Bartertown.com

So I got a PM about one of my adds from a guy who just registered in the past month and was obviouly a 0. Here is the message he sent me word for word.

"Legends Softcover - $20 shipped

Assuming the book is in good shape with all pages intact and attatched, with no rips. I am looking for only minor shelf wear type grading on the books.

I will pay via Paypal, once receiving my payment, I expect shipment within 2 business days."

Pardon me, but what ever happened to courrtesey? Or acting in a respectable manner, but demanding like this...you must be nutz. So I told him what he could do with his offer. Was I out of line or was he just being a jerk with is "request."

Nah Id tell him to pound salt

Hmm. As an established member of Bartertown dealing with a new user (possibly one ignorant of our ways), had it been ME, I would have accepted his offer (assuming it was of interest to you), but told him politely but firmly that the trade cannot take place as he seemed to assume it would.

"The book is in excellent shape, having only been read through once. I can supply pictures if you'd like. Since you're new to Bartertown I won't take offense at your message, but I will mention that it came across as rather demanding. The established protocol on bartertown is that the user with the lowest trade rating sends first. In this case, since you're the one with the fewest references, you'll need to send first. Once I have received the payment (and it's cleared by PayPal), then the book will be sent off to you via Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. If you're willing to abide by those trade terms, i'll be happy to send you my address so that we can get the trade going."

-Dwarf

His message is a bit terse but i don't think its anything to get worked up over. He was being very specific about what he wanted. It actually reads to me like he's had problems with deals in the past and wants to make sure he won't have problems again. He could have worded it in a friendlier manner, but I think responding to this with an insult would be out of line.

1) It's not wrong to indicate the exact condition he's looking for. That needs to be in there.
2) He indicated how he will send payment. If you prefer a different method, say so. Otherwise, nothing wrong there.
3) He said he'd pay first, so there's nothing to point out to him there about Bartertown "unwritten rules".
4) The only "demand" I saw was that he wants shipping within 2 days of you receiving payment. That's a very fair timeline and by no means out of line. If you can't meet that timeline, then figure out when you will be able to ship and tell him to send payment then. Pretty fair to wait until a workable shipping time for you and his requirement is fulfilled.

I'd rather get messages like this than the 10+ messages I've gotten trying to finalise a simple $ for product trade. Hell, this message would have been perfect if he'd added his shipping address to it. I wouldn't begrudge a trader for being short and sweet.

I am curious as to others' opinions on what is rude about this message.

The "I expect shipping within 2 business days" part to me.I ship fast,look at my refs,but this isnt a business for me.What happened to Hi,Hello,Hey Dude, or Thanks.
Thanks Pete

I think I'll slide in line right along with Vesrian.
I only vary from Flagg07 in that I would have taken issue with the WORDING of the issue he raises with point (4).


The message was definitely curt, but I would stop just (barely) short of calling it rude.
Keeping in mind that it's hard to infer TONE via PM without a crapload of extra effort (smilies, certain wording, "Dude's" and "Buddy's," etc), he may well NOT have meant it in a negative way

Being a SLIGHTLY direct talker myself (LOL <-----See. There's the extra effort), I'd have taken the opportunity to "re-edjamacate" him on courtesy... Courteously, of course.

"Once you receive payment, will you ship within 2 days" rings FAR better to someone's ears than, "once receiving my payment, I expect shipment within 2 business days."

Eric

As a curt and direct individual myself, I wouldn't have had much of a problem with the receipt of what the OP was speaking of. It may be because I'm used to dealing with terse individuals myself, who see the only way to outline a contract (the real ones) is to be direct and terse about it. Sometimes the fact that I deal with that so much comes out in my prose.

