Poll: swapping

I'm running the spring craft swap that's going on right now, and I'm pretty nervous about it. I used to run the LJ community monsterswap, but after SO MANY people didn't get their monsters, I got very frustrated with it and handed over the moderation to somebody else. I put quite a bit of time into my monsters. They weren't amazing by any means, but they were cute and I even put a little card in with each of them explaining their name, personality, likes and dislikes, ect. Of course I end up getting one really poorly made monster that smelled so strongly of cigarettes that I had to throw it out (since it would NOT air out no matter how long I left it outside), and the other person completely ignoring my e-mails. Ugh.

I'm really hoping this swap goes better. Tomorrow I have to finish pairing up everyone and send out all the PMs, too. I have some people willing to send a replacement gift to those who don't recieve the swap item, which is good. I'm willing to do this for as many people I have time/money/skill to do, as well, so hopefully things will turn out.

Some sort of private blacklist probably would be a good idea, but I don't think it should be "one strike and you're out forever." I know that I personally put delivery confirmation on every package I send out now, so that way nobody can accuse me of not sending the package when I did. I think more people should do this if at all possible (I know that here, it's only about $0.50) just so at the least, they can prove that they did send an item and free themselves from the chance of accidentally ending up on a blacklist.

 

perhaps a list with people who have previously not sent and or bailed on people but if they redeem themselves with the person they bailed on for reasons they person who got bailed on accepts then they can be taken from the list.

so there are situations where thing will be explained and rectified and your name isn't there forever.. however if you keep bailing and don't even return the item sent to you or send on your own swap.. then your name stays there.

 

Hmm... in my opinion there is a few different scenarios.
For instance, today at our local meet, we had a valetines swap. I think I was the only person who didn't bring their gift, but I gave the person a little note that next time I see her I'll give her it. (since it was an outfit and I didn't finish it all the way to my satisfaction.) I didn't lie or make excuses, it's just not done and that's what I said, and I really will try hard to have it done by the next time I see her.

I think with the internet it's so easy to "disappear" among the massive amounts of people though, so if people are too ashamed to even acknowledge the fact that they made a mistake and didn't have abilities they thought they did, or whatever reason, they often hide out rather than be honest.

For the first gift swap I ever did on DOA I am guilty of not sending a gift. I really had planned to but the person I made it for sold the doll I made it for during the duration of the swap and I just felt like "why should I send their gift if it will just go to waste?" so... yeah, I just never sent it and was not bothered by the person who ran the swap. I still feel bad I never sent Batchix her gift but I just wanted my outfit to be worn proudly by the mini it was made for, and otherwise I didn't want it going anywhere else XD
So it's still sitting in my doll clothes box.

Now in that case, I don't know what the punishment would be.

I think there should be a system where if someone doesn't send a gift, they get a warning. Second time they must use delivery confirmation, or else they are out for good. But I think all warnings and bannings should be redeemable, somehow, maybe by working it out with the person you've got beef with.

although in all honesty, while I would be a little peeved that someone wasn't honest with me, I would be happy if the person who got my gift was happy with their gift, even more so ;D

 

i like the idea of a warning system actually.

 

Sin hasn't recieved one of his Valentines yet and I try not to think about it as being jipped (and maybe it's just delayed in uber-slow Canadian customs since the organizer of that swap informed me that my partner says the gift is already sent).

Fortunately, the gifts he recieved from his other Valentine from the craft swap made up for the late-ness(?) of the other swap.

I think a list of names, with ALL swap participants, is the best way to go. That way, people are informed if people are really sending gifts or not but it's not meant to "punish" then by not allowing them to join swaps again.

 

This is one of the best solutions.

I co-moderate a Fashion Doll Swap board, and the moderator and myself do the following:

1. We limit swaps to 12 people (6 pairs)
2. The owner of the board and myself keep extra things on hand, ready made to send off to someone who has not received a swap item.
3. People get two chances, if they bail on a swap twice, they no longer get to sign up, or are simply removed when the do sign up, and an email is sent explaining why. They are essentially put on swap probabtion for 6 months and have to petition the mods to again participate.
4. If they are then allowed into a swap and don't follow through, they are removed frm the list.

I don't agree with the idea of publicly "outing" them. This can be unecessarily embarrassing. However, I think it is resonable fr the host of the prvious swap to send a PM or email to the next swap host letting them know any problems they might have had.

I personally think that keeping a swap limited is one of the most helpful things you can do. When you get to many people involved in one swap, it's difficult fr the host to manage all those people, and to send extra gifts to too many people if you wind up with a bunch of bailers.

 

I'd like to join your group!

I think that's an excellent idea; a dozen people per host who can then keep a better eye out on things and not have so much to coordinate.

 

I'm not sure what the current swap rules are, but I would limit swapping to actively posting members. Like with at least 50 posts. I know that would exclude new members, but they'd have the next swap to participate in. It's nice to give new members a chance, but when it's so easy to flake in a swap, it's better to take care of reliable members. And I'm definitely for a list, private or public. Maybe a private swap database of some kind?

 

I was involved in the secret santa swap and more than ten people, including myself, sent out presents and recieved nothing in return!

 

Of course it varies from circumstance to circumstance, but if the person doesn't have a legitimate reason for not sending their gift, letting them continue to participate would only be encouraging the problem.

