What do people expect when they come here?

[THEFAN]

I love Traders like this:

A member here a year & a half and two trades. Ref score a mighty 4.

""Payment: I know it may be customary for the lowest feedback to ship/pay first, but I am not willing to do so. I require payment before shipping. If this is a inconvenience to any, I am sorry.""

Explain to me again how Im suppose to trust you with a score of 4 and you refuse to trust me with a 400+ ?
Who has more to lose if they dont come through on the deal?
Umm....yeah.... no thanks.

Put that line in bold at the top of your trade ad, so established traders who earned their stripes here can not waste their time or yours.
The dead-beat/bad trader section is chock full of low ref traders like this.

I have to agree totally on this one. I've been getting more and more of these. Makes me laugh when a 2 says sorry I don't trust sending first. WHAT!!! I'm 300 dude and I have to trust you?? I digress. I really think there is a generational issue here too but that is for a later discussion.

[pael]

I really like trading with the 300+ traders, I feel like I can trade with confidence and with little or no hassle. Those I do try to trade with less than 5 seem to back out more often and change their minds at the last second.

[carmachu]

What do I expect?

One- a response. Even if you got a better deal and no longer interested, a quick PM saying not intersted is helpful. I try hard to repsond to everything. Some days I might forget, but I giev responses.

Two- a confirmation number, if your in the US. I had a very nice trader, around 50ish rating. Since it was a smallish trade(one vehical swapped) his response was "its a small trade, didnt think it was worth it."

MY response was "whats to stop me from claiming I never got the item and reporting you in the bad trader section, even if I got the item? What do you have to prove you shipped and now face a bad ref and/or restitution?"

Not that I would mind you. But not everyone is a nice person. That gave him food for thought. Folks, its 75 cents and will save your bacon every time.

[HarlequinZero]

I know gamers in general are cheap, but for the love of all that's holy, pack your shipments with care! If you wrap the models in toilet paper, drop them in an old, clawed up box your cat has been using for a bed, and then seal it with Scotch tape, do you REALLY think the models inside are going to arrive in anything even approaching acceptable condition? Of course you then get pissy when I call you out on it. That drives me bat poop crazy! Take some pride in packing your trade goods people!

[melquisedeq]

I shipped first many times and it was worth it- the culture here is self regulating.
Bartertown is unique and rewarding as long as you follow standard practices.

It really is as simple as that... This "lower first" mechanic systematically works, and to arrive at an established community, demanding to have it your way, is just poor etiquette...
The old "preparing the world for the child, rather than the child for the world" spiel kind of applies here, I think it illustrates spot-on this "won't ship first" mindset. Permissive parents and whatnot - lol.

Also:

All hail Bartertown!

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

It really is as simple as that... This "lower first" mechanic systematically works, and to arrive at an established community, demanding to have it your way, is just poor etiquette...
The old "preparing the world for the child, rather than the child for the world" spiel kind of applies here, I think it illustrates spot-on this "won't ship first" mindset. Permissive parents and whatnot - lol.

Just had a go through on this myself involving a handful of low-value figs.

What gets me is the indignant deal cancelling on top of flagrant disregard for a tried and true trading methodology--as if my inquiry about the seller's comfort with shipping first is somehow intolerable. I'll usually work with someone who really doesn't want/can't afford to send first with no money down--but I do expect things like full contact info etc. Having some low rank trader flout a pretty good convention and then have the temerity to give me a "deal's off" without any attempt at an accord gets my proverbial goat.

[oaflord]

Just as an add-on to that last note by sorrow, I always use the lowest ships first whether it be cash or trade. However, I always mention it up front so there is never a chance for a "backout". I am very up front about it and if it breaks a possible deal, I move on. It really is a non-starter for me if someone wants me to pay them/ship first if they have a lower rating than me.

As far as the original post goes, which was more leaning towards valuation, I try to feel out what my trading partner wants to get and come to an understanding. If we are too far apart, I say so and no feelings are usually hurt. Being transparent and fully up front can make all the difference in the world.

One thing I will add, punctuality is important to me. If I cannot make a decision right away about a deal (for whatever reason) I at least have the courtesy to message them a time by which I will let them know.

That being said, these are things I have learned along the way. I didn't always do these things, and have felt repercussions due to it, but I feel these little things add up to be a lot in the end.

[/preaching]

oAF

[melquisedeq]

I know gamers in general are cheap, but for the love of all that's holy, pack your shipments with care!

I personally never had this problem, in fact overzealous packaging seems to be a more common practice.
If you've ever had to counterspin a 3" radius ball of ductape holding coiled strands of bubblewrap, to get to the single fig inside, you'll know how annoying it gets.
But of course, case B is just a minor nuisance while case A is an indication of poor "work ethic" that can potentially invalidate the whole deal so best to err by excess...

Minor pet peeves, keeping in line with my sequence of "claiming the opposite of whatever people are saying is annoying as also annoying": people who expect you to reply immediately and several times a day to tiny inquiries that could easily be condensed into a proper back-and-forth. Sometimes I spend a while around BT and end up stringing more than one PM within short distance, but most often I just pop in, read messages and current deals, and pop out. If there is a deal on the way, I tend to offer one HUGE wall of text for the other side to savor (I'm infamous for that - story of my life) and then disappear for a couple of days. So use those couple of days to work out a nice missive illustrating your position regarding ALL the points at hand, instead of sending me a PM for topic A, then a full back and forth until A is settled and ditto for topic B.
Isn't it better to have 2 or 3 fully descriptive contract-like communications, per side, than 50 or 60 "no it's not" "yes it is" "no way" "yes way" "he couldnt possibly have commited ALL those crimes" "he sure did though, and it reflects poorly on your figs trade value" than end up confusing more than clarifying?