I don't think anything was meant by it other than the fact that the guy wanted to make sure that the entirety of the deal was laid out in a straight line. Could he have done it better? Absolutely. Would I have taken offense? Nope. Would I have done the deal? If the price was near what I wanted for the book? Absolutely.

flagg07 wrote:1) It's not wrong to indicate the exact condition he's looking for. That needs to be in there.
2) He indicated how he will send payment. If you prefer a different method, say so. Otherwise, nothing wrong there.
3) He said he'd pay first, so there's nothing to point out to him there about Bartertown "unwritten rules".
4) The only "demand" I saw was that he wants shipping within 2 days of you receiving payment. That's a very fair timeline and by no means out of line. If you can't meet that timeline, then figure out when you will be able to ship and tell him to send payment then. Pretty fair to wait until a workable shipping time for you and his requirement is fulfilled.

I'd rather get messages like this than the 10+ messages I've gotten trying to finalise a simple $ for product trade. Hell, this message would have been perfect if he'd added his shipping address to it. I wouldn't begrudge a trader for being short and sweet.

I am curious as to others' opinions on what is rude about this message.

I agree. He wasn't out of line anywhere in his PM.

I think you should chill out a bit beowulf. Maybe it's time for a little BT break?

"Legends Softcover - $20 shipped

Assuming the book is in good shape with all pages intact and attatched, with no rips. I am looking for only minor shelf wear type grading on the books.

I will pay via Paypal, once receiving my payment, I expect shipment within 2 business days."

That seems like a perfectly reasonable response to an ad that simply says "Legends $20 shipped".

The buyer is doing several things here, and is indicating a serious, business-like interest:
- verifying condition for the price (i.e. is it *really* worth $20?)
- specifying timeline for fulfillment (i.e. if I pay immediately, how long do I wait?)

I'd send something like this, BTW.

beowulfdahunter wrote:Pardon me, but what ever happened to courrtesey? Or acting in a respectable manner, but demanding like this...you must be nutz. So I told him what he could do with his offer. Was I out of line or was he just being a jerk with is "request."

These aren't demands, they're fair questions and expectations. If I'm buying or trading, I want to know their condition. NEW in Sealed Box vs NEW on sprue vs bitz vs assembled & painted are all different value levels. 2-day turnaround is also very reasonable, and should be "standard" for professional trades.

If you told him to pound sand, that's your decision. But it's not right.

fitterpete wrote:The "I expect shipping within 2 business days" part to me.I ship fast,look at my refs,but this isnt a business for me.What happened to Hi,Hello,Hey Dude, or Thanks.
Thanks Pete

It's a style thing, but keep in mind that we are entering into legally enforceable contracts, so business-like messages make some sense.

With respect to the 2 business days, I didn't see anything wrong. He said he'd pay, and wants a limit on how long the OP sits on payment before shipping. There's nothing worse than paying and not getting your stuff in a reasonable amount of time, and I think 2 days is reasonable.

beowulfdahunter wrote:So I got a PM about one of my adds from a guy who just registered in the past month and was obviouly a 0. Here is the message he sent me word for word.

"Legends Softcover - $20 shipped

Assuming the book is in good shape with all pages intact and attatched, with no rips. I am looking for only minor shelf wear type grading on the books.

I will pay via Paypal, once receiving my payment, I expect shipment within 2 business days."

Pardon me, but what ever happened to courrtesey? Or acting in a respectable manner, but demanding like this...you must be nutz. So I told him what he could do with his offer. Was I out of line or was he just being a jerk with is "request."

I'm not sure if i would go through with the trade or not,one thing that REALLY ticks me off is rudeness,it would depend on the day,but i would never speak to another trader like that myself.
Thats my 2 cents

Cheers
Steve

Ive gotten worse. I dont see anything wrong, a little bit curt,thats all. Just say NO DEAL- if you dont like it. The 2 day thing is a little silly, some people have lives. I would inform him I would send out ASAP. No guarantee of 2 days.

I think it looks OK. The only word in his post that might upset folks is "expect". I would send him a reply that explained the condition of the book (so he doesn't worry) and explain that I will ship as soon as I could after I had received payment.

He is a bit terse, but I don't think it is anything to get bent out of shape over.

That's just me though.

Karl

Of course I'd trade with him... Wait... I did.... EXACT SAME wording used when he PM'd me about my two WM books.


;p


He's fine. Nothing wrong with someone who knows what he wants, when he wants it, and how much he wants for it.