I am SO done swapping here.....

I have participated in three different swaps on CO+K and I have only received 1 of 4 swaps (one swap had two partners). I put tons of effort into the things that I sent, and the funnier part is that the one swapper who sent me something, flaked on me in a later swap.

The swaps were:
Secret Santa Xmas Cards (only received from TiffanyNoelle. I don't know who the missing swapper is)
Xmas Swap (never received anything from Cassie, and I know she got mine.)
The Big New Year Swap (TiffanyNoelle received mine, and has sent me messages saying that she was going to send out the Monday after she contacted me. I'd given her my new address before hand and I have yet to receive anything.)

I am so pissed here because I had faith that such a family-like group of swappers could at least produce. And I know some will say it's about the giving, not the receiving, but when I save my spending money so I can send something, especially Internationally, and I get NOTHING back, that just pisses me off.

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13 replies since 7th March 2012 • Last reply 7th March 2012

Reply #1:

This has happened to me countless times =

I've also been considering not swapping anymore, but for now I just swap with people I know have had a good swap history. Cassie also flaked on me in the bracelet swap

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Reply #2:

If you would have send me a message that you only recieved one card I could have fixed the problem with the secret santa card swap. There where a lot of postal problems and many cards came late. But if I don't get a message I can't fix the problem.

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Reply #3:

I am sorry this has happened to you! You could sign up for a swap angel, or just swap with people who have a good swapping history. I wouldn't let it deter you from swapping, they are really fun! and great to receive cool items someone made for you.

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Reply #4:

Well I didn't know who it was, and I also wanted to wait and see if something would show. I didn't want to be a nuisance to anyone, but it's annoying to think about.

And I'm not going to let this keep me from swapping, but I don't like the not knowing someone's standing before I swap with them.

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Reply #5:

Yeah maybe you should try a few personal swaps on the swap request board. Or when you do sign up for a swap, just let the host know you want to be paired with someone who's done it alot and wont flake on you (the usual's around here know who is good and who is iffy) If you feel like you want a swap angel just let mew know, I'm in charge of the thread, and we can try an work it out. If not though thats fine too. Just an option if you need it.

Im so sorry this happened to you Happy((( I've done over 100 swaps and I have only had 2 people flake on me, which is a pretty good record. So I am astounded that you've had such poor luck. I hope you'll stick around and get some better swap partners. Because its awesome!

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Reply #6:

I've been swapping on this site since 2009 and I've only had 3 flakers. One was in a near fatal accident (this one was angeled), one was suffering from severe depression and ended up sending me a HUGE package of goodies once she was well, and the other one's package got sent back to her, and she got busy and never resent, but this swap was angeled. So my experience on this site is that there are more good swappers than bad, and my so-called flakers had really good reasons for not sending. You can always ask for an angel. I'm always happy to angel because I enjoy giving more than receiving.

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Reply #7:

I love swapping and I've been flaked on about 3 times but what I have recieved from those which worked has been amazing. I done tons on here and had a break but recently did a candy swap and I think I'm addicted again Happy I'm sorry though that you've had some bad experiences. I can imagine that thats really tough when you've only done a few Happy
With the benefit of hindsight I can say that the flakers were always the ones where we had minimum communication before sending. Now I normally like to have a few messages going back and forwards before I send - that way I know that my partner hasn't signed up on a whim and is making stuff too.

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Reply #8:

Arty, I would think the same thing. But the ones who flaked on me sent me a lot of messages back and forth and said they were going to send, and never did.

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Reply #9:

Well, I believe we have a list for people like that that will help prevent them from joining future swaps that they might not send out on.

There are a lot of people who just like to get stuff and never return the favor. When they get put on an open, public list, they're less likely to get any swap partners and more likely to have a reason to actually send something out.

I've never been flaked on for swaps before, and I never want to flake on anyone. I love the thrill of getting things, but I also love the feeling of giving. For most of us, swapping is fun and exciting and it gives us a chance to spread our crafts around. For a few people, it's all about getting something only for themselves.

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Reply #10:

Unfortunately there was a spate of formally reliable swappers going AWOL. But I have to say my experience to date has been positive and I've swapped several times now.
It's unfortunate that your first experiences have been negative ones but we're not all bad!!

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Reply #11:

Cassie has flaked on me too in harry potter swap she never replied to my messages so luckily i didnt send her anything

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Reply #12:

Cassie flaked on me on the Halloween swap and a personal swap, she seemed to disappear after she moved house.
TBH I'm pretty much done with swapping too after being flaked on by 3 different people, ignored by 2 others and personally insulted by a 3rd. I've lost all enthusiam, even though I really enjoyed swapping when I started about a year ago I don't want to anymore. I'm going to tie up swaps I'm being slow on and that's it, no more swapping.

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Reply #13:

In all honesty I feel really horrible about the big new year swap I took it on at a really bad time when I had a load of exams I didnt even know about and :/ well It was more like the big new years flop. I didnt check on the ones involved and I hosted it badly, I just want to apologise for any inconvience that arised from this Happy

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