As usual, I agree with Dennis, lol. I will be glad to sell one of my rabbits to an educated and serious buyer with 4H being a big plus, but I have had several folks that were complete flakes or don't even indicate that they wanted a particular rabbit until after it was sold, so maybe this was a situation like that. Or maybe the breeder had a strict first come first serve policy due to lack of room or who knows? I guess it is possible it was just someone that didn't care a hoot and just wanted cash immediately, but I doubt they were a serious long-term breeder if that was the case- more likely a fly-by-night "first cash in hand" advertiser.
I know in my situation, I have had people contact me with questions, then a few days would pass, then more questions, and this would go on for a while. I don't mind answering questions, but they seemed to avoid wanting to commit, or had tons of excuses why next week would be better, then next week comes and it is the following week, etc. I guess sometimes people don't realize that I might also be getting other inquiries on the same animal during those days or weeks spent going back and forth. Sometimes it is hard to tell if someone is serious, or even an adult for that matter, especially in the case of e-mails back and forth.
Also, I have had folks even vanish in the middle of that whole process with no word, and then be disappointed when I placed the rabbit with someone else, too. At this point I have stopped trying to get in touch with folks that do that- I figure if they aren't responsible enough to remember to keep in touch if they are serious then they are probably not responsible enough to remember take care of a rabbit or three every day. All I can do is remind folks that I can not and will not hold rabbits without a deposit, because I have done that before for weeks and even months in one case due to a supposed emergency.. and guess what? The buyers didn't ever come through and I ended up being the one to loose other sales, time, and resources=money. Sometimes people will even buy rabbit(s) from someone else and not tell you, so you are left hanging. It is kind of funny to me now in a sad way though because the rabbit world is so small that dishonesty usually comes to light very quickly.
Anyhow, Dennis phrased it better than me, but I am also trying to say that unless you were the one in contact with the breeder, it is impossible to really know the situation. I think most of us are pretty good people that only do this because we like it, so we do our best to help other people enjoy the hobby, too.
Lauren
