Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Man, people get frustrated pretty easily. I do agree that if you decline it doesn't take much effort to even just add a small note like I'm too busy at the moment to pull cards. But, please don't get frustrated over a hobby.

I get what you're saying, I can see how it can come across that way. It is truly a hobby. I also enjoy knowing how to improve my offers etc. So I can do better. I guess that's where a decline with no feedback can be frustrating. It's not like I'm offering junk wax for $10 cards. 

I don't mind the decline, but I agree that a courtesy note explaining the reason should be given, otherwise I don't know what you're looking for, or if you're even interested in trading with me, so I add a note to never initiate a trade with that person again (not worth the effort), and I may even decline future trade offers, just because. 

The great thing about collecting mostly commons is that there are plenty more out there, so if one trade doesn't work, then move on to the next.

I see the other side but I don't know that I would ever blackball someone for rejecting a trade with no reason. That seems a little over the top to me. I would simply assume the trade partner is busy or just not interested at this time and move on. It is better than the trade sitting out there with no response.

I still agree that taking a few seconds to add a note isn't asking too much.

Please think of the other person's circumstances. Maybe they have very limited time, but got swamped with 5, 10, or 20 transaction proposals. They don't want someone to be left hanging, but they can't trade right now, so they decline them all. But again, with limited time, they can't type a note into each one if they want to get through them all that day. It really shouldn't be a reason to blacklist them.

Jim (budler) has the right idea, send an email first asking if they want to trade with you, and maybe give an idea of what you see as the trade (e.g., "I have 50 cards on your want list, you have 75 on mine, can we work something out?"). That takes WAY less time than putting together a transaction proposal. As has been stressed in a lot of other forum threads, communication is the key to successful transaction. That actually starts with the person making the initial contact.

I have declined about 20 trade offers in the last few weeks. Most I added a decline note but explaining the same thing over and over gets tiring. If you are lucky enough to find someone with junk wax cards that can be pulled easily from most any junk box and available from hundreds of people on TCDB on their WL and you are after inserts, errors, properly id'd variations, older cards available from only a handful of people here, offer up something better than 1 for 1 trades. I don't care what the price guide says, cards available by the hundreds vs. less than 10 don't seem like even up trade value. 

Well said Evan, especially the last sentence.

As for sending an email out first to gauge a potential trader's interest, it is also frustrating when those messages go unanswered. I understand people have lives and it's just a hobby, but if someone is that interested in creating a trade list and logging on constantly, a quick reply would suffice.

I am definitely guilty of declines with no reason sometimes.

Sometimes it is a too busy at the time issue, and other times I don't really feel the need to explain why I am declining a trade of my Hof players for your  commons.

Sometimes I will say something if I see other cards of interest not in the trade, but Sometimes we may not match up today but we could down the road as we add to our want lists.

Mark 

Dan   My message is more like    You have a card for me and I have 100s of cards for you   Can you check and see what card(s) you would need for the one I want.

Some time back I needed one card from a member and I had a little over 8,900 cards for him.  How would I pick from all of those and get him a card(s) that is higher on his want list?

Exactly - you can't make that determination for the other person, that's why it's best to start a discussion first.