Advice for On-Hold Items

[CottonTALE]

I was wondering what is the general ettiquette as a seller for keeping items on-hold for people?

[Raindrop]

I think it is best to state upfront whether you will hold things for people and for how long.  Some members will expect you to hold something for them if they have asked about it, even if they have not committed to buy and go for days without contact, but at the same time there are many who will never get back to you after making an inquiry.  If you tell upfront what you are comfortable with then no one is disappointed and you don't have to wait on time-wasters .

If you are already in a situation with a potential buyer who has not committed to buy and is not responding, I don't think you should feel obligated to hold an item more than a week.  If the person has committed to buy you might check back and give a deadline to pay if they aren't following through or communicating and you have someone else who is interested. 

[Galactica]

1.  Best policy is no holds, or holds for the duration of you sending them the final deets of the transaction and they sending payment.

2.  If you do take holds- I think a non-refundable deposit is the absolute BEST way to go, for a limited duration.  No exceptions.  THis is how the collector fashion doll and BJD world works- it filters out (somewhat) the compulsive buyers that just want to GET but don't actually ever want to pay and will otherwise string you along as long as you let them with one store or another ...

[Ringlets]

 I think you have some good advice here
 If you do decide you'll hold items please state how long for either in your sales thread or in your PMs with the potential buyer (or preferably both)  ( for example : I will hold items for ...." one week, 48 hours.. etc ) whatever you are comfortable with.  If someone just enquires about an item I wouldn't consider it on hold unless the person specifically asks you to hold it (put in your thread that you only hold items if specifically requested to ).   Personally I don't ask for deposits, I hold for the specified time and then if I still haven't heard from them/ got paid I will send the person a message.  If they do not answer (tell them in your message when you need an answer by ..eg 24 hours, 48 hours , whatever time you think is reasonable)  then I would assume that the person no longer wants it and put it off hold/up for sale again. Some people don't bother to answer . Most people will let you know , especially genuinely interested ones 
Sometimes a person will ask you to hold the item for longer than you would normally expect. Its up to you if you want to or not. If not then politely tell the person that unfortunately you cant hold it longer than ------ (your preferred time)
If you don't mind holding the item for a bit longer then ask the person for how much longer /when they expect to be able to pay for it  (you can then decide if its reasonable or not. Say for example if they really do want to buy it but don't get paid until the end of the month you may want to hold it. If they sound vague/unsure or ask for a very long hold time then you may decide not to hold.)
That's all I can think of for now.  Hope it helps a bit .If I think of something else I'll let you know

[CottonTALE]

Thanks for the advice everyone

I've been keeping two ponies on hold for a person for what was supposed to be only a month or so back in July of this year, but this person keeps pushing it back and back. I'm not exactly sure how to handle it as i've been in a situation where I myself have had to push an item back that was on-hold from a seller longer than I had anticipated.

I have another question as well: The ponies I have on-hold have gone up in value according to Ebay over the 3 months i've been keeping them on hold for. My question is should I still honour my original price or am I allowed to update it.

[Ringlets]

Hmm that's a bit of an awkward situation to be in hun   If the potential buyer keeps pushing it back  you might want to reconsider  holding them any longer. 2 1/2 months is a long time  .
I know things can happen that might make a genuine buyer need to wait a bit longer before they can pay you -  and I've held items for longer than usual before and it all turned out fine in the end , I've also had to ask for longer myself as a buyer when something unexpected came up..so yes it can happen to all of us..but you might want to think about these things:
What does your buyers feedback look like?  and are they in regular communication with you?  have they got feedback for buying other items during the time that they've had the items on hold from you?
 those are some of the things I'd consider before agreeing to hold any longer

If you do decide to hold longer then really IMO  its only fair to sell the ponies at the price that you and your buyer agreed at.  If you decide that you cant hold them any longer then you can put them back up for sale at the new higher price 

[CottonTALE]

They have bought other pony items during the time I was keeping them on hold from other people. mainly this year's newest ponies. They have only updated me once per month to say "I'm still interested in them, can you keep them on-hold longer?"

I'm thinking that i'm going to honour the additional month I said I would for keeping them on-hold, and if the person doesn't buy them after that month is up I will say I cannot hold them any longer. Gotta put my hoof down as i'm tired of being strung along.

[Galactica]

You should honor what you agreed to, if you agreed to a price, and you agreed to another month, then you really can't change your mind (in my opinion) but there is nothing wrong with letting them know that on such an such date, if you do not receive the payment, you will be putting them back for sale and will be revising their prices to reflect current value.

See this is why extended holds are not always a good idea.  Better that they save up and then contact you when they can afford to buy the item.  Which may be never.