Trading communication etiquette

I pretty much agree. I try to respond within 48 hours and If a deal is already done or I'm not interested I let them know and move on.

 

Al, I agree. I admit, there are times where I get overwhelmed with responses and some people slip through the cracks - it happens. I do try to make a valiant effort and it's frustrating not receiving anything, even a simple "This trade is completed."

 

I try to respond to everyone who BMs in response to an ISO. On the flip-side I've sent plenty of BMs in response to ISOs with no response, even when offering exactly was the person was looking for. I find it odd more than anything when I don't get a response, but it doesn't really bother me. I've also noticed a big increase in unsolicited trade offers in the past few weeks and I'm not as good about responding to those.

On a related note, I know for a fact I got a BM from the OP at some point in the last few weeks and it got lost in the shuffle of messages. But by the time I noticed and went to respond he'd already left the convo. I don't recall what it was in regards to as the convo has since been deleted. No hard feelings!

 

I think your expectations are a bit too high. Being a recent college grad I had sent countless resumes out, did I expect a personal email or call saying sorry we aren't interested, or sorry this is already filled? No. Would it have been nice? , Yes of course! Unfortunately I'm being a realist rather than an idealist.

Now I understand replying takes 30 seconds, but As an OP inbox may be flooded

This after all is beer, no need too feel slighted if someone doesn't respond to your initial request.
However, if you are in talks with someone and they just stop responding I can see how that is annoying

 

Trading is a time-consuming hobby.

I don't want to trade with anyone who can't spend four seconds typing "Thanks, all set". Even if it has to be typed (or copied/pasted) twenty times.

 

I am new to trading, but have been a BA for over a year now. I have tried to learn as much as I can in the forums before I entered the world of trading. Besides effective packing, the other thing I have learned from you all is communication and honesty are the cornerstone of an excellent trade. All of the people I have traded with have been great with this. It builds trust and a lasting trade relationship.
Granted, I have never posted in the FT/ISO forums. I also don't have the massive amount of trades that some BA's have going on. All of my trades have come from the "Post A Pic Of Your Latest Haul." forum. I will be totally honest in what I can get, if I can get it, when I can get it, if I have "one" but it is for my personal consumption, etc. It only takes a few minutes to do this. Regardless of all of that, a simple BM speaks volumes. You can always elaborate later, when time allows. I am far from being an expert, but I know what has worked for me so far. The last thing I would want is a fellow BA to ever regret trading with me.

 

I find it incredibly annoying when the recipient of a trade box doesn't acknowledge that it was received safe and sound. I can check the tracking and see it was received. But that doesn't tell me that everything arrived safely.
Also, a "Thank you for the great extras that were on my want list" doesn't seem like too much to ask for.

 

I have zero patience for this either. In fact it just happened to me, and it was during a cold snap so there was genuine concern if it arrived safely. Not only that, the guy decided I should send first and never mentioned nor asked that in negotiations.

Thank you's? This apparently is some old custom that folks don't believe in any more.

@mythaeus in the old OP mentioned a 2 out of 10 non reply rate. I'd wager it is more like 5 out of 10 now, 2+ years later.

Etiquette is out the window with many of today's traders. Man, bringing this thread back from the dead is great, it is a very current and topical subject.

 

Totally agree it's gotten significantly worse. I responded to someone within 3 minutes of posting recently asking about a vague trade offer that was put up & rec'd no response, though it was edited to "closed" at some point. My cynical assumption is the guy was looking for a haul for his mini-whale.

I used to think personal no-trade lists were silly, but mine has several names on it now.

 

Same here. I used to joke about it but I recently started jotting down names and there were a handful of them on there in a hurry.

 

To list people on a no trade list would be a time consuming task. Having traded w many different people over time, I chose to stick to the repeat partners or RTPs. It's a lot easier and funner.

 

getting your inbox flooded with offers is a lame excuse not to reply..I've posted offers and have gotten 25+ responses (seems like a lot to me), and have always gotten back to everyone who sent me offers..as mentioned above..it only takes a few seconds to reply with "Deal Closed", "I'm all set, thanks for the offer", "deal pending w/ another member, but If deal falls through, I'll contact you", etc...if you can spend the time posting an ISO, you can take the time to reply to everyone..or just maybe..Beer Trading isn't for you

 

I must admit to forgetting to respond to offers sometimes, although I really feel at least politely declining is the decent thing to do. What really annoys me though is when you have a trade in the works and then all of sudden stop hearing back from the other guy.

 

I feel like I'm talking to my kids on this one but we should all treat each other like we want to be treated. Seems simple to me but if you post on the forum and get flooded with responses, send a quick note (hell, you can copy and paste it with little effort) to everyone saying you had others reply first and will let them know if something falls through.

 

Same thing happened to me recently, someone posts an ISO, some parts of it were wrong (wrong beer descriptions) so I asked him what he really meant since I had all of the bottles he was looking for and was willing to trade them. I saw he read it and no response, it gets frustrating that someone cant type a simply reply back. No matter what I will always make sure I respond to a message.