I bought from him first, and as he had a very low rating and the amount was not trivial I stated a clear preference to pay via Postal Money Order instead of PayPal. When he later bought from me (these were 18 & ~12 months ago) it was for a small amount and I may have shipped first for my own convenience.
FWIW, I gather from Mr. Curtis' original post that what has aggravated him of late has been people asking him to send stuff before they pay, which I wouldn't be keen on were I in his shoes.
Fair enough. I don't begrudge the OP's (Mr. Curtis) growing frustration. But, if he didn't want to ship first, then find trade partners who were willing to trade in that fashion.
i) a trade requires that both parties each send the correct items and then honestly report the receipt in good order (or not - the way some people pack stuff! ;> ) of the items sent to them.
ii) from a security standpoint, i.e., the integrity of the Bartertown / ITL system, a buyer getting a reference proves very little as a would-be scammer can make a number of small purchases before 'buying' from a newbie or someone else with a lower rating and then not paying.
In rebuttal to your first point, I would say that cash (on either side) also requires the parties to send the correct, fair, and honest amounts in good order exactly the same as a full trade.
As for the second point, I agree that small purchases (or... gasp PIF's) can lead to a scammer "bulking" their rating to take advantage of new AND experienced traders alike. Although, a dishonest trader can do that with small trades also before they decide to rob other members. Of course, this argument just lends more credence for experienced traders to ask that low rated traders ship/pay first.
I never started asking for lower traders to ship their items first until after I got burned by sending money to a low rated trader and then there was "the trader" incident. Then I decided to change how I traded here.
I think it's marvelous that you are willing to ship/pay first with low rated traders. I certainly would never even think to ask you to. In our dealings, I just took it for granted that I would be the one doing my end first. I didn't mind for a split second because your references clearly show that my chances of trouble with a trade with you are miniscule. And I think that is the beauty of the ITL in the first place.
Karl
