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A $200 handshake at a Columbus trade show taught me more about contracts than my lawyer did
I was at a small business expo in Columbus last month and watched two vendors agree on a $4,500 deal with nothing but a handshake and a text message. Three weeks later one of them called me asking if that text counted as a contract, because the other guy backed out and refused to pay. Turns out their whole deal fell apart because they never wrote down one word about delivery dates or what happens if someone walks. Now I keep a simple one page agreement template on my phone for every handshake deal, and I've used it twice already. Anyone else learned this the hard way at a trade show?
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park.iris23d ago
My uncle sealed his divorce with a handshake. Bad idea.
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park.adam23d ago
I used to roll my eyes at guys who wanted paperwork for everything, figured a handshake was worth more than a signature. Then a buddy of mine got burned on a $7k booth build where the guy just stopped answering calls after taking half up front, and the text thread they had was so vague it was useless. What got me was how fast it went from "we're all friends here" to "prove it." Now I still do the handshake, but it comes with a quick text that spells out price, delivery date, and what happens if someone bails, takes two minutes and saved me once already.
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