HOW TO: Host An ATC Swap

Many hosts send out their address when players sign up, others ask players to PM them when they are ready to send their cards in.
Usually this is noted in the first post of the swap thread.
It's up to the host to decide how they want to proceed. :)
 
I'm thinking about hosting my first swap, but I'm a little confused and have a few questions.

1. Do I send my address, ect. to a mod first and ask permission to host a swap, then if I get approved post the swap in the forums?

2. Is the host considered a player in the swap. Would I also make 3 cards and be the 13th player in the swap?

3. Is it acceptable to ask for postage to be covered by international players via paypal? I live in Scotland, UK, so it's unlikely there would be many players within my own country and postage to the USA can be expensive. Could I, for example, sponsor 3 players from outside the UK but ask any others to provide postage via paypal/UK currency in the envelope.

4. Can your first swap be all ages? And do all ages swaps always swap between kids and adults separately, hence being two swaps really?

Sorry if I'm asking silly questions...
 
These are not silly questions. :)

Yes, please send your user info to a Moderator first.

If you chose to play in your first swap, you are the 13th player and you can make 3 cards to swap with the other players, if you want.

You can require players to pay for their return postage. A number of hosts do ask for players to use PayPal.

Since the first swap is limited to 12 players and a 3 for 3 exchange, you will only have 36 cards (plus your own, if you play too) to work with.
If you do an all ages there might not be enough adult or children's cards to swap them separately. So that would be your decision on how you would swap them out. :)
 
I'm thinking about hosting my first swap but I was thinking about co-hosting with another member who lives in my city. Is this allowable? We both meet all of the criteria. With two of us hosting, could we double the first time maximum to 24 players if co-hosting is allowed? Thanks for your input.
 
Pochadiva, the number of players would still be 12 total.

It is preferable for first time hosts to host their own swaps, until they gain experience as a swap host. As the few co-hosted swaps on the old site had many problems.
Also the member who opens the swap is the only one who can edit the first post to update it.
 
Ibus said:
One more thing about addresses. Am I the only one on this site to keep an address book? I get a bit fed up supplying my address over and over and over again to the same people, sometimes just after I have received something from them!
It's not hard. I use forum names to alphabetise, as that's how I think of people anyway, and then have their real names and addresses underneath. Makes life much simpler, but I'm beginning to feel a tad anal!
Click to expand...

I always verify the address with the host (or a trader in a 1:1 trade) because they may have moved since I last wrote down their address in my book. Don't mean to be a pain with the PMs; it's just a way of ensuring that the cards get to the correct location.
 
Can you specify a minimum number of participants in a swap? I'm hosting one at the moment that doesn't seem to be particularly popular, and I would like to say "Swap will only proceed if we get at least four sign-ups". And if you do not get enough by a particular date, can you shut down the swap and organise personal trades with the people that have already made their cards? Or is it once it's up, it's up to stay?
 
That's happened a few times lemurkat, where there wasn't enough interest in a swap.
And yes, it could be closed.
You could put a notation about having a certain number of players before a certain date in order for the swap to proceed. Players maybe wouldn't start their cards until that date?
 
Carole Cadek said:
That's happened a few times lemurkat, where there wasn't enough interest in a swap.
And yes, it could be closed.
You could put a notation about having a certain number of players before a certain date in order for the swap to proceed. Players maybe wouldn't start their cards until that date?
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks!
 
I have hosted 2 swaps now and just realized that the organization of the list of swaps that are open keep changing by who makes a comment in the swap.

I would suggest that the swaps be listed by due date instead. The top one would be the swap closest to the ending date.

I know when I look for open swaps I want to know the date to see if I have time to participate.
 
I am thinking about hosting a swap in the new year, but it will be hand drawn and/or painted but I too will need a buddy as although I have been a member for a number of years, am still nervous about hosting. AND I always send an extra card to the host. Have never failed to do this, just a courtesy I feel.
 
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