Spring Swap 2022

[areica96]

We're back, baby!

Welcome to the eighth annual PKMNCollectors gift exchange! In past years, we have hosted Spring and Valentines swaps, and now it's time for the 2022 edition! This year's swap will be hosted by areica96, moonlightpkmn and princess_snivy



Please be sure to read everything as the rules have been updated and clarified!



The Rules:

In order to participate in the Spring Swap, you must meet the following requirements:

• You have sales permission and/or at least 10 positive feedback. If you participated in previous years, feel free to mention that as well!
• If you do not have sales permission, at least one of your feedbacks must have occurred after February of 2021
• You have been a member of the community for at least one month
• You have posted to the community at least three times
• You have regular access to the post office and agree to spend the minimum amount before shipping costs

Important Dates:

• February 21st - February 28th : Sign ups!
• February 28th - March 4th : Survey approval and getting assigned to a host
• March 5th - March 8th : Participants send their mailing address to their hosts
• March 9th - 16th : Hosts send out your Secret Someone Assignment!
• March 16th - May 16th: Shop for your Secret Someone!

All gifts must be mailed by May 16th, 2022!

The Process:

• Fill out the survey in this post, and you will be assigned a host if approved.
• Please email your full mailing address to your host within the given timeframe. Failure to do this step will have you dropped from the exchange.
• Once your host has received all of their participants’ mailing address, you will be assigned a secret someone to shop for and given their survey answers! This is a SECRET and you should not directly contact your assigned gift!
• If you have any questions or concerns while shopping, please contact your host!
• You must spend at least $20 on a gift for your Secret Someone (this amount does not include any shipping costs associated with your gift). You should be able to find something for your Secret Someone using the information on their survey. Including a custom note, message and/or card letting your Secret Someone know who sent them the gift and ALWAYS send a thank you message on the community letting them know you received your gift. Please, do not send a bootleg or reject items.
• You must keep a copy of your shipping receipt. If you are in an international country that does not provide detailed shipping receipts, take a picture of your package before you send it so we all know that you did. Let your host know that your gift was sent out and send your proof of shipping picture to them as well.
• The hosts also reserve the right to deny participation from any member for any reason.
• Members with neutral and/or negative feedback will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
• This transaction counts as a trade on the community, and is subject to feedback. Failure to ship your swap gift on time will result in negative/neutral feedback from your host, and a potential blacklist from other community events.

The Survey:

Copy and paste the following survey into a new comment on this post. Read and follow ALL of the instructions below the survey or you may not be approved.

1. Username:
2. Link to feedback:
3. Methods of contact:
4. Country:
5. Favorite Pokemon or Merchandise:
6a. Would you like to receive customs?
6b. Would you like to make customs as part of your Swap gift?
7. Sweets?
8a. Do you have any allergies?
8b. Are there any allergens in your home/work/etc?
9. Is there anything else your Gifter should know about you?
10. Special considerations:
11. Are you okay with shipping internationally?
12: Who were your SSS partners last swap?:
13: Would you be willing to be an emergency gifter?:
14: Please check your local post office's website for any COVID restrictions. If there are any countries you currently can't ship to, please note them below:

For question 2, if you do not have 10 feedback but DO have sales permission, please list when you received permission and which moderator granted it to you.

For question 3, please include an email address so we can contact you quickly and easily. If LJ PMs are unreliable for you, please mention this as well.

For question 5, please list at least five of your favorite Pokemon and/or merchandise. The more you list, the easier it is to shop for a gift.

For question 6a, please indicate whether you are comfortable receiving customs as a gift. You can specify what customs you like, but you cannot list specific requests about the items. For example, you can say yes to custom plush, however you CANNOT say "I want a custom high quality plush made of minky with embroidered eyes". If you would categorize yourself as picky when it comes to customs, it may be best to consider refusing customs for this exchange. Any comments about quality/material/etc will be ignored with the exception of allergies. Make sure you are also okay ONLY receiving customs as your gift if you reply "yes" to question 6a. Custom gifters are not required to make you custom gifts and buy official merchandise if their custom(s) meets the minimum value.

For question 6b, If you are a custom artist and may make a custom as your gift, please list that here. Please only use this space to specify yes/no and from what category (plush, sculpture, painting, etc). Examples are not necessary, but feel free to include a link to some if you'd like! While we do our best to pair artists with people who would like customs, it is not always possible. Please make sure you are okay spending $20 on official merchandise regardless of your answer to this question.

