When the TradeMe auction for the International 574 Tractor and free farm closed on Sunday night, vendors Shelley and Allan Holland thought they had a deal for $250, 000.
Yesterday the man who placed the highest bid, pulled out because his bank wouldn’t finance the deal.
Who would make an agreement to spend a quarter of a million dollars, with the eyes of the world on them, without checking with their bank first?
Perhaps that was in the days when a deal was a deal and could be sealed with a handshake.
The Hollands took a gamble and gained worldwide interest because they took a risk and undertook to respond to everyone who asked a question or comment.
They also undertook to donate $10,000 from the sale to charity and their concern when the deal collapsed wasn’t for themselves but those they’d wanted to help.
It’s not just us. We’ve still got our land, we’re no worse off than where we started … but it’s all the people that we promised money to. We wanted to give $10,000 to some people that we thought really deserved it because people had been so overwhelming with the auction and we had such an incredible response.”
“And now what do we do? We are just absolutely gutted – totally and utterly gutted.”
The couple was disappointed for people they had offered to support out of their earnings, including one boy named Ollie whose plight had come up in the question-and-answer section of the auction. Ollie needs medical treatment in the United States.
TradeMe contacted other bidders informing them the sale had falled through and there’s a message on the sale page saying this item was sold to another member.
I hope it was for a sum close to the closing bid.
Hat Tip: Kismet Farm who left a comment on yesterday’s post about this.
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