RickCorey said:
1.
>> 6) Seeds must be divided and labeled PRIOR to shipping
I'd suggest "Seeds must be divided and labeled PRIOR to OFFERING."
That's a mistake I plan NOT to make twice!
I think that's a GREAT suggestion. I'm not sure how anyone would make that mandatory, but there is clearly a need for an FAQ/Helpful Hints feature somewhere. I included an FAQ on my idea for a Swap Home Page, but you're making me realize that there should probably be a master 'FAQ/Helpful Hints' page (or thread with a stick at the top) to tackle everything that comes up.
I love your 'Swap Angel's comment...I imagine there will definitely be people who will do just that. We have an amazing group of people here on ATP.
You had a lot of other great suggestions that pertain to either the programming end of things or general ideas that get into the nitty-gritty of things. I love that you're thinking that deeply. I have a headache at the moment, so I don't know that I'll express my own opinions yet on questions you've asked or comments you've made, but that's why there's this thread...with everyone's help, we can pull this together.
RickCorey said:
7.
One of your images ("Offer a Trade"?) seemed to suggest that each trade would be negotiated one-on-one, with a member offering X and requesting Y, and the trade would only occur if they found a match or clicked on "freebie".
I'm hoping that was one of the early ideas, or a non-GROUP-swap idea. When I go into a group swap, I look forward with relief to skipping that almost-impossible step.
Maybe this is something that only some swaps would do. For example, people trading very rare or expensive seeds or plants, might want a more organized way to find and arrange one-on-one swaps, even if at the end of the month, everyone sent their trades to a central point where the host tosses one-on-one baggies into outgoing boxes.
It might sound time-consuming, but I really don't think it is. The system would track what you have left and you would go hunting down the things you want and it would track what other people have left. It shouldn't be any more difficult than shopping for things on an online website, except here you're proposing and agreeing to trades instead of using money.
You're doing the bulk of the work by creating your seed lists and want lists. If you really don't care what you get in return, then you can just 'approve' all of the incoming trade requests without really looking at them much OR if you want to simply freebie seeds to people, you could click on 'counter-offer' to the requests and delete the item they are offering you so that you are giving them something for nothing (a 'freebie').
RickCorey said:
8.
I agree with you that tracking numbers are good to have, but also agree they should be optional. If somone has to type accurately a (?) 20-digit number, please make it optional!
Or, maybe the Universal Rule should be that the organizer MAY require tracking numbers but may make them optional. (Some traders will appreciate that they can copy-paste it ONCE into Dave's Swap Dbf, and then know where to find the unwieldy number when the @#$%^& USPS loses the box in the Christmas rush).
Agreed.
Glad to hear your insight!
[edited to change 'donate' to freebie for clarification]
