BST Etiquette

General Yo-Yo
1

I’ve been a part of this community for almost a decade now. I’ve been a part of YoYoExpert since the very beginning.

Over the years I’ve noticed a mind boggling decrease in the manners, respect and just over all etiquette in the Buy/Sell/Trade Forums. Not just here, but in all of them. Has anyone else noticed this? Now I can over look sloppy messages, however annoying it is trying to decipher them, but the people that flake, lowball, mislead you, falsely advertise a product, ship in an envelope, etc. is absolutely insane. There was talk of age restrictions on BST forums once upon and time and this just makes me believe that it should have been enforced. Not to call anyone out, as it truly is general, but 99% of the persons I’m referring to seem to be in the age group of 10-15 & male.

Just wondering if I’m crazy or not, I’ve discussed this with some friends and they see it as well. What does do you guys think?

3 Likes
2

I completly agree

One problem I get alot when trading is that you work out a trade with another member only to have them respond a few days later with
“My mom/dad said I couldnt trade, sorry”
Or
“My parents said I cant ship first”
If you have to ask your parents before trading you most likley shouldnt be doing it

Im all for younger kids trading
Its just that they need to be aware what they are getting into and the risks involved BEFORE partaking

We all at one time had no feedback and were new to all this
But a little common sense would make this site (as well as others) run much smoother

At the end of the day yoyoing and trading is all about fun!

1 Like
3

I couldn’t agree more. It’s been ages since I’ve waded into BST for any purchase or trade. It will never change. If it was easy, folks would use it instead buying new yos from the YYE store. YYE has no reason to improve it since they have no financial reason to do so. Maybe a fee to post on the BST would weed some of it out. Until then I’m buying new.

4

Wait a minute though. What about us kids that have good BST manners? (Like me… I think) we enjoy using the BST and don’t really want to lose our rights to use the BST.

5

Due to the size and general maturity of the usership, PSAs and frustrated posts regarding etiquette have been repeated constantly to no avail.

Making the BST a board that requires clearance on the account in order to post in (akin to the moderator boards, but without invisibility), with a quiz of some sort could be a possible solution. Users themselves are actively and explicitly being informed of policy, and only once they recognize it, are they allowed to use the system. Moderation would involve removing users that don’t demonstrate competence after this process, regardless of age.

I don’t think this is something that this forum software supports, but it’s a far-fetched idea.

6

If there are age restrictions, there should be exceptions for those of us below the minimum age who are mature enough to conduct BST deals.

7

Depends on the kid really. If u notice they are a pain don’t trade with them. Check feedback that’s what feedback is for.

8

I absolutely HATE getting a throw in an envelope!!!

It’s not just kids, it’s adults too. Sometimes they have really good feedback and a good rep on here and I get a $100 yoyo in an envelope. I mean, c’mon!!!

And I just made a deal with a kid who said his parents wouldn’t let him ship first. I was alittle annoyed but I have the kid my phone number and had a talk with his dad and everything worked out. He even read the BST rules and regs.

But for many of us the BST is an awesome way to meet and talk to new people and get new throws with little or no money. I would hate to see it changed for the worse because of some immature kids

1 Like
9

^^

What he said.

Just because several people are “bad-mannered”, does not mean everyone gets punished.

For example:
A family of 5 kids are eating dinner. 3 of the kids start throwing food, talking with food in their mouth, spitting, gurgling their water, etc. Why should all 5 be punished, when the other 2 have been completely well-mannered and respectful?

I think whenever somebody has a situation like the ones in the above conversations, they should contact a mod, and have the mod talk to the seller/trader/buyer about the situation and tell them what should happen. The mods should then make a note of this person. Then, if it happens a second time, they are warned to stop. If a third time occurs, then they should be banned from the BST for a certain amount of time based on how bad the situation truly was.

10

I know I am never on the BST doing stuff nor have I traded anywhere, but I would still like to share my ideas. :slight_smile:

11

Buying/Selling is Buyer Beware, you should be conscious of what you are purchasing and from whom…

The trade, I can’t get to it. I just have an issue with shipping first since I have a low BST rating from not doing much BST. I’m in my mid 30s, run a dept in a company, am a mature (mostly) person and treat others as I like to be treated. I know there are kids on the BST, but you should go on there at your own risk. I’ve refunded money if things are not up to par, I don’t want to cheat anyone out of anything.

Make your judgement, ask questions and if the person gets weird on you, don’t do a deal. When I sell, I want to be sure you are happy, don’t go overboard, but I will accommodate.

I’ve bought a few throws on there, but prefer buying new if I can, the frustrating part is that some of the throws in the finish I want are no longer available/made so I have to either wait and hope they get produced again or take the chance with BST.

My only pet peeve not to go off subject, is pricing… some people ask WAY too much for the throw or the whole “make an offer” thing, I do and they counter with a ridiculous up price that may be $5 under retail… in the end it’s used. I offer fair market value, not what the seller thinks it’s worth in their mind. Put your price up, what do you WANT for it and let me negotiate, if you don’t/won’t, place a FIRM price on there and cut the back and forth.

1 Like
12

And definitely do your homework when dealing with used throws. Try and see what the going rate may be(if you can). I try and check eBay and other peoples listings on the BST.

