seems to have cured it for the most part.

What good is a deposit if you cannot either or
A) Count on the sale
B)Count on the work
C) Use the money to offset cost and liabilities
D)Keep it if A,B,or C become pointless through no fault of your own.

1000000% this. A deposit is your "earnest money" for the game. If you flake out, or change your mind, you don't get a free do-over with no consequences. The oonly reason you'd refund him is if you plan to do anther deal with him, or to protect your rep on Pinside. Since at least half of Pinside is telling you (IMO rightly) to keep it, keep it.

Did you read the even read thread before your input?... he..borrowed a truck, filled it with gas, Disassembled the pin, asked a friend to help move the pin, loaded it in the truck , & was about to drive 5 hrs each way to deliver. Why is this a discussion & why did this tool even ask for any $$ back. Sounds like a seller that I would do business with anyday. Keep it, you earned it and more.

Keep it all. If he gets salty about it, that's probably a good thing ... do you want to have to deal with him again?

Best idea. Let him put in the work. If I have to borrow a vehicle and friends to get the job done and buyer backs out they're compensating all of us one way or another.

Totally agree. This is very simple. A deposit is good faith. He made his own judgement call to back out. Deposit is yours. One thing i have learned in life is, you can not get your TIME back. Its gone! He wasted it.

Fine to keep any money for expenses incurred. What can I say, it’s good karma to give the rest back and move on, assuming it was just a few days. I’m either being too nice or stupid, probably the latter.

I’ll tell you what I would not have done, drive 5 hours with just a deposit.

glad it worked out.

now block his number and never deal with him again

Or keep dealing with him and keep getting $200 bucks.

I'm just kidding of course. I'm glad it sort of worked out for you, I hope you are able to find a buyer for your game @jaymach1.

I agree with the rest of the crew. Deposits imply intent and have consequences . You're not running a lay away department.

Keep it. Guy is an ass. It might be more understandable if he had a family emergency but he went and bought a different game? Screw that.

$200 to deliver a $3,000 game with a 10 hour round trip? You’re much more generous than I’d be. Imagine if he’d have backed out after you drove 5 hours?

The purpose of the deposit is to secure the deal. The time, money and aggravation you went thru on his behalf is worth more than the $200. Factor in a potentially missed sale elsewhere and it’s a no brained.

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I was going to buy someone’s used Honda Pilot. I showed up, drove the vehicle, signed an agreement to buy and left a $100 deposit to come pick up at a later date. Later that night, I felt uneasy about the decision and changed my mind. I called him back, told him I would not be buying and sorry to waste his time. I insisted he keep the deposit, since I did change my mind. I have always assumed a deposit to be non refundable. He changed his mind, he’s not entitled to a refund of his deposit.

You said you had to take it back. 40 minutes in a explorer is about a half a tank.

One more thing. Just think of his reaction if you had messaged him and said "sorry I sold it to someone else". You think he would have still said "at least you don't have to make that crazy drive"?

If you have a verified account with Paypal, you have authorized Paypal to dip into your checking account. Just cleaning out your PP account will stop PP from coming at you. You would have to zero your bank account, too.

I would of course say "No Refund"

But since you used Paypal, he will get mad and reverse the ENTIRE $200. You will have no recourse with PP at all.

So, clench your butt-cheeks together, and keep the $100.

Otherwise you will get nothing.

This sort of stuff happens. Honestly, I would probably give him his deposit back. Take the high road. Tell people in your local community what he did. The cost to his reputation is way more than $200. And never deal with him again.

He’s only asking for $100.

I’d probably give back $100 but first of all I’d never drive a game to someone especially someone I didn’t know first hand.

If they want the game so bad let them borrow a suv and such. That’s not my problem that’s his problem.