Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Just had another trade go sour overnight.  Over a week ago I was approached for a possible trade asking for some 1971 & 1972 cards in trade.  The other trader had ony 3 or 4 similar era cards but did have enough cards of HoF / Stars in the newer era that I thought I could be compensated for the difference in eras, a type of trade I don't often consider.  So I built what I thought was a fair trade that he initially accepted in principle till we pulled the cards.  Turned out 2 of the 3 vintage cards were no longer available (the only one available was in Pr condition) and two of the HoF cards were also "gone in another trade".  Disappointed but still willing to go forward with the trade, I added a bunch more modern HoF / Stars cards to compensate for the missing higher value cards.

The next message I get is that the other trader has acquired a large lot of 1972 cards therefore no longer needs my 1972 cards.  To compensate this, he has removed most of my additions therefore mostly HoF and stars. The trade is now less than 2 to 1 in cards when he is getting a large number of 1971 cards. My frustration is mounting but even though I now felt that the trade was no longer balanced, I Accepted the trade as I was still getting a few key cards to add to my collection.

Overnight, I now get a message that 5 more Hof / Star cards are no longer available (gone in another trade) so in compensation I am offered a bunch of commons. NO THANKS! But I now have a trade that will sit in my In Progress box for who knows how long.

I had as many as 7 proposed trades going on at the same time, one being over 400 cards, yet I managed to always compare all the trades to make sure I was not duplicating cards either coming or going.  Yes it is a bit more work but it allows for much fairer and honest trading.  TRADERS - if you can't balance more than one trade at a time, then don't have more than one trade being built at any one time!   In the trade I describe above, who would not be suspicious of the honesty of the other trader when, every message I got, it removed not commons from my list of cards I was to receive but either vintage or HoF. If you want to scam other collectors, go find another site to do it on.

Who is this polecat ?

Too much "moving of the goalposts" by that guy. Let us know who to avoid here?

Would be useful if there was a feature that flagged a problem with a trade so others could see (as a warning)....3 problems and you're out? Or maybe a way to simply cancel the transaction after multiple issues arise. Seems odd to me that there are traders that seem to regularly have issues, but there's no recourse other than not trading with them or leaving negative feedback (which very few people do in fear of retaliation??)

Negative feedbacks were meant to be red flags (no pun intended), but many members prefer not to leave any feedbacks rather leaving a bad one and risking retaliation. A three strike system can be interesting, but I doubt that it would work well. 

That's why I always pull the cards before accepting a trade.  I've had one or two trades like that where the other person, after accepting the trade, will come back and say they need to alter it.  Very frustrating because at that point it's "accepted" and locked.  Is it too much to ask to check the cards before hitting the accept button?  And then I have to make sure to remember to "fix" my checklists after receiving the cards so they don't get screwed up.
I understand the "in another trade" deal before accepting though.  I get that a lot.  When I'm on a tare adding cards to trade I will sometimes get 4 or more trade offers come in before I can look them over and accept.  I'll jump on the ones that have cards I've been looking for then I'll take the rest in the order they came in.  If I added cards from a popular set I'll sometimes get 2 or more trades asking for the same card.  If I take the first trade then the 2nd I have to counter as the card is gone.  Can't help that.

Lildog7 - I too have started the practice of pulling the cards before before accepting a trade and I advise the other member to do the same.  Some comply; some don't just like another trade I have going on now with issues. In this particular case highlgihted in my OP, the cards had been pulled as he had already identified missing cards or other issues that cancelled some out.  In the second round, he had also cancelled out the 1972 cards and removed many cards I was asking for.  I was ok with that though found the balance was starting to weigh heavy on his side.  But after the trade was supposedly good to go and was accepted, it is then he declared another 5 cards of HoF/stars were going out in another trade and were no longer available to me which he kindly offered to replace with some 2001 commons. That is when I hit the Problem button and told him to keep his cards.

David657 and althib - The reason I did not leave negative feedback is because the trade never did go through so other than major frustrations, I did not lose anything.  I chose to make people aware of less than honest dealings by traders through the Forums so others can either realise doing this is not an acceptable practice or, for the honest ones, to be on the lookout for these types of warning signs. Problem is, many don't read the Forums.  But I don't think many read the feedback either.  I have left a Negative feedback with a good explanation of why it was left.  Did not seem to affect that scum member's trading or receipt of PIF.

For what it's worth, I posted this on another thread, but I'll share here too. I got tired of hearing how people won't leave negative feedback for fear of retaliation (which I've only heard of happening once) so I submitted this to the New Feature Tracker:

https://www.tcdb.com/FeatureTracker.cfm?MODE=VIEW&ID=395

Good suggestion Jason.  To me, a good response to bad feedback tells me more about a seller's or trader's character than a hundred "A++, great deal!" messages left by others.

-Tom

I would add to your proposal to require the actual transaction that resulted in the negative feedback to be opened to view the transaction notes for full transparency.