WHAT YA GOT SWAP Chat Thread

[BHep]

If everyone writes dates & their username on eggs in sharpie that would completely solve the reshipping problem. No way to get sharpie off. Just a suggestion.

Actually is a good idea....

 

[BHep]

Another "announcement". I'd like to get a vote on how many people are okay with a $5ish package for the kids' swap, and how many would prefer to have categories (and what categories you'd like). If we do categories, please give me some ideas, and please be aware that you might not get matched perfectly, since the kids will be grouped by age and hopefully gender first, THEN by category (if we do categories). OR, instead of categories, maybe just give me age, gender and maybe 3 interests for the child, and then let it up to the swapper to find something that they think the kids will enjoy... Like, say, for mine, it might be 5, Male, Trains, drawing, puzzles (or something like that). Then whoever would get mine might be able to do like a sheet of Thomas the train stickers, a box of crayons and maybe a puzzle from the Dollar Tree or SOMETHING like that. Just something easy, enjoyable and exciting for the kids. I want it to be fun for everyone, exciting for the kids and not cost everyone a bunch of money (because we all know that the kids would rather play with the box that the $50 toy comes in!) So, please just let me know and we can get this thing rolling! Oh, and absolutely a must, there has to be a child creation in each package... Either a drawing from the child OR a letter (or both if your kid is ambitious, LOL).

I think the age, sex and 3 suggestions is a good idea. You can get stuff from the Dollar store and make a childs day !

 

[Arkansas81]

Wouldn't sharpie contaminate the eggs, like black? Or could we use color? I put a small color sharpie dot on mine to help me keep track of which eggs are laid when. Silkie just got my other package.....thank u!

 

[daze333]

Alrighty guys, I'm going to leave this one up to you... Do you want to keep the new rule of requiring pictures of your birds to swap eggs, or...? I was thinking about it and while it might deter some folks from bad swapping, others might just steal pictures from online. :/ I realize that most of the swappers here are great folks, and I don't want to punish good swappers because of a bad egg or two. Now, if there are no pictures, I will require something else, like a permenant date on the eggs (lay date) or a screen name to identify the eggs (not just breeds alone) or something that would prevent some others from reshipping/reselling the eggs they receive. While, personally, I don't care if you get eggs and sell the chicks (IMO, when you get the chicks, they are your's, and we all have to sell birds at some point in time to make room for others, lol), but reshipping eggs is absolutely unacceptable. I don't want reshipped eggs (or poorly packed eggs), and I refuse to allow people to send others subpar/unviable eggs. Talking to some other people, I'm thinking that maybe pictures might be too much of a pain and the whole point is easily thwarted by stealing pictures. :/ So, up to you guys!!!

I think either way is fine. Thank you for protecting us!

Another "announcement". I'd like to get a vote on how many people are okay with a $5ish package for the kids' swap, and how many would prefer to have categories (and what categories you'd like). If we do categories, please give me some ideas, and please be aware that you might not get matched perfectly, since the kids will be grouped by age and hopefully gender first, THEN by category (if we do categories). OR, instead of categories, maybe just give me age, gender and maybe 3 interests for the child, and then let it up to the swapper to find something that they think the kids will enjoy... Like, say, for mine, it might be 5, Male, Trains, drawing, puzzles (or something like that). Then whoever would get mine might be able to do like a sheet of Thomas the train stickers, a box of crayons and maybe a puzzle from the Dollar Tree or SOMETHING like that. Just something easy, enjoyable and exciting for the kids. I want it to be fun for everyone, exciting for the kids and not cost everyone a bunch of money (because we all know that the kids would rather play with the box that the $50 toy comes in!) So, please just let me know and we can get this thing rolling! Oh, and absolutely a must, there has to be a child creation in each package... Either a drawing from the child OR a letter (or both if your kid is ambitious, LOL).

I would be willing to try this. I have a 12 yo son who likes legos, reading fantasy books, and beanie babies. Is this too specific of categories?
I also have a 17 yo daughter who might enjoy exchanging with another teen if you go that high in age. She likes horses, vampire type books and dogs.
Thank you!

 

[daze333]

Wouldn't sharpie contaminate the eggs, like black? Or could we use color? I put a small color sharpie dot on mine to help me keep track of which eggs are laid when. Silkie just got my other package.....thank u!

No, I use sharpie on every egg and they hatch just fine!

 

[luluann]

Bettacreek are we all sending to all the kids? Or say I have 3 so I send to only 3? Also are we to pay shipping on the items sent to our kids or is it going to be a even thing? I think saying what our kids like is a good idea. Also are we doing boxes for the items? What if say someone has a boy and wants to do a girl swap or the other way around?

 

[SilkieSensation]

Quote: I'm actually considering putting this as a requirement on my waterfowl swap as well, just to help with the issue. Maybe we should contact other thread owners to do the same. I already do date & breed in pencil. I wouldn't have a problem adding "SS" for my username as well. I know I have sharpies sitting around I can use.

Quote:

Wouldn't sharpie contaminate the eggs, like black? Or could we use color? I put a small color sharpie dot on mine to help me keep track of which eggs are laid when. Silkie just got my other package.....thank u!

Nope. They are fine no matter what color you use.

Quote: I use them a lot too & never have a problem.

 

[Bettacreek]

If you have three kids, you'll send three boxes/bubble envelopes and each of your three children will receive a box/bubble envelope. You will pay shipping for the boxes/bubble envelopes that each of your kids send out.

I'd like to keep ages as the same category (because in all honesty, a 17 year old most likely isn't going to want a picture from a 4 year old, and I for one wouldn't have any idea what to get for a 17 year old), but genders might be easier to mix up... Maybe it's just because I have a 4 year old neice, but I feel like I could buy for either gender of my age group. I'm thinking that with similar ages, it should be easier on us to find things for the other children and with the personal note/picture from the kids, it might make it more personal and more like commradary (I can't spell to save my life anymore) between the kids.

 

[krazykat0373]

Quote: I suggest that everything comes from the Dollar Tree (everything is a dollar) yes, it's cheap stuff, but they do have some neat stuff sometimes and my 10 and 12 year old love to go in there, and just get little toys, watches and yes, even those silly little bubbles. (I thought they would have outgrown them by now, but really I still play with them so I guess I shouldn't expect them to)
AND OMG bubble wrap! Do you know how hard it is to keep them from popping the wrap I use for shipping?

 

[luluann]

Can we also sign up for say another kid? Dbf has a nephew who never gets anything. His mother isn't the brightest crayon in the box... but that's beside the point. I will have to ask them first.