New Arena trend: not responding back?

[achab1984]

I am sorry that your going threw this. I think that I might have done that in the past. But I always got back eventually. I felt bad and told them I was sorry. Ya I don't not get it sometime.

[hokuspokus]

Call me old fashioned, but I think a little manners goes a long way, and people all too often forget about them nowadays.

Another old fashoined lady here communicating is so important, on the internet especially!

the other who appeared quite interested came back and forth (over about a week and a half if I recall) asking about various shipping costs to the point where I eventually went down to the post office and got an accurate quote for them. I never heard back from them. And they never responded to my follow up pm either. Totally poor trading etiquette in my opinion.

This is an exact example of the kind of situations i'm talking about! Not even a 'no thank you i'll rather not buy them'. Would be the least they can do. Sigh.

I've also had a member twice now approach me about an art trade and never follow through with their communications. Geez.... if you don't want to go ahead, that's fine, but at least have the courtesy to say so! Not that bloody hard 

Again: agreed. It's getting boring now

In both the above cases I was never angry about things not going ahead (rather relieved, actually - if things start out badly how will they end up?), but I was disappointed in their communications. Again, it's just manners! (but needless to say, I won't be keen on wasting anymore of my time with either of the members concerned if they approach me again in the future )

And again an agree. No problem if they do not wish to go further, just a little note would be fine. If no note comes in EVER, but it does all of a sudden after i tell i'm not happy with not hearing anything, don't give me lame excuses. Let's just be honest.

Before you get upset/angry at people, try PMing them multiple times. The Arena's PM system makes it much too easy to lose PMs.

As i've said before, i've been to the point of PMing multiple messages to please let me know something. After asking the same thing 3 times without any answer, yea, it's getting to irritate me.


Again: i'm not that difficult. I'm fine waiting a week on an answer, don't think i'm waiting behind my computer desperately seeking an answer within 24 hours. Not the case at all.

[ShortyBoo]

I've had people PM me asking about buying something both here and on the MH Arena and once I give a shipping quote, a lot of them never get back to me. I guess because I don't undercharge for shipping? For the most part, I charge between $2 and $4 to ship most things. It's typically the actual postage cost, plus a bit added on for packing supplies. I use bubble mailers to send out most everything, and those aren't free. But even then, I usually don't charge the full amount I paid for them. But either way, I do think it's kind of rude to not send a simple PM saying they're no longer interested.

It had occurred to me a few times that maybe it was a case of PMs not going through, but I feel like if that wasn't the case, them I'm just bugging them, so I usually just forget it and wait for the next buyer to come along.

[little.fox]

When selling, I don't do holds for this exact reason. If you contact me for a qoute and never respond back, I haven't lost out in any way. First person that's ready to close the deal will get the item, easy peasy.

When buying, I am sure I've been guilty of not getting back to sellers that has been kind enough to get me shipping quote etc. It's certainly not because "I don't care enough", sometimes my inbox is pretty damned busy and it's easy to miss a PM or just plain forget. We're all just human after all.

Can I also point out that as a buyer, many times I've had questions about condition/shipping/etc gone unanswered by sellers. I try to give those sellers the benefit of the doubt for the reason I've just stated, but it's defenitely not a case of just potential buyers lacking in ettiquette.

[Galactica]

I've been ignored by both buyers and sellers at times- it is very off-putting, especially when the person is posting all around the arena.   It only takes a couple of seconds to type "sorry, I've changed my mind" or "it's already sold thanks"

[StoryDreamer]

I can understand this. Sometimes I can't get to the item that someone has responded about (because I'm out at a hotel or working out of the house), but I try to at least let them know. I'm also guilty of reading my Pms on my phone then not responding and forgetting I didn't respond too though. I imagine others do that too!

[Galactica]

Well that is certainly true- (above)-

Also- I know that at least once, I have seen a message come through on my phone as an email- didn't notice that it was a relayed message from the arena, and responded to poor Stomper who I'm sure gets a few of these kind of messages a day...

I try to be more careful these days, but can't promise my record is entirely clean 

[hokuspokus]

Can I also point out that as a buyer, many times I've had questions about condition/shipping/etc gone unanswered by sellers. I try to give those sellers the benefit of the doubt for the reason I've just stated, but it's defenitely not a case of just potential buyers lacking in ettiquette.

Offcourse it's not just buyers, but i can only speak for my own experiences I know there's also sellers w/lack of communication.


I'm just thinking about doing my sales differently, to avoid this behaviour. Kinda sad because i like to give my buyers enough time to pay without pushing to do it quick (i can't ship items daily either) but i guess that is the best option to avoid the drama.

