Hello! I am new to this site and I'm looking forward to seed and plant trading, could someone give me a brief idea of how this works ?thank you! Many years ago I used to trade on the Garden Web until it went away so I have a vague idea just don't know how you guys do it

Hi misstwiggley,

Start a thread with a list of what you are looking for and what you have to trade and other members with an interest will respond. You can converse via tree-mail with personal information like address, etc.

Just be aware of this message from the site administrator: The Plant and Seed Trading forum is available for members to organize amongst themselves, the trading of plants, seeds and garden related items. This forum is not moderated and there are no rules so it's "Trader beware, be careful, treat each other respectfully and have fun."

Thank you so much for your reply! If you have time could you kind of walk me through what is a common way you negotiate a trade and how you ship?

Miss Twiggley,

I haven't found the members on this site to be as big into trading as some others. What I usually do, is go hunting for something that I want (in the plant database). Once I find someone who has it AVAILABLE (many members list their inventory on here but are not into trading, and the site specifically asks that you do not contact members asking for trades if the do not actually have it noted as available for Trade or Sale). If I find someone, I look at their list of WANTS to see if I have anything to offer them that they are seeking, and I Treemail them directly to tell them what I am seeking and what I have to offer that they are seeking. I have found that this works more consistently than just doing a post but it's very time consuming (I like to do this in the winter when I am bored out of my head).

Negotiating is something you learn over time. Generally though, it comes down to communication - If someone asks me for stuff, and I have it available, I try to put "my value" on the items they are seeking - if they're seeking a plant that I have but am not attached to, it has a lower value, so therefore I can be more generous with that than I can with a favorite, something rare, or something in high demand.

To really answer your question would take a long time. So why don't you take a look at my have list for example, and tree mail me to ask me for something in trade and we'll do a little exercise. We can talk more about packaging then too.

Happy Gardening!

Jen

Thank you so much Jen for your help! I'm in the middle of putting in a garden right now but when I have time I'll look through your list and we'll arrange a trade that would be fun!( if I have something you want that is ) Disappointing that they're not as into trading here, I had a lot of fun doing that on Garden Web. thanks again!

I think you'll find plenty of members willing to trade. At one point I had so many trades going that it was overwhelming!

Twiggley,

In answer to your concern about not having something I am seeking - because I really do like trading and sharing my plants, I have offered and several times done a trade where I come up with what I feel is my "value" for what someone wants (plus the shipping cost that I would pay to get it to them) and suggest that if they find that acceptable, I would find a plant online that is worth about the same (with the cost of shipping to me) and they would order and have it sent to me. I would dig and send them their trade items and everyone gets what they want! I have received Hostas, Corydalis, even a yellow Lilac in this kind of trade in the past - in exchange for what the other party is seeking of mine.

I also once met a trader about 2 hours from my house, at a mall, while I was travelling to another state to spend the weekend with my sister!

So really, trading is only limited by your creativity and willingness to communicate what works for you while listening to what works for the other party.

Jen

Hey! I am also an old Gardenweb trader. On the Tropicals forums, ponds forums, and Hoya forums.
I really miss Spike and Gardenweb.
If you want to trade, list what you have here and what you want just like you used to do in GWeb.
If you want to trade tropicals, Treemail ME LOL I only grow tropicals