Bartertown.com

I just need to vent as I just wasted time dealing with a guy who does not understand how looking for trade items works. I posted some minis for trade and a list of what I was looking for. He tells me he has x items. After we exchange a few emails back and forth it turns out he was trying to sell them to me. If I wanted to buy something I would have posted that I was looking to buy!

I am so sick of people who send you unsolicited messages with items for sale when you are only looking to trade. I wish we could report them for being morons or wasting our time!

Unless you specifically said you are not looking to buy, I see no problems with that.

If I have something you need, and no one has the exact trade you want, I would send you an note saying something like "I know you said you wanted to trade, but if you decide to buy, I have xxx".

eman1_2 wrote:Unless you specifically said you are not looking to buy, I see no problems with that.

Actually, if his "Haves" did not include cash, then I do see a problem.
If he was looking to buy, he'd have said so.

I have approached people who didn't say they were looking to buy, when I was only looking to sell, but I ALWAYS made it known up front. I only do this to people who list cash as a Want. I figure, if they sold something, they might have the funds to buy what they want, now.
Occasionally, I'll PM them and say, "I know you're not buying, but I have XYZ from your list. I'm only looking to sell. So, if you change your mind about buying, let me know?" That is typically only when I have something they say they want badly, or I have a bunch of things from their list... or something rare.

Pretty poor form not to be upfront about it.

Eric

beowulfdahunter wrote:I just need to vent as I just wasted time dealing with a guy who does not understand how looking for trade items works. I posted some minis for trade and a list of what I was looking for. He tells me he has x items. After we exchange a few emails back and forth it turns out he was trying to sell them to me.

Your first email back wasn't "What from my list do you want in exchange?" I'm curious how enough time and effort could have gone into this exchange to produce frustration unless your potential partner actually misled you.

MagickalMemories wrote: Actually, if his "Haves" did not include cash, then I do see a problem.
If he was looking to buy, he'd have said so.

I have approached people who didn't say they were looking to buy, when I was only looking to sell, but I ALWAYS made it known up front. I only do this to people who list cash as a Want. I figure, if they sold something, they might have the funds to buy what they want, now.
Occasionally, I'll PM them and say, "I know you're not buying, but I have XYZ from your list. I'm only looking to sell. So, if you change your mind about buying, let me know?" That is typically only when I have something they say they want badly, or I have a bunch of things from their list... or something rare.

I pretty much only ever buy, so I frequently respond to adds looking for stuff to trade with offers of cash money (so they can go buy whatever was on their trade list).

On the other hand, if I really, really want something, I would certainly rather have it offered to me as a cash option than never hear about it and miss it.

I think if a user is absolutely not interested in paying for something, their ad needs to say TRADES ONLY, because cash is a default mode of exchange in the modern economy.

Here is the thing. If I wanted to "buy" a model I would go n Ebay, if I wanted to trade I come to "Barter"town. Just saying. As for poking into how much time I wasted. I hate wasting any time. At least responding here and complaining feels like better time spent, then being led on.

Yeah, but a lot of folks come here to buy and sell as well. Not to say that the guy shouldn't have been more clear, but still...

s_o_r_r_o_w wrote:<SNIP>

I think if a user is absolutely not interested in paying for something, their ad needs to say TRADES ONLY, because cash is a default mode of exchange in the modern economy.

I've put that in ads before with capital letters and usually a different colour font(red) and still get people who ask "how much" lol i think it's just laziness that people tend to not read everything (especially if it's a novel to read) and only skim for the items they want. Myself, I look at the list of goodies first to see what is being offered, then I read the rest and see if I am able to deal with the person.

3eland wrote:I've put that in ads before with capital letters and usually a different colour font(red) and still get people who ask "how much" lol i think it's just laziness that people tend to not read everything (especially if it's a novel to read) and only skim for the items they want. Myself, I look at the list of goodies first to see what is being offered, then I read the rest and see if I am able to deal with the person.

Agreed. Some people don't read. I have people who ask me for items in my wants list, ask for items in the pictures that I already sold (even though they aren't listed) or ask if shipping is included (when it is listed at the top that it isn't). Good times.