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Important Information To Always Keep In MindNow Also Know Im Only High Posting What I Think Are Standouts & Important Info, But To View All Information On Trading Click The Links Below. Whenever Doing A Trade You Should Always Check Both Links (Also Found On The Trading Forum (Main Thread) (GTL) Good Trade List(BTL) Bad Trade List* Package your part of the agreed trade properly by using a box (not a padded envelope), good packaging material, and a top loader or similar product to protect the card(s).
* Ship as expected, whether it was to be shipped first, simultaneous, or after receiving. Remember the person with the lesser amount of good trade references must ship first, unless other terms have been negotiated. Traders with an equal amount of good trade references should simul-send.
* An exchange of addresses is considered to finalize and consummate an agreed trade. Shipping and any other details should be worked out in writing before exchanging addresses.
* A good reference can be withdrawn so long as it is done within 30 days of the original post.
* A good reference should only be left for trades completed using a mail system or other delivery service (IE: US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, DHL, PayPal, Western Union, etc.). All In-Person or Face-To-Face trades will not count as good trade references as they do not reflect upon whether you can do the following:
* Communicate well with your fellow traders via the internet. Communication is the key to becoming and remaining a good trader, so please keep your trade partners informed!
* It is highly recommended that you read through the threads on WOTC for more details on what constitutes a good trade and good trading practices.(Will Get Link For This Thread Soon)Disclaimer:All transactions are the sole responsibility of the parties involved. Bloomilk, it's associates, and advertisers assume no responsibility for any trades or sales arranged through these boards.The following things will land you on the Bad Trade List:* 90 Day Warnings- Canceling a Confirmed Trade (after addresses have been exchanged)
- Failure to Simultaneously Send (Simul-Send) (within a 72 hour period of the agreed day)
- Poor Packaging (leading to damaged mini's and/or stat cards)
- Multiple Infractions will results in additional 90 Day Warnings
- Slow Shipping (more than 3 weeks for Domestic or 6 weeks for International)* Bad Traders- Cloning (identity theft or similar likeness)
- Face-to-Face Trading (leaving Good Refs for in-person trades)
- Scamming (failure to honor a deal after receiving shipment or money)
I have +75 GTL Refs on Bloomilk & Around +25 more over on WOTC so im gonna share my knowledge of what i know about trading so that it may help new traders or even update skills of veteran traders. I have to note that i have never put anyone on the BTL or have been put on it myself, not even the warning list & never had a problem with any trade i have done. Now lets get started. Remember, this is just what i do when trading, im just explaining my methods so that maybe you can come away with an idea of how i have been successful in trading. Now i know this seems like noone should have to even make a thread like this but, you all know me i love typing up stuff lol. But seriously im sure everyone already knows the stuff in this thread, but hey cant hurt to remind you all & also will be good for new traders. I think if we are always reminded of how to approach a trade to get a positive result, then we will have less bad trades. & i dont just mean bad trades like someone getting robbed, i also mean to where people become enemies. So hope this helps.
Prep Work Before Searching & Planning1)imyurhukaberry wrote: I would mention that the first step, even before offering a trade, is to check the GTL/BTL. That is the #1 way to help start and end a good trade.  I agree 100% with this, cannont stress enough. Alot of trades are doomed in the beginning because of lack of research on the other party. If a user is on the BTL or Warning List, then this will give you a clear idea of what you may be getting into. So its always important to do you homework & prep. I know this might seem like overkill but alot of trades went sour before & the BTL is there because of other users giving a heads up on what to expect from certain users.
2) Now Weither or not you wanna do a trade with a BTL or Warning List user is completely up to you. Many users on these list may have had specific circumstances in which they were put on here that might not seem all to bad. But in my expierence & my opinion i really would not trade with a user on the BTL because even knowing a specific case that isnt as bad as say other BTL users, they are still on there. But again this is me.
