Bartertown.com

I recently did a trade and everything went smoothly. We exchanged several messages, even increased the trade after my items were recieved by the individual because he felt he could trust me now, but I have yet to recieve a trade reference and it has been almost a week. I left my trade reference already and sent a pm stating that I left the feedback and would appreciate the same. Is this standard practice on BT?

Standard practice? No. Most everyone I have dealt with on Bartertown has been very good about leaving feedback. I would say I am at about 85%, if not even just a touch higher. The best you can do is send them a friendly reminder PM every once in a while. I know on occasion I have forgotten, especially if I had several trades going on at once. A friendly reminder is all I needed. You could also try sending the PM on a Friday. It's possible he is someone who only has the time to do his Bartertowning mainly on the weekend. You can also see if he received the PM or not by looking in your Outbox, as opposed to your Sentbox. If it's in the Outbox, the person has not yet read the PM. And, in the end, if you keep sending PMs and do not get the feedback, just keep at the trading. You'll get your refs up there soon enough. Best of luck.

- Craig

No it's not standard practice...at least, for responsible traders.

It is standard practice though for the minority of @%&#(*)#^!s that trade here and can't seem to wrap their tiny minds around the fact that BT is built on reputation and refs are about 90% of that. If you're a trader here and are not leaving refs, IMHO you are not only not contributing to the well-being of this site but you are actively leeching off the dedication of others.

I don't even send a "friendly reminder" anymore as I've found it's a waste of time. If the other trader opens their ref PM and then doesn't take the 2 mins. to click "Post A Trade Ref" and return the favor, a little reminder usually won't doo any good. However, it is clearly stated in my trade guidelines that those who don't leave refs, automatically go on my DO Not Trade list.

And yes, I have had a few traders contact me for subsequent trades after not doing so and it feels so good to say no.

Wow ancient .. thats a bit bitter...

I know I've forgotten to leave a ref or two.. but i always leave them if I'm reminded... allot of time its not as simple as 2 min to leave a reference... sometimes I'll get busy and mean to leave a reference .. or think i already have...

Just give the guy a reminder... I know i would appreciate it if i ever forget.. I know I have also not received references, it happens...

DarkSoul wrote:Wow ancient .. thats a bit bitter...

It's always fun to be the curmudgeon around here. It's sort of like being Bartertown's Id.

I didn't mean for that to sound so vitriolic. But I consider it a lack of common courtesy and nothing gets me more riled up.

Well, A.S. has a good point (BTW, if you are the ID, am I the iot? LOL).
I always send 2 notices, though.

I think Cypher summed it up about as well as it could be.

I know I can be forgetful and, like D.S. said, sometimes I THINK I did, only to discover that I'd gotten sidetracked and not realized that I never left it.

This leads me to another comment.


PEOPLE... If YOU are the one who receives forst, YOU should be the one to leave the first reference. No holding references for ransome here. I hate it when people (esp eBY sellers) say you'll get your ref after they get theirs.
That is NOT how it should work.

Eric

It's a bad habit the unfortunately some people have gotten into. At one point there wa stalk of modifying the ITL ratings so that you could only get credit for a ref if you left one yourself. That is to count a good ref both sides had to have filled one out. I don't know what ever happened to that plan???

As a low rated trader, I will say that it is a bit annoying when somebody does not leave you a trade reference. I have had 2 people do this to me in the handful of trades I have made.
Sure, it would only raise my score by 4 points, which would still firmly plant me in the amatuer trader category, but every point (IMO) matters when you have a low score.
In the end, I will still leave good trade ref's for folks who indeed earned them, even if they fail to do so for me.

Hi. I'm the offender here If you could PM me your address again, i'd be happy to leave one. I've been pretty busy the past week and a half, but I'd be happy to get the ref to you now.

Mel.