I've read quite a few of these posts but have never had to initiate one myself. Would like to layout my situation and get some feedback. First off my trade in question is logged as open through the BA trade system. Trader in question has +60 trades at 100%. He is not very active with BA trading lately. My friend informed me of a post on another trading platform for a limited beer I had for trade. Negotiations proceeded via text and I informed the trader that I only trade on BA and he agreed to open a trade on this platform. Our trade was confirmed and we both agreed to ship this past Monday. I ship and send details. He replies and says he will follow up with my shipping info later in the day. Towards the end of the day I had not heard a follow up and sent a text asking if he was able to ship as planned. An hour or two later I receive a picture and a message stating two key beers from our trade was drank by someone house sitting for him. Apologies ensued and many messages on swapping bottles. I promptly call FedEx but with the delay in notifying me of the situation my box already started moving in the system. I wasn't able to catch it in time so was left with the only option of letting it get all the way to destination hub and reroute back to me. Trader has sent PayPal payment to pay for shipping costs. Claims he is going to send an apology box but have not seen anything related to this which isn't a huge concern. I'm more interested in how to close my open trade on BA - Neutral? Negative? Appreciate feedback from the community.
Just let it die on the vine. There is no reason to leave negative feedback Mistakes happen and it sounds like he made you whole. The only way I would consider leaving negative feedback is if I knew that he didn't have the bottle because he traded it somewhere else.
Stuff happens. It only will stay open so long then it will disappear. It's best to leave no feedback than neutral. After all feedback is forever.
This is somewhat where the rub is. Everyone who has seen the picture says it looks staged. Cannot see open bottles just inserted upside down in the trash but perfect enough to see what each bottle is. This along with other feedback from his trade groups. Honestly I don't have the time or energy to get too bent about it. My only objective was to try to give future traders some type of warning even if it was just a neutral rating.
To me, its a neutral feedback...While you are not out of any beer or money, which is great! He accepted the trade...Its something that people need to know....Neutral is NOT BAD...This is how things start down a wrong path when its just ignored...
I nominate 'house sitter drank my beer' as the craft beer trading equivalent of the dog eating my homework.
Nuetral feedback imo. I have probably 25+ trades under my belt, and every time ive accepted a trade and made arrangements, i set the agreed upon beers aside in the box i will be shipping them in. I do this to prevent mistakes, and other unfortunate unforseeable events. Its my fear that the recipient of my box and beers would be disappointed in my effort. This hobby is too expensive and time intensive to have things like this happen. At the end of the day this situation shouldnt dictate your joy in life or affect your day to day. I will say however, that a little bit of effort and intentionality could prevent the majority of this stuff from happening. I do recognize the guy seems to have made it right, and got you back somewhat whole so kudos to him for trying to reconcile that. Anyway, just my six pence.
@BDCannon My trader sense tells me something just does not add up. The person you were trying to trade with has (60) completed trades...hmmm...certainly no rookie to how things work. What are the odds...that the house sitter is a beer drinker? What are the odds that the beers drank by house sitter just happen to be the beers for your particular trade? What are the odds that said house sitter has free reign to someones cellar, and if they did...would not your trade partner say everything is available but x,y,and z because I'm trading those. Stuff happens...but this seems odd to say the least. Also- have they sent an apology box? What was the actual trade? This is more about principle in my book. If this really did happen....cough cough...then they most definitely should send you an apology box as they said. Only as good as your word. This should easily be nuetral feedback. Why you say...so others can be made aware of this situation and for your trade partner to have a permanent feedback and reminder of what not to do in the future....IF....this really took place
Thanks for your follow up and feedback. I too felt very skeptical about many of the points you raised in your response. A few additional details below Trade: Me - Atrial Magnum Him - Number Crunch, Jam the Radar, Green wax Black Magick, Black wax Rye Black Magick, plus some IPAs from Az Wilderness He did send the apology box which included the Jam the Radar and Az Wilderness IPAs as well as PayPal payment for shipping expenses. The thing is this was not a trivial trade not that any are but significant preparations had to be made on my side to safely ship a mag which I did get back without issue but no fun by any means. At this point I have not addressed the open trade seemed like a mixed bag of responses from this thread and was still trying to navigate that - I'm inclined to go neutral as stated in @dmbforever response.
For what it's worth it was the Black Magicks that were "drank". Pic looks staged to me can't see tops and how does the trash can get filled where you can't see any of the opened bottles?
@BDCannon Thanks for the response with details and picture. This allows others to assess the situation and paint their own picture of what took place. Much appreciated! I would also think that if it truly happened, the trader would have sent picture(s) showing the bottles laying upside down or sideways on a counter top or table to be able to see that they were drank...without any reservations and full disclosure...again...they have (60) completed trades that are *registered* with the new feedback system under their belt. Just my opinion. Cheers! Dave
Now that was staged with some thought! The back bottle is perfectly aligned to get a glimpse of 'The Barrel Room Collection' on the back bottle. That was considerate of the house sitter when they threw that bottle away. And I like the obvious condensation on the Monster's Park beer. Could that can have been just pulled out of the fridge in time for this picture? Nah, this photo was taken immediately after the homeowner got home, which was mere minutes after the house sitter had poured the beer. It's just my opinion but I'd bet money those Black Magick bottles were full. Anyone with half a brain knows showing an upside down bottle in a bin proves absolutely nothing. Unless one is trying to cover it up in a half-arsed way. And who the heck throws out bottles upside down like that anyway? With the labels perfectly framed? My goodness. OP, I'd leave neutral feedback if for no other reason than to mention something like "before trading with this person, check with them to ensure they're not going out of town before they are to ship the beer. Their house sitter quite enjoys barrel aged beers & might help themselves to the one you are interested in."
