Need HeadFi collective advice! Bad Trader?

[elvergun]

I need some opinions from you guys (specially the people who have conducted many trades and sales here on Head-Fi).
 
I'll leave out names for now.
 
Okay, so a week ago I put up some ATH-M50s for trade in the sales forum.
 
 
Since a thread is worth 1000 words, I'll just post the PMs between us next (I changed his nickname to TRADER):
 
TRADER
i have a nice pair of klipsch x10s lying around if your interested

elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I would be interested. Do you have any sale or trading history on Head-fi?

elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 8:39 pm
i see you do have feedback. A couple of question. do you have all the accessories? Also, how old are the x10s? Do they display any sing of the famous cable problem?

TRADER
Jun 1, 2012 at 8:53 pm
yes and i picked them up October and the cable seems fine

elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Okay...how about the accessories?

TRADER
Jun 1, 2012 at 9:36 pm
yes I still have all the accessories it came with

elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 9:45 pm
All right...I'm game if you are.

TRADER
Jun 1, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I'm up for it
but I was just wondering if you have any newer feedback on another forum or ebay
 
elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Yes...in the old feedback pages here on headfi....and on ebay ...same user name of elvergun

TRADER
Jun 1, 2012 at 10:24 pm
well my address is
 
His address and info removed
 
whats your address
 
elvergun
Jun 1, 2012 at 10:42 pm
I'm at dinner...send info later...when do you think you will ship

TRADER
Jun 1, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Monday

elvergun
Jun 2, 2012 at 12:06 am
Ok...I'll do the same.
 
Here is my info:
 
My address and info removed
 
I suppose we will do registered mail and then we will send the tracking number to each other.

elvergun
Jun 3, 2012 at 9:48 am
Are we still up for tomorrow?

TRADER
Jun 3, 2012 at 9:30 pm
yep

elvergun
Jun 3, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Cool...i was looking at posts about the x10s to get an idea on what to expect.


So, registered mail with tracking, right? At What time do you think you will ship?

elvergun
Jun 4, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Hey,
 
 
Do you mind if we ship tomorrow instead?   I was hoping to slip out of work early today to make a trip to the post office but they scheduled a meeting which I have to attend.
 
If the meeting does not last too long I might still make it to the post office today, but sometimes these meetings can go on forever.
 
 
elvergun
Jun 4, 2012 at 9:35 pm
trader,
 
 
Are you getting my PMs?
 
 

TRADER
Jun 4, 2012 at 10:29 pm
yep just wasn't sure how to respond


elvergun
Jun 4, 2012 at 10:32 pm
What do you mean?

TRADER
Jun 4, 2012 at 10:53 pm
sorry just miss read it
but my package is ready to go my postman is picking it up tomorrow I was going to ship it today but you sent me that message so I thought I should wait  


elvergun
Jun 4, 2012 at 11:34 pm
Okay...I will ship tomorrow and send you the tracking number.

elvergun
Jun 5, 2012 at 11:44 am
trader,
 
I'm expecting to ship during my lunch time...in a couple of hours.
 


elvergun
Jun 5, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Shipped.
 
This is your tracking number:
0312 0090 XXXX XXXX XXXX (removed numbers for thread)
 
 
Please provide a tracking number.
 
 
Regards,
elvergun

elvergun
Jun 5, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Hey,

Have you shipped your headphones?

elvergun
Jun 6, 2012 at 9:20 am
trader,
 
Can you give me an update.  Did you ship?  Are you planning to ship?  Whats going on?
 

elvergun
Jun 6, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Hey,
 
I can see you have been on the forums.  Are you going to give me an update or are you just going to keep ignoring my PMs?
 

TRADER
Jun 9, 2012 at 7:35 pm
shipped awhile ago did you receive them yet
 
 
The guy has good feedback, so I took a chance and shipped my headphones.  I shipped my end and then I did not hear from the guy for 4 days.  I would check his profile and see that he would be online, but he would not respond to my messages and he never gave a tracking number. 
 
