BF user "Doughnut" is not the best at trading

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

spydercobenchmadekai

Feedback: +4 / =0 / -0
Joined
Sep 26, 2013
Messages
2,466
Hi Blade Forums.

{I have edited out all real names and addresses for the privacy of the parties involved.}

A few days ago, I posted an item for trade. (A Spyderco S110V Mule.) Within a few hours, several people had contacted me with offers. "Doughnut" was one of them; he offered several sprint run Spydercos.



Here is his first email:

Hello, I am interested in trading you for your S110V Mule. I have a few sprints that I would be willing to trade. All are new or like new in box unless noted otherwise.

Brown Calypso (has collector number)
Orange Dodo
Forum Native (S110V)
Native 5 (normal, carried and lightly used, sharpened)

I can probably come up with some other offers if you want me to and let me know what type of knives you'd be interested in, I have almost entirely Spydercos.

I replied with this:

Wow! I'm for sure interested in that forum Native. I know it's a long shot, but do you happen to have a Lil' Temp, Spyker, or any of the other spydies listed in my sig line?
If not, that's fine. Is there a chance you could email pics of the forum Native?
Thanks for all of your offers!

He replied with this:
I don't have a Lil Temp, Spyker, or any of the models listed in your sig line.


My Forum Native has never been taken out of the box, it is brand new and has never left the box. I kind of want to keep it in the box so that it is actually NIB.


I replied with this:

I'll call it a deal! What's your shipping info? I can get it out Wednesday if I have your address.
Mine is:
{address removed}

He replied with this:

Just to make sure, we are doing an even trade, my Forum Native for your CPM-S110V Mule.My address is:


{address removed}

Everything seems to be running smoothly, right? He then wrote again with:

Hold on that a bit. Please give me 1 day to think about this.

I've seen other Mules sell for a lot of money and I want a S110V one, but I want to weigh how much I really want it. I know I paid $xxx for the Forum Native, but I don't know what the street value of them is. I know they sold out in a couple of hours.

A guy from the Spyderco forum offered to sell me one for the selling cost of $xx.

I'll get back to you in a day, I just want a bit of time to think.

I am surprised. 1 day to think about this? After he is the one that offered to trade? At this point, I had already turned down the other offers. I wrote this:

Yes, it would be an even trade.

I have several other offers at the time. I have had to turn these other offers down as I promised everyone a timely answer by last night.

From what I've seen, Forum Natives sell for about $xxx. The S110V Mule sells on Ebay for about $xxx to $xxx. The MT18P sold out within hours as well--and MSRP is not relative once an item is sold out.

Let me know ASAP, so that I can contact the other people if you decide not to follow through.

He replies with:

Alright, I will do that.

Which I take to mean that he will trade. So I write:

Sounds like a plan. I will ship tomorrow.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the Mule! I put handle scales on my other one; it's a great little knife.

He then replies with:

I mean, I will let you know ASAP, not I will accept the offer.

He then writes again, with:

There have been a lot of hiccups already and we haven't even traded. I would like to take it as a sign and not go through with this trade. It is possibly my fault, too.

I'm sorry for all of the troubles with this trade.

I suggest you follow through with one of the other ones.

Let me know if you have any comments.
I reply with:

Comments. Yes. This is how I see our exchange of emails:

1. You contact me with trade offers. It is in good form to only offer things that you are willing to trade.
2. I reply, and ask for pictures.
3. You decline to provide pictures, with a good-enough reason.
4. I accept the trade, and give you my shipping info.
5. You reply, with your shipping info.
6. You suddenly rethink things, and ask for a whole day to decide. This is after I declined other offers and we had exchanged shipping info.
7. I reply, as I am shocked that you now might back out. I state the comparative values, and I ask for a firm answer ASAP.
8. You reply with, "I will do that," which I take to mean that you will trade.
9. I reply and confirm the trade.
10. You reply and decide to back out because, "there have been a lot of hiccups." This is really stretching it to say that the trade has had "hiccups" when the only problem has been that you couldn't make up your mind.
11. I write this.
12. There is no need for a reply from you.

I will most likely be posting this email exchange in the Feedback section.

He replies the last time with:

Sorry for the miscommunication. I feel the lack of good communication is good enough reason to not follow through with the trade. I do not have a warm and fuzzy over the trade. It seems very rushed compared to the dozens of trades I have done in the past.

I never told you that I accepted the trade. You asked me to get back to you asap and I told you I would get back to you asap. I made the mistake of sending you shipping information before accepting.


I agree with you that I can't make up my mind and I am sorry for wasting your time.

___________

IMO, you should only email someone with an offer if you want to trade with them. I would never trade with Doughnut in the future; I can forsee problems arrising even after we have both shipped our knives. I don't hold a grudge against him, but I would not do business with someone that can't make up their mind before emailing. Anyway, I thought I would post this so that it could be seen.
 
It sounds like he just wanted to back out of the trade is all.
 
Ya, I don't think calling him out publicly is an appropriate response.
I can see how you are frustrated but there was no deal agreed to or completed and he seemed pretty upfront and open about it.
 
You may have jumped the gun on this one. I don't see a need to tarnish another member over this. Just my thoughts.
 
To me, the guy didn't really do anything so horrible. Changed his mind, felt rushed and uncomfortable and so he backed out. I've had some weird experiences in trades, people backing out, etc. No big deal. It's a knife. You will trade it to someone else, or not. Either way, you will survive.
I don't think it's necessary to call the guy out on the forum over this.
 
He emailed you trade with offers, he didn't email you saying "I'll trade my S110V forum Native for you S110V mule". Sounds, to me, like you got impatient. Someone asking for a day to consider a trade isn't out of the norm, and for that matter no one's forcing you to deal with him. In my opinion, this thread is unnecessary, Donut was smart to re consider. I don't think a NIB S110V mule for a forum native is fair trade anyway, close, but you would have gotten the better end.

