Tough call. Sucks all around. I would just give him half back assuming the half you keep covers your expenses you’ve incurred.

It depends on what you told the guy when you took the deposit, sort of. I always (after being burned once) tell the buyer that if he changes his mind for any reason, the deposit is not going to be refunded. Maybe you did not do that, but since he changed his mind and bought something else he can have no real expectation of you issuing a refund. I think I'd be inclined to keep it--a deal is a deal, until he broke it.

Keep all of the deposit, his mistake fuck em. Life sucks.

He changed his mind. Deposit is yours now. He backed out of the deal.

That is what the deposit is, it means here is money in good faith the rest will be paid. If the person who put the deposit down backs out, that is on them they lose out. Just my 2 cents.

I had a situation occur where I accepted a $200 deposit on a game that took off the market and agreed to hold for a month. Unfortunately during that time I had two trade offers for games I really wanted but stayed true to my word. A week before pickup I got a text saying the guy wouldn’t be able to buy my game due to other issues. He then asked for half the deposit back because I had removed the game from the market, I agreed to give half back even though I was held up for almost a month and missed 2 deals I wanted. Kind of sucked at the time but I did end up getting a trade that was better than the other 2 in the end so kind of a silver lining. You aren’t obligated to return a deposit, it’s a deposit. Keep half or all is fair in my book.

Depends on how much it was, in this case I’d keep it all. If it were 500$+ I’d make a deal with him. IMO

Isn’t that the point of a deposit? To have money on the line as a guarantee for the seller, that the buyer is good for his word....if a deposit is refundable then what is the point of it? Why collect on at all?

Also I would like to add he has no leg to stand on calling the shots on what should be done with the deposit. That was actually quite funny to read.

Keep the deposit and tell him he has $100 credit toward a future purchase from you, ha...

Curious. I know it doesn’t apply to this post, but what if the deposit was to hold the game until it could be confirmed that the condition was as described?

I cant believe you were driving 5 hours to DELIVER a game.....

Yeah I’m gonna file that under “tough rocks pal.”

Last minute cancellation means you keep the deposit unless you expressly told him it was refundable.

I agree, you were willing to truly go the extra mile for him, and considering that you are leaning towards giving back half, you are being more than fair.

I've always found a deposit is always non-refundable unless explicitly stated otherwise.
There's no real point in taking a deposit if its refundable.

Lol I was going to ask what pin. Never had to move one of those, but they look like JJPs. Use the FORCE, but bend at the knees! GL!

I would always assume a deposit is not refundable unless agreed otherwise (i.e. because the game doesn’t match the description given).

You’re well within your rights to explain that while you normally try to accommodate people, you went to a bunch of trouble to prepare for delivery and there will be no refund with his last minute cancellation of the deal.

One other thing to think about is how you took the deposit, if it was PayPal or the like he could try to do a chargeback.

Keep it, takes a lot of balls to even ask for half of $200 back doing what you did.

So, this guy is telling you that your time, energy, and expense should only be worth $100 to you? And you have to move the game back in the house, return a vehicle, and set the game up again? And it is a P2k game to boot? Keep the $200, you earned it.

He can go pound sand.

You sleep well with your deposit money.

My understanding has always been, as mentioned above, deposits were an act of good faith from the buyer to thse seller. “Take this as a deposit that I’m going to buy your game and not flake out. Please consider the game sold”.

Man, fuck that noise. Re-read your original post. Look at all you were willing to do to make this happen. And you, the SELLER, are driving 5 HOURS each way....for him????

Keep that money and feel good about it. And, as you have clearly noted you know to do in the future, state that ANY deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE to CYA (Cover Your Ass).

Wow, the nerve of some people.

Forget that! Keep the deposit, this screams cold feet w/ a BS excuse! GL Man!

Sleep well. Keep the deposit. Don't cave to his drama. He's not in charge of it - it's yours. I would never dream of asking for all or part of a deposit back after breaking a deal. If he keeps bugging you, you could clearly say "no" one last time and then block his number. I always use a disposable google voice number for sales of any kind - just turn the number off when you're done with any given transaction.

Alter the scenario a little bit. Instead of borrowing a vehicle, you had to go rent one instead. You would be out $50.00-$60.00-$70.00 for trunk rental. Does not matter if your plans changed. You would have the trunk overnight. The trunk would have a full tank of gas so you cannot count that.

THe family member, is not a jerk, will probably pay you for the gas you put in.

You are out the trunk and your time. If you feel like you want give him a refund, give him $50.00 and call it good. As others have noted, a deposit is a good faith offer. You took down your ad but if you had left it up you may have had another buyer on the line.

We do it so often we that we trivialize the process of dissasembling and loading a pinball machine. When in all honesty its a real pain in the ass.

Keep the deposit. Your time and effort is valuable, thats why you requested the deposit in the first place.

There is a cost when you commit to a deal and then decide to change your mind last minute. In this case it is $200, not $100.

Yeah,keep the deposit and the other things are his problem.

Knowing the machine is a heavy pia and you had to borrow a vehicle and already put gas in it...consider the deposit all yours.
I as a buyer I would expect you to keep the money, all of it.
-Mike

Keep the deposit, it’s the right thing to do here.

This guy clearly doesn’t have his shit together. Do not give deposit back I repeat do not give deposit back. This guy has to learn once deal is agreed on you can’t back out last second. It’s just not fair on your end. I’d say I’d be happy to give you your hundred back can you drive up & help me load& set my game back up

Deposits are a commitment to buy. He backed out and thus violated the terms of the contract. Given everything you had to do, there is no way I would return any of the deposit. It's absurd that he asked that of you after the fact.

Tell him to go pound sand and keep the 2 bills

Text him a link to this thread with the tag line: “The tribe has spoken”.

Keep it and tell him to loose your number.

Time is valuable and he wasted a bunch of your time.

I am not sure if you said how he paid for the deposit? Guessing any sleazeball even asking for $100 back is going to do a charge back on you if he is able to.
If that happens, be prepared to deal with it however you see fit.

I would post all his info publicly if he opts for that route.

sorry you have to deal with a guy like this. Once a deposit is paid, the deal is done.
Buyer walks after that, and they loose money.

No way i would refund the deposit, and that's coming from a pretty fair guy. How would his attitude have been if you found a local seller that would pay same price with no delivery. He just lost the $200.

Keep

Clear case to keep it.......not only for you and all you did/were going to do for the sale which is amazing...clearly you are a great dude......but also for future sellers to this guy. Lame he even asked for it and posed it like he was letting you keep $100.....what a spin. He clearly needs to learn the definition of what a deposit is and means when he attempts to try this crap with the next seller.

How many days did you have to hold the game for? If it’s less than a week, I’d refund him the deposit. If it’s several weeks or more, you should be entitled to keep it since you pulled the game from the market and may have lost a sale elsewhere. Buyer should understand that.