Cactus Game Design Message Boards

I can only speak from my personal experience over the last few years. I am reluctant to post trade offers because there are certain board members that undercut my offer through PMs. Because we are in a capitalistic society, people are willing to accept the undercutting, because they get more out of it. There are some people on the boards that stick to their integrity and stay with the first offer, or at least allow the original offer person to make a counter-offer. Even then, though, there will be people who will say they had a better offer when they really did not, just to up the ante.

The bottom line is that several people on these boards can not be trusted. Even presumably trustworthy members do the behind-the-back dealings. I know this for a fact because I received PMs from these people trying to undercut trade offers made to me (or that I was making).

The increase in such dealings is likely because trading as a whole has diminished in the years I have been here, especially for the higher-end cards. Eventually new members come on with high-end cards, and we all scramble to get them (like sharks). It took me several months to land an orange KoT even though I have $1000s in cards and many high-end cards. I simply could not make the same offer that others are willing to make.

Although the shipping issue is not directly related to your question, it is indirectly related to the trust issue. I was an eBay Power Seller for many years. I have over 3000 recorded transactions between items I shipped or items I received. In all those transactions, I never had a single item lost in the mail. Since I have been on these boards, I have made close to 40 transactions, and I am now up to 11 items that were allegedly lost in the mail. Statistically speaking, that is quite alarming.

We all want the best deal. However, cutthroat trading only leads to lack of trust. Lack of trust leads to less trading. When the supplies are limited, the wealthy profit, while the rest of us get next to nothing.

Honestly, the only reason I was able to get that KoT is because the Guardian took pity on my wee soul.

I understand this very much so...

If someone has a card for trade, many people can post that they want it, but it's the owners responsibility  to give preference to the first poster.
However, if someone proposes a deal, they need to honor it if it is accepted, and so does everyone else.
A bid war can be annoying, a deal broken and stolen ain't good at all.

Quote from: Cpt.Jaeger on May 16, 2011, 11:33:03 AM

I agree with all of this, especially YMT....
I have had several people ask to buy things in my threads and then all of the sudden send me a PM saying they got them elsewhere or don't need them anymore, sometimes after agreeing to the deal and exchanging addy's

Consequently, I was just recently thinking that I'm going to start a negative feedback thread in the trading tips child forum to report people that back out of trades/sales because of how much it happens. Unfortunately, I don't always know who it is that steals the deals, except for the occasional outright post in my trade thread trying to undercut me

I don't think a negative trade thread is necessary. We have the current trade thread with points system, that does very well at alerting neutral or negative trades. It's the responsibility of both parties to check that thread (and if they don't have any logged trades, take precautions) to check trustworthiness. I feel like having a trade thread dedicated to, "this person screwed me over" supports negativity and a general untrusting attitude. Are there people who should not be trusted? Absolutely. About two years ago I got ripped off (sent payment, never received cards) for $20, so I definitely know that some people can't be trusted, but the system in place works fine, in my opinion. If somebody has backed out of a trade after confirming said trade, I don't see why you can post that in the existing thread.

Well, I see it as a different kind of feedback. One is feedback for a trade (indicating that they did/didn't send cards, in the condition specified).
The other indicates that they may have a habit on backing out of trades and it isn't worthwhile to reserve cards for them. I'm not really sure how to leave feedback for it..... consequently, people just shouldn't do it

I have had several people ask to buy things in my threads and then all of the sudden send me a PM saying they got them elsewhere or don't need them anymore, sometimes after agreeing to the deal and exchanging addy's

Wow, this is NOT cool.  Anyone who does this should be slapped and sterilized.  If you say you are going to do something, then do it.  Dont back out of a deal. 

A persons word should be worth something.