Moderators, I'll notify Donut of this thread.

Cheers,
 
Agreed. However, after reading this post by Spark I decided to post this. To me, this could be helpful as a reminder to other traders to be sure they want to trade before posting/emailing/PMing.

If it is common to offer things that you don't want to trade, my apology for this thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/announcement.php?f=757&a=98

Traders/Trading -

Be honest and provide an accurate and detailed description of the item. Forgetting to mention defects, blemishes, or other problems is not acceptable. When in doubt, be pessimistic with your descriptions.
Provide as many photos as possible, in the best lighting possible. It's always nice to see what you are about to trade for.
If you choose not to use insurance to save money, any repercussions will fall on you (Shipper). Insurance is there to protect you, use it.
Package and ship your items in such a way that they are safe to handle, will not arrived damaged, and will reach their final destination intact.
Do NOT post cash value equivalents in your trade threads.
Communication is key, honor your word. If you say you will do something, then do it.

P.S. I didn't ever say that is was an even trade. He's the one that offered. I never would have offered a Mule for a Forum Native myself, but he did.
 
Last edited:
Eli, his communication wasn't perfect, but I still don't think the text in bold is enough to justify this thread.
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
Agreed. However, after reading this post by Spark I decided to post this. To me, this could be helpful as a reminder to other traders to be sure they want to trade before posting/emailing/PMing.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/announcement.php?f=757&a=98

Traders/Trading -

Be honest and provide an accurate and detailed description of the item. Forgetting to mention defects, blemishes, or other problems is not acceptable. When in doubt, be pessimistic with your descriptions.
Provide as many photos as possible, in the best lighting possible. It's always nice to see what you are about to trade for.
If you choose not to use insurance to save money, any repercussions will fall on you (Shipper). Insurance is there to protect you, use it.
Package and ship your items in such a way that they are safe to handle, will not arrived damaged, and will reach their final destination intact.
Do NOT post cash value equivalents in your trade threads.
Communication is key, honor your word. If you say you will do something, then do it.

P.S. I didn't ever say that is was an even trade. He's the one that offered. I never would have offered a Mule for a Forum Native myself, but he did.
Click to expand...

The bolded part applies if you're actually trading. He backed out. Over and done.
 
CJZ said:
The bolded part applies if you're actually trading. He backed out. Over and done.
Click to expand...

Agreed, he never actually accepted the trade, he asked to have some time to consider the trade while only you accepted it. So this post is unnecessary IMHO.
 
If it is common to offer things that you aren't sure that you want to trade, my apologies for this thread. I thought that you were only supposed to offer things that you wanted to trade.

I also thought that Feedback: The G,B,&U was the right place to post this type of thing.
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
If it is common to offer things that you aren't sure that you want to trade, my apologies for this thread. I thought that you were only supposed to offer things that you wanted to trade.
Click to expand...

It doesn't look like he backed out because he didn't want to trade the knife, it looks like he backed out because you wanted to do things so quickly. I get nervous when dealing with new people, if something doesn't feel right, 99% of the time backing out is my solution.

Eli, would you mind posting a link to your original trade thread pls? :)

edited to add:the GB&U is the right place.
 
It would have been easier all around if Donut had made up his mind and expressed himself more clearly. On the other hand, it's not a deal until the buyer or trader says "I'll take it."

So you were free at any time to accept a firmer offer.

I bet Donut now realizes that he needs to do his thinking before communicating, but he doesn't sound like a bad guy. At least he didn't get crazy over the trade falling apart, he kept his cool. I have had people ask me what I thought of a deal and I tell them, if it don't feel good, don't do it.

You did all right, too, once you realized there was a problem, and explained your view thoroughly.
 
9blades said:
It doesn't look like he backed out because he didn't want to trade the knife, it looks like he backed out because you wanted to do things so quickly. I get nervous when dealing with new people, if something doesn't feel right, 99% of the time backing out is my solution.

Eli, would you mind posting a link to your original trade thread pls? :)

edited to add:the GB&U is the right place.
Click to expand...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1159524-WTT-NIB-Spyderco-MT18P-(Mule-Team-in-S110V)
 
Metal Made Fox said:
It seems like both of you guys kind of suck at trading.
Click to expand...

How, exactly, do I suck at trading? I replied to all offers within 6 hours. I gave a firm answer. (Thanks, but no; or Yes, thank you.) I would have shipped within two days of agreeing on a trade. I remained polite and to the point in my emails.

I have easily completed good, fair trades in the past. Check my feedback. 100% positive.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/itrader_detail.php?ir=116021&u=358222
 
Also, how did I rush things? I don't want to scare people off in the future.

Is there a certain protocol for the number of hours you're supposed to wait before responding to an email? Are there a certain number of days that you should wait before accepting a trade?
 
In the end, he realized that trading a Native 5 forum knife for a Mule Team in S110V would make the Knife Gods very angry.
 
just seems like you may have gone off half cocked with the public call out, that's all. it just doesn't seem like that big a deal. he didn't steal from you or back out when the knives were already mailed. I would just be more circumspect in the future.
 
9blades said:
He emailed you trade with offers, he didn't email you saying "I'll trade my S110V forum Native for you S110V mule". Sounds, to me, like you got impatient. Someone asking for a day to consider a trade isn't out of the norm, and for that matter no one's forcing you to deal with him. In my opinion, this thread is unnecessary, Donut was smart to re consider. I don't think a NIB S110V mule for a forum native is fair trade anyway, close, but you would have gotten the better end.

Moderators, I'll notify Donut of this thread.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Thank you for the visitor message notification, but we are different people, different screen names.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top