Finally agreed to a trade on a Thursday. I packaged up, printed label w/tracking and was going to drop off that same Thursday. Trade partner says packages won't make it before weekend so why don't we wait. "Are you okay with it sitting or would you rather it send Monday and always stay moving, let me know too because I would rather have my bottles do the same.. I don't want the stouts to sit in the heat" Sure. Fine with a Monday ship. I shipped Monday. Get a message from trade partner on Tuesday stating that he is heading to FedEx and that I should receive by Friday. He doesn't give me tracking until Wednesday and tracking shows tendered Wednesday (I understand he could have dropped Tuesday and just missed the last departure cutoff but the fact that he didn't have the tracking Tuesday is a red flag). At this point I ask him "You didn't ship til Wednesday?" To which I get a super snarky remark that he doesn't have 24/7 to ship—actually you really just need a Monday drop site, not 24 hours on multiple days... And adds that he was going to send me the brewery's next release to make up for it but not now that I've called him out. More blah, blah and "Work is work and always my first priority" I received the package the following Tuesday. So, yes, the beers I received sat over the weekend. The whole point of us shipping Monday, his suggestion, lost. Beers came. All that was agreed on was good. A little slow on communication—whole trade negotiation took a month and at one point he was ready to ship when we hadn't even ironed out details. Not the end of the world but this guy was a total turkey. "Work is my priority," "waiting for checks to clear." But feedback-wise—blow it off? "Okay?"
In this case I would leave positive feedback rating, but use the comments to note some of your concerns with how it went down.
I would leave positive feedback on the things he did well and not mention the negatives. As much as we would like to give honest, unbiased feedback, we all know that a few traders just don't have their shit together and would probably leave negative feedback right back at you even if it's undeserved. Short of not getting the beer at all I would let it be. Just make sure not to trade with him again
Leaving retaliatory feedback would likely lead to a swift banning. Feedback system is in place for people to be informed about potential trading partners and make decisions on whether to trade with that person. Leaving out deserved less than positive feedback does a disservice to fellow traders who depend on the feedback system. On multiple occasions in bad trader threads it has come to light that bad trader in questions had prior questionable trades but people they traded with didn't reflect it on their feedback.
Everything you say is correct in a perfect world. Unfortunately, it's not reality. I'm not talking about a bad trader who doesn't deliver the agreed beer. I'm talking about traders who are slow to communicate, slow to send the beer and make excuses. If you leave your feedback first that mentions these problems, chances are their feedback for you will not be as positive as you would like or deserve.
I think this is a good example of somebody who deserves OK feedback actually. OK feedback is technically defined as "expectations were met, but ..." and I think of it as the trader didn't outright steal from me but I would not deal with him again. I would leave something like "Box arrived as promised but trader did not ship on the date he suggested and we agreed upon which resulted in the box he sent sitting in a warehouse over the weeknd. He was also a poor communicator throughout negotiations." There's no need to worry about retaliatory feedback or he'll be banned.
As stated above, good feedback with notes about his behavior. The Bad Trader threads are littered with the dirtbag mantras of "It's only beer" and "I have more important things to worry about than shipping beer" and "no one else needs to see this, it is between the other trader and me". This person is going to screw someone over at some point.
Yep, this needs to be changed. Good and OK should not count the same. What's the point of having tiers if two of them have same exact impact on feedback score.
Yes, opted for "Good" but included comment on trader not getting out on time. Was torn between "Good" and "OK" but in the end, he did at least get out the same week. I definitely would not run back into a trade with this guy and how he responded to me asking what was going on was straight "childlike." Agreed on weighted feedback though. An "Okay" should be a neutral zero with "Good" earning a positive and "Bad" getting a negative.
This deserved neutral fb. The trader in question suggested shipping on a Mon, gave an excellent reason for doing so, then failed to follow through on his own suggestion. The snarky response when questioned about this seals it for me. @Mista_Carta I don't understand why you gave a 'total turkey' -your phrase- positive fb. Shipping delays, spotty communication, weak excuses, snarky responses shouldn't earn positive fb. Please read through the bad trader threads. There are so many instances where people left possible fb for negative experiences & eventually others were seriously burned by these bad traders in sheep's clothing, ie bad traders posing as trustworthy members cloaked in undeserved positive fb.
Trust me, I was torn. I tried to take the high road on this one BUT I made sure the issue was brought up in my feedback. I read feedback before trading and hope that others do too. I know a yellow or red would immediately draw more attention but hopefully "didn't ship when he said he would. My box sat somewhere over weekend when we agreed not to do that" still raises an eyebrow... He has less than a dozen trades so hopefully he has to answer some questions. Some of the poor interactions on here do raise the issue of some sort of age/identity check.
@Mista_Carta I've participated in some very very open boards which had the bare minimum of posting restrictions (No PI permitted. Beyond that anything allowed.) It is mind boggling how childish people can act even in their 40s, 50s & beyond. In comparison, BA at its very worst, is an unsullied babe.
