General Forum

Did you contact that member before creating the transaction to see if they were interested in trading with you? I think that's a point that a lot of members forget is that not everyone is on here to trade with every other member. If you want to trade, ask first. If the other member responds positively, then create the transaction manager request. If someone had blindly sent me a trade request late night 12/23, I wouldn't have gotten back to them until at least late night 12/29. Some of the people who have commented in this thread would have blacklisted me and withdrew the request before I could've gotten back to them. Additionally, when I did get back on the site, I was in no condition to think about cards. If there was a request there, I might have been like "Oh, this has been here that long, might as well just decline it so they can move on." 

V V This! V V  A couple of months ago, I added a note to my profile saying that (unless they're something I really want) I really wasn't interested in trades of only a couple of cards going each way. Basically, I don't want to spend $1.50 on postage for 3 cards that would cost me less than $1.00 if I got them at a show. Since then, I've had at least 5 offers which were for 1-3 cards. I don't initiate many of the trades I make, but when I do, I read the person's profile first and will almost always ask if they'd be interested in a trade before I start putting anything together.

I think, ultimately, there are special circumstances that might prevent someone from getting back to a trade offer right away (as vrooomed outlined). Sending a message ahead of time is probably a good idea for, as roper experienced, putting all the cards into a trade offer takes possibly more time than writing that message of checking in first. I do think that updating a profile with 'not trading now/away from cards' is a good method of communication as well as adding responses to rejections (even if it's just a 'too busy now, maybe later') would help. 

I have found that sometimes if a trader on TCDB is unavailable for some months they may come back and be available later on. I've had to withdraw trade offers due to inactivity only to try again some time later with success. Given all of our circumstances in life these days a trade may not be able to happen yet, so consider making a note of the trader's existence, card collection, etc and maybe try again at a later date.

Send him/her a message saying "You up for a trade? Looks like we have a lot of matches." And if they say yes, then invest the time in getting the transaction together. If they don't get back to you or say no, you've only wasted about 1 minute on sending them a message. No harm, no foul. 

I agree I try to ask first if they would like to trade if no answer i just move on 

Try to work out details before i start pulling cards then the trade goes nice and smooth

I like doing big trades so i use extra minutes before the trade less headaches during and after

I'm not seeing the problem here. If the person doesn't want to trade with you or anyone else, why not just move on?