aliceblue
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2006
- Messages
- 1,053
I think the issue here is trading versus gifting. If a poster offers to buy future items in return for items they can't purchase while they are away, that's a trade agreement, pure and simple.delicious
I understand that you had an arrangement with this other member and yes they should have completed what ever arrangement you pre set. But with all threads where members ask for help because of what ever reason other members may end up gifting them what ever they missed and thus making it unnecessary for them to complete the deal.
I think it's actually more impolite for someone to agree to this kind of arrangement and not follow through, than it would be to agree to a regular trade and then accept the item free from (or trade with) someone else. Why? Because in the first case, the buyer of the poster's items goes out of their way to buy items that they don't want/need themselves. In the second case, they are only out the time and effort invested in the potential trade.
True. On these boards, we have the luxury of deliberating on trades to the nth degree. But as far as VMK is concerned, nothing is final until the "accept" button is clicked. We actually make it more complicated by turning it into a verbal agreement.This is why I do not like to trade. Everyone has the right to change their minds even after they have made a commitment...
In the past two years, at least a quarter of the trades I've agreed to never took place, due, I presume, to unsuccessful attempts to meet up or just plain loss of interest. It helps to have an "If it's meant to happen, it will" attitude.