Response Etiquette Question

True true. But I'm just saying I wouldn't write off someone that quick. Never know what's going on in someone's life. To each their own!

 

I think it's 2 things here:

1. Communication
2. Timeline

I think it's necessary to say "I'm going to hold out for "X" hours/days/weeks, and if I don't get my main want, I'll be happy to make the trade with you". This communicates a nice timeline and can put the ball back in the court of the person to seek other FT's, post their own ISO, or wait.

 

I'm probably worse than most, but for me if you read it and can't reply then I am usually moving on. If you had time to read it, just saying "I'll get back to you" or "Sure, I'll be in touch" only takes 5 seconds. Then at least I know I'm not wasting time.

 

What if you agree on a trade on basics but have yet to hammer out the ratios or specifics....and then get silence for a few days? No contact on what the trade will be or shipping info. How long before I send a second message asking (for a second time) what they wanted to finalize? Don't want to pest but I'm more than happy to move along.

 

If I get silence for a few days I'll either just move on or send the guy one last prodding message before doing so, depending on circumstances. If a person can't communicate in a timely manner while we're trying to hammer out a deal, the other party has already proven to be a poor communicator & I don't want to deal with them. I've found this save a lot of trouble in the long run.

 

Send him a last chance email and give him 24 hours, then move on

 

Thanks. This was my feeling too. I'll send one today and wait till tomorrow

 

So still new to this and have an etiquette question and hope it's acceptable to post here...what happens when someone is eager to trade, lots of messages, but then doesn't respond for an address? I'm in New England and people have responded with great trades....but then 3-4 days later still no response? In the meantime, I have others interested but want to honor the first person who responded. How long do I wait to offer the beer to the next person? What's an acceptable window?

 

It depends on whether or not they've been active on BA within that time. If they have and they're choosing to ignore you? I say move on to someone who will communicate with you.

 

When you say they have not responded for an address, is this within a couple minutes, a couple days? Have they read your message asking for the address (you can see when they last read the message thread)? Have you both agreed upon the trade terms prior to the address exchange? Have you sent a trade request within the BA system which they've subsequently accepted? I suppose it all falls within timing. That being said it's possible the other party found a trade more desirable to them for their bottle(s) which is a common occurrence unfortunately. Lots of things could explain the other party not responding to your address request. Once the BA trade request is accepted by both parties (which itself is usually done after the trade terms are agreed upon), the trade is essentially 'locked in' at that point.

Regarding moving on, if the first party has read your message and has not responded to you within a reasonable amount of time, I would send them one last message that if they don't respond back to you by the end of the day/next day that you will move on. This is all assuming that a system trade request has not yet been accepted by both parties. Obviously you cannot wait forever for the first person but as long as you are clear with them that you will move on if they do not respond back in a reasonable amount of time, this would seem fine to me. The key is that they've been on BA and have read your message. It takes mere seconds for the other party to respond back & either say "here's my address" or "please move on" so I wouldn't wait too long thereafter. If they haven't been on BA or read your message, then this is a bit tougher to judge as far as when to cut loose. Some folks are more patient than others. I'd probably give at least 1-2 days for them to log on and read the message but ymmv. If you read through posts here you'll see (lack of) communication is perhaps the biggest issue within trading. Good luck.

 

@Jaycase Thanks for your great reply! No official BA trade had been sent and it has no been over a week so I went with trade two. Like I said, I didn't want to offend party one, but you are right, a simple "Hey, thanks for the offer, but I've gone with someone else" does a world of good. Your reply gave me some great insight into the world of trading and I will use your tidbits for future trading. I really appreciate the time you took to reply and hit me up if you ever want some CT beers! CHEERS!

 

You're welcome. I think you handled the situation well. CT has some great beers so I might have to take you up on your offer some time. Any other queries just ask away. Cheers!

 

Recently I've added many users to my ignore list for lack of communication. For me, even if you hate my offer, or have no interest, at least send something back. Even a "hell no" is better than ignoring messages IMO. Especially if they had sent you the message first and you reply back to them. If you wait a day or two with no reply then if it were me I'd move on and take another offer that interested me. No harm there as many have said it literally takes 5 seconds to send a reply.