Swap Site Updates – Would You Swap with This Person Again?

ByLiz CadmanJun 19, 2015 | 64 comments

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This is one of the most requested swap updates we've received - and it is live! You can now choose to answer this question at the end of every swap: "Would you swap with ___ again?" (This is optional - no need to answer if you don't want to).

This is separate from feedback and serves as a way for you to keep track of people you want to swap with again. It is also anonymous. (If you're considering a swap with someone you've already swapped with and rated before, you'll see your thumbs up or down symbol as a way to remember):

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Also, the total percentage of people who would want to swap with someone again is listed too.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions. As always, keep the suggestions coming!

UPDATE 2: Thanks for all your feedback on this feature. We're going to remove the "__% would swap again" listing on profiles since it isn't necessarily reflective on whether or not that person is a good swapper. You'll still be able to track if you want to swap with a person again though. (And we're brainstorming other ideas for giving you as much info as we can on fellow swappers that useful and fair).

And we've updated Search:

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You can now click "Go" instead of depending on drop down results/clicking enter.

Posted in Subscription Box Swap News

Liz Cadman

Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She's been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

Read More By Liz Cadman >

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64 comments

Emily

Thanks for taking feedback into consideration! I think this will be really useful.

Lisa

I wish there was a spot to leave notes about the swapper. This would be purely for my use and wouldn’t be visable to anyone else. I could note if they want/are in search of something specific, if they were good to deal with or if they were rude and I wouldn’t want to trade with them. It could just be a little note area that pops up with their profile or in the trade that’s requested. I’ve dealt with so many different swappers that it’s impossible to keep track of everyone. I’d like it to be an option for all profiles (even for people I have swapped with). I’ve tried arranging trades with people where the trade didn’t end up ending agreed on but I’d still like to add a personal note for myself about the person. This would help remind me about the traders and provide me info about them for my own use.

Mona

Since I am often posting comments on my phone (especially moreso now with the app!!!!) I’d like to see an edit and a delete button for you to edit/delete your own comments.. so that way when I do misspell or double post, I can fix it. 😉

lily

Instead of a yes or no, it would be nice to see a maybe button. Sometimes I’m indecisive on whether I would swap with the person again. I would give a no response if I swapped with someone twice, and had the same issues such as item not being as described or taking 1 month to ship.

Sarah.

Hi Liz thank u for continuing to update and improve the swap site. I had one idea that I would like to see on the swap site – a last chance / discount swap area for people to list items they have had in their swap listings for a long time that are not getting swapped out, and they could list them in this area at a discount rv. Other people could go to this area to find discounted stuff. I just thought something like this would be cool

Kimberly

Love this! I was just thinking about something similar a few days ago. It would be especially great for food items or time-sensitive gift cards approaching their end dates – might as well get something out of them before they expire! I’ve also got a few beauty/skincare items I’d be willing to let go for a discount, just so they get swapped.

Well put, Sarah! Great idea!

chris

FLASH SALE on the swap site. I like it. 🙂

Alicia

I love this feature, and agree that I would prefer to use it privately, for my own personal reference. I’d hate for my thumbs down to negatively affect someone who may be a perfectly fine swapper. One request: I’d love to be able to use this for previously completed swaps, please! I see that the option shows up, but my selections aren’t sticking – there doesn’t seem to be a way to save them. Thanks!

Ashley

So how about a way to expire a swap when a swapper is not responding after a swap has been committed to. I know of so many swappers who have products in limbo because someone committed to a swap and then disappeared. Also I’ve notice many swappers who have listings but have not swapped since 2014. Is there anyway to get rid of those accounts or put them on hold until they return or log back in? It’s really disappointing to request something just to find out that person is not swapping anymore.

Kimberly

Ashley:
Agreed, it can be frustrating to deal with a swapper who isn’t listed as on vacation, but doesn’t seem to be active on the site. However, there are some people not on vacation who haven’t completed a swap for a while due to other reasons. I myself went a few months without a swap because I actually loved everything in my boxes and didn’t list anything new (shocking, I know).

There are some sites out there that list when you were last active (as in, logged in) on the site – perhaps that’s the solution. If you were about to swap with someone who hadn’t swapped in over three months, you’d probably feel confident in your chances if you saw “Last logged in: 1 day ago” (or something similar) under their name/ on their profile page. If it said “Last logged in: 2 months ago,” you’d know that request might go unheard.

Ashley

Love this idea!

Melissa

I’ve heard of this “having items in limbo” before, but I don’t understand why the person can’t just re-list the item if they are sure the other person is gone. Just make a new listing and ta-da! Problem solved.

