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Trading bitz and swapping models is always a neat and fun time for any GW hobbyist. Ever since the closing of GW's original bitz service, this has become increasingly necessary. Ebay is typically the forum I choose to do most of my dealings, but lately, I've ventured to try reaching out to those on DakkaDakka and Bartertown for more specific items and for model swaps instead of just bartering with cash. Since my own time to work on my models has been limited, I've only made a few dealings, but I'm very concerned at their outcome.

Back in September, I responded to a DakkaDakka Swap Shop post by Hulksmash asking for Kroot Shoulder Pads in exchange for various bitz. Having the pieces with no use for them, I quickly responded and through several messages, finally agreed to send the parts in exchange for some SM heavy weapons. I sent the bitz and waited. The seller informed me there was delays for being out of town and I agreed to wait longer. Since then, the seller has stopped responding to messages and I never got my bitz.

In December, I decided to convert some Ork Kommandoz based on Snikrot. I put a Swap Shop thread asking for the bitz and got two offers, both of which I accepted. One for a single torso and the other for every part I needed minus one torso, so it seemed to all be coming together. The single torso came in promptly after the agreed bitz were sent to him. konversionz, the second seller, was paid on December 19th via PayPal and messaged that the parts would be shipped out promptly. One month later, he is no longer responding to messages and I never got my bitz.

Again, I don't usually trade via forums and the above examples make up my trades for the past 6 months. To be honest, this has only served to make me strongly consider never to purchase or sell outside of a store like Warstore or Ebay. Am I alone in this or have others been taken as well? Are my trades isolated incidents or actually common?

I've generally had good trading experiences both here and on Warseer. My experience probably spans 10+ trades involving hundreds of figures, both as the buyer and seller.

I've noticed that it's best to go by number of post count.
I'll be honest unless I know you in real life, if you don't have ~300+ I don't send you your stuff first.

I've only taken part in one bitz swap, and I got my bitz from Krusty a couple of weeks after I sent mind. And some of it will come in really useful. I put up a notice about some EFG ships that have never been responded to, and will probably go the ebay route, but all in all, it has been a good experience.

Look im sorry the parts were lost in transit and i'll refund you the £6.I thought they were simply delayed in the xmas mail but it seems not.

Why not make a feedback subforum thread? Just a thought.

While I've always looked at the swap and wondered what keeps a transaction honest, my only thought on a reasonable solution would be to agree to set up an ebay buy it now auction for the item. Obviously if the two of you are swapping items I'd guess both would have to set up an auction. At least in this way there is some governance over the exchange. I've never done this or swapped using the dakka forums but If it ever presented itself, this is what I'd do. I'd like to think it could be done w/o the exchange of money for swapping anyway.

konversionz wrote:Look im sorry the parts were lost in transit and i'll refund you the £6.I thought they were simply delayed in the xmas mail but it seems not.

I would appreciate that. Since you weren't responding and the items never arrived, I opened a ticket on PayPal which I suppose I'll go ahead and close now.

malfred wrote:Why not make a feedback subforum thread? Just a thought.

That would actually be a really good idea. While I'm sure I just had some bad luck and this probably isn't the norm, it would still be a great addition to the Swap Shop.

I do my bitz trading on Bartertown, where I am an established trader.

It's worked pretty well for me, overall.

I don't look at Dakka as a trade site, and many trades here are duplicates of what's on Btown, anyways.

I've only done a couple of trades on Dakka, and they've gone well. One guy was local, so we met up for the trade.

I will usually ask if they have feedback on Bartertown, or ebay. If they don't, it doesn't scuttle my trade, just makes me cautious (and a lot will depend on the amount of the trade).

Like JHDD I use Bartertown where I am also fairly well established (at least in trading). I've had one or two issues over the last 8 years, but those were my fault (not checking feedback and bad trader reports). I've also traded on Dakka with people who I know from B-town.

I've done a few trades on Dakka, and both went fine.

As for a dedicated forum, it's not a bad idea, but I think most serious traders use Bartertown (which isn't perfect, but is at least popular).

traded once, went great

Bartertown is good, certainly not perfect. There have been some dedicated asshats there.

However, for a concerned trader who researches his or her trade partners, things GENERALLY go well.

There is a feedback and reference system in place. It is pretty good.

Having said that, I also have had several deals here on Dakka and have had no issues with poor traders here.. sounds like the OP got stuck rolling double sixes..

-Porkuslime

(and in the interested of full disclosure, I am a Mod over on Bartertown.. and am biased.. take my viewpoint with that in mind)

I've always had smooth transactions here (both buying and selling).

Given that it is a bit 'smaller scale' than other sites as far as trading goes, I always start here, as it has always seemed easier to get something done here, rather than 'there'.

Still, YMMV.

I have also done a BUNCH of trading both here and on Warseer. I have had nothing but good expierences (except for that one guy who took like 3 months to send me the $$ that he owed me). I have to say that without doing trading on various forums (I choose not to use Btown cuz people there wont really accept my cred from here and on warseer, and i dont really feel like getting the like 30 people that i have traded with to vouch for me on there either, so that i look good).

either way, as Alpharius said, YMMV

hope that helps, and that you resolve all the stuff that you told us about
BLARGAG!!!

I've had a few experiences here on Dakka, all positive, but I knew each one of the posters as being reliable people. For other trades, I go to Bartertown and have had very good luck there; the feedback system really helps gauge reliability and I can't think of a better way to do it. There's always a degree of trust involved when you're dealing with a distance transaction.

