Trading Etiquette: Communicate!

[Agent 13]

Recently, I've noticed a sharp decline in communication with traders. Out of respect for your trading friends, is it asking too much to at least do the following:

• Let your trader know that you shipped their package.
• Let the trader know that their package arrived safe and sound

I think it is in poor taste to post new items you've received and yet neglect to email a thanks/acknowledgement to the person who sent it to you, setting their minds at ease that their package arrived safely.

Poor communication is a strong pet peeve of mine, and since I have no lack of traders, I'm seriously contemplating refusing traders who consistently have poor communication.

All of the traders that are guilty of this have been men. So, to the guys who email promptly and to all of my women trading friends, I thank you!

Off of my soap box.

[DAJIZZARIZZA]

ohh goodness ,.. lol... i do agree with you on communication and appreciation
i traded alot of folks here and you are the only one whoever gave me a good trader post.

but the only women are better at communicating ,.. lol... maybe cause the men are out working ... lol
but seriously it just tells me where people are at and i treat them as such. but i would always like to know if a person was happy with a trade as fast as they can mention the flaws if any .
take care nice post Agent 13

[Ahmed]

that reminds me. Have you got those discs yet by proxy?

[Dragonbear]

You raise a valid point Agent 13.

Though I would add to the fact that many times the communication gaps
that happen isn't just a matter of not being there. but many times it's
a matter of not being accurate.

I've noticed an increase also of people who will say "o, I haven't been to the post office" or "I hadn't been able to get that done yet".

I was called into check recently because of a good trader of mine that
reminded me that they deserved to be treated just like any other trader
on the idea of getting things out. But there were a couple of times
that I had put off and put off to send the items to them cause other
trades had occured and I knew that they would "wait patiently".

Especially around the holidays I think that we assume that people we have
traded from many times will give us the benefit of the doubt. There have been a couple of cases where traders have approached me and said
"O, I can send you the masters and you can make copies of them yourself"
and then just send them back to me. This seemed a little odd til they
explained that they're dvd was acting up. Which I understood completely.

later one I found out that it was a lie and they just were in the middle of
another trade and didn't want to be tied up with making those copies at all.
This seemed to be just the same to me as not even communicating. A lie
in trading is a lie in trading no matter how it's dressed up to be.

With good communication comes accurate communication. it costs 50 cents
for a regular parcel post to get a delivery confirmation. Seems kinda silly
to not send something out with one. Especially when you hear in this day
and age how many discs are supposedly lost in the mail.

With your idea of going back to increased communication. I would also propose that the accuracy issue be just as important.

To me, and I fully admit that I need to follow my own words with this.

1) 1 E-mail a week with a trade in progress to see where it's at
2) E-mail when sent
3) E-mail when received.
4) Everything should have a delivery confirmation. 50 cents saves
a ton of "where did that package goes".
5) Tell the truth on every trade. If you weren't able to get it done
then that's cool. But how many grandmas can really die in a family
to delay production of discs?

Guess that's my nickels worth

[DAJIZZARIZZA]

A nickle ? I think that's a 50 cent piece worth ..lol

[savageamusement]

I agree on several aspects.

I find that being a moderator, I get treated different.
higher standards don't bother me- but few traders leave feedback for me- because as one stated
"We all know your a good trader"

Bah.

Being put to ease that packages arrived and someone is happy should be common politeness.

As far as the communication goes, I communicate to death.
Updates, quality, problems, even asking little things- do you want me to label the disc? or leave it blank? Do you like hard cases or envelopes.

I don't think you can ask too much. In my opinion.

I have been lied to and scammed, I have had people take advantage of my good nature many times, and it is all the more reason to ask more questions and communicate more.

The longer some trade, the more comfortble they become, and details become ignored.
They assume and over assume- and it ends up with people being overwhelmed- or frustrated.

When we count on PC to burn items, and it only takes ten minutes we become crutched on that - and dont' plan on mistakes, problems, equipment program or otherwise.
And this also leads to problems.

I think we need to remember the basics, no matter how long we have been trading.

[debwalsh]

Hmm, I'd agree. Someone offering to trust you with their original discs is a pretty big deal, IMHO. Personally, I'm extremely flattered and feel a great sense of responsibility on the rare occasions when it's happened to me. I can think of only a small number of people in the world that I'd trust my originals with - and that doesn't even count the fact I'm not keen to put my originals in the mail without a backup in the first place.

[loren]

heres my 16 cents worth

the number one problem --in my mind--is not the keeping others informed

i gaurentee the number one problem is people committing to more than they could ever possibly come through with

how many times have we read the post about______ who makes this trade and then comes up with excuse after excuse, as to why its not done

every single one of those posts has one common theme

person bite far more off than they could ever possibly chew

not everyone has committed the time, machine expense, and etc

to make 50, or 100 or more disc trades

if your level of comfort is 12 discs, and you can do them in a tiemly manner

then by garsh, do that, and do a nice job of it

then when thats done, move along little doggie to the next task


i have been down the road with the excuses

its when someone is far over committed, that all these excuses come into play

seriously

if its going to be three weeks before you can ship your part

state that up front

and if you can do it 4 days earlier

then thats great

the quickest way to get in dutch is to over promise

then the excuses start rolling

they are classic

i can see them a mile away


yes i have made trades with the people who take 4 months

but not anymore

i have made trades with the multi excuse makers

but not any more

see a pattern here

if you dont do things in a timely manner

then guess what

you will be the one wondering why you never get trades anymore


the very first thing i learned in net deals, was to do what you say

and build a bit of a reputation for doing that

i started off doing sports collectables and bean babies

i had over 1100 good feedback on ebay--which is about 4000 to 5000 transactions or more

