What is the biggest frear of online trade? getting ripped off, the waste of time or just can't find the trades you want.?

Yeah I got screwed here once. I traded a Lobo and the dude never even sent me his end of the trade. He had a high trade rating and I never heard from him again. I told a mod about it but nothing from them either. So tell you the truth I'm very hesitant to trade through here. But there are some good guys on here.

I'm not so much afraid to trade as I am convinced that unless you have high end figures such as chases and SR's, there's not a whole lot of interest in your stuff. At that point, it's easier to get C/U/R's for cheap on the secondary market. Just my experience, that's all.

I have a couple of trades here. Have had no issues. I am not afraid to trade online, just too lazy most of the time.

I'm not afraid to trade here. I used to be the guy who had to send first all the time. I put in my time and now I can ask for things to be sent first. The truth is if someone wants to rip you off they will find a way. You'll never completely avoid it. Just use your head (use the old addage, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is). The mods here are usually willing to help you out as much at they can. They aren't enforcers so they aren't going to bad traders' houses and shaking them by their ankles until your pieces fall out. But they can freeze their ability to trade on this site. They can send PM's on your behalf.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Agreed. The trading environment has definitely changed. It used to be easier to trade for nons and other U's. I think that when the distribution changed with Armor Wars and again with Avengers, it became more difficult to find what you want. Some figures lost their value to the point where it isn't worth the time to trade them online. I've shifted away from trading to buying and selling because it is easier to get what I want.

I also think that there are more users now, so it is harder to sift through trade threads. More traders then attracts even more people who are hoping to get in on the action, all of whom want the hottest stuff.

Many of the long time traders have also traded off their "good" stuff, have "too much to list" unless it is high end, or have lots of stuff but as a result need very little. When new traders come along with lots for trade because they haven't traded before, people jump at the chance to trade. This can be risky though for both the new trader and old trader, though.

I'm not even a high end trader, but I've found this problem... I do a fair amount of trades still (probably about 2-3 a month, on average), but I tend to prefer local trading just because it's easier on my head, and my arrangements to ship things.

It's gotten to the point where I don't even really bother listing the "nons" anymore. Even though I do have some good ones... no one really wants them.

I hear you. That is exactly the point I made earlier. People are buying tons of product, unloading their C/U/R's for cheap, and focusing mostly on SR's and LE game elements. I don't even bother offering C/U/R's for SR's, given that there is a great imbalance in their value and 9 times out of 10, the guy with the SR has everything else, anyway. I used to do lots of trading on HCR and had mostly good experiences. I don't really trade much any more.

That's pretty much where I am now as well. I still do trades here and there, but now it tends to be more with people I've traded with before because we're more aware of what each other needs.

I agree with the aforementioned posters. It seems that unless you have high end stuff, no one is interested in it.

I was making a lot of trades there for a while, but since M&M, it has slowed down.

I don't have a lot of extras, but I do have $$$, so I'll just buy what I want off the Sale/Auction Forums.

It has become a lot easier for me to sell what I have and then buy what I want rather than to spend the time looking to match my wants with somebody else's. Paypal has become my middleman.

I also do not have lots of high end figurs I am willing o part with online but I do a fair bit of trading on here, I try to at least one a week or so. I am not afraid to trade online just caucious with my large stuff.

I'm not a big time trader, and I hesitated for the longest time before trading. I have a problem buying clix, as opening boosters is part of the fun for me. But as older boosters become scarce (Legacy, Ultimates, etc.) I find myself trading for figs, which is almost as fun. I like the thrill of that small package in the mail.

But I've always been very careful who I deal with and thoroughly check iTrader rating as well as their recent posts content. I've seen too many posts on here about people getting ripped off, or traders in good standing going bad all of a sudden.

With 20+ trades under my belt, I finally feel I am getting a good sense of the trading "game".

Things I've learned so far:

1. iTrader is your friend
Check iTrader rating, but don't take a high score for granted. Check when thier last trade was. Just because they were a good trader at some point, does not mean they still are. I prefer to trade with someone who is an active trader then someone who hasn't done a trade in over six months. I may still do the trade, but I might request them to send first and explain why. I feel my current 100% take precedence over their six month old 100%.

2. Check their recent posts
In addition to iTrader, I will also sometimes check their recent posting history. Especially in cases involving the above mentioned situation where someone hasn't really been active for a long time.

I turned down two trade offers from people with high iTrader ratings (although lapsed) and saw that their posting styles changed drastically after they "returned". Their original posts were made all over the site in full sentences and in response to other threads. Recent posts? Barely understandable "leet speak" and primarily "PM Sent" thread stacked up like cars in an LA traffic jam. So in a few months they lost the ability to type coherent sentences and now only care about making tons of trades? I don't think so.

I try to report these occurrences to the mods, not as a full on infraction, but as a possible heads up.

3. i know trade wit u if u typ lik this
Yea, any trade offers not made in even the most basic of English are immediately refused. And I don't care about short sentences like "My Hulkbuster for your Emma Frost. LMK." but asinine requests like "hay I got SR Sorm an wans ur SR SF/NW an SR LOBO so les trad."

If they can't be bothered to communicate on even the most basic level, then what makes me thing they will communicate with me though the trade?

Obviously, I cut slack for people whose location isn't an English speaking country, and possibly for kids whose profile lists them as pretty young.

And there are other basics I learned, but these observations/rules have held me in good stead in the past and I honestly feel I've avoided at least three rip off attempts since I've started trading.

No, not afraid to trade online however there are deterants:

1) Traders who won't trade International.
Too many traders list US only trades (and sales), while it is your perogative to do as you wish (you also end up on our blocked list - so we don't waste each others time), you cut yourself off from many good traders abroad. You would think it better to trade with a rating of 50+ as compared to 0 or 2.

2) Cost-
In the last 2 years shipping has gone from $5.00 to $6.50 to ship a box of clix to USA. Needless to say one for one and 2 for 2 trades just don't justify postage.
Hard to make deals if shipping fees are 50-100% or more of the value of the figures.

We used to do more buy/trade/sell then we do now. Between the new distribution and the increased ship fees - it makes finding worthwhile transactions difficult.

We still observe with great caution the status of trading partners before considering any transaction, and while even with our vast experience we have been burnt here twice (and never again), and once on ebay.