Bad Trader Rlgrigorian (resolved)

First of all this shouldn't be posted as a bad trader thread. Some other points:

When a box gets damaged in transit, that is on the shipper, asking him to split costs was unreasonable.

You said you shipped on Saturday. Did you tell him you shipped Saturday and he responded you shouldn't ship via Fedex or did he tell you this on Sunday not knowing you shipped?

Only thing a bit suspicious here is you both agreed to ship Monday and he apparently never shipped.

 

@Rlgrigorian Two sides to every story.

 

Maybe they didn't ship because he was waiting to see if FedEx would come through and still deliver the box?

 

That might seem prudent from his standpoint, but blaming the methods of FedEx on the sender and refusing to ship because of it goes against the trade agreement.

Thankfully I've only had one box get totally destroyed, with one other losing the primary beer to a forklift stabbing, plus a few others that got lost or delivered later than the shipment confirmation due to some quirks or sneaky family members. But honestly, in those cases, it depends on the preferences of the receiver--I still usually try to make good in some small way, if not fully retry a shipment if I still have the same or comparable beers. Of course, there's always going to be a cutoff point if you've really been devastated in a big way by the shipment company.

I still believe the lack of shipment is bad form to say the least.

Either way @Gotti311 , that's quite an ordeal for a 4 pack of Heady, and I don't get why they would be held back. It's gotten to the point I've gotten Heady as extras multiple times now. They've begun pumping it out pretty consistently making it quite easily accessible. The amount of stuff you were sending was pretty substantial just for one 4 pack--did the trade expand on his end too? You're not a new trader and you were sending quite a box, so I don't think there's any justification for holding a 4 pack back because they don't trust FedEx, especially since they didn't forewarn you or explicitly state a preference.

 

Having not heard both sides, I kind of feel like his neutral feedback might be appropriate. You haven't followed through on your end, still expect him to follow through on his end, AND want some sort of compensation for a box that is solely your responsibility. Neutral feedback may even be generous.

At the same time, your neutral feedback reading, "He told me after I dropped my box off that I shouldnt ship through FedEx. My beer was confiscated. He never returned or comped me" is vastly inappropriate.

 

Waitwaitwait...were you notified that the box was damaged on Monday? Did he know the box was damaged on Monday? If you both knew the box was damaged and possibly confiscated why on Earth would he ship?

Just to be clear, you wanted him to ship beer while knowing he was not receiving anything. Is that correct?

 

Without hearing the other side, it seems like there were multiple errors made by both traders that led to a crappy situation.

Personally, this isn't how I would have handled it on either end - either by requesting someone split the 'loss' on one side or just holding onto agreed upon beer by the other side. Both poor form, IMHO.

While it may not be possible now that the two parties have apparently antagonized one another, a new agreement should have been hammered out for new beers or re-shipping the originals before it came to this.

 

Ah, well that is different. It is pretty crappy on his part to wait to ship knowing your box was sent on Saturday. It isn't what a good BA would do. Waiting to see what would happen is bad form. I would be interested to hear his rationale.

Having said that, you are out the box and he is in no way at fault for that. It is the risk we all take. True, if he is a stand-up guy, he should admit his behavior was a bit sketchy. It seems he might be compelled to help you out if he feels bad but the risk and cost of that box is still 100% yours.

 

I wouldn't consider it a solution but it is fair. Neither of you has received any beer, you're basically at square 1. You are entirely responsible for ensuring that he gets his box. It would've been nice if he'd let you know earlier not to ship FedEx but consider the same situation where he had no idea that FedEx was scanning boxes or whatever. The only reason you're upset is because he may have known something in advance and didn't tell you in time. Given how easy it is to get Heady these days, I assume it was an honest mistake on his part and this wasn't part of some convoluted scam.

You "probably" would have sent him another box? If you hadn't, you'd be the bad trader.

At this point, neither one of you has held up your end of the deal. If there are no plans to complete the trade then neutral feedback is probably fine, or just don't provide feedback and the trade will close itself at some point.

 

Past reputation means nothing if the trade in question right now is not up to standard. Just to outline some points already stated,

If your box does not make it, YOU are responsible for it. With 89 trades under your belt you should know you don't ask someone to split the cost if your box didn't make it, that's not how it's done. And if your box does get lost, damaged etc you should always replace it or find a solution that makes both sides happ

Communication is key and he is at fault for not advising you not to use FedEx.

Seems sketch that he didn't ship on Monday. That's a red flag in most of our opinions

Lastly I think you are a good guy with good intentions, i have no idea about the other guy since his actions do seem suspicious but just like all of us we all have room for improvement and take this as a lesson learned so situations like this don't come up in the future.

 

1. Agreeing to "ship Monday" means ship Monday. That was his/her expectation, and so I don't fault them at all for not saying "no FedEx" up front. It also would've allowed you to see if they would've waited to ship anyway, even if it was via a different carrier.
2. They should've sent before the 17th. Was it a 4-day storm? Come on. Clearly waiting to see if your box arrived safely.
3. Would you have still asked for compensation if he had sent his box to you, delivered safely? Compensation for broken bottles and delivery costs never happens. I know...it sucks to lose a box, I've been there man.

I say cancel the trade, take the loss. Consider it a learning experience. Don't waste any more of your life thinking about this, not worth it. Heady is everywhere, happy to try and hook you up at some point next time I get some.

 

I disagree. I think people should be able to see what happened here. I would certainly want to know if a trade partner is potentially going to try and saddle me with a bill for their lost box. As mentioned above, trade history does not negate current circumstances.