Bartertown.com

On May 8th I was sent a PM about purchasing items I had listed for trade. I sent the buyer a price, and we agreed on it. The buyer stated he didn't have Paypal, and would have to send a money order to cover the items. We agreed to the conditions that I would send items after receipt of the money order. On May 15th, the buyer sent a final email stating that it would be a week until he had the money, and I was ok with this. He also stated that he would notify me when the MO had shipped.

On June 15th, I PMed the buyer to ask if he was still interested in the items. I figure i will wait 1 week for a response due to summer and vacations.

The question is, if I don't here from him by the 22nd, would I be ok with cancelling the trade? The user had one trade ref that was positive.

Thank you.

In my opinion, you have been very very patient. At this point, with no money arriving for a month.. *I* would feel comfortable cancelling the trade.

Since it sounds like you had extensively agreed about money, items, and shipping.. this also sounds strongly like it deserves one of those "Backout Reports" dohickieys...

If you have kept ALL correspondance with this guy, and you feel you should wait a week.. do so, and then post a BTR (Bad OR Backout)

The only caveat is *IF* he is say, in Canada.. mail from there to the rest of the world is rather wonky and may require some more time.

-Porkuslime

IMO, you have been more than understanding and have grounds to cancel the trade. I would PM him and explain that due to the length of time he has taken to send payment, you would like to cancel the trade.
Also, I have a feeling that you have grounds to post a "dead beat/ back out" report on him.

Yes.
You're more than justified.
You've been more than patient.

Stick to your word & hold them until the 22nd. On the 22nd or 23rd, send a PM telling him the trade is officially cancelled.

At that point, you need to decide if you want to leave a neutral ref & post a "backout" thread on him.

With a 2 rating, I (personally) would probably complete the ref & thread. It could be someone trying to work out some scams.
It probably ISN'T, in fact... but safe vs. sorry...


Eric

Eric does a double post...

I wonder if we have the same Bartertowner buying our stuff. I got a PM on May 15 about some of my Ral Partha figures from a B-towner. He offered a price and I accepted that day. He said that he would pay with a money order and I am still waiting. On May 31, he PM'ed me to let me know that he had sent the money order out the day before. Since then, there has been a deafening silence.

I have found that I am an extremely patient human being (it must be the kids). I have a PM that has been sitting in my Outbox for about a week and I am starting to get the feeling that he has forgotten our trade agreement.

I agree with everybody else here that you might want to consider the trade defunct and act accordingly. I am about ready to just put my stuff on eBay, but I guess I will wait a little longer before I give up on this rather experienced Bartertowner.

Karl

If you think that the prospective buyer is being unreasonable, send a message giving a deadline and then follow through with action afterwards.

That said, I'd try to get their side before slamming them with a Negative and Backout. There *might* be a legitimate reason for the delay, though I can't imagine what it might be.

Just a thought, but if this person is located in Iowa or nearby they may not be able to access their place of residence or even a computer at this point in time. Similar things happened during Katrina. Like I said, just a thought.

YoungWolf777 wrote:Just a thought, but if this person is located in Iowa or nearby they may not be able to access their place of residence or even a computer at this point in time. Similar things happened during Katrina. Like I said, just a thought.

That is definitely something to keep in mind. Good call.
Considering the amount of time he's already waited, though, I doubt that will end up being the case.


Eric

Thanks to everyone who has responded.

I have stated I will wait until the 23rd for a response, so I will do that. I always do my best to keep my word, even though some circumstances can work against you.

The individual resides in Ohio, so I doubt the Iowa floodwaters have affected him (unless he has family there), and there were two additional weeks given past his own stated deadline.

I will attempt to contact him again, and wait for a reply. If I hear nothing on the 22nd, then I'll cancel the trade effective the 23rd.

As for the feedback, I will decide after the 22nd what I will do. The individual has accepted the trade, so should be held responsible, but since there is no malice I can detect I will hold off on the negative feedback and just post in the Deadbeats and Backouts forum. That way if he does come back and notice, I'll give him his say.

Thanks again to everyone who responded, I really appreciated the viewpoints.

Slow mail is no excuse for dropping communications. If the PM is in my Outbox, it generally means he did not read it. In that case, I usually give the benefit of the doubt for a while.

If the PM is in my Sentbox, that means he read it. In this case it means he has read it and is just plain ignoring me. That's when I wouldn't hesitate to unload the negative feedback and post in the Deadbeats forum.

Good luck. I hope all turns out well.

csr556 wrote: As for the feedback, I will decide after the 22nd what I will do. The individual has accepted the trade, so should be held responsible, but since there is no malice I can detect I will hold off on the negative feedback and just post in the Deadbeats and Backouts forum. That way if he does come back and notice, I'll give him his say.

Thanks again to everyone who responded, I really appreciated the viewpoints.

If you post in the "Deadbeats..." forum, I strongly advise that you leave him a Neutral, coinciding with the post.
Post the thread first, then leave the neutral. In the feedback comments, paste the url for the "Deadbeat..." thread.

Once you've left the reference, post a link to his ref's in your "Deadbeat" thread to make his ref's more easily accessible, in case this should become epidemic with him.

A neutral isn't the end of the world. It doesn't affect his ref score at all. It's kind of a bookmark saying, "Something crappy happened here, but it wasn't crappy enough to NAIL him over.


Eric

That's what I was looking for.

I've always had positive feedback here, so I wasn't sure how Neutral worked. That works best in my opinion. Again, I haven't seen any malice, just no communication.

Thanks for the advice!