Trading Pet Peeves

It's funny. One of the things that people have huge pet peeves about is responses. I really wish people always responded to me. They don't, nor have they always. I generally don't black-ball someone for that. Everyone forgets, etc. There was a guy awhile back that ignored like 4 messages (I was very interested in his FT and had his ISO, so I just kept checking in). That said, if he had not responded the last time, probably would have been added to my DNT list.

All this said, I don't much mind if people are slow to respond - it's the "NEVER" responding that gets me. I frequently seem to end up forming trades with people where our messages are exchanged every few days. Occasionally we'll have a week between them. I don't really mind - I'm not going to die overnight if I don't get that beer next week. (NOTE: I'm not trading for IPAs, so I get there's a difference.)

 

It’s only bad behavior when it’s done to you

 

This didn't happen on BeerAdvocate, but through a Facebook group. This was the first and last trade that I had tried to set-up there. I quit the group soon after. My experiences trading here have been very good.

 

Yeah Same here, i never really worry about spotty communication since we all have lives, I’d just wish they’d be a man and say “ya know what,nvm.” I’m not gonna be mad at them. Just don’t leave me hangin for days waiting for you to respond and have me tell other folks that I’ll hit them up if our said trade doesn’t come to fruition only to be ghosted.Sometimes people do wait on you to see if you close and it affects them also.

 

I made an IP friend via Beer Advocate a few months back. We did a pretty crazy vertical (Surly Darkness 08-17, including the barrel aged releases, and some other random bottles - I shared a Rusty Nail and four cans of Tree House, there was a De Garde bottle, a Transient sour, etc.) with a number of other BAs - I hosted at my tiny little house, and was really happy to meet all of these crazy strangers in person. It's nice to know that you're not alone in your obsessive alcoholism. This one guy told me a couple of times that he had a bunch of Hardywood bottles that he wanted to share over the holidays and that he needed a beer buddy, so I sent him a bunch of texts and stayed in touched as best I could. He seemed pretty cool and stayed in touch for a while there.

But then - zero responses. Total radio silence. It's bizarre when a grown man in his forties ghosts you, when he has been to your home and has feigned enthusiasm for weeks. What's the deal there? I don't even know what to do with that.

 

Probably just me and likely just a very, very small percentage, but I've been seeing a few User Name changes lately and not including the one from the most recent Bad Trader thread. It's within a users right to change the name/avatar, but I find it to be an odd move. Especially when it's users that are active on the trading forums. Like, is it a way to get more eyes to your posts for people that were used to your previous username, trading posts behavior? Like they'll forget you or something. Again, probably just me, but this is the beer trading peeve thread so that's a peeve of mine.

 

Someone recently messaged me about a beer trade that I had posted. In his first message, he said he was interested in a number of bottles. I messaged back asking what he had in mind (i.e., 5:1, 3:1, etc?). He read the response but didn't respond. I just pinged him again and he read the response but again, did not respond. I know people get busy and this isn't top of priority. But a simple "Hey, let me get back to you in a week, I am on a fishing trip" would be courteous. So my pet peeve is people who reach out to you, and then don't respond even though they are reading your messages. It gives the feeling that they just changed their mind and don't want to just say "I changed my mind" or "not interested anymore".

I checked this user's feedback and he has a score of 109 positive feedbacks left. But I feel like there should be more to rating a user than just whether he delivered the agreed upon goods. I would love to "downvote" someone who behaves discourteously (even if you can trust him to carry out a deal).

 

This is a fun one, since people are commenting about people not responding.

A member posted a trade on May 11, 2016. I messaged him. He messaged me back that he was "super interested" said he had more bottles of it, what was I thinking? We even talked briefly about sports teams as he is a fan of a certain university, and I work for their rival.

I reply with a bunch of ideas. Poof he is gone. No reply. I would check every once in awhile the last time he was seen, that was it, last time he was ever on BA.

Fast forward one year. I get a message from him out of nowhere. May 10th, 2017. Asks me if I was interested in any of another beer, same brewery, same level of beer, just different release.

I message him back, I would be interested, but I gotta know what happened to him. We were working something out, and he disappeared, so I kind of wanted to get an idea before we set something up.

