A quick call to the buyer requesting a deposit is all it would have took to confirm if they were serious or not. If the buyer started flaking then....Bye-bye. JMHO
I can get a pretty good feel for a buyer. If the dude drives 5 hours, and I haven't mis-represented the article...chances are he's pretty serious. There were things the seller had to get in order before the transfer could take place...I assured him that finances were not an issue (I know, famous last words lol). Had he contacted me and advised of another offer, I would have sent him a small deposit verifying my commitment.....I would have expected him to honour our negotiated price.