Well that sucks, but don’t be discouraged, for every prick, there are atleast Ten friendly members.
Some points to keep in mind; there’s no hard and fast rules though...
- use the start a swap tab to glance through members who have coins you are looking for in their swap list or who would be interested in coins from your list. This is not accurate at all however, but it’s a good starting point
-read the profile of the member and see whether his interests match what you have to offer. Don’t open a swap with someone who is obviously not interested in your coins
- I think it’s better etiquette to message the member before actually opening the swap. Do not open a swap Without leaving any message
- before going ahead with a swap, agree to the basis of how you both would value the coins whether it’s a 1:1 swap, km catalogue value, silver for silver etc. . I personally avoid any swap where grading and catalogue value is involved because it is very subjective and I’ve had bad experiences.
- As a newbie, expect to be asked to send your coins first until you can build up some credibility with ratings.
- be careful how you set expectations sending coins ie with or without tracking and be mindful of the country your counterpart comes from. For instance, sending regular mail to India has a very low chance of reaching your swap partner
- you might also want to discuss responsibilities in instances where one person receives a package but the other person doesn’t.
- once you commit to a swap, it’s basic courtesy to promptly send out the coins and if not possible, keep your swap partner informed and manage expectations accordingly.
- once you get the coins, rate your swap partner. There are some people who wait for the other person to rate them before they drop a rating. Don’t be one of those types!
- use the rating with caution, once you say something and give a particular rating, it’s a difficult process to change it as only the site owner can do it and he won’t do it in all instances. . so don’t mistakenly put a 1 star when you meant to put a 5. Similarly, if you are tempted to rate someone badly, take a deep breath and think whether you can resolve the situation before burning that bridge.
There must be more nuances I’ve missed to keep in mind, but these general guidelines should be enough to help you get your first swap off to a good start. Perhaps, try swapping with someone in your own country as a first go, it tends to be easier and cheaper. Once you are more confident in the process, look further afield
Quote: "ashlobo"- be careful how you set expectations sending coins ie with or without tracking and be mindful of the country your counterpart comes from. For instance, sending regular mail to India has a very low chance of reaching your swap partner
Welcome to Numista!
ashlobo has pretty much covered everything, but I wanted to stress in particular how important this point is.
I make a point of saying that (on my profile) while I am open to swapping with anyone anywhere, I will not send by registered due to the value of the kind of coins/notes I usually swap on the site not being worth the cost (barring exceptional cases). TLDR; if you have any kind of specific caveats like that, disclose them fully.
Otherwise unless you tried to select someone's 19th century silver while you only have modern circulating coins up for swap, I think you probably just had bad luck and ran into someone who was having a bad day. Don't let that scare you away!
