Randy,
I will tell you my thoughts.
As soon after you made the situation with the second potential buyer, I would have called the first buyer and told him that the second buyer was coming tomorrow and will willing to put down some money. At least you would have given the first buyer an opportunity to put money down. Maybe he would not have wanted to put as much down, that would have put the sale in his ball park; maybe he would have backed out at that point. This would have not made you the "bad" guy in his eyes. I do understand how he felt, but he probably felt that because you did not ask for security deposit he was safe in the sale.

I was once going to buy a lawn mower. the price was much less and so was the object of the sale, but I told the buyer I was on my way to look and possibly purchase the mower. I called the seller when I was within a few miles of his place, and it was then that he told me that he had sold the mower. I sorta understand why he did what he did, i might not have bought it when I saw it and he had a buyer in hand who did buy it. But, as soon as he sold the mower he could have called me and told me not to come as he had just sold it. He did not do that and I had driven an hour already before I called him. He wasted my time and gasoline, I was a little upset. In reality when there is no money involved then it is an open sale, until it isn't.

I understand why you did what you did, but letting the buyer know your intentions as soon as you knew about the second buyer, would have been better. Just my thoughts, I am sure you did what you thought was ok.

Moral of the story when you want an item, put money down, secure the deal first, then proceed; You take a chance if you don't.
In my Real Estate sales, I do not collect a commission until till the paper work is signed and money exchanges hands. Anything can happen till then and sometime does.

I had an exact same situation with the sale of my 7. Plane not advertised, both want-to-buy or reverse enquiry.
Buyer #1 had been asking not particularly detailed questions but seemed keen enough, but all by email over a few weeks - eventually organising flights to come see it.
Buyer #2 was an industry professional, knew EXACTLY what he wanted and was on the phone straight away with very detailed questions including the status of all SB's. Flew down to see it the next day, liked what he saw and deposited 10% that night.
Buyer #1 was not happy. Claimed he would have paid asking price etc...
Against my better judgement, I gave him a small amount of $$ towards his airfare to stop him giving me any more of an earful. But I too felt bad for him -and I had got my asking price (possibly under priced it in hindsight)

We don't have as many RVs down here, so I guess the odds of this occurring are lower than in the US.
Nice, well equipped RVs aren't that common, so they either are in hot demand - or on the nose. Not a very liquid market. Depends on the economy and the exchange rate to a fair degree.

Still not as bad as selling motor vehicles though. Had one buyer give me a deposit only to have his "finance representative" call me the next day and tell me he was only financed to a lesser amount. Politely told him to tell his "client" that I was re-advertising it and keeping his deposit at the end of the week. Settled the next day at the agreed price. :)

I have lost planes being second caller, but first viewer and was fine with it.

First was coming next day. He bought, I got the call I missed it. Clearly communicated before I saw it.

Just to add a little perspective to my story, my sale went down about a month after I had a previous interaction that didn’t go so well. I had a bunch of interested buyers from AirVenture. When I got home a local buyer contacted me for a checkout and a ride. He seemed really interested. I thought honesty is the best policy so I told him that I had several others interested. Well, that pissed him off. He felt I was pressuring him to make a quick decision. He left and I never heard from him and my other “interested” buyers fizzled out too It was at this point that I decided that the first person to show up with the money would get it. No more banking on promises.

Bottom line for buyers. Do your research and if interested, put a deposit down. All the deposit buys you is the right of first refusal. Be ready to move if you feel it is right for you. If you are not ready to buy, then stay out of the process or don’t be disappointed that the airplane is sold by the time you make up your mind.

The road is full of squashed squirrels who couldn’t make up their mind. Don’t be the squirrel.

Randy question ?
 

I have followed this discussion with interest and empathy. The dilemma I see is the amount of deposit. How big should a deposit be to make you feel good if you miss buyer #2 and buyer #1 walks. Conversely. How much would YOU be willing to lose as #1 if you didn’t like the plane or final price and walk?

You win some and lose some. First money at agreed price is simple.

Personally, I would have told buyer two that I had a verbal commitment with another buyer and would have to get back to him, then called buyer one back and told him that I had someone ready to send a down payment and commit to purchase and unless he was willing to do the same I would have to sell to buyer two.

This sounds reasonable, but from Buyer 1's perspective, it could be construed as the start of a scam... Buyer 1 doesn't know if Buyer 2 really exists or not, and the seller is calling back asking for money.

But Buyer 1 can always decline to put a deposit down, and then at least it's clear that the Seller can proceed with Buyer 2 without any moral uncertainty.

I have a contract that I make all potential buyers sign. The deposit ($5k) is fully refundable if I sell it to someone else but I give them the right of first refusal to match any offer. Some will sign and some won?t. My buyer one didn?t want to sign anything before seeing the airplane.

Different people react differently. Some respond real negatively if you tell them someone else is interested. They think they’re being manipulated. I think handling it the same as a real estate contract is the way to go. Put money down, commit to following through but refundable if something changes, deposit gives you right of first refusal but doesn’t stop me from getting other offers in the mean time.

Money talks, squirrels walk.

I agree with this! I bought a plane ticket for a Thursday to inspect and likely purchase a project advertised here by a long term member. He sold it on Tuesday. No heads up - I was out the ticket. Your word is your integrity. Not everyone follows that but I?m not everyone. I would rather lose a sale and still have my word.

As far as asking about price - I apparently can?t shop on this site because I would probably offend most of you who have posted. I?ll give you a perfect example: I was in the market for a Pacer a few years ago. Every seller of a refurbished plane that I spoke to seemed to think a Pacer is worth the cost of the plane plus the recover. I felt that if that was true then an unrestored plane is worth the price minus the cost of a recover. Those two theories are $10-15,000 apart in reality. Rather than waste a bunch of both of our times I finally just started asking ?how negotiable are you?? I have dealt with a bunch of sellers who start out asking for a complete return on their own investment. That?s usually a lot more than it?s worth. That?s why we often say ?buy the plane you want, don?t buy a fixer upper, because you?ll have more in it than it?s worth.? But let?s be honest, sellers rarely start off their asking price with that in mind.

If I have $50k to spend and you have a $60k asking price, rather than waste time why not ask if you are negotiable? I only have $50k - is there any possibility whatsoever? My experience is that VERY few items of any kind sell for the original asking price. But most buyers base their asking price on ?list? prices. I remember a few years ago someone on this site tried compiling a spreadsheet of actual sales prices on RVs and he got very little participation.