I believe it was unenforcable. The only way it could have been pressed into culmination is if the conversations between buyer and seller had been recorded.
I once was given an oral promise that a piece of property on which I had bid, and was high bidder, would be sold to me, and was told to line up an attorney to close it. Before it could happen though, a few days later, I received another call from the seller saying that he had changed his mind and was not going to sell at all. He sold a year later to my neighbor for a larger sum, in a private sale. I was told that a verbal agreement is binding, but had to be proved by a recording. Was also told that next time I should have a recording device on my phone.
I, like others here, have bought many guns by sending funds and hoping I received the gun, and in the condition advertised. It is risky, absolutely, but I've never been burned. The greatest help we have is the threat of exposure, of a fraudulent seller, on the internet. Even these three day return policies are no better than the man making the promise.
Glad you got your money back, DrBob. As Jerry Clower's Aunt Pet used to say, "It coulda' been worse". A lot worse.
SRH
