Deposit=Sold, until then all bets are off ???? - Page 1

Have a question for those of who you have the expeirience in this, or even those who don't have much expeirience at all, I would just like to hear everyones opinion on this. If you have some pups for sale, and your taking several calls, and then someone calls and comes right over and after 2 calls and a face to face meeting they review the contract see the sire/dam and decide on a pup (after much consultation) you sell it to them right ? I mean you don't hold a pup that you don't have a deposit on correct ? If you have a deposit on it then it's considered sold... but no deposit=no sale or rather no hold. Am I correct ?? I think I upset someone I have been in many conversations on the phone with, But our website explains that our deposits are refundable if someone wants to change they're mind. So if you were interested in buying a pup and wanted to guarantee yourself that opportunity would you send a deposit ? and if you did not would you then be upset with the breeder for selling that pup ? I hate the thought of someone being upset with me over this as I did not think I was being unscrupulis or out of line, I thought maybe these folks were still on the fence a bit, and this other couple very nice people, No reason for me to deny the sale of the pup to them, they are expeirienced GSD owners, really nice people, have a nice place, vet recomendation was excellent, so on & so on. Not that I blame this poor girl for being dissapointed, we had had several conversations, over a 3 wk period and it tore me up to tell her we had sold the pup, I litterally hated telling her that, I have anothe one here of the same litter but way drivey and in my OP would not be appropriate for her wants/desires/needs/expectations. I have been and continue to be 100% honest with her, I just feel rotten about this situation!!! Would like to know how you all handle this type of situation, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

No deposit = NO SALE Remember talk is cheap. If this person were serious and had the money they would have made a deposit. You were right in selling to someone that actually had the money. Three weeks and no cash????

Talk is cheap - Put your money where your mouth is. Do they want a breeder friend or a dog? JMO... If they haven't put a deposit on the dog, it's not theirs and there are no guarantees....unless you have given them your word that you wouldn't sell it and you would hold it specifically for them, i.e., they promise the $ by a certain date and both parties agree upon it. You are only as good as your word. But if you have not given a verbal commitment and simply discussed this puppy with them, etc., etc., then TALK IS CHEAP - They need to PUT THEIR $ WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS or they take their chances. And that's the bottom line. You may need to clarify in your paperwork and on your website. Be VERY blunt. NO DEPOSIT - NO PUPPY HELD.PERIOD.

That's funny policemom - we must have been typing the same thing at the same time - HA! Echo: ***Also wanted to say that when you DO get a deposit, make sure the payment arrangements are agreed upon IN WRITING W/ A SIGNATURE so that you don't get (for lack of a better phrase) screwed twice.

I think you feel bad about this situation because you didn’t tell the girl that you are going to sell the pup to someone else? If I were you and had someone interested in a particular puppy for three week, or any amount of time for that matter – if I felt they are seriously interested in that puppy and are a good match, I would tell them: “If/when you are sure that this puppy is what you want, please send us a deposit to hold it for you – in case someone else becomes interested”. (Because not everyone understand how it works with deposits, even if you talk about it on your website. Not everyone reads every page on the website that they are interested in a puppy from, which is strange – I would). And if they were OK with that, I would give them a few days to do that. If during that time that I am waiting on their deposit someone contacted me about the same puppy, I would say “There is someone else interested in this puppy. Please give me a couple of days. If there is no deposit then – you can have this puppy”. And I mean, if there is no deposit after you told her (the first person) about it then perhaps she is having second thoughts, or still shopping – I think in such situation it’s perfectly OK to sell the pup. This works for me – no hurt feelings.

It depends on how your conversations went with this individual. If you indicated that you would hold the puppy for a certain (or possible general) period of time, then your word should be good enough. Your word should superceed a deposit. If, on the other hand, these were general conversation about the pups and as stated by someone else above, this person just wanted someone to talk with or was just dreaming about getting a pup, then what I would have done was: when the actual buyer came forward and said "I'll take that one", then you should have called the "talker" and stated to her "I have someone who wants this particular puppy tomorrow (or today) and unless you can pay me today, I am going to sell to this other person, but I will have some more puppies down the road out of these same parents, sorry". There are a lot of "dreamers' out there, and they mean no harm, but if the buyer has passed all of your criteria for ownership of one of your pups, then a phone call and a polite ultimatum would be the appropriate way. A phone call after the fact would not be appropriate, if you had made any specific or general promise of holding out until a certain time. The short answer is yes, a deposit means the puppy is sold to that person (unless they fail to come up with the rest of the money by a agreed upon date, or you find out additional bad info about them), but when to accept the deposit is the real question. A phone call to the "dreamer" before accepting the deposit is the appropriate thing to do.

Very good answers have been given Echo. Don't think anything more needs to be said. The comment about your personal conversations hit the nail on the head. You don't want to lead folks on in any way.

GSDLVR, Yes payment arrangements are very specific in a written contract, I hold AKC papers until the full price is paid, and though the payment agreement is not leinient in it's written forum, I am very leinient, I understand "things" happen and will typically give a grace period for a late payment if something came up, however I try not to let myself get too leinient cause that's when I seem to get taken advantage of. in this particular situation no promises were made, on eighther end. I just feel really awful, seems like we have just broken this girls heart and it's awful, I just wanted to make sure that I had not acted unscrupulously or unfairly in any way. Policemom, well there was the issue of "shipping" too, we were uncertain about shipping, and then we decided she had made such an effort to research, learn, ask 120 questions (in my OP is a GREAT thing) and all that so we decided we would ship to her, We had told her this, But we had not outright asked her to send a deposit, I have a hard time doing that, I don't like to ask people for money, and am definately not a "hard sales" type of person, have turned many buyers toward other breeders, In fact I provided this person with 3 other names and phone numbers/websites for breeders I knew who would ship. Anyway I feel awful that this happened like this, hopefully I can learn how to say "would you like to mail a deposit?" to avoid this happening like this again, I don't like how this happened and that it hurt her so badly. I want to be here to help people, not hurt they're feelings, or dash they're hopes.

OK, so I see the shortcoming is my own, I did not ask for a deposit, I somehow have always viewed that as "being rude" or "pushy" in some way. But now I see how this whole heartbreak on Both ends could have been avoided had I learned to properly request a deposit to "hold" a pup. This was my fault !!!, omg I feel even worse now. But the truth is I should as this was my own shortcoming and dare I say "inexperience" !!! Thank You all for your comments, I do appreciate it very much !! I'm a total Jerk. I have to appologize to her. It was not her fault that I am so quirky about things that I did NOT do what was needed to help her secure the pup. I just never wanted to be that "pushy" person you know ?? Now I see it's not being pushy it's being real and it's helping someone secure what they want. You Guys/Gals are GREAT !!!! Thank You 1000 x's

Three weeks without an exchange of cash is a long time. She probably is very diappointed about not getting her puppy but IMO it is her own fault. You cannot just have pups sitting around waiting for someone to make up their mind. They are growing and developing (not to mention eating their little heads off LOL) and need to be in their new homes asap. Maybe if she is looking for a pet you could find her a rescue? There are so many great dogs that need homes.