Searching & Planning Out The Beginning Of Contact To A User For A Potential Trade1) Now whenever im searching for pieces i want to get, i basically always check the trade thread. Now there are other ways you can search for who has the piece you want such as the "Trades" tab at the top of the bloomilk site page & there are options there to find out who has a piece you are trading as well as who is looking for the piece you are trading. So my advice is in your Collection Tracker, update your Trades & Wants because this makes it easier to find a potentially good trade.
imyurhukaberry wrote: Last thought, I second Bobby's mentioning to update your "Trades" in the Collection section. This is the quickest and easiest way (for me) to find and offer trades. This is linked to the Direct Matches under Trades and is very quick and very cool for trading.
2) Now once you have checked on users & have found a possible trader that has what you want & you have what they want, send the BM. Now if you found them by searching the trade thread in the forums, then i would suggest posting a reply on there thread that a" BM Is Coming Your Way ". Then once you do that send your BM with the offer. Now reason why i would suggest doing both is so that it bumps that traders thread up so that more users will be visable to his/her thread. And also incase the user you wish to trade with really only keeps tabs on his Trade Thread & not his Inbox (I know many users who use this method). This way if you come crossed a user that does only really check there thread, they know to check there inbox because a BM is waiting for them.
How To BM The Fellow Trader In A Good Manner That It Wont Turn Sour (In My Opinion)1) Once i have found a user i wish to make an offer to, what i usual title my BM im sending is with " Hey There, Trade Offer! ". I use this term mainly everytime because i believe that just even starting off with the first thing the user will read with a nice friendly request will start with an open mind on a deal.
2) Now once i titled out your bm its time for my introduction. Now this is how i always start my BM's weither it be trading or something else, if i do not know the user i will start with " Hey there, hows it going, names Bobby by the way". Reason why i do this is again im coming off friendly & respectful to the user, because lets face it, if you start negative chances are its gonna start sour & if it starts sour it will most deff end sour. Plus all bloomilkers are all family so you wanna respect you fellow bloouser.
3) Once i say my intro i then get to the point of the BM. How i usualy do so will be asking nicely first (I.E. Hey are you still wanting to trade your Darth Sion? Because i seen it on your trade list & wanted to see if you still had it for trade) Now the reason why i ask this question is because alot of the time people dont update there trade list because its a pain trust me i know hahah. Then after i ask that ill make my offer. (I.E. Because if you still had him to trade i checked out your wants list & seen you wanted this mini, so wanted to know if you wanted to trade your Sion for this mini? Anyways if you can get back to me when you have a chance to let me know i'd appreciate it. Thanx & good meeting you, have a good one) I know it seems ridiculous with the being nice & mannered but like i said, were all friends on here & should respect your fellow minimaster so i say type to them as you would wanna be typed to. This also shows the other user that it will be a positive expierence if he/she decides to negotiate with you.
If you ask being ignorant & ill mannered, i can pretty much gurentee that they will not even respond back to you. So always try being nice, again regardless what the BM is for weither it be trading or something else.
Fair Trade Offers & Bad Trade Offers1) Now addressing this topic i cant really say exactly whats fair & bad but i can explain what my opinion for whats a bad or good trade offer.
Now when im trying to determain the value of a trade, i always check atleast 2 sites that the mini's are being sold on. I usualy go with www.coolstuffinc.com & www.miniaturemarket.com . (Now i know not all people value a trade by what they sell for, alot of the time a person values a trade on how much they use it & how good & how much it means to them so it is tricky not to offend the other trader)
2)imyurhukaberry wrote: Another thought, not all trades are "fair" in everyone's eyes. So do not be discouraged or upset about someone not wanting to accept an offered trade. ( or if they do not even respond to you) The flip side of this is to not be afraid to politely tell someone you are not interested in a trade. 
3) So before i even make the offer i go on the two sites for all mini's involved & get the 2 prices per mini so that i can then come out with an average price that they are worth. Now i have no system making an average price its just mainly seeing the difference in value on both sites, then meeting the value half way. This is my system.