None here. Lately bartertown I have been having issues lately.

I have Traded about 8-9 times on Dakka and everything when fine. Although nothing I swapped was worth more than $75 US. The only problems I seem to run into are with my local post office,,, I have had more than my fair share of insurance claims and "lost" packages.

Always ship with delivery confirmation. Not only does it protect you if the recipient is dishonest, but I think it 'encourages' the Post Office to not lose your package.

(Like Pork, I'm a BTown Mod, too. So, I may be biased)

I try to do my trades via BTown. Period.
I have done trades here before but refused to ship first, unless the other person could produce ample references, as I could.
With a rating over 270 on BTown and... I dunno off hand... over 300, I think, on Ebay, I think I've shown the degree to which I can be trusted.

The key is to trade with established individuals. With no "trade rating" available on Dakka, the best thing you have to go on is post count and "join date." Someone who's spent years establishing themselves someplace is not likely to bail on you over a $100 trade.

As for:

(I choose not to use Btown cuz people there wont really accept my cred from here and on warseer)

This is true. Bartertown tends to be very insular, when it comes to what refeences are accepted. Some people buck that trend, and will give weight to other sites... ubt most won't. BTown has the BEST way of referencing trades I've seen.
Besides... I don't know about Dakka, but there's no way to keep track of trades here, so it would be hard for them to accept any "references" from here.

Also, the same person mentioned that he didn't want to have like 30 people leave ref's on BTown for trades done elsewhere. That's good. it's against the rules and would get you banned.

JHDD... What was it you said about being wary of great internet deals?

Eric

From the sounds of it, Dakka Swap Shop is pretty reliable, but I think all can agree that some sort of trading sub-forum for feedback or bad trade reports might be a good idea, or even I way to attach a Dakka Trade Rating score to Dakka members based on legitimate trades completed and the outcome of them based on feedback. I don't know exactly if this is feasible or even that terribly necessary, as most of you seem to be of the general opinion that trading here is pretty safe and reliable. I'll concede that I just happened to have had some back luck. I really appreciate the feedback from you all and particularly Konversionz who did send my refund, so we're square. Guess that brings my bad trades to only one, which isn't so bad anymore.

I just finished a swap shop trade with a Dakka-ite who is in England (I'm in Maryland!). He sent a small piece first, then I sent mine, then he sent the rest of his. Went great. We exchanged ebay feedback beforehand so I wasn't worried about anything.

Almost 10 years ago (oh my gosh has it been that long!?) I did some bartertown trades that worked out well. Haven't used it since... I was also going to say that post count is a good indicator, just like ebay feedback (if they've only got a few, there's not much incentive for them to hold up their end of the bargain).

I wonder if my account for b-town still works...?

I used it once to sell off my Menoth army. Was a big, expensive shipment but it all went off without a hitch.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

I've done a few trades here on Dakka, no problems there.

I do most of my trading on Bartertown, and have no problems in the few years I've done so. Now, I don't have the references say of magickalmemories, but I have traded with folks on bartertown that frequent these boards as well.

Done plenty of trades here. However, I must admit that I usually only try to trade with people that have a decent post count, have actually posted in places OTHER than the swap shop (this has stopped me from several offers that seemed too good to be true), and that we are both quite happy with the trade before hand.

But a feedback system would be great! As it is now its just a "Ask BLARGAG!!! about our trade.". Not trying to call you out, but I love my vosies and I hope you enjoy your sisters - and I thought it went very well. And seeing as how I was just a collector for the longest I never had much need for trading until I started playing again with 5th.

Just my $.02....

I've had no issues. Might be luck, might be fear, not entirely sure. :lol:

I wonder if my account for b-town still works...?

Yes and no.
The forums they're using now are phpbb. If you were trading THAT long ago, then you're on... whatever the heck they were using back then...
You'll have to sign back up again (in 2003, EVERYONE had to sign up fresh, to get on the phpbb). If you use the same email address, however, as you used back then, any references will automatically tie into your new ID.

Also, if you're using a different email address, you can PM one of the Administrators and they'll have TrademasterAdam fix is up when he can (do NOT expect a quick turn around on that one).


Oh...and, two_heads... My high # is the post count. Porkuslime and others have ref numbers that blow mine away... We're talking 600's and higher... That's @ 2 points per trade... LOL Do the math. LOL

Eric

Eric's right about B-town... I had made a trade there about 10 years ago and took a siesta from the hobby shortly after. When I decided to get back in, I went to B-town to pick up a few models and troll the board and found that my ID wasn't valid.

After re-entering my info I found that the trade refs from my prior account were posted to my new one.

I haven't had much trouble with either B-town or Dakka and have used Heresy for some trades/purchases/sales. The majority of difficulties I have had has been with the shipper (USPS mostly), not the seller or buyer. Of those, mostly it's delays - which is understandable so long as it's communicated!

The way we do it on Tau Online is by making it impossible to even see the Trading Board until you have a certain post count. I don't recall there being a whole lot of bad experiences, maybe two, three at the most.

I have only been here a week and have made 2 successful trades already (still waiting for one but im 100% sure it will happen)

Traded a few times on Barter Town aswell without problem don't think i have a rating though on there

Only been stung once and that was Ebay, i won Lord Kroak for £8 and paid instantly, guy closed his account on ebay never saw anything of it