Potential bad trader: How long is too long?

This is a little long, apologies for that, but as a fairly new trader I'd like some input. I've been engaged in a problematic trade for over the past two months now. Back at the start of July I got a BM about a FT offer I had posted a few weeks prior. Seemed like a nice guy, and offered to get me some New England beer (Heady, Maine Beer Co, etc) in exchange for my locals and not-so-locals. We spent the next month going back and forth about what both of us could include in the trade, and communication, though a little infrequent, was overall solid. I told him I couldn't ship until after I moved and he didn't have a problem with it. I finally got my box shipped out on July 24 and after some delay, he said he'd try to ship July 31. That never happened. I got back from a trip and he still hadn't shipped, so I inquired. He informed me on August 7 that he tried to take his package to UPS and they sent him back to repackage it. He had a couple more problems with UPS, including having to take the box to another location, supposedly, and I tried to stay patient. The last communication from him was August 9. I messaged him a couple different times with no response. Almost two weeks later, I finally said that I'd have to make a trade with caution thread if I didn't hear anything soon, and he responded the same day to say the package had gone out last week. But he lost the tracking number so I had no way of keeping tabs on it. I waited with some anticipation for a week and then he informed me that his box had been returned due to improper packaging. He finally produced the tracking number so I could verify that. By this time we are at the end of August, over a month since I originally shipped. He said on August 30 that he would reship the box and include a fresh can of Heady for the wait. Since August 30, he has not logged back in to BA.

With a little research, I found his Twitter account and messaged him through there yesterday, noticing that he's been active on it the whole time. He responded pretty quickly to say he'd "lost track of the box" and that it had been hard to find another shipping location, but that I could expect to receive it soon (which he's said many times before). What burns me is that he's already consumed at least some of the beer I sent him (and posted photos of it) and he's apparently had time to travel to Vermont, but he hasn't had time to properly pack and ship my beer in a timely fashion. I'm not sure how you lose track of a box that's been part of a trade in the works for the past two months, especially when fresh beer is involved and you've already received my shipment weeks ago. I understood the problems he had with shipping, since it can happen to anyone, but since he received his own package back before August 30 he's made no real attempt to ship again, as far as I can tell. And he hasn't really given me a real reason for it, other than just forgetting about it. I guess he lives in a fairly rural location but it seems he travels frequently and could find another place to ship.

I guess my question is, how much longer should I wait before reporting him as a caution with/bad trader? Communication hasn't been completely absent but it's certainly been really sporadic, and I also feel like there's been no real sense of urgency, especially since there hasn't been a pressing issue behind the delay. I also sort of feel like if you agree to a trade, you should try and make a concerted effort to follow through, especially if you've had the other person's beers for over a month. I was looking forward to trying all of these new beers (including a Hill Farmstead he said he'd throw in) but at this point I'm wondering if I'll ever get to. Am I being too impatient about this, or is enough enough? What do you guys think?

 

I'll add it in here too: RBooth9. I wanted input on whether I would be a jerk to do so, and I believe I've gotten it. To be clear, he did send me a tracking number after finally shipping out the package in August, and it did appear to get returned to him due to poor packaging, but I didn't receive the number until after he got the package back and he's made no attempt to ship again since then. I won't try to guess his intentions, but I would be cautious with him in the future. I'll leave this thread up until this gets resolved.

 

Yeah, the whole thing has been a big mess and sort of turned me off to trading. I'm not sure how packaging can get screwed up so many times, either.

 

Thanks to those who responded. maximum12, I don't have much in the way of trade ammo right now, but I appreciate the offer! My other trades have gone well, but I think I'll stick to established traders in the future so I'm not getting burned!