You have to understand also that alot of users have there own ways of putting value on a mini, there are so many various ways so when i do look the mini's up on the 2 sites to get the average, i then offer the trade & explain how i got my value's price wise for the mini but most important, while waiting for the reply back to me i dont expect the other user to agree on my methods of value. I feel understanding & expecting a no will usualy stop you from being disappointed, but for me anyways i usualy get it right & it comes back yes.
4) Now when you do get your values and are about to make the offer, be cool about it. Tell the user like i do (I.E. hey what i did to get the value on the mini's was went to these sites & if this offer is good then great, but if not then let me know and maybe we can work out the trade a different way. So please dont take offense just breaking the ice lol.) Again by being positive, 99% of the time the user will reply postive back to you regardless if he/she says yes or no to the offer. Its when you act negative is when alot of wrong bm's go back & forth which result in warnings & being banned. Most important just try to understand that because a trade sounds good to you, the other user might not think it is & it is that other users right so you cant get mad at that.
5) If an offer is rejected, then very nicely do 1 of 2 things. A: Respond back with a different offer. (I.E. Ok i understand. Well how about this mini for your mini? How does that sound to you, let me know regardless if you can either way you decide its fine & it was nice meeting you.) or B: Respond back with a polite goodbye. (I.E. Well thats fine my friend, i completely understand & thank you for negotiating with me & it was real good to meet you & will talk to you later buddy, Thanx again) So far im sure you noticed that the main thing to get a positive trade expierence is to be nice.
The GTL & The BTL(GTL-Whats Considered A Good Trade & Deserves A +1 On The GTL To Me)1) Well first thing to know about each of these is that its important to always add your Refs to it regardless it be on the GTL or the BTL. Adding your +1 (UserName) on the GTL shows that you have had a good trade with this user so that he/she is rewarded for keeping the trade good so that it shows the site that this user has had a good trade expierence. Its helping out your fellow minimaster. And at the same time adding your +1 (UserName) on the BTL shows that this is a user to watch out for. This is letting your fellow minimaster that "Hey, i've had a problem with this user so becareful". This is sooooo helpful to the site i cant stress that enough. We dont wanna believe that there are people out there & in this community that will not honor a deal they make but it is a reality that there still is these types of users. Im not saying they are bad people but by adding a +1 to this list is helping out your fellow minimaster weither the ones in the trade or the ones reading your post on the thread. And since we are all like family this is so important you do not keep it to yourself if you have had something done in a deal to you that is considered a violation of the BTL law's found on the BTL itself.
2) Now adding an actual good trade list +1 is souly up to what you believe is a good trade to you. Now the laws on the GTL show you what are good trades & deserve to get a +1 for. But it really comes down to if your happy about the trade itself to where you add a +1 to your fellow trader. Now some users are more specific in what they want out of a trade to add a +1 than others, but in my expierence if theres a minor problem (I.E. Theres no packing peanuts in the package or something minor like this) i dont work myself up to much about it. As long as i recieve the mini's in a timely fashion, there were good communications, negotiations, great conversations & most important, all the package contants got to me unharmed. Then i leave a +1.
Basically my main focus points are getting them in a timely fashion (I.E. Not 2 months after the deal was made) & all the mini's & cards are fine, than thats good enough for me i leave a +1. I dont get too specific because everyone has there own methods of packaging trades up. Also not every user can come on as much as you might be able to, to keep contacting you & giving you hourly updates. Just as long as you know whats going on & you get important updates, than that should be fine with communication. Again this is my opinion everyone is free to judge this themselves.(BTL-Whats Considered A Bad Trade & Deserves A +1 On The BTL To Me)3)Well, there is so many things that can make a bad trade for me. The main things i like to have done when doing a trade is having nice replies back to me. If someone replies back to me ignorant & uncalled for, it just looks like its gonna be a bad expierence even if i still do the trade. Now you cant get put on the BTL for being ignorant. But its an unwritten law that try being polite. Also if i have sent a BM asking for status on our trade & the user has been on several times but still has not replied back to me. In my opinion i look at this like a problem because it now starts to worry me that maybe im being had. So you always wanna communicate just to put the other trade party at ease, you dont wanna have them worrying if there $100 worth of mini's are gonna be taken with nothing in return. People will lose sleep over that.
