How long to wait before considering a deal fell through

[Fool Injected]

I would like to get some others view points on this subject. Here is a run down.

There was a small trade between myself and another person. I thought everything was good to go. Well 5 days go by with no communication from the trader. On the 6th day an email pops up saying your stuff is being sent here is the confirmation number.

The problem is the stuff was sold the day before locally. I figured another person just flaking out at the last minute.

The dilema.

Am I now bound to continue on with the deal or did by the other person waiting 6 days to respond basically make the deal void? I know there is no official answer but would like the input from some of the veteren traders. In the future I will always send an email stating the deal is off to avoid this situation.

[Sgt_Centurious]

I would like to get some others view points on this subject. Here is a run down.

There was a small trade between myself and another person. I thought everything was good to go. Well 5 days go by with no communication from the trader. On the 6th day an email pops up saying your stuff is being sent here is the confirmation number.

The problem is the stuff was sold the day before locally. I figured another person just flaking out at the last minute.

The dilema.

Am I now bound to continue on with the deal or did by the other person waiting 6 days to respond basically make the deal void? I know there is no official answer but would like the input from some of the veteren traders. In the future I will always send an email stating the deal is off to avoid this situation.

I've been in a position where either party has lost access to the internet (family emergencies, hard drive crash, etc...) so a grace period should be allowed to honor the deal. If you agreed on the trade, I'd say follow through on it. Did you try to contact him during the 5 days?

[Fool Injected]

No, I didn't try to contact him. The next step in the trade was for him to ship.

[mad monk]

Mike I think you may have jumped the gun bud.
Not sure how you'll resolve it,give back his stuff I suppose.As was stated above,many things can cause a breakdown in communications for a week.
You should have at least made an attempt saying I'm selling your stuff the trade is off,or something to that effect.
of course if his server was down it wouldn't have helped much I suppose.
Mm

[MagickalMemories]

Well, mistakes were made on both parts.
He should have let you know there was going to be a delay and/or communicated with you during the delay.
You should have let him know that you were going to get rid of the stuff. I mean, you had MADE the agreement... It wasn't like you were in the middle of negotiations...
If I was in your position, I'd ship his stuff back & offer to pay shipping. If HE is a decent trader, he will either, 9a0 eat the shipping costs due to his lack of communication or, AT LEAST, offer to only have you pay half... the latter is what I would do.

Eric

[Fool Injected]

I understand that things come up. I would have understood but he gave no explanation in the fact. He was just a slow shipper.

He was belligerent when I suggested that I pay for his shipping and return the merchandise. He sounds like the kind of person who will leave a bad feedback at the drop of a hat.

He kept insisting that I follow through on the deal. He never once would address his error in taking so long to ship. I felt blackmailed to go through with the deal. I had to purchase the merchandise new and trade for used stuff.

This will not happen again believe me. This has left a very bad taste in my mouth about some of the people on Bartertown. I have worked hard to keep a good trade rating. I don't want some a-hole to ruin it.

[MagickalMemories]

Hmm... sounds like he got what he wanted and then some.
If you were willing to pay shipping, then that is what you should have done.
Bad rating be damned!

You could have appealed it to the powers that be. It is not TOTALLY unheard of for a neg ref to be removed.

You deserve a good ref. You followed through in an EXEMPLARY manner.

You should leave him a Neutral ref, AT BEST... and THAT is pushing things. I, actually, would probably leave a negative -- if I was in YOUR position.

Leave him the ref. YOU feel he deserves. If he retaliates, then you complain to Linrandir and he can get booted if Lin determines that it was a retaliatory feedback... Which, of course, it would be.

Eric

[Linrandir]

Indeed Lin would.

Every time a request to change feedback comes across my inbox, it is carefully considered and evaluated. We're not eBay, we do change ratings if it's warranted.

I take a very dim view of people who imply, insinuate, or outright state that they'll leave negative feedback if you don't capitulate to their every whim. There's even a rule about retaliatory feedback and its consequences.

We all work hard to make Btown a place that honest, decent people can come to and feel safe to trade with each other. Part of that, in my opinion, means stomping on the @$$holes who try to take advantage of our good nature.