Important information about how the swap begins.
The opening few minutes of these automated swaps is a feeding frenzy. Imagine we are a school of smiling green-thumbed piranha. Or maybe not, but it is fun and exhilarating.
To get the most out of it, here is what you need to know.
First, the time frame stated on the page where you joined the swap can be misleading. Garden.org’s server operates on Coordinated Universal Time. If you aren’t aware that the swap starting date of January 2, midnight, is actually 7:00 pm sharp eastern time on January 1 you will miss out. That’s right. New Year’s Day at 7 pm eastern, 6 central, 5 mountain and 4 western time the swap will open.
At the moment the clock strikes 7:00 pm eastern, you can spend the 4 tickets you receive for the first night. If 7 people want the same packet of seeds and only one is offered, the one with the quickest trigger finger will emerge the winner. For this reason it is a really great idea to assign stars to the seeds you are interested in so that you can start the swap in your wish list view from the swap dashboard with all of your favorites ready for you to select. In addition to the 4 tickets you receive at the opening of the swap, you will earn 1 extra ticket for every 2 items that are claimed from your list. Those can be used as you earn them.
When the swap opens if you have your wish list ready you can go directly to it for selecting your seeds instead of wading through the big list. Just don't forget to check the big list or the 'view recent events’ link now and then as the swap goes on to see if there is anything new you want to add to your wish list. Your wish list will appear in descending order with your 5 star picks at the top of the list. Alongside and just to the right of the stars for each seed there will be a treasure chest icon that only shows up when official trading begins. You click on that icon to request seeds. If those seeds are still available you will be asked to confirm your choice. Once you confirm it the seeds are yours and will appear in your 'bought' list on the main swap page. If the seeds have already been claimed you will know immediately so that you can move on to your next favorite choice. The system keeps track of what is left in real time so you will never leave wondering if you were successful. Nor will the system allow you to choose seeds if you have exhausted your tickets for that day. Tickets earned because you have had seeds chosen from your list will show up in your main page for this swap and you can use them as soon as they appear.
Although there is no minimum for this swap, the more seeds you enter the more opportunities that your seeds will be chosen and that you will have extra tickets. From a practical standpoint the most ticket earning potential is on day one when you will receive an extra ticket for every two packs you sell. After that the reward diminishes and after 4-5 days is negligible, so if multiplying your buying power is your number one goal, better to list more sooner rather than later. There are a lot of seeds and there will be a lot of tickets, so even people with small lists will have a chance to get great seeds and more than they offer.
Day 2, and going forward
By day 2 you’ve probably had a chance to use a few dibs and have seen how easy it is. On day 2, you receive 8 dibs at 7:00 pm eastern and can use them as soon as you receive them. Each day of the swap you will receive an increasing number of automatic dibs. As of 7:00 pm each day the number of earned dibs you receive will diminish. You will find yourself with fractions of dibs. Those portions of dibs cannot be used until you “sell” enough packets to make them “whole.”
Last year people continued to add seeds throughout the swap. Check the trade list or the ‘recent events’ link to make sure you don’t miss anything.
Don’t expect to claim everything you want, but most people get much of what they have on their wish lists and some other great seeds they had not thought about. The idea is to have fun sharing seeds
