That's why where here
I agree a deal is a deal.
It's interesting how people have different ideas about online sales. In this case, I'd agree with Norm. If the guy agreed to make the sale, then a deal was struck, and the honorable thing to do is finish the transaction. If he never agreed to do the deal, though, I think he's within his rights to change the price.
In our town, we've got a "things for sale" section on Facebook. I don't use FB, but my wife does. We had a nice galvanized roost box for laying hens. 8 or 10 nest boxes. We didn't need it, so she listed it on FB. She never consulted me about the price, and listed it too low. Within a couple minutes she had several responses in the form of private messages that she did not respond to. I told her to relist the item as "best offer".
Within twenty minutes, someone offered her 5x what she originally listed it for. Anyway, the first guy to PM her was livid. Started another post that showed her posts and said that people like her were "ruining the site". Apparently, he (and a few others, but not everyone) feel that the seller is obligated to sell their item to the first person to message them.
I understand that he was upset he didn't get the item, and my wife did apologize to him, but honestly, if all you did was PM someone, they have no obligation to do anything. She could have decided to keep the item, or sell it to a friend, or relist it at a higher price. She still owned the item, so she can do with it as she pleases.
Several times while making deals online or through texts with a Craigslist seller, I've useda "virtual handshake" type agreement. In my mind, there's no honorable way to back out after that. Still no real consequences, though.
