At what point do I consider missing items a bad trade?

[StarmanTTLB]

I have an "ongoing" trade with a user that will, for the moment, remain nameless. We had a solid agreement to ship ~$50 in minis to each other in a straight trade, all via USPS priority mail.

I sent mine, posted the DC, and days later they confirmed that they'd gotten the item as promised. They hadn't sent out their items yet, but this was part of the agreement - the trader wouldn't have a chance to hit the post office for a few more days.

They finally told me the items were sent out on 9/12, but posted no Delivery Confirmation (a requirement in our deal). That user's last login to BT is 9/15. I've sent three PMs to them since then, about every 2-3 days, with no response.

It's now been 11 days since they supposedly shipped the items, with no receipt on my end and no contact from them.

When do I consider this a failed agreement and post a BTR or negative feedback? I don't want to jump the gun...

[extropymine]

My own opinion would be to wait until they log back in BT-- you said they hadn't since the 13th, so sending PMs every three days isn't doing anything right now. As soon as they'e been on, and you see from your Outbox that they got your PMs, and if they don't respond in a timely fashion (24 hours, maybe?), then I'd say go right ahead. Right now, they may not even know there's a problem-- if you give the benefit of the doubt, and assume they sent as promised, and further assume (because why not?) that there was some sort of delivery problem, or the package got hung up, or whatever, then since they haven't been on BT since 48 hours after shipping, they wouldn't know whether or not you got them.

However, YMMV. You could probably file a BTR today if you really wanted to, since they've already violated the terms you agreed to by not doing DC. And I admit, it looks fishy right now, but then again I'm an outside observer.

Do they have a decent rating in the ITL? That's the other thing that would guide me in this situation.

[Ironhide]

I say you have waited long enough. Post the BTR with evidence from PMs and e-mails so everyone on B-Town will be forewarned.

[MagickalMemories]

I say you have waited long enough. Post the BTR with evidence from PMs and e-mails so everyone on B-Town will be forewarned.

This.

I definitely wouldn't wait until they log back in. Decide how long you're comfortable waiting for a response & file your BTR the following day (making sure to read the BTR posting rules, as well as looking at my guide for advice first). You've only got 30 days from last communication to file a BTR and leave a negative ref.

Also, if others are in a similar boat as you, this can be their kick in the butt to come out of the woodwork & post their own.


Additionally, I'd PM an Admin or Mod the guy's Username and ask if they know anything about him. At worst, an Admin can send the guy a "heads up" email.

Eric