How long to wait before declaring the trade is off?

Ask yourself this, even after you agreed to bottles on each side, would you really feel comfortable trading with this person? I would say it is time to move on.

 

Time to move on. Plenty of other fish in the sea. Could also be someone who is trying to extract every last ounce of value for their beer and found a "better" offer.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/pre-trade-etiquette.176842/

Several opinions here.

 

As harsh as it might be I wouldn't give anyone more than 3 days to close the deal and agree officially. Everyone has their own policy but for me I only typically only trade when I need beers for a specific reason or occasion. So for me time is important. I understand life happens and things get in the way but thats just part of the process. I find anyone taking longer than this is typically waiting for a better offer or something anyways. Just my .02

 

3 days is generous. Thankfully I have never had to wait longer than a day with 100+ trades under my belt. Unless it's a long term partner, I'd expect 24 hours...maybe 36. I don't want my beers to be held hostage in a trade.

 

If I get a sense that communication is shitty, in any way, shape, or form, no trade. Sorry, I firmly believe that the way someone communicates is the way they treat trade partners, and the trades themselves. That is to say, poorly. Way too many stress-free traders out there to deal with poor communication.

 

I consider myself a good trader (and I think I have the feedback to prove that). I'm also a pretty busy guy with a demanding job. I would never think about not responding for that long unless there were extenuating circumstances - and if there are, those should be communicated to the other trader. Cut bait on this trade and move on.

 

Yeah save yourself the stress of wondering.

 

if I didn't already have all the Cantillon I need at the moment, I'd help you out. But good luck OP.

 

I can't wait for the post from the other side:

"Questionable bad trader alert:

So here's my situation. A BA posted an ISO in the forum and I responded. We had good communication and agreed upon the terms of a trade. We were just about to exchange information when my internet went out. We have been having pretty bad lightning storms out here and some lightning hit the cable wire poles. The cable company wasn't able to fix it for 3 days. I get on my computer as soon as it is fixed and see this guy has given me a deadline date and it's passed and he's already created a new thread trying to trade the beers we agreed to trade. When is it okay for a BA to back out of an agreed upon trade? I know my communication wasn't perfect but I had no other way to contact him other than the internet and he didn't even wait for my response. I think he just wanted a better deal. Should I call him out to keep others from getting their trades pulled after a few days?"

 

no phone?

no work?

no nothing?

sorry, does not compute

 

Add public library, starbucks, or any other place with free wifi/internet access to that list.

In this day and age, its impossible NOT to be able to find a way to get on the internet, if you want, unless you're trapped by snow/landslide/flood, or power is out in your whole town. Or dead.

 

to further elaborate, I live in the heart of the area where Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc, and had no power for 7 days. but I had a car charger and was able to get my mobile phone to work more often than not. certainly long enough to type out a "got hit by hurricane. trades on hold for 2 weeks" type of message lol

not that I was trading at the time but I think the point is the same

 

I don't think it warrants a public call out. No private shipping information was exchanged, in this case because of an "Act of God", and he moved on, it happens all the time, no matter what his reasoning for backing out were. That being said, I'd suggest making a statement to the effect of, if anyone wants to know who it is to BM you so that there is at least a "trader beware" caution out there.