Also myself & the other party decide on the delivery options (I.E. Delivery Confirmation Slips [DC#], insurance, first class ship, priorty ship, U.S. Air ship [International Mainly] etc.) & we settle on certain options lets say DC#'s & when the package is sent the user doesnt write me the DC# & when the box comes the DC slip isnt on there. Now when this happens to me but the user writes me & says "Hey Bobby, man im sorry i forgot to put a DC# on your package i sent out", then im actually ok with this because the user is showing me that its probable he/she is being honest. Because face it, if someone is suposed to put a DC slip on your box & doesnt, & then doesnt contact you to let you know, it becomes suspicious, even if days later you still recieve the package. This is an example of the communication part that has been said in this thread mutiple times.
4) Now more importantly is if i eventually do get the package in the main the package is damage very badly. This would come from lack of care in packaging your trade or could possibly the P.O.'s lack of care either way recieving a wrecked package isnt your fault. & you can usualy tell weither it was horrible packaging or horrible care from the P.O. Now the ways to determain the difference is various. In my expierece if it was lack of care from the P.O. its usualy gonna be a damaged box on the outside. Maybe a corner smashed in, etc. If it was lack of care from the sender than its usualy gonna be shown inside the package or even how its sealed (taped) up. Lack of enough tape can result in the package opening. Lack of care on the inside like not putting (I.E. packing nutz,[tissues/papertowels-what i use], toploaders, sleeves, something protective to the figure) will result in damaged goods. Such as broken pieces on the figures, bent cards. Lack of stablizing materials like packing nutz or paper towels will allow the cards and mini's to bounce around the box unstable resulting in damage that way. These are things that could get someone a +1 on the BTL.:::::::I Will Add More To This Soon.::::::
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I would mention that the first step, even before offering a trade, is to check the GTL/BTL. That is the #1 way to help start and end a good trade. Another thought, not all trades are "fair" in everyone's eyes. So do not be discouraged or upset about someone not wanting to accept an offered trade. (or if they do not even respond to you) The flip side of this is to not be afraid to politely tell someone you are not interested in a trade. Last thought, I second Bobby's mentioning to update your "Trades" in the Collection section. This is the quickest and easiest way (for me) to find and offer trades. This is linked to the Direct Matches under Trades and is very quick and very cool for trading.
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Great info Huk, i added your info to the main post. Im writing this because a few of my closer friends on the site have been had before, so its always good to just keep updating the important info for trading so we can stay united.
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This post is very useful and informative, hope its "stickied" for new people to the site.
Thanks again Darth Percocet
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very thourough post DP; great job. A couple things...:
IMHO; GTLs arent limited to Bloomilk specifically. They can be from WOTC; Gamers; eBay; etc. Now i know some people say that 'i only look at Bloomilk GTLs'. I really dont understand why some people say this because in reality it shows that that specific trade is reliable in multiple websites. Plus; many members have accounts on multiple SWM sites to get a bigger variety of traders. And some people trade with the same person on multiple sites. For example i have traded with dreadtech on both the WOTC and Bloomilk.
Another caution is trading with new members and/or trading as a new member. If youre new to Bloomilk and/or trading you should ALMOST ALWAYS trade for the first few trades trade only with high-ranking GTL people. Now i know DP has talked about the GTLs and how that determines who sends first and all that. But if youre new to this site/trading that means youll be starting with 0 GTLs; i.e.: youll be sending first no matter what. this means that scammers on here who have +1 on the GTL or whatever can take advantage of you and rip you off. When i was trading on the WOTC site; my first trade was a great one with BossNass (great trader BTW). Unfortunealy; my second trade was a bad one. i had confirmed a deal with a new (+0 GTL) trader. he said hed send first but never did. If i hadnt completed my trade pervious with BossNass; that wouldve left me with +0 and i wouldve had to simulsend. that means i would have been ripped off.