I searched his nickname in the forums and I found and old post from 2010 from a member that had the same problem with the same guy.  The thread was edited by the member who created it as it seems like the matter was resolved.   I sent the Head-Fi member a PM asking him if he could tell me what had happened in 2010.  He informed me that he had conducted a trade, sent his end to TRADER, and then did not hear back from him even though he saw that the guy had been online.  Exactly the same situation as mine.  After a long song and dance the member finally got his package and a BS excuse from the guy (he claimed that he had been out of town and could not send him a PM...even though he had been browsing the forums).
 
I thought I was screwed so I contacted the post office on Friday and filled out a package intercept form (was in the post office for an hour and had to pay a fee of $11). 
 
Finally, I received a message Saturday.  Too late to cancel the package intercept...not that I would have canceled since by this point I did no longer trust the guy. 
 
This morning I got a call from the post office to tell me that my package had been intercepted and was on its way back to me.
 
When I got back from work there was a package waiting for me.  Yeap...from the guy.  On the box there was the delivery confirmation information that the guy never sent me.  I opened the box to see what was inside (could the box be empty or could it contain apple ear buds like the bad trader from Europe)...I found x10s inside. 
 
 
So the questions is...was my paranoia justified or is this whole thing my fault?  I'm out $20 and I still have to ship something back to the guy.  This whole trade just feels wrong by now.  I would like to just send his headphones back and sell my M50s.  No more trades for me.   Do you guys think I am now obligated to send the M50s?   Should I charge him for shipping his (or mine) headphones or should the cost come out of my pocket?

 

[AstroTurf]

You really can't charge the guy anything.
 
But I would send his stuff back. PERIOD.
 
He broke the trust you had. Be happy you are not here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/610328/bad-trader-crap-i-need-help
 
Jim

 

[FISA002]

i agree with the above!
no matter what your research found, he has sent you his headphones and you still have yours. Out of pocket or not, trading is a risk, which you decided to take,
All risks come with consequences i guess and this time is was unfortunate.
i can sympathise with you here actually but
i would personally send back his headphones and get the headache over with and sell your headphones some other means and think, lesson learnt.
,,, just my two pence worth.
gud luck !

 

[elvergun]

Crap...I guess I'm down $30.  And all of this because the guy could not trouble himself to send a PM with a bunch of numbers. 
 
 
Oh well,  trade and learn.
 
 
Do you guys think I should I post his handle so others might be aware of what they might get into if they trade with this guy?

 

[mosshorn]

Quote:

Crap...I guess I'm down $30.  And all of this because the guy could not trouble himself to send a PM with a bunch of numbers. 
 
 
Oh well,  trade and learn.
 
 
Do you guys think I should I post his handle so others might be aware of what they might get into if they trade with this guy?

 
His lackluster communication skills might be able to give it away if anyone runs into him 

 
But in all seriousness, I would probably send his stuff back. The X10's always go on a firesale, and it'll be cheaper to send his stuff back (tiny pkg I'm assuming) rather than send yours back (assuming a larger one). I've been a subpar trader before, and I've dealt with them as well. I would say keep him anon. Though he should have apologized for not responding.

 

[tdshain]

Quote:

Crap...I guess I'm down $30.  And all of this because the guy could not trouble himself to send a PM with a bunch of numbers. 
 
 
Oh well,  trade and learn.
 
 
Do you guys think I should I post his handle so others might be aware of what they might get into if they trade with this guy?

Clearly it didn't go smoothly, but are you unhappy with the trade? If you still want the x10s then you should re-send your package to him, enjoy the new headphones and move on.
 
My point is, you shouldn't let the shaky trade get in the way of enjoying music. 

 

[dnullify]

I'm not sure what the huge deal is... are the x10s in the described condition?
 
It sounds like he simply fell off the grid for a few days, not that he was maliciously trying to scam/steal from you. You've got the x10s, and sure he didn't give you a tracking number like you agreed but the point is his phones are in your possession. If you were happy with the trade before, i'd just follow through and ship out the m50s and be done with it.

 

[ivanrocks321]

Yeah sounds like this situation really went well besides some communication problems. It could have gone very very wrong but it did not. You should send the m50 or send his stuff back, but you should PM him first to make sure everything is squared away.  