For question 7, write whether or not you would be comfortable receiving any food-related items as part of your gift and what types of foods you like. Many participants like to include candies and other sweets as part of the package.

For question 8a please tell us if you are allergic to anything. For example, if you are allergic to certain animals or have food allergies, please put them here.

For question 8b, If you may come into contact with allergens (cats, dogs, etc.) please list that here.

For question 9, you are free to write anything about yourself and your collection that may help your gifter shop for you. This is the area to write out important things that your Gifter may need to know-- if you do not collect duplicate items, if you only want items in brand new condition, if you do not like specific types of merchandise, etc. You can even include a link to your wishlist (if you have one). Make sure your wishlist has items for less than $20 or it will not be helpful to your Secret Someone. If your survey is not descriptive enough, a host will ask you to revise it.

For question 10, please include any special information that you would like to convey to the hosts. Let us know any special requests that you have so we can try to give you an appropriate assignment.

For question 12, Please try to specify which user you gifted to and which user you received a gift from. This question is to help reduce the likelihood of repeat partners. If you do not remember, it is okay, but there is the chance of getting the same person again!

For question 13, if you would also like to volunteer to be an emergency gifter (who would send a gift to a user whose gift is lost or never sent) please indicate that here.

Disclaimer: **** Please remember that your gifter will be shopping for a gift for you during the next three months. If you are not interested in receiving doubles, try not to purchase items off the community that you have asked for in your survey. ****

Complete (fill in the blank) and sign the terms of pkmncollectors Spring Secret Swap by copying and pasting it underneath the survey.

I, _____________________, hereby certify that I will follow all terms of pkmncollectors 2022 Spring Secret Swap. By completing this survey, I acknowledge that I have read all of the rules for 2022 Secret Swap and agree to spend at least $20 on my Secret Someone. I must ship my gift out by May 16th, 2022 and I must keep a copy of my proof of shipping for my host. If I do not follow these rules, I acknowledge that I will receive negative pkmncollectors community feedback for failing to complete a trade.

Post-Survey:

• Now comes the fun part: shopping for your giftee! Use their provided survey results to shop for them and put their gift together in the allotted timeframe. Remember to include a note so they know who their thoughtful gifter was!
• Send your host proof of shipping once you have mailed out your gift. This marks you off as completing your end of the “trade” on time.
• Let your host know if you haven't received your gift yet (about a week after the deadline) or if there were any issues with your package and we will sort it out asap.
• Send a thank you note to the person who sent you a gift. Please also consider posting about your gift to the community, to show how much you appreciated your gift! It means a lot to your fellow community members to know that you enjoyed participating!
• Once you have received your gift, if you would like feedback for participating, you must post about your gift on the community and add the tag SSS to your post. Once we have confirmed that packages have all been shipped, we will begin leaving people feedback who have confirmed that they have shipped and posted their gift to the community using the appropriate tag.

FAQ:

How do I sign-up?
-Fill out the form above as a comment on this post before February 28th in order to sign up!

Who are the hosts and how will we be assigned to one?
-You will be randomly assigned to a host and a Secret Someone using a spreadsheet and random number generator. Hosts for this year are: areica96, moonlightpkmn and princess_snivy

Can I spend more than $20 on my Secret Someone?
-Of course you can! There is no maximum purchase amount. Thank you for going above and beyond the requirements. Please remember, however, that $20 is the minimum. Don't be disappointed if you don't receive a gift over $20.

I don't know how to make my survey detailed enough!
-Take a look at the completed surveys in the comments for some great tips and ideas!

Help! There is an emergency situation going on right now! What do I do? Will I still receive negative feedback?
-If anything comes up, contact your host immediately! We will try to help you out as much as possible. If we need to assign an emergency gifter, we need to know as soon as possible.

If anything prevents you from sending out your gift, unfortunately you will still receive negative feedback. By completing the survey and contract, you agreed to send out your gift and follow all of the rules. This exchange counts as a transaction- it is a trade- and you will receive negative feedback from your host if you do not participate correctly.

Thanks for reading! All questions and comments are welcome, so tell us what you think in the thread below!