General Forum

Hey Guys,

I'm typically not one to browse or read the forums, but there has been something gnawing at me in some of my recent trade dealings and I wanted to know how the community felt about it. I'm going to guess that most people have had at least one poor experience on this site or another, but may have not expressed it in their feedback in the chance that you would get hit with some form of retalitory feedback in return. In fact, this happened to me.

I feel many traders are so protective and proud of their 100% feedback rating that they would rather not leave any feedback instead of stating how they truly feel about a trade that may have left you less than satisfied. I'm talking about things such as receiving beat up cards, wrong cards, not actually shipping until their end arrives first, etc. Things that would warrant a neutral or negative otherwise.

Just wondering if anyone else felt the same or wanted to share their thoughts. Thanks for the time.

I've chosen not to leave feedback on Ebay in the past. Here, I usually just forget, since there's no prompt to remind me after a trade is completed. In my experience the people here care more than the people on Ebay so there's less issues. 

The one thing I really dislike on this system is that you can leave feedback without ever having done a transaction with someone. I don't think that's fair, and I know of it occuring. I think it should only be available if you've actually transacted with someone. 

I have never been faced with the problem. If it ever occured I would probably just let the Trader know I was unhappy and leave it at that. As for receiving Cards first before I ship, I don't think that should receive a negative Feedback anyway. One if you have no Feedback established I am going to request my Cards first and two this time of year coaching and officiating Basketball outside of my day job keeps me very busy and it may take me a week or more to get Cards out. I do, however, alweays communicate that and stay in touch until Cards go out. I have received Cards well before I ship theirs out.

I felt apprehensive the first time I left a negative review. In the end I had no choice but to leave one...ended up getting retalitory feedback from it.

torcato, your second paragraph pretty well sums up how I feel. I've received the odd trade that was poorly packaged, or cards that were damaged, but didn't want to risk retaliatory feedback if I left a neutral or negative. I end up just not leaving any feedback. 

Oh,been there. Thought it was just me. lol. I'm guessing that negative feedback, warrants retalitory feedback, especially if the negative feedback is demeaning and disrespectful. I don't think anyone would accept this type of negative feedback without firing back.

Moral of the story, leave positive only....keep that 100%....let neutral and negative go. I'm sure all the negative and threatening PMs was more than negative enough.

I'm relatively new to the site and I do look at feedback. I had a trade go south and there was no way to reconcile. I tried messaging with niceties to try and get what was supposed to come to me but they didn't work. Once I realized that the other guy wasn't going to budge, I turned to the only other recourse I had --- negative feedback. It didn't get me what I wanted (the card I was supposed to get) but it did put a blemmish on his record and he of course wrote a retaliatory negative comment back. Since there is no intermediary and we are warned to trade at our own risk, the negative feedback is there to warn against potentially bad traders. If I'm going to leave bad feedback, it means that I've done everything else I can to rectify the situation and have no other choice. I think people being made aware of negative occurances helps the community. Mistakes happen but if they aren't fixed, then that behavior shouldn't go unpunished.

Also keep in mind you do not have to leave feedback.  Yes, it sucks when a trade doesn't go just right, it does get frustrating.  However, weigh the plusses and minusses before leaving or not leaving feedback.

Jimmy, you and I have had at least two, possibly three trades, and I can vouch for you being forthright and upstanding, and I'd gladly deal with you anytime we have matches.

I'm one of those who has yet to write negative feedback on anyone, but have dealt frankly with some regarding missing cards in a deal. In one case I dealt twice with a member and both times there were issues on his end that I decided to stop trading with him, and I chose to not leave negative feedback, particularly on the second trade where he said he didn't have the cards he had agreed to trade.

I've been guilty of missing cards I agreed to trade, a rare occurence lately since employing a strict confirm physically policy on my part. But when it did happen I offered to work it out. Whoever chooses to ignore emails on this type of situation will always retaliate with negative feedback. Check those that have posted about it. It reflects on them for retaliation. We can figure out what's going on especially when it's not just once, but various times that it happens. 

I did what KMack said to do, weighed the options, and moved on. It doesn't help others who rely on feedback, but my personal belief is that retaliation for a wrong one committed will always come back at them in one way or another. And there's nothing we can do to stop it. 

Thanks for all the replies and opinions. I'm sure it's a touchy subject that many would rather ignore.

Joshua - the times we've traded have always been fine. In addition, you have always been upfront with any delayed shipments, etc. I've seen recent trades now when the trader marks sent, then I see the actual postmark date AFTER they have received their end. Kinda irks me.

Given that the consensus seems to just ignore giving the neutral/negative feedback to preserve their pristine feedback (which might not really be pristine) how does one then make others aware of these possible poor traders? Seems like they are getting off scot-free while you are left with a bad taste in your mouth.