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creme_brule wrote:very thourough post DP; great job. A couple things...:
IMHO; GTLs arent limited to Bloomilk specifically. They can be from WOTC; Gamers; eBay; etc. Now i know some people say that 'i only look at Bloomilk GTLs'. I really dont understand why some people say this because in reality it shows that that specific trade is reliable in multiple websites. Plus; many members have accounts on multiple SWM sites to get a bigger variety of traders. And some people trade with the same person on multiple sites. For example i have traded with dreadtech on both the WOTC and Bloomilk. Well creme me & you been friends for awhile, traded alot of big valuable trades together here & WOTC. I think though because each site has its own policy when granting +1's just because alot of people on bloomilk dont have a WOTC account or even alot of other sites that have trading. I think if you do have a nice ref count on another site & if you make a trading thread on here, & you mention in your thread how many GTL refs you have, i think it cant hurt to add a link to the WOTC GTL this way a user can view them as well but at the same time you cant hold it against anyone who only wants to go by bloomilks GTL. Just because the other sites are totally different sites all together so i think when trading on bloomilk you should only go by bloomilk GTL refs. Now since SWM's has been dropped by WOTC i have no clue if anyone updates the list & threads over there, when you make a trade on bloomilk its gonna be with another bloomilk member. Me if i trade on bloomilk i dont go by how many refs someone has on another site, just on here. If i combined my WOTC GTL refs & bloomilk GTL refs id have over 125 almost. So not to disrespect your opinion creme or go against what your saying but i say whatever site you on that your trading on, then i would say stick with what you have on that site. Because like i said its unfair if someone has alot on here & then a WOTC member just started trading on here & has more on WOTC, then its unfair to the bloouser to have to send first just because the WOTC old member has more there & not more here. creme_brule wrote:Another caution is trading with new members and/or trading as a new member. If youre new to Bloomilk and/or trading you should ALMOST ALWAYS trade for the first few trades trade only with high-ranking GTL people. Now i know DP has talked about the GTLs and how that determines who sends first and all that. But if youre new to this site/trading that means youll be starting with 0 GTLs; i.e.: youll be sending first no matter what. this means that scammers on here who have +1 on the GTL or whatever can take advantage of you and rip you off. When i was trading on the WOTC site; my first trade was a great one with BossNass (great trader BTW). Unfortunealy; my second trade was a bad one. i had confirmed a deal with a new (+0 GTL) trader. he said hed send first but never did. If i hadnt completed my trade pervious with BossNass; that wouldve left me with +0 and i wouldve had to simulsend. that means i would have been ripped off. I agree 100%, if you have no GTL refs on here, my advice is basically check the GTL & BTL refs, if your trading with a member who has alot of GTL refs & you have 0, then i say skim through the last pages on the GTL to see if this user has still been active with trading & still gaining GTL refs, this will determain that the user with a high count of GTL refs is still active & is unlikely to scam you. Some users could have a very high GTL ref but could be getting out of the game & sellin all of there mini's kind of like in my case. Now not all know im not fully getting out of the game unless you talk to me daily through BM's like my closer friends on here do. But it brings by Huk's point as well as mine & now creme's, just do as much possible research on a user your about to trade with before doing the actual trade. It cant hurt. Thanx creme for the extra input , good points my friend... (Personal Note to creme:) How about my Phillies getting Cliff Lee back lol
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Just though I'd pop in to say that I'm following this discussion. There are some really good points being made, and it's nice to hear different viewpoints on trading issues. -swine
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swinefeld wrote:Just though I'd pop in to say that I'm following this discussion. There are some really good points being made, and it's nice to hear different viewpoints on trading issues. -swine Hey Disco, your up on the GTL refs with us elite so feel free to add in anything we forgot, im still updated the OP with every single apsect of learning how to become the best trader you can be, basically i hate when i see someone that got burnt in a trade so i wrote this to basically explain my success i had trading from my point of view because i was 100% successful with every trade i did ya know... so thanx swine good to hear you like this thread & keeping up on it buddy, & hey & tell your son i said hey too its been a long time since we spoke we used to be like bro's lol.. but hope ur fam is doin good & ill ttyl my old friend..
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