Hays

This has happened to me a few times. I sent cancellation requests bc they never replied to my address requests or never bothered to send items. It didn’t turn out to be a swap lift, but it’s obnoxious. I always just relist my items… However, it still counts as a “swap in progress” if they never agree to the cancellation.

Faye

Sort of related. I have had 2 swaps, neither used tracking, both claim to have sent the items but I never got them. One offered me a replacement, the other never replied after she stated she sent them (and then the same items appear as available on her page). Should I leave negative, neutral, or let it go. They were all under $20RV, but I’m afraid they’ll reply on my feedback as negative if I leave them one, when I shipped mine out and they got it (because I used tracking).

Liz Cadman

Can you email me the details on these swaps? ([email protected])

PA Anna

Oh no. What if no one likes me? I’m an inexperienced swapper.

Emily

What…?

PA Anna

As an inexperienced swapper, I would hate to make a mistake that would cause someone not to want to swap with me again. I understand that there are other issues that come into play. I think it is more about my nervousness about swapping.

Hays

I’m concerned about this new feature as well. I feel like leaving a form of feedback without having to be accountable isn’t productive. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

Liz Cadman

I appreciate the feedback. We’re going to keep an eye on how it is used over the next few days and adjust if needed. Please keep me posted on how it is working for you.

Hays

Cool, thanks! I know you work really hard to keep improving things and appreciate all that you do. Love the site and swapping equally.

Ashley

I have a suggestion for your review section. I wanted to view all the Father’s Day special boxes subscriptions are having right now but I have to scroll through pages and pages to find them and it’s also harder to compare them that way. Maybe a search tool or special sections for limited time boxes?

Rachel

There are a lot of well written responses above that clearly articulate the problem with this. When I started reading this post I was very enthusiastic to have a way to check whether or not I want to swap with someone again. But when I saw that this was a second form of feedback, it cannot be used that same way in good conscience. My reasons for not wanting to swap with someone again could range anywhere from I thought shipping cost to their area was too high to not liking a comment they made on their profile box that has nothing to do with whether or not I have had a good swap. Ugh please take the anonymous percentage out Liz, or at minimum post a disclaimer that there are many reasons people may not want to swap again, many of which do not reflect negatively on the swapper, and please look at the feedback page for actual feedback.

Becka

I echo this comment completely.

Yogamom67

Me, too – I love the idea of personally being able to keep track of who I would swap with again – but what I want/expect/prefer in a swap might be completely different from someone else. I just gave a thumbs down to a girl who has 100% positive feedback and I’d feel terrible about that, except I don’t think it counts, because it was a very old swap (a couple of months ago). I sure hope it doesn’t – because I thought I was just keeping track of whether or not I would want to swap again with her.

She didn’t necessarily do anything wrong – I just have high expectations and prefer to swap with swappers who have similar preferences when swapping – i.e., priority or first class mail, tracking, well wrapped/packaged, thoughtful extras when they are included (not junk that should be sent to the Good Will), good communication, etc.

However, not doing all of this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad swap.

I guess I wasn’t clear with the thumbs up, thumbs down. I was thinking this was just a way for me to keep tracking of whether or not I would swap with this individual again – but not a way to rate them for the rest of the community.

I do understand the point of the anonymous feedback, though. The poor woman above, who basically was swap swindled – shouldn’t have to be afraid to leave negative feedback for the swapper who stole her items.

It would be great to be able to do both – which probably, many of us already do informally in one way or another. I know I’ve traded names with at least a few of my favorite swappers on who to be aware/steer clear of.

It would be nice if we could
(1) Keep track of who we would like to personally swap with again.
(2) Be able to leave honest feedback on our swaps for the rest of the community without fear of reprisal.

Jennifer

Those are all VERY good points. I initially LOVED the idea of being able to keep track of weather or not I wanted to swap with someone again (and I would like for the system to expand to wanting to swap EVER because there are some people that from their comments alone I would never swap with…but it is so hard to remember who they are). I still like being able to keep track of who I wouldn’t swap with again for whatever reason, but I don’t think it is fair to have that information public!

Michelle

Do you have plans to update the search functionality? I love the swap site but the search is horrific… You generally can’t enter a keyword or two and have a list of things that have that word in its title show up. Super frustrating when there are duplicate listings of certain items, or if the drop down that results from entering a word or two doesn’t give me what I’m looking for even though it does exist out there.

