Bartertown.com

Just wondering where this would fall, should it come to it, and I think it will, so that's why I'm asking........

Trader X and I PM back and forth, hammer out a deal for goods that he ships first and then I pay him. He states that he is sending out the next day after said price is agreed upon and the deal is set.

Nothing ever shows and communication stops on his end. It's been a week and a half after the "ship date"........

Bad trader, or backout? I would call it a bad trader report, even though I'm not technically out anything, a definite price and ship date was set, and it's rather frustrating because I already had other buyers lined up for some of the goods I was expecting. I'm still in a wait and see mode, but I've been around the block a few times and a few years and I'm pretty good at trusting my gut.

What says the masses?

Erik

That would be a backout as no items or funds were exchanged yet.

Backout. He said he'd send and didn't.
Simple.

fair enough, but would you still leave a negative reference?

Personally, I would. I had a similar situation back in the fall. The only difference is that the trader kept giving me the runaround, claiming he had shipped, couldn't find the receipt, it was sent back to him, he shipped again, lost the receipt again, etc., etc. IIRC, I filed a Backout since nothing was actually exchanged, but definitely left a negative reference. Especially if you had interest in the items you were holding for him. You lost potential sales or trades, which IMO is definitely grounds for a negative.

npd_bigdaddy wrote:fair enough, but would you still leave a negative reference?

I would PM a Mod to get a more accurate answer as everyone else has a biased opinion.

read the definition of a negative reference.
part of it says, that you'd never trade with this person again.
the personal question is; yes, but do you think it was that big of a deal?
yes, he wasted your time and cost you other potential deals.
it's your call. if you feel his reasons were good: lost job, unexpected bills, et c.; then just leave the backout and be done.
if not, then leave a bad ref. do you feel you feed to 'warn' other traders? was it malicious in intent?

IMO, kturock has the best answer.

You CAN, but that doesn't automatically mean you SHOULD.
It's entirely up to your discretion.

Eric

kturock wrote:read the definition of a negative reference.
part of it says, that you'd never trade with this person again.
the personal question is; yes, but do you think it was that big of a deal?
yes, he wasted your time and cost you other potential deals.
it's your call. if you feel his reasons were good: lost job, unexpected bills, et c.; then just leave the backout and be done.
if not, then leave a bad ref. do you feel you feed to 'warn' other traders? was it malicious in intent?

Well here is the thing.........I don't know.

I don't care to be strung along for one. I am the most understanding person in the world. I really don't care what the reason is, just give me a reason and say, "Hey sorry, I was involved in my gay Elvis impersonator chimpanzee resuce mission in Guatamala and my flight got delayed, I'm sorry, I will get that out Tuesday!" And if Tuesday rolls around and the stuff comes, great.

But when I"ve lined up buyers for some of the things already, and I had plans for the others, and then communication just stops, and then you don't log onto the site, which tells me you don't care one way or the other, then yes, I find that sort of rude behavior more inexcusable than a BS excuse. That's just me.........

Looks like he isn't coming back one way or the other, so it's probably a moot point.

But to answer your question, if he were to log on today and give me a song and dance, but I still got the stuff, I would be more than happy to pay him is price and all would be forgiven. So, that's a hard one to answer.

Erik

In that case, I'd say a negative wouldn't be warranted. You're willing to trade with him, still, so...

If you think he was hoping to rip you off, but is no ignoring you because it didn't work, or if he just started reading but ignoring your PMs, or if he has a reported history of backing out of trades, or if he disappeared and reappeared with promises a couple times.... THESE are things you should leave the negative reference for. Since you're not annoyed enough not to still deal, I'd suggest that you not do it.

Eric

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking as well.

I"m going to remain an optimist for once and think it's all going to work out........