[Lorelei Redfern]

yeah i've ntoiced this too it  is  a bit annoying><

granted i know that sometiems i  take a little longer to rs try to lol.

but aftr you go through eveything for getting a price quoutyynever hear formt hema gian.. not a no thanks or  nothing.  it is a little annoying.

[Ringlets]

I think the new PM script makes it really easy to not respond to people while passively surfing, and that comes across as very rude.    If it marks them all as read, then you might only reply to the newest - or you might just click to another screen.  I know I'm guilty of this, but I usually feel guilty enough that I go back and answer that same night. 

I was going to say this. I've completely missed PMs that I never touched because they got marked as Read. Usually I'm able to catch missed PMs quickly, but if for some reason I'm getting a lot of PMs or something like that its alarmingly easy to completely lose a PM because of it.

Before you get upset/angry at people, try PMing them multiple times. The Arena's PM system makes it much too easy to lose PMs.

This ^^   Unfortunately aside from PMs that have never got through (that happened more on the old Arena but it still happens from time to time here too *sigh* ) it really is easy to miss PMs when you get multiples and they are all marked as read as soon as you open your PM box   I'm sure there must be some kind of setting to stop this happening - I must to look into it. I do check back incase I've missed someones PM , but sometimes it can take a while so if I havent answered within a few days feel free to PM me again - I dont mind reminders - I like them! especially when my health has been bad and I find my memory is hopeless then . I wouldnt deliberately ignore someone.

If you *have* messaged someone (either a  potential buyer, or a seller)  back mulitple times and they still havent responded ,then its best to move on TBH  - just imagine how much more difficult things could get if the sale went through but then something went wrong ( eg - the pony never arrives) and there was still no communication. Its frustrating though - especially if its an item you really wanted or something thats HTF   . Good communication and good manners are really important.

[Breyer600]

it really is easy to miss PMs when you get multiples and they are all marked as read as soon as you open your PM box   I'm sure there must be some kind of setting to stop this happening - I must to look into it.

There's a little symbol above the PM list (right next to the Date column) to "Change View."  It cycles through three settings.  I have mine set to display as converstions so I can look back at everything both I my buyer/seller have discussed all at once.  This also means only the most recent PM opens when you go into your messages leaving any other new ones marked unread until you actually open them.

I never mark things as on hold until I have a definite answer from the buyer with a date for payment.  If I haven't gotten a response and someone else asks about the same item then I send the first person a deadline for an answer if it's only been a few days since they asked or just let the second person have it if it's been at least a week since I replied to the first person. 

[NoDivision]

it really is easy to miss PMs when you get multiples and they are all marked as read as soon as you open your PM box   I'm sure there must be some kind of setting to stop this happening - I must to look into it.

There's a little symbol above the PM list (right next to the Date column) to "Change View."  It cycles through three settings.  I have mine set to display as converstions so I can look back at everything both I my buyer/seller have discussed all at once.  This also means only the most recent PM opens when you go into your messages leaving any other new ones marked unread until you actually open them.

I never knew! My hero!

[Libelle]

There's a little symbol above the PM list (right next to the Date column) to "Change View."  It cycles through three settings.  I have mine set to display as converstions so I can look back at everything both I my buyer/seller have discussed all at once.  This also means only the most recent PM opens when you go into your messages leaving any other new ones marked unread until you actually open them.

This is great, thanks so much Breyer600!

Can I also point out that as a buyer, many times I've had questions about condition/shipping/etc gone unanswered by sellers. I try to give those sellers the benefit of the doubt for the reason I've just stated, but it's defenitely not a case of just potential buyers lacking in ettiquette.

This! In my recent experience, it's actually mostly the sellers that have been "guilty" of this lack of etiquette. It's so frustrating to never get a reply, even though the message has been read, the seller is active on the Arena and the items clearly haven't been sold to anyone else.

One time, I accidentally deleted a pm from a seller whom I had actually wanted to reply. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember who it was, even browsing the sales forum didn't help, because I couldn't find the thread I was looking for. I felt bad for days, because I felt it was such an impolite think to not respond. (And the seller never contacted me again either, so I still don't know who it was. ) Guess not everybody feels the same!

[Tiggums6]

I have had this twice with two G4s, a lot of mucking about getting the exact shipping quote and packaging etc then they disappear. I wasn't asking heaps,  they have put me off dealing with these twerps. I consider them rude and wonder if they would behave like that if they weren't behind a keyboard.

[bluerose9978]

I have noticed this actually happening even more often than usual lately. I have had about three or four potential buyers just in the past week do this to me: Request a shipping quote, ask for my PayPal and not respond to my multiple PMs. It's irritating. All I ask is that if they decide against buying the ponies to drop me a note to say so. Is that really so difficult?