Topic: People should stop sending simultaneously

I know it's a norm on this site that if users have comparable feedback ratings in a trade, they usually agree to both send their cards at the same time. But the more I use Deckbox, the more I think this is an unnecessarily-risky idea. The basic fact is that if one trader sends first (esp. with tracking), the other party is more-protected against scams (since they can verify adequate receipt before sending out their cards), and the main disadvantage to this is that the party that sends first will not get their cards as quickly. But in most cases I think the time delay is not a big deal, especially if the first-sender is diligent about sending out their cards (and if they're not, then they should blame themselves.) I don't think there are any additional downsides to having one party send first.

I know people feel that once they've earned enough karma they should be trusted, but the fact is that scammers emerge at all levels of karma and we shouldn't unnecessarily expose ourselves to risk out of politeness. What would be ideal is some sort of randomization device that just assigns a trader to send first once a trade is agreed upon as a function of each party's karma (simple idea: P(you send first) = (your karma) / (your karma + their karma)), but even in the absence of such a device there is a simple rule that can be adopted: The person with less karma *always* sends first. I think more people should adopt this.

For my part, I'm probably going to try to employ it in the future in my trades. I realize though that people who have karma comparable to mine might bristle at being asked to send first though. And it's just important to understand that it's not meant as an insult, but a simple recognition that there *is* a risk in these trades and again that we shouldn't avoid combating this risk just to be polite.

Re: People should stop sending simultaneously

I don't disagree with this.

Re: People should stop sending simultaneously

When international shipping easily takes 2~3 weeks at times extending trades out to 6 weeks sounds like a really bad idea.

If you just ask people to send first you'll look like a dick. But it you use a way of randomly determining who sends first you'll probably get better results. You can use random.org to flip a coin and use the random seed at a given time, just pick a time in the future and both users can verify the outcome of the random flip.

Re: People should stop sending simultaneously

I wouldn't trade with anyone that feels that 100+ feedback isn't sufficient. It wouldn't upset me, there is no trade I need to the point that I'd get irritated. I'd say no and if they didn't want to trade then we wouldn't.