He read the message, the same day. Last time seen on BA, as of today, 41 weeks and 6 days. The day after he messaged ME.

So... I don't know if I am being trolled or what. But I am kind of looking forward to May 11th of this year.

Heck. He might be stuck in some temporal loop and he only exists for 2 days a year. Going to be hard to get that trade in, but maybe if he ships first and fast

 

That is unreal. Had a similar situation, but not to that length. Person messages me out of the blue on their join date saying they had a couple of bottles of a particular beer and if I was interested. I respond back, yes, they read my reply the same day, but never respond. They haven't been seen in 1 year/30 weeks. I've been forever puzzled by it, but I am fascinated by your story.

 

I'm behind on this stuff, but isn't that referred to as submarining? I'm sure you'll hear from him again, now that he has you on the hook!

This is the best thing I've read all day. Haha - cheers, man!

 

That is a new one for me, had to look it up.

 

Not sure where to post this story, because it's not really a pet peeve...all though it could potentially be one. If the trader I'm working with reads this, I'm not really complaining...just saying this is a little unorthodox, and I'm a little concerned with what I'm getting. However, if it works out, then great. I'll be happy to trade with again.

Anyway, I completed a trade with someone on here a month ago, and after I received his package I noticed a beer that was agreed upon was missing. I sent him a message saying a can was left out. He apologized and said he did like 2-3 trades at once and he must have forgot one in the shuffle. Since we agreed to be regular trading partners, I wasn't too concerned about it...because he seemed genuine that he would make it up to me in our next transaction.

A month or so down the road I touched base with him to do another trade. Based on what he wanted from me, we agreed that a 6:2 ratio would be fair. Then I asked if we can make it 7:2, to make up for he missed beer last month? He said yeah that's no problem. Even though we agreed on the ratio, he wasn't sure how many he had in stock of one particular beer I requested. So as I'm waiting to hear back from him to see if he has all 7 I requested, he sends me a message basically saying I'm sending you a box that looks a little different, but I think you'll be happy with it.

I was like...Woah!....I thought we were still discussing which beers you'll be sending me. We never agreed upon what's being sent yet, let alone setup a formal trade request on BA. So before we agreed on the trade, and before we even setup a trade request on BA, he ships me the package, out of the blue, with something "different" than we discussed. So you can see my concern.

Needless to say I won't be sending my package to him until I see exactly what's in the package I get. I asked him a few times, "what are you sending me" and he won't tell me. He shipped on Monday, so I should receive the "mystery box" any day now. I have no idea if it's a good surprise or if it's something I have no interest in. I'm a little scared and excited.

Again...if the trader reads this. I'm not complaining, I'm just a little concerned because this not normal trading protocol. To ship blindly in hopes your trading partner will like what you send.

 

I think that's cool for a bonus box, or something you just send a regular trading partner for the hell of it that you think they'd enjoy. But just switching up the agreed beers randomly in a trade is certainly unusual and would shut down a trade for me.

 

Anything??

 

Not sure how I can shut it down. The box was sent. If I don't agree with what's in it, what the hell do I do? I don't want to spend the $$ to send it back.

 

Strange situation indeed. I echo your attitude of excitement though. It's like a beer it forward type thing. I think it would be fun to put a box together and send to someone and get a similar box of local surprises in it....not in lieu of an agreed upon trade, though.

 

I like that actually. I'll just send him something that I think is fair for whatever I get. Then tell him his "surprise" is on its way without telling him what it is.

 

Definitely a weird situation but it’s not your responsibility to pay for a return label, if you don’t like the box, the shipper should send you a return label if they want the box back.

Hopefully everything works out.

 

Worse is that I ship ultra fast with crazy safe apackaging but assholes with shitty packaging wait until receive their package beforw leaving me feedback. I feel like that is holding the trade hostage. And honestly, most of the people I have traded with do this on here and at Reddit before. 4 trades this week and all 4 of my packages have arrived safely (I assume) and not a single person has left feedback. Yet, I have not received a single one of their packages yet.

Guess I am just used to it now...

 

While I understand your gripe, and have often thought the same - the trade forum cautions you to wait until the trade has been completed entirely before feedback is left. So, be patient.

Again, I get it. You delivered in full - why no feedback? It's just how it works, man.