 

[elvergun]

Quote:

I'm not sure what the huge deal is... are the x10s in the described condition?
 
It sounds like he simply fell off the grid for a few days, not that he was maliciously trying to scam/steal from you. You've got the x10s, and sure he didn't give you a tracking number like you agreed but the point is his phones are in your possession. If you were happy with the trade before, i'd just follow through and ship out the m50s and be done with it.

I hear what you are saying...
 
The thing is, the guy did not fall of the grid.  I could see he would log on to this site and he simply chose not to answer my PMs.   I thought I had been scammed (no PMs, no tracking number) so I had to waste an hour in the post office and I had to pay a fee for the package recall.  The crazy thing is that the package I received had a tracking number, its just that the guy decided not to send me the information. 
 
Also, this is not the first time he just fell off the grid during a Head-Fi trade.  If you can't answer a simple message because you will be really busy during that week, then just don't start a trade.  Or am I wrong?
 
My initial reaction was to send him a message asking him for $30 dollars if he wanted his headphones back ($10 to ship and $20 to cover my costs), but some of the replies to this thread have changed my mind.  I guess I will just cut my loses and call it a day.

 

[ivanrocks321]

Sometime people just leave themselves signed on but they are not around, maybe this happened?

 

[elvergun]

Quote:

Sometime people just leave themselves signed on but they are not around, maybe this happened?

 
No, I'm not talking about the currently online/offline indicator.  You can actually see when a person was last online in their profile.  The 'last online' indicator is refreshed every time a user clicks on a link or refreshes a web page.  I sent him my last PM during one period of activity - the counter showed minutes, then seconds, then minutes - he just ignored me.  Keep in mind that a little window pops up when you get a new PM. 

 

[Dacrazydude]

Quote:

 
No, I'm not talking about the currently online/offline indicator.  You can actually see when a person was last online in their profile.  The 'last online' indicator is refreshed every time a user clicks on a link or refreshes a web page.  I sent him my last PM during one period of activity - the counter showed minutes, then seconds, then minutes - he just ignored me.  Keep in mind that a little window pops up when you get a new PM. 

That thing(pop-up) is really gimmicky if you use head-fi on a mobile source. 

 

[elvergun]

Quote:

That thing(pop-up) is really gimmicky if you use head-fi on a mobile source. 

Perhaps, but you still have the new message counter at the top of the page and you should receive an email notification informing you that a new PMs has arrived (and the PM text is in the email as well).
 
Plus, I should not have to send him any PMs begging him to reply to my messages.  If you are involved in a trade you ship the item and then you send  the tracking number information.  No?   That's what I did.  

 

[jekostas]

Quote:

 
Plus, I should not have to send him any PMs begging him to reply to my messages.  If you are involved in a trade you ship the item and then you send  the tracking number information.  No?   That's what I did. 

 
Based on the PMs exchange you pasted the other party said nothing about shipping with a registration number.  You just made the assumption that he would.
 
The other party fulfilled his end of the trade by shipping his items in good faith.  You have his X10s.
 
You did *not* fulfill your end of the trade.  You still have your headphones.
 
Ship his items back and compensate him for his shipping costs.  Asking for the other party to compensate you when it was you who made the mistake is pretty rude.
 
Frankly, the other party in this transaction has a legitimate complaint and you should feel lucky that they haven't come on and complained about *you*.

 

[LizardKing1]

I'm not sure I'm following... so he shipped you a pair of IEMs, you received them, you stopped your shipping and did not send your headphones to him even though you said you would... and you're complainting about him?
 
I understand 4 days without a reply is a lot when conducting a trade, I would get shaky too and maybe intercept the package too, or actually I would not ship until he said "I have everything ready and will ship today/tomorrow". But at this point isn't it beyond obvious that your concerns were unfunded? Do you not have his X10s? I mean how can he scam you? Either ship him your M50s or PM him asking if he'd like them back, although I don't see the point. Unless you feel like the X10s are fake I really don't see what's wrong.