Mona

Totally agree. The search is really exact match only, which is frustrating when maybe I’d like to find all things that are “blue” or if someone mislabeled something when the listed it, or created a new listing instead of using a pre-existing one, in may not find it.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this website and check it more times per day than I care to admit. This is just a suggestion. 😉

Liz Cadman

Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂 (And thanks for loving this site!) We just added a “go” button so you no longer have to rely on the drop down results for search.

Here’s a “blue” search result page for you 🙂 – https://swap.mysubscriptionaddiction.com/blue/listings

Let me know if that works for you!

Liz Cadman

Just did an update to search so that you don’t have to use the drop down. Let me know what you think.

Michelle

Also just tried “coasters,” for example, because I want to grab more of the coasters that came in my Globein box and didn’t want to have to look up the exact name for them, but got a specific listing for random coasters versus a search results page of everything that has “coasters” in the name. Just wanted to provide another example in the hopes that it helps with explaining what I mean 🙂 Thanks so much for how incredibly on top of this stuff you are – it’s so great how actively you read and respond to comments!

Michelle

I can definitely say that helps a bit! But I’m still having the issue where certain searches won’t give me a list of items that match that search term. For example, there are a ton of different Glamglow listings based on the various offerings that have shown up in boxes, but if you type in “Glamglow” and hit go (or press enter), it goes to a specific listing for foil packets versus showing all the various listings that have “Glamglow” in the title.

Mona

Woo! Ask and you shall receive! 😀

Mona

I agree, the search function isn’t great and it could definitely limit people from finding items and other swappers!

Mrs.SinghTurna

This site just gets better and better! I recommend you to everyone! Especially on subscription’s Facebook. People are always asking for swap forums!

Mandie

I’m a little concerned by this. I’ve already seen a user with 100% feedback and a 0% swap rating. It seems that people are misunderstanding this feature and accidentally leaving a form of negative feedback, but on something other than feedback.

Liz Cadman

Thanks for the feedback – we updated the logic so it will only display on your account if you have 10 or more people who have responded to the question.

We’re going to keep an eye on it over the next few days, and if it isn’t working as intended and/or isn’t helpful, we’ll adjust!

Mary Beth

Sounds nice, but I’m a bit confused. Is it just for the user’s own info to remind themselves who they want to swap with, or is it shown to all future potential swappers? For example if Jane gives me a thumbs down does that then become a part of my profile for others to see? If so, I think thats a bit unfair. Ohers are easily influenced by negative feedback and I think those who leave it should have accountability.

Hilary

I agree with MaryBeth…if someone wants to put the thumbs down simply for their own reference, that’s fine. But to leave an anonymous negative for the whole site to see is shady to me. If you want the public to think a swapper is bad, you should own it.

Kimberly

Agreed! If I leave negative feedback, I expect to be held accountable for it and explain my end of the situation. Leaving an anonymous thumbs down seems like an easy way to leave petty negative feedback. I like the idea for private, my-eyes-only reference. Sure – maybe the swap was a success and both parties received the described items. But maybe one person never sent tracking info, didn’t communicate/respond to questions, or was otherwise unresponsive. Yes, items were properly exchanged, and positive feedback was left as the items did arrive. But if you’re the type of person that prefers the reassurance of a tracking number, you might not want to swap with that person again. It’s a shame to leave a thumbs down rating based on preferences that not everyone might share, and potentially hurt that person’s future swaps. Others might prefer same retail value swaps, priority mail only swaps, or mail-the-next-day swaps. Not everyone might trade by those standards. This has serious negative potential. I appreciate all that Liz and Eric do for us, but this seems like a rare miss.

Jennifer (@TearApache)

I LOVE this!

Tammy

Thumbs up! Thanks!

Jennifer

Great feature!

lily

Great option – will the yes or no be anonymous ? – Do you think you will be offering a Paypal feature to buy an item in the future. Sometimes I see items I want yet would prefer to buy them from the swapper, if dont have any of the items that are on that swappers followed list. Every now and then, I would not mind selling items I have listed or doing a parital swap/sell.

Liz Cadman

Yep it is anonymous. No plans to add PayPal at this point…

lily

Goody! Sometimes I dont want to leave negative feedback, yet I know I’d have no interest in swapping again.

chris

Wow, do you guys ever sleep?

Thank you!

Liz Cadman

🙂 Thanks Chris!

Bridget

Thank you so much for creating this swap site! 🙂 I have been able to swap stuff I will never use for stuff I love and “meet” some great people. I love it! 🙂

Liz Cadman

Yay! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂

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Swap Site Updates – Would You Swap with This Person Again?

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