Selling saddle via tack shop-is this normal??

sassybebe

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I've had a saddle for sale at local (well known, award winning) tack shop for a few weeks and last week we went to see if it was still there etc having not heard anything last time it was out on trial. So had a look, couldn't see it, asked assistant, she couldn't find anything so asked someone else. Next lady came back and said a good customer had it (no record of this she'd just remembered and phoned said customer) and was waiting for saddle fitter to check it. This was i think monday 28th march and saddle fitter was visiting them on thursday 31st so we said ok not entirely happy about it but hoped it fitted and we'd hear back. So thursday came and went, we heard nothing, friday afternoon we phoned them and found the customer had made an offer slightly below asking price, we accepted offer and yesterday asked when we would recieve money for saddle (minus the tack shops 30%) to be told they usually pay out at the end of the month!! It's a 5 week month and we could use the money hence selling the saddle and it seems to have been the shops fault that the sale dragged over from the 31st to the 1st but is this paying at the end of the month thing normal in this situation??

Sorry it's rather long and rambling but hope it makes sense :)
 
I sold a saddle at my local tack shop and they paid me out straight away. The money is not coming out of thier pocket it has been given to them, for you off the person who bought the saddle!!!! i would be demanding my money as they have the money already!
 
I think it is unreasonable for them to make you wait until the end of the month to pay you, as they will have had their money already. So you need to go back and tell them you want the money today please.

As for the length of time it took to sell, you should be grateful it happened so fast. It is entirely normal to take a saddle away for up to 7 days, to try it and get it fitted, longer than that is unreasonable in my opinion.

I once sold a saddle via my local shop and they let someone have it for 3 weeks, when I found out I told them to get on the phone and get it back straightaway, or get the money, it was there to be sold, not loaned.
 
This business of letting people try the saddle for weeks seems to be common. I've got an ideal grandee with my local saddler and they've had it for 6 months. When I said that I wanted it back to sell on ebay all of a sudden someone is interested. I think you should insist on the money. I've had to book the saddler in for a check up on Monday so that I can front her up!
 
Well on the one hand more tack shops pay the bills at the end of the month

On the other you are not in the business of lending credit to the tack shop, and I would be insisting on either cash or the saddle as I wouldn't want to wait until the end of April
 
Urm whe ever my friends sell there saddles they get a call and the tack shop keeps hold of the money for a week so its got a week to be returned then the person who sold it gets the money after a week! :) x
 
I'm not bothered about the time it took to sell, i'm pleased it's gone i just wasn't happy that it hadn't been properly recorded and also having tried saddles from there myself i know they're usually stricter about trials.

We are insisting on our money sooner however we're supposed to be waiting to hear back from them which they seem to be partucularly useless at. I'm sure they wouldn't be too impressed if i went in and said "well i need a stud guard so i'll take it now and pay you at the end of the month." It's about £500 they owe us too so i don't think i'm making a fuss over nothing.
 
Bit naughty of them really.
When I had a High Street shop I did sell secondhand BUT made sure all customers had a written receipt and I was the only one fitting their saddles.I wouldn't allow others to "take them to try them out" .I treated them as my own and made sure they weren't scratched when I was fitting them and the customer was trying it out, it's only respect for other people's property after all isn't it?
If I made a sale then I gave the money to the customer straight away and I threw in a free flock up to make sure it fitted the horse properly, it's all about customer service and whether or not you want people to come back!
I charged 25% commission on each saddle sold.
Oz
 
I'm quite shocked that some tack shops allow people to loan property that doesn't belng to them. Wouldn't mind the shop's saddler taking it out to fit, but otherwise no. There is no control over how the saddle is cared for, whether its dropped, scratched or simply not returned.
 
I'm quite shocked that some tack shops allow people to loan property that doesn't belng to them. Wouldn't mind the shop's saddler taking it out to fit, but otherwise no. There is no control over how the saddle is cared for, whether its dropped, scratched or simply not returned.

My arguement as well, if it was let out and got scratched then the shop would be liable to pay for it I expect but proving it wasn't scratched when it went in could be a problem.
That's why it is always advisable to ask for a written receipt with description of "sound tree, visibly good with no damage seen", written on it and signed by the shop owner.This goes for ANY saddlery or boots etc taken into a shop for repairs or alterations, if it comes back with more scratches on it than when you took it in, imagine how annoyed you'd be!
It covers the shop owner too, if someone had accused me of damaging their saddle I would have the copy of the receipt to show them it was sound when it came in.
Most shops and saddlers who are genuine really don't mind providing one and I automatically issued one with each saddle taken in to be sold or repaired,Oz
 
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