Other Trader disappeared before I could complete trade.

Matthew Murray · Post by **Matthew Murray** » Fri May 18, 2007 5:07 pm

I am having the direct opposite problem of the typical "bad trader." I have never run into this problem, nor have I ever seen anybody have this problem, so I thought I would bring it before everyone else and see if what I have done is OK.

Back in late January - early February I entered into negotiations with another trader from Milwaukee where he would send me a variety of GW's Epic stuff for some of PP Hordes Skorne. He mentioned that it was a collection of Epic stuff that his Epic playing friends had given to him when they stopped playing and/or left town. (It was a bit of an odd collection of stuff with a lot of excess bits included.) We agreed upon what each was going to send, and since this was a big trade and he had the lower rating I got him to send first. He was very laid back about everything and this looked like it would be a great trade. No big deal up to this point.

He sent only about half of his part of the trade, yet I had not sent anything. I contacted him, repeatedly, and requested he send the rest. As part of those requests I also asked that he send me his address since the return address labels were handwritten and hard to decipher. All of my communications stressed that I was wanting to complete the trade, either partially or completely, and that I wanted to make sure he was happy with the trade.

Most of the replies, while they still came, said that Real Life had made him busy, that he had the remaining items and just hadn't gotten around to sending them. Despite repeated requests he never sent his mail address.

I tried what Internet search techniques I knew to try different variations on the address from the return address labels to see if I could find and contact this trader some other way. All of those searches lead me to believe that the return address was either incorrectly written or fraudulant.

Eventually my correspondence to him has stopped yielding replies. I have not heard from him in a couple of months. It doesn't look like I am going to hear from this guy again.

So here it is: I have stuff from this other trader and I have sent him nothing, and this other trader has stopped talking to me. I want to send him something, but I can't since I don't know where to send it. Every indication is that I am not going to hear from this trader again, even though I want to do the right thing and complete the trade.

Do I write him off and go on with life?

Do I go ahead and try to trade the Skorne stuff to another trader?

Even if I trade the Skorne and he does come back do I tell him tough luck, his fault because he broke communication?

What do you reccommend I do?

SteveBerenyi · Post by **SteveBerenyi** » Fri May 18, 2007 5:16 pm

WOW, id say give it another month and send a PM every 2 weeks. after that well. try to trade it off. and if finally he does resume communication make him another offer.

that's how i'd handle it.

Steve.

TheKiiier · Post by **TheKiiier** » Fri May 18, 2007 6:21 pm

Agreed, give some more time then move on. There's need to drive yourself crazy with worry and guilt with all the wierdness surrounding the deal.

ancientsociety · Post by **ancientsociety** » Fri May 18, 2007 6:38 pm

So he dropped off the face of the earth after sending half the deal without you sending anything?

I'd say you just got some free trade bait!

insidius · Post by **insidius** » Fri May 18, 2007 7:04 pm

If you REALLY need to trade your stuff and can wait no longer, just trade it. If he gets back in touch with you, just send him the stuff he sent you back to him and explain the situation. As long as he either gets his original stuff back, or the stuff he was promised in the original deal, I don't see the problem.

Matthew Murray · Post by **Matthew Murray** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:06 pm

insidius wrote:If you REALLY need to trade your stuff and can wait no longer, just trade it. If he gets back in touch with you, just send him the stuff he sent you back to him and explain the situation. As long as he either gets his original stuff back, or the stuff he was promised in the original deal, I don't see the problem.

I don't REALLY need to trade it, but the idea of having miniatures sitting around I know I'm not going to do anything with just gets to me. I got them as part of a trade and have always intended to trade them off, first to a gaming buddy and then to Bartertown. Need to? No. Want to? Yeah. Almost like I've been doing a little bit of trading on Bartertown, or something...

I don't like the idea of screwing over another trader but this is getting stupid. I think what I might do is if he ever gets in contact with me I'm just going to buy him some stuff as compensation. I can't give him his stuff back because I have already traded off a good portion of it under the assumption that I'd be able to complete this trade in a timely manner. Considering his attitude towards the end of "I'm sorry for me being slow, just give me what you think my stuff is worth and I'll be happy" I think I don't have too much to worry about.

What has really been messing with me, though, is how he just doesn't want to talk to me when I'm the one that owes him!

Matt

starslayer · Post by **starslayer** » Sat May 19, 2007 5:03 pm

ancientsociety wrote:So he dropped off the face of the earth after sending half the deal without you sending anything?

I'd say you just got some free trade bait!

I agree. You did your part. You sent many messages to this guy,it isnt your job to track him down and beg him to complete the trade. I'd send him one final message stating if he does not complete the trade or reply within a week, you are keeping the stuff. If he wants his stuff back, have him send you the $$$ to pay the postage.

( 108 ) · Post by **Linrandir** » Sun May 20, 2007 1:59 am

Yeah, that's one of the more unusual trade situations I've heard of.

You've done your due diligence, he's not replied, so move on with life and if he ever contacts you your solution is a good one.

GearHead · Post by **GearHead** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:17 pm

I'm sitting on a situation that shares a few points of similarity, and I'm contented to sit and wait and not worry. Matt, you've essentially gotten free stuff. If he reappears in the not-too-distant future, then cool, but there comes a point where he's just let too much time pass and has defaulted.

kbolster12345 · Post by **kbolster12345** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:51 pm

I agree. I think you should send one last message with a deadline. If he doesn't reply by the deadline then the stuff is yours. I think the deadline should be at least a couple of weeks but not more then a month.

That's just me though and I would rather error on the side of my trade partner. Many respectable people from the B-town community have already stated that it's yours now. I wouldn't blame you for not taking my advice above.