That being said, these are things I have learned along the way. I didn't always do these things, and have felt repercussions due to it, but I feel these little things add up to be a lot in the end.

I subscribe to this, somewhat.

[ancientsociety]

I'll add something no one has brought up:

Traders who try to negotiate postage or want me to pay postage.

It's gotten so bad that I've had to literally put it in my sig that I will no longer pay postage - it is the buyer's responsibility - and I still get traders wanted me to pick up the tab! This is after I've respectfully pointed out my sig line and given them a postage estimate. The average trade costs between $4-6 in postage, if I'm selling an item for 35%+ off retail, why should I have to eat this cost? Depending upon the item, I could then be taking a 50%+ price cut.

[gwaddict]

Okay so I got a PM Monday night at 9:30 from a user that will remain nameless. I didnt get a chance to respond to him yesterday but was going to do it today. So ~36 hours (this is longer than I like but things come up) Anywho I get a pm from him from left field that my reputation as a jerk here is well deserved and that I shouldnt keep people waiting blah blah. The suprising thing was that it was from a user with a pretty high rating.

Anyhow I then responded to him apologizing for the delay but letting him know that it would be great if he could give folks more than 36 hours to respond to offers he sends back a reply that, oh I respond when folks call me out on my hypocrisy but not on trade offers...........

Any one else running into these kinds of folks, Am I totally off base here but it seems like if you send a PM out when some folks might already be sleeping giving them one day to respond before lashing out is pretty quick?

Or am I a jerk

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

Anywho I get a pm from him from left field that my reputation as a jerk here is well deserved and that I shouldnt keep people waiting blah blah.

Nothing in your feedback indicates that you're a jerk. And i don't see any "gwaddict is a jerk" threads....

The suprising thing was that it was from a user with a pretty high rating.

Veterans can be crusty too.

Anyhow I then responded to him apologizing for the delay but letting him know that it would be great if he could give folks more than 36 hours to respond to offers he sends back a reply that, oh I respond when folks call me out on my hypocrisy but not on trade offers...........

To be honest--there is some slightly delicious irony there, but I think we can all agree that it's better for everyone if we err on the side of respect and politeness.

it seems like if you send a PM out when some folks might already be sleeping giving them one day to respond before lashing out is pretty quick

Wise words--particularly when you consider that this is a 24 time zone forum!

[Forsaken Poptart]

I'll add something no one has brought up:

Traders who try to negotiate postage or want me to pay postage.

It's gotten so bad that I've had to literally put it in my sig that I will no longer pay postage - it is the buyer's responsibility - and I still get traders wanted me to pick up the tab! This is after I've respectfully pointed out my sig line and given them a postage estimate. The average trade costs between $4-6 in postage, if I'm selling an item for 35%+ off retail, why should I have to eat this cost? Depending upon the item, I could then be taking a 50%+ price cut.

Didn't you know that nobody cares about what you put in your signature? With almost EVERY thread I put up, I still get "Hey, how much for your Trenchers?" or "What do you want for that warjack and caster?". As I also mention in my signature, those messages are simply deleted. It's a universal rule- I'd do it to MM or pork as soon as I'd do it to a new trader with zero rep.

[Imaginos]

Didn't you know that nobody cares about what you put in your signature? With almost EVERY thread I put up, I still get "Hey, how much for your Trenchers?" or "What do you want for that warjack and caster?". As I also mention in my signature, those messages are simply deleted. It's a universal rule- I'd do it to MM or pork as soon as I'd do it to a new trader with zero rep.

Expecting people to read your signature when the forum has an option to have signatures off is pretty poor form.

[Forsaken Poptart]

On the other hand, opting to turn the signatures off should not (and in my opinion, does not) make one exempt from the personal trading rules contained therein. I put the information out there, they chose not to read it.
That's my opinion, anyway- I've always thought having the ability to turn off signatures was a bad idea.

[kturock]

Didn't you know that nobody cares about what you put in your signature? With almost EVERY thread I put up, I still get "Hey, how much for your Trenchers?" or "What do you want for that warjack and caster?". As I also mention in my signature, those messages are simply deleted. It's a universal rule- I'd do it to MM or pork as soon as I'd do it to a new trader with zero rep.

Expecting people to read your signature when the forum has an option to have signatures off is pretty poor form.

i didn't know there was an option to have sigs off. i thought it only ment mine would be off, or i just wound't have 1.

i had a trader, who's name i won't repeat, but he isn't new or have a low rating; verbaly assault me when I questioned him about not replying.

it started out when i sent him a pm. i got a reply almost instantly. we went back and forth over the details for over an hour, since we were both online.

all of a sudden, no answer. so 24 hours later, still nothing. not even, hey, i gotta go to bed, we can continue in tomorrow. so I ask him, what's up? is the deal over and you just decided to not LMK or what.

he sends back a pm, calling me rude for demanding an answer. he had a bunch of other people, like 30+, he had to answer, and was showing just what type of trader I was, when I wouldn't let him think on it for 24 hours. i was now on his do not trade list, and he would tell anyone who asked how rude, pushy and an @$$h*(( i was.

so i was a jerk for not knowing he was conversing with other people, and that he wanted time to think and compare. i guess my psyker powers were off for the day.

it's like my earlier post in this thead; my stuff is gold, yours is crap. i am god, you are lucky for me to talk to you.