I was thinking, how do trades work? what happens if someone agrees to trade but never sends out their item to be traded?
Andy - I moved your post here because nobody can respond to it in the Trade section where you originally posted it. As to your question - the answer depends on the agreement made between the 2 people doing the trade. Were both parties to mail their items at the same time, was one to go first, or what ? Without knowing that it's hard to say what happens. Or are you asking what does Coin Talk do ? If you are, Coin Talk doesn't do anything. All buys, sales, or trades are between the two parties doing it - Coin Talk is not involved. That said, if it comes to our attention that a CT member is guilty of ripping off several, meaning not just one, other members then we will ban the offending member. But other than that, CT will do nothing because we cannot do anything.
I once had a trade lined up but it just seemed too risky. Unless the person has a few hundred posts here, I wouldnt trade. Good question. I wonder if anybody has a good solution to this risky situation.
Ive had many sucessful trades on here. Most werent of a ton of value (a few wheats and uncirculated coins)
The key to any successful trade/sale is to post in the general coin forum requests for approvals from other members/success stories. It's no safeguard by any means, but you'll get an idea if a trade sounds safe or not. Do your research and you should feel better about initiating a trade. Hope this helps.
For trades, and it goes for sales as well, either be willing to lose the coin or do business with people you trust. I think most people in this hobby are honest and you will probably not have any issue trading with people. On the other hand it can happen and there really is not much recourse on your part if it does. So I only trade/sell coins to people I don't know if I can afford to eat the lose if it were to occur. For instance, I can afford to lose a $30 coin to someone, and while I would not be happy I would not be devastated either. On the other hand, I would be heartbroken and very upset to loose a $500 coin to someone, so I won't sell/trade it with anyone I don't know. With that said, I have sent several thousand dollars of coins out on approval to people I know. By the way, getting insurance when I ship coins works the same way. If I can afford to lose it I don't insure it, if I would be heartbroken to loose it I insure...
I personally try and strike up a conversation with the person that i am dealing with. In my experiences, if the people are willing to talk with you, and let you into their life to a certain extent, they are usually worth dealing with. Plus if you can get some sort of personal info. that can be followed back to them, then u have something to hang on to. Nothing personal, just a good thing to have if for some reason you do get ripped off. Also, if they have a shady nature about them, they usually will either not really be interested in talking with you, or they will talk until they get caught up in a lie and just not entertain convo. anymore. I had a guy that i was trying to buy a rolex from and he was a pretty stand up guy it seemed, but when i started to ask him to describe some of the details of his rolex, he just stopped talking with me... so i took that as it was either fake and he thought he was going to get over on someone until i started asking detail questons, or he was just lying all together.
Maybe a buyer/seller/trader feedback option would be a good idea on this forum? to able to sell you will need more then 100 posts or something + 20 likes? Just throwing out some idea's
While I understand your point, the fact is a post count on an online forum has nothing to do with character. This is the "key" to a successful trade? Sorry, but no.. just as ebay feedback can be meaningless, so can be post from anonymous and unknown persons. On the other hand, basic common sense can go a long way. Define "talking with". Is a polite and respectful conversation enough, or should the other party be expected to ramble on for hours? As written, I find this to be nonsense as you cannot judge someone on their willingness (or lack of) to let you into their life just to make a trade/sale, especially if a low-dollar one. Not everyone has the time or desire to do so, nor should it be expected. That said, mutual respect and understanding can do much to ensure a smooth transaction. Feedback: take a look at some of the biggest dreck dealers on ebay. After doing so you might want to rethink how valuable a feedback number is. Post count: anyone wishing to take advantage of others could easily make the small effort to nail down 100 posts, so this too would do nothing to ensure successful transactions. Likes: absolutely meaningless. Post a few coins in the newps thread and you are bound to be "liked" many, many times. I am not trying to knock your ideas, but show that in the big picture, such things would have little (if any) effect on making this a safer place to conduct business.
Feedback is probably the most useless indicator for doing business with somebody that there is. I would even go so far to say that feedback is downright dangerous. Why ? because when you put any trust or faith into feedback you are trusting complete strangers. Do you trust complete strangers ? If you do, then why do you need feedback to decide if you are willing to do business with somebody else who is a complete stranger ?
Already been discussed, already shot down. One thing you could do for trades is have a third party involved. What I mean is, person 1 and person 2 are going to trade coins. They both send their coins to person 3 with some money to pay for postage and the inconvenience. Person 3 then sends the coins to the new owners. Now, you just need to find someone that everyone trusts. Double postage would have to be paid though.
Guys there is a simple answer. It is the same basic rule that you should follow with every single coin that you ever buy. ONLY buy coins from people you know and trust. Or - ONLY buy coins from somebody that has been recommended to you by someone who you know and trust. That's it. If neither of those statements is true - then don't buy, period.
