I had considered setting it for $7....and I'm still considering it...but a 7 looks a lot different to me than a 6 or an 8. It's very noticeably a different fee and it stands out. $6 and $8 look similar and so the difference, to me, doesn't seem so visually jarring. Am I the only one that sees it that way?

I'll nix the $8 fee idea and decide between $6 and $7. I think it might be worth the extra dollar--it would be to me, anyway--if people know they are going to be participating in a larger pool of people with a wider variety of seeds available. I'll give it more thought, though. I have also been concerned that if this takes an average of 1 man hour per member in the swap....if there are 100 participants, or 200 participants....

Ah well, the first time will be a learning experience. If it takes me an entire week to get the packages put together, maybe that's where I just suck it up and learn my lesson for the next time...

I would pay up to $8 if they were seeds I really wanted...cripes I won't even tell you what I've paid for morning glory seeds I really yearned for that's why I've been wearing the same boots for four years

I sold over 140 seeds and fit them in a small box, sent first class with tracking, it was there in a few days, and it cost $4.14. Personally I don't think it always has to be priority.

luvsgrtdanes said:
I sold over 140 seeds and fit them in a small box, sent first class with tracking, it was there in a few days, and it cost $4.14. Personally I don't think it always has to be priority.

The thing about Priority Mail is the use of flat rate packages. You know what it is going to cost and what to charge. With first class you pay by weight and that is going to be different with every package, so you have no way of knowing ahead of time how much to charge. If you ask for a flat fee up front then you will be overcharging some and undercharging others.

and the flat rate packages and envelopes are free, as opposed to buying padded envelopes or buying or scrounging up boxes.

I wasn't thinking of it that way Jay for the host, makes more sense for sure. I do think cost could be kept down if the large padded envelope can be used. I've done many a trade with lots of seeds and have never spent more than $6
I was never in the piggy swap, I know it was mentioned, what was that cost? Just wondering

Last year was $7 for the piggy swap.

Things like gas money for the trip to/from the post office should also be factored in. The host does a lot of work and shouldn't have to also be out-of-pocket for such expenses. I think as long as you keep the fee no more than a dollar above the actual postage cost then most people would find that acceptable.

I've never used it myself, but I believe you can go online and schedule a pickup with USPS; I imagine that would work better with the flat-rate packages, where the postage would all be predetermined.

Personally, I wouldn't join a swap where the host intended to leave a pile of packages sitting on the porch, unattended, to be picked up by the postman (whenever he happened to get there that day.) They are likely to get stolen, rained on, or even ravaged by hungry squirrels.

(If the seeds have managed to survive the guinea pigs, I'd hate for the squirrels to end up getting them. Sorry, referencing another thread's conversation. )

Our postman drives up and comes to the door to get the package. I keep them indoor until he comes. But most of the time I just take them to the post office. We live out away from town, so we don't have a walking postman. I would hate to think what the squirrels would do with them.

That's good, I now see that they do have that option as "knock on door/ring bell." Knowing my luck they would arrive the very second that I was unable to answer the door.

Danita said:That's good, I now see that they do have that option as "knock on door/ring bell." Knowing my luck they would arrive the very second that I was unable to answer the door.

I am rarely ever home when the mail is delivered so that would not work for me.

I feel more comfortable taking the packages to the post office myself. I wouldn't leave them out for pickup, that's too risky in my opinion.

I would pay $8 for a large swap. I think a large swap is a huge amount of work and responsibility for the host, and paying a little extra is much easier than finding a suitable gift as a "tip".

But it would deter me from a small swap, or one where the theme wasn't very interesting to me. Which might be a good thing!

I think I can hear Becky muttering "Oh, YES, Lord, please DO deter him from joining another seed swap!!"

I agree Rick. If it was a large swap with hard to find seeds I would definitely pay the $8.

I'd pay $8 if it was a swap that had lots of seed I was interested in no matter what the size. I do a calculation where I take the amount spent for shipping (both ways) divided by the number of packs I'm interested in. If the number looks good to me, I'm in! Even though I didn't request many seeds from the beta swap it still worked out to under 50 cents a pack. Can't beat that deal!

Thank you, everyone, for your input! I will go with the $7 fee this swap and see how it goes. I capped the wins at 100, so hopefully that means that, at most, a package will be $6.10 to ship out. If the swap is big enough going forward, I will consider $8 in the future.

The host invests time as well. For Dave, this was work related in that it is development of a new feature for the site. Although this system is much easier for the hosts than the traditional swap format, the host still has responsibilities.

I think $10 or less is fair for postage. If there are many $6 swaps, I would be tempted to set a swap at $7 or $8 to discourage the "something for nothing" type of people. In this swap, some people sent more packets than they received or received more packets than they sent. Would it make sense to list the cost say $6-8 depending on The number of seeds sent and/or requested? People that sent excess seeds pay $6, those that sent a fair amount pay $7 and those that are getting much more than they received pay $8 (or whatever the numbers). This may encourage people to send a larger variety of seeds.

If someone wanted to offer a bargain swap, they could send regular rather than priority mail. IMO, this is a false economy for important packages.

If people include international swappers, the host would want to be able to charge different shipping fees for them.

The post office will also pick up packages sent priority mail with home printed labels. If the host uses priority mailing, The host wouldn't have to leave home at all!