Thanks for hosting a swap, DnD!

>> "The minimum packet contribution is currently only set at 3 packets (of any quantity)."

Does that mean we must offer at least 3 pkts each of whatever varieties we offer? Like, "at least 3 pkts of Merveille des Quatre Saisons Butterhead Lettuce"?

Or that we can join while offering as few as three packets, total, of anything?

I was worried that "Jan 4" wouldn't give me time to split some seeds that arrived recently, what with the holiday season. But if we only need to offer three varieties TOTAL, that's easy-peasey and I'll just list whatever is split and labelled and counted before the swap starts. I think I have 20+ things listed already that, in theory, I should not need to re-count before offering.

(But I had BETTER re-count them so I'm sure they are there. In the last swap, the ONLY seed that I was SURE I had plenty of without searching and counting ... was all-out! I had to apologize and offer substitutes.)

I've been worrying that my seeds from 2012 or 2011 are just so old that they wouldn't be welcome. Do you have a preference, like "nothing older than 'packed for 2013'? I always put OLD SEED in my description if there's more than 3 years difference between the "packed for" date and the calendar date.

I think you're brave to offer an "all hands, all seeds" swap. We have over 32,000 members ... just sayin'!

You might get 30,000 people curious about the new swap feature, or 32,185 people might wait for their special interest to come up.

If it were me, I might use that "Maximum number of participants?" field to limit it to the first 300 people. Or 100.

If you have more members than your living room can hold, you might have to divide the incoming packages first into 26 piles of "names beginning with A ... names beginning with B ..." and then later divide each of those piles into "TO Aaron ... TO Abigal ... ".

Rick,

Good questions! The minimum contribution is 3 packets of seeds of any variety. It could be one pack of radish seeds and two packs of lettuce seeds....or it could be three packs of the same item, if you wish (say, three packs of coneflower seeds). I hope that everyone will atleast try to contribute much more than three, however. This swap is only as good as its contributions. a three pack minimum is sort of my way of acknowledging that some people may just be starting out and not have much yet. I want to be as inclusive as possible, but I am depending on the generosity of the majority.

...Also, don't discount 'old' seeds, old seeds can still be very good just make sure you label them as 'old' or with the year so that requestors know what to expect. I've had great luck with 'old' seeds, so that doesn't really phase me. I suspect many other people will feel the same, too.

We do have a lot of members on ATP, but only just so many active members. I imagine the first swap won't require a cap on the number of participants. If we do get a crazy number of members to the swap, I may be forced to push back the send-out date, but I don't think it will come to that.

DogsNDaylilies said:...
...Also, don't discount 'old' seeds, old seeds can still be very good just make sure you label them as 'old' or with the year so that requestors know what to expect. I've had great luck with 'old' seeds, so that doesn't really phase me. I suspect many other people will feel the same, too.

Me, too. The age just makes me think germination rates will be low so I sow more ... then thin more.

And not even all active members are going to join ...

probably ...

You're brave!

What about seeds we list in the trade area ? if no one asks for them , do we still send them ?
And how can we tell if anyone asks ?


Will half envelopes or similar , with the traders name work for seed want area thread asks ?

jimard8 said: What about seeds we list in the trade area ? if no one asks for them , do we still send them ?
And how can we tell if anyone asks ?


Will half envelopes or similar , with the traders name work for seed want area thread asks ?

GREAT questions!

If no one asks for the seeds, you don't send them in.

At the end of the swap, you will get a checklist showing what seeds go to which person (divided up per person to help make organizing easier).

Here is an example picture of the first page of the checklist I was sent from the beta swap (I blurred out some information for privacy or to alleviate potentially confusing info):




The checklist is sent via a link in your System Messages (the blue 'i' icon in the upper left-hand part of the screen, for anyone not sure what I mean by 'system messages') after the trade window has ended and the trading portion of the swap is over.