before i get a negative feedback

it pays to do what you say you will

when i got removed from ebay for selling discs, i had 1343 good and 1 negative

and the negative was from a shipment that was insured and the other person never filed a ups claim and wanted a refund 2 months later due to damage in shipping


same with the video stuff

everyone starts off as a newbie

and what you do from there makes the difference

if you make ecxcuses and dont deliver, that what you will stay--stuck in your tracks

but if you ship on time, and dont stonewall people

guess what

you then will expand, and be able to pick and choose what you want

believe this

its so much nicer and enjoyable

to get email after email

about how you did your part and shipped on time and blah blah

rather than need to bs people and make up reasons why you cant produce

moral of the story

do you job in the first place, and the need to communicate is reduced greatly


most of my trades take about 4 short emails to complete

one party says they want________

the other says thay would like_________

one replies ill get them off asap

the other replies they will ship_________

done deal, a short time later, its open package time

thats enjoyable

and thats why we have a hobby

[Dragonbear]

Now that was a 50 cents worth piece loren :-)

I know for myself that I am not point fingers at anyone.
I guess just the idea of raising the game is important to me
and to others as well. So you brought up a great point
AG13.

[savageamusement]

Well no excuses anymore (lol)

this is the lengthiest communication I have read on a thread

Barring the average I can beat that tv set in one less disc:


Some super feedback, and insight here.

[loren]

Originally Posted by savageamusement

Well no excuses anymore (lol)

this is the lengthiest communication I have read on a thread

Barring the average I can beat that tv set in one less disc:


Some super feedback, and insight here.

my one basic point

your reputation is all you have on the net

protect it

[gilligan fanatic]

I have to agree with everything. I like to know what is going on. I don't do that many trades so for me its real easy to keep track when I am told when things were sent out when. I know I tell them when I send there package out. Also I like to be told that they got it and it did not get damaged or anything like that.

[RedWhine56]

Originally Posted by DAJIZZARIZZA

but the only women are better at communicating ,.. lol... maybe cause the men are out working ... lol

Ruh, roh...(trying to get Daj's worms back into the can...)

(DAJ - I HAVE A FULL TIME JOB WRITING COMPUTER SOFTWARE, CLEAN MY OWN HOUSE, PAY THE BILLS, WORKOUT ~5 TIMES/WEEK AND COOK & DO LAUNDRY - EVEN FOR MY HUSBAND - WHILE HE'S OUT THERE WORKING! AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE KIDS!!!! I DON'T THINK YOU WANT TO GO THERE!!!!)

Originally Posted by debwalsh

I can think of only a small number of people in the world that I'd trust my originals with - and that doesn't even count the fact I'm not keen to put my originals in the mail without a backup in the first place.

I'd agree. You can get DC/insurance/tracking (with UPS)/etc but still....crap happens. And DC/insurance/tracking won't bring back those masters. Eventhough my collection is a pittance compared to most people here, it's taken alot of time, effort and money (for discs, burners, copiers, etc) to build my collection. You can bet your sweet bippy I'm not going to entrust my only copy to the USPS. Period.

Agent13 - agreed! I actually HAVE crossed a (MALE) trader off my list because I only traded with him because he was a new trader & I had something he wanted. Yet, after DC told me he rec'd the package, I emailed him asking if he'd rec'd the package...with no response. I figure if he can't take the 20 seconds it takes to hit REPLY/Yes, thank you/SEND... I want nothing more to do with him. I realize this is a petty issue, but then, this is a hobby for me. Since I never sell, trading doesn't pay my bills, so if I elect to turn down a trade for a petty reason, so be it. What is it they say about a woman's scorn? (Or is that a woman scorned? Or a woman's corn???)

[loren]

del con

please read this as a factual account and not a lame excuse

del con means nothing--period--nothing

it doesnt mean an item made it to my house, it means the carrier scanned it and dropped it somewhere

a well known trader on this board, sent me a huge box, about 200 discs total

he of cousre was concerned about a big one, and asked a couple times if it showed--since theyw ere on the ship first plan

well it had not arrived here

so the person went on line and looked up the del con number

THE POSTAL SAYS DELIVERED AT MY ZIP CODE AT 8-43 AM THAT MORNING

to be honest, i sleep till 10 or 11 every day

my mail carrier comes at about 2-3 pm

and we have a 50 unit locked mailbox, so no chance of a theft

my carrier sorts until about noon and then runs the motor route to me

so the item surely wasnt here--period

so the other person called the local postal in my town, and since the scan said 843 am, they decided it was sent to a local business-- lands end mail order warehouse

anyhow they got it to me the next day


the web site said i got it

of cousr i didnt

had the person been a little hot headed

i could easily been called a thief since the web site says it was delivered to me

it doesnt prove where it was dropped, only that it was dropped somewhere and scanned at some point

unless you use a sig con, you really dont know

[Dragonbear]

Delivery confirmation To me does mean something.

It means that I have ammo with the Postmaster to tell them
that it arrived. as well as the post person if they say "Gee, I
don't remember a package".

Granted, it doesn't guarantee that you received it completely.
But it does give you one step in the right direction. Otherwise
the postoffice will end up just pass you off.