 

I disagree with the warning and the private lists. Come on guys. For whatever reason they didn't send out the item. They received and item and they didnt follow thru. It doesn't matter what the value of the item was, or what their excuse was. If a retailer doesn't send out your item and its been 3 months since you "paid" for it They should get bad feedback. Same thing in the swap. Its DISHONEST. Stealing a candy bar is still stealing no matter what the value.

I want to know who doesn't follow thru with their end of the bargin. It will certainly color whether I send them cold hard cash for an item, or send them my doll for customization. I would want to know if they decide to let real life interfere with our transaction and keep my doll/commission/money tied up for months. You wouldn't give someone a second chance if they took your money and then never sent your item, why give a swap person a second chance to scam again?

When I send a swap/trade/purchase I use a method so I can prove I sent it. I also keep the receipt until I have confirmation that the item was received. None of this is rocket science. You sign up for a swap, you agree to send a gift. If you can't do that simple of a transaction, then you should be blacklisted just as any bad trader is. If you are able to fulfil the obligation, then your name is taken off the list.

There is no need to ask the mods to "help" out with the lists, all that will do is make them ban swaps as being to much hassle. The hosts of the swaps do enough already getting the lists together and watching the threads. Stop making this more complicated than needed. Its a transaction with rules just like any other in the marketplace. If you don't follow thru, then you get a bad mark period.

semirans

 

I'm in the craft swap, and I must admit that I'm afraid I'll either get nothing, or get something that's not worth what I send out.
And what's the point of a private list of swap scammers? How would we know to be wary of them if we can't see the list?

 

I'll tell you my opinion. you had 3 options that were all better than not sending anything.

1. Let your partner decideif they still want the item.
2. Send something different. You bailed and left someone hanging.
3. Send on what you received. You kept your gift right?

Good for you to post that you flaked and you reasons for it. But you could have made it up to your partner.

semirans

 

To prevent flaming, and then locking of the topic.

It doesn't really matter either way though. What we really need are some mod opinions on this.

If they say go ahead with a public list, then go ahead with it... but if it's just going to get locked when people start flaming, if they do, then a public list is really no good to anybody... because the point of that kind of list is to add onto it.

That's why a private list might be more helpful, no chance for flaming, as it will only be accessable to people running a swap.

 

You should still have contacted her at the very least. Maybe worked something out even if it wasn't what you intended.
In my opinion, this is how swaps are changing and evolving. Because of senarios like yours, it is the responsibility of the swap to learn from this and add additional rules. I know how it feels to have a doll sold on you. *has happened to her before* The swapper sometimes develop an attachment to the doll the item was made for... ^^;; *runs off to add rule*

I don't agree with a warning systems however. Too many opportunities to get away with free 'gifts'. And if you already have a late item going out, having another item to owe is simply unwise. A simple blacklist is what I'm going to be using. It's very easy to redeem yourself from the blacklist - just send in what you owe. (Better still, send the item and PM me proof.) However, if a person is repeatedly on and off the blacklist, it will give me some reservation and I'd be a bit biased to partner that person with their like.

 

I'm so concerned about this happening to people... I'm going to do what I can with replacing items that were never sent (and I have several vollunteers who are willing to make replacement items as well) but I really can't do a whole lot about an "unsatisfactory" item, you know? That bothers me... because somebody could put hours and hours into what they send and end up getting an item that somebody only spent 5 minutes on in return. I really wish there was some way to seperate people by skill level or something, because getting a poorly made item is nearly as bad as not getting anything at all.

 

I think however you decide to track non-senders, public or private, there should be a set "cut off" date for when you will accept any more excuses and that organizers should build this into the rules of the swap. I think I saw that one of the christmas swaps still has people who haven't received anything... I think at this point trying to contact the non-senders is something akin to beating a dead horse... that train has left and other avenues to appease those that didn't get their gifts should be explored.

I can think of several scenarios that might cause legitimately cause delays to getting packages out or prevent them all together.
1) you could have sent it and the postal monster ate it... it happens.
2) you had grand plans for what you wanted to send, but the execution err... left much to be desired and the person ended not sending in order to make something less grand and more in their abilities.
3) you had an injury, sickness, disaster that was much, much more important then some $10 dolly swap and it just slipped your mind.
4) your computer died, your sewing machine died, or your cat got into your bead case and ate all your beads and hasn't barfed them up yet... whatever.

No matter what the reason, if after say 2-4 weeks grace from the deadline (whatever the moderator of the swap decides is a reasonable amount of time), excuses or contact or no then pass the person who hasn't received something to a backup or impliment whatever the "backup plan" is, even if it's just sending apology notes to the people who didn't get a gift. I don't think it's fair to the people who organize the swaps to make it into a never ending ordeal for them or to leave the people who didn't receive hanging forever.

And if the non-sender's package shows up, they finish their gift finally, or their life settles down and they remember to send it late, or the cat regurgitates enough beads to finish the necklace... well I don't think anyone's going to complain about getting 2 gifts...

 

POST THE DEADBEATS ALREADY. It's been 3 months since the deadline for the xmas swaps.

semirans

 

Perhaps it could be made into a locked thread that only mods could add to? And after the swap's time limit was up, the head of the swap could send "no shows" on to the mod and s/he could add their names to the list. It wouldn't be particularly time consuming, and the thread wouldn't be open and inviting flames.

Of course, that would take a mod agreeing to do such a thing...

 

Yeah, it seems like the mods want to give their opinion on this subject at all, at least in this thread. Maybe the organizer of one of the past swaps could PM one of them?