Again, sounds like the system is set up pretty good. By looking at that, it seems it should be easy for me to send to you any seeds that I have listed that are requested in the swap. Was wondering how it would work once we progressed.

Thank you

HoosierHarvester

Before the Beta Swap got underway, there was a lot of esoteric discussion about what MIGHT be done in future swaps. I contributed more than my share of Rube Goldberg digressions.

But people who were just scanning the threads wondered what the HECK all the rocket science and jibber-jabber meant for people who only wanted to trade a few seeds!

The answer was usually "all that is irrelevant. Just find this screen ... and click this button".

Off hand, I don't recall any one post or thread that explained what to actually DO from Step One to receiving your seeds back from the host. If you find the right screens, it's fairly self explanatory at each step.

Except that the easiest way to add plants to your swap list is to FIRST add them from the database into your "HAVE" Plant list. Then add them to your overall swap list. Then add them from there to one swap list. Then click the check mark to turn it green.

In time, this will all be more straight-forward. I have offered my assistance to Dave to help him create a tutorial once this swap is over and I have experienced both sides (participant-only and host). I want people to have a go-to spot for all of their questions about swaps. Anything that applies to all swaps should be in an easy-to-find place with an easy-to-read format, IMHO.

I am presuming the maximum number of packets is any number of 300 to 100 different offers ? (a Bit of mind play , )

I am wondering , the cost to participate dropped to 6;50 , is that relative to the number of participants , or plainly meant to bring in more traders ,, ?
Truly I am hoping the Beta player in my system functions , I am not good with electronic hocus pocus ,

You're right. Good eye. I changed the fee because other seed swaps are creating a standard of $6. Unfortunately, I don't think $6 is sustainable since some packages can cost over $6 to send, so I compromised and made it $6.50.

This swap was supposed to be one of only two official swaps to begin and this one was going to be the only one that was for *all* seeds. Because of that, I had no idea how many people to expect. If it was a lot of people, I didn't want to lose a bunch of my own money to ship seeds out because shipping cost more than the fee.

If it goes over I will pickup the difference for mine , Food makes up for it
Good job handling this , DnD You know frog has had a lot of followers a long time ,,
and now back to seeds ,, and seeds , and seeds .. I want spring to return already and winter well ,? maybe this week ending ?

and DnD as different user name on my part , I have talked with you before on at least two other sites over the years now ,
We appreciate you doing this and the effort that it takes ) all I truly mean to Express ,,

I goofed ,, I have more than five of some offered ,, I was trying to make it so everyone could try a few , Numbers of when I do that I can edit or have you all pretend it says five available ,, ooops ,

I'm sending 7 anyway. I hate loose change.

Just an fyi...

The postage for appx 125 seed packets in a bubble envelope runs about 5.50 so they bumped it up to 6.

KarenHolt said:Just an fyi...

The postage for appx 125 seed packets in a bubble envelope runs about 5.50 so they bumped it up to 6.

When I asked, Dave said that the cost of the bubble mailer was $6.10. He had to use some of those for the beta swap that we just had, which is why I set the fee for the swap just above $6.

I'm good with it. In the event, you need a little extra for postage, you have it.

How many dibs will we get to start with?

Dibs are currently set for 3 the first night. The next day you'll get more (6?)...it's based on an automatic algorithm, but I did ask Dave today about it because I wasn't the number to significantly increase the second night to, say, 8-10 requests and it turns out I should have the ability to increase it manually if needed.

My recommendation for tonight is to have your favorite 3 picked out and have your fingers on the 'trigger' button right at the start.

DogsNDaylilies said:Dibs are currently set for 3 the first night. The next day you'll get more (6?)...it's based on an automatic algorithm, but I did ask Dave today about it because I wasn't the number to significantly increase the second night to, say, 8-10 requests and it turns out I should have the ability to increase it manually if needed.

To clarify the dibs numbers. It is always a set amount. If you set the multiplier at 3 then on day two you will get 6 on day three 9, day four 12 etc. But as you said you can change it manually at any time during the swap.