Also, do your homework on the person you’re dealing with. Check their history, see if they’ve had any bad feedback or even a “Beware” thread made about them.

It’s all about how you feel while making a deal. If the other person is acting weird or being harassing in any way. If you don’t feel comfortable with a deal then you will most likely not like the outcome. I’ve had to back out of some awesome sounding deals just because I got a bad feeling from that person. Whether it’s something they said or poor quality pictures saying “that’s all I have for pics”.

If you use your best judgement and do your homework your BST experience should be fine.

13

THIS, holy crap that makes me mad. Asking prices are ridiculous sometimes.

14

I shipped my chief withits box in a padded envelope, is that bad?

15

It all depends on how you shipped it. Personally, I’m a huge fan of padded 'velopes. But to assure safe shipment, you almost definitely have to disassemble the throw and individually wrap each half.

I must be lucky, I’ve only had 2 or 3 deals that left a sour taste in my mouth. But I’ve had many more where all we did was exchange, at the most, 5 messages before the deal was done. Those are the trades I like - the ones where each party knows what they want and they’re upfront and mature about it. My quickest deal was somewhere around 6 minutes of total communication ;D

I don’t believe this is an age-related matter, but rather a common sense one. Though they were successful trades, I’ve had several where the other person was overall ‘sloppy’ with their communication. Granted, the majority of the BST horror stories I’ve heard are about younger folks being flakes or untrustworthy, but correlation doesn’t imply causation. Then again, I like giving people the benefit of the doubt, though I suppose that’s why the feedback system exists.

1 Like
16

I hate listings that read:

_________ yoyo MIB
Just a couple of scuffs, $____

_________ yoyo near mint!
A couple scuffs, one ding, few pinpricks, vibe… $_____

Ugh! Really?

17

We are working on a solution to this. In the mean time, use the feedback sections in both the user profile and the forum topic. Using it also means leaving feedback - good or bad so the next guy has some indication of how reliable the trader is. I will throw in my 2 cents and agree that a lot of the frustrating things that happen are due to the younger age group. As noted above, if you have to ask your parents, you don’t belong in the BST.

2 Likes
18

going along with this I don’t think people should be afraid to give neutral or negative feedback. I know a lot of people are afraid because they don’t want negative back on them.

19

This! I have had some trades that did not go very well and i’m too scared to do anything about them for risk of negative feedback.

One time when i was trying to contact the buyer and ask him if he payed me money and he did not get back to me.

Then i get a message 2-3 weeks later and the guy is asking for his stuff, and i told him i never got a response, then he gives me proof of payment and i send him the goods plus something extra to make up for it.

And what do i get for that? Neutral feedback, and since the guy is never really around and never responds to people sending messages on my behalf i’m stuck with it.

So that’s my rant for the day.

20

I agree that there are a lot of problems with the buy sell trade, but I haven’t been around long enough to make note of to what extent the state of affairs has gotten progressively worse. Not much I can offer there.

I have a few problems with age limits though. My experience has been that age is not the determining factor, rather maturity, BST experience, and some form of moral compass. I think that there seem to be a lot of kids with issues in the BST, because statistically, there are just more kids on here in general. Even if kids are a problem at a slightly higher rate than adults, I doubt it is enough to justify an age limit. Besides, this is a forum where it is too easy to lie about age in a profile or omit that information altogether. So even if there was an age limit, there would be a problem with verifying the age and enforcing the rule.

I agree with PatCondon’s suggestion of a “Terms and Conditions” that must be read, agreed to, in conjunction with a quiz that must be passed prior to unlocking BST privileges. All that would require someone writing it all up, and having the software to support it. But, it is one of the better ideas, if it could be implemented with minimal effort.

So, while I agree that there are problems with immature, naive, gullible, inexperienced, overzealous people in the BST, it happens regardless of age. I have received several items not as described…from adults. My solution has been just slowing down in that area. Besides acquiring really rare, no longer produced, custom items, I have become rather anti-BST lately.

After much thought, rather than put more time and effort into making it more secure, it should just remain as is, or be removed altogether. If people want to get rid of second hand throws, the auction remains a safe option. I have never been a fan of trading yo-yos. I have never done it, and consider it too risky. One day I was curious to what extent there were more problems in the Trader Feedback section with “trades” as opposed to buying or selling. I went through three pages, and it was about 30% more problems when people were trading a yo-yo for a yo-yo. It works for those of you who are not naive, gullible, inexperienced and immature. But, when someone like that “trades” along with an estimated 30% higher chance of a problem, it equals disaster. I think for a business that relies on sales of new yo-yos, no more resources (time) should be spent on the BST. My solution was to just stop using it so much.

In a zone, off the top:

I just can’t believe that,
They post in traders feedback,
About trades in the works,
No feedback…but shipping first,
No stepping in the door,
While naive and immature,
Some traders are delirious,
Or just lacking in experience,
New yo-yos make them curious,
Overzealous, and not serious,
Lusting and stealing throws,
From kids who don’t really know,
Or realize that these toys,
Created drama to avoid,
By being careful in the beginning,
They could have…but they didn’t. :frowning:

T.A.