> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tradepost.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Trade rules

> Deadlines on a trade, and what gets recorded when one stalls.

A trade has two sides and three steps each: tracking added, marked sent, confirmed
received. It completes when both sides confirm.

## Settings

| Setting                                | Default                    | Values                       |
| -------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| Days before silence counts as ghosting | 7                          | 1 to 20                      |
| Keep a record of back-outs and ghosts  | Count back-outs and ghosts | All, Back-outs only, Neither |

## Days before silence counts as ghosting

The deadline on each outstanding step. The clock restarts whenever a side adds
tracking, marks sent, or confirms receipt, so it measures how long one side may go
silent rather than how long a trade may take. The overdue side is the one it counts
against.

<Warning>
  Changing this does not affect open trades. The value is copied onto each trade
  when the offer is accepted.
</Warning>

The 20-day ceiling is fixed. A trade record has a finite life, and a deadline
landing outside it would leave nothing able to close the trade, freezing both
sides' goods.

## Keep a record of back-outs and ghosts

Whatever this is set to, a stalled trade still closes at its deadline, both sides'
goods are still released, and the notice still goes in the thread. This setting
decides only whether the outcome counts against anyone.

| Value                      | Records                     |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| Count back-outs and ghosts | Both                        |
| Count back-outs only       | Deliberate withdrawals only |
| Count neither              | Nothing                     |

**Back-outs only** exists because the two are different evidence. A back-out is
deliberate and the trader typed a reason. A ghost is inferred from silence, and a
trade finished off-app looks identical from here.

Turning it off stops new records without erasing existing ones. They live out their
clocks and still appear in the trader lookup, which flags that the setting changed.

Negative outcomes never reach user flair in any configuration.

## Notes

Trade Post does not store shipping addresses or payment handles, and there is no
setting for it. Traders exchange them in Reddit messages, started from a
**Message** button on the trade card. [Messaging the other
trader](/traders/trades#messaging-the-other-trader).