Last month I got back into the whole swapping viewcards world and to consolidate trust within the society, I was the send-first swapper even if the viewcard collectors were the ones who wanted the Seychelles cards. Feel free to check out iviewcards.com for my posting and receiving updates.
Earlier today I received a friendship request on Facebook from a Filipino collector. He wanted to exchange viewcards and he told me that he didn’t have any cards from the Seychelles.
I told him that I would be willing to exchange card with him, but he would have to send first. After I receive his cards, I will post mine.
Shockingly, he disagreed. He said “I don’t entertain these kinds of swaps…” and according to him, we should both send the cards at the exact same time. We should also photograph the envelope before we mail it.
I do see updates from other swappers on Facebook, they tend to photograph envelopes as “proof” that the mail was sent.
In my opinion, taking a picture of the evelope IS NOT PROOF that the mail was sent. So this woudn’t work for me. I have viewcards from all around the world – never once have I photographed my envelopes and never once have I asked anyone to do the same for me.
Anyway, in the past month, I have accepted bulk swaps from swappers in the Philippines. In total, I have accepted about 5-6 Philippines card exchanges. The nerve of this guy to talk to me like I was the one who asked him to swap with me.
I even showed him my swap testimonials (iviewcards.com/testimonials).
The way I see it, if you don’t have Seychelles cards and you really want some from someone who already has a pack of cards from your country, then surely it will not be a big deal to send first? This guy was acting like I wanted to scam him or something.
The first Philippines cards I got were those I bought MYSELF. I was in the Philippines at the turn of the millenium and I bought myself some cards. I can’t remember how much they cost – but I wasn’t counting because they were cheap. Unlike Seychelles cards…I have already spent almost a USD100 within the past month buying cards and posting them. So I really don’t get swappers who want cards but can’t send first. It’s not my loss, I already have cards from his country.
Yesterday, someone from Bangladesh asked me if I would like to swap with him. Bangladesh is a country in my high-priority list. But because I’m still waiting for many other exchanges, I asked the guy if he could send first. He was like ‘no problem’. Simple as that.
The whole sending together deal is not my favourite. I mean, it’s the furthest from fair. If the person who wants the item sends first, then the first recipient can carefully check the quality of the contents and send the ‘response mail’ in return. I.e. if the person who sends first posts a wonderful postcard, the recipient can send a wonderful postcard in return.
Similarly, if the person who sends first posts something that is crappy or broken, the recipient can report this and negotiate some kind of repair-deal before a exchange is sent.
This is the nature of swapping.
The crap about taking photographs of the envelope before you post it is just silly. It doesn’t prove anything.
Anyway, this is my rule. If anyone wants to swap with me and they are not providing me with high-priority list items then they should send first. I am only being nice by actually agreeing to swap. In the same manner, if I really want cards from a specific country, I am willing to take that risk and send first.
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WYSIWYG! I'm a simple person trying to live the simplest life possible - it seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve! I'm an internet enthusiast and I've been a webmaster since early 2007. I like: blogging, developing sites using open source software, social media, computer games, '80s music, comedy & horror, animals, crunching on M&Ms peanut and Smarties!
