How To Host Mail Art Swaps

[LisaB]

Posting Your Swap
Put at the top of your swap thread:

Swap Due Date - Month Day
Sign up by/withdraw by date - Month day
Number of Items - 3 for 3, etc.
Number of participants -

- For your title, put the item to be swapped, then a colon, then the theme, then the due date as Month Date. Like this: INCHIES: Pickles of Many Colours due January 1.
(If you don't do it correctly, our helpful Moderators will fix them for you as they find them - LisaB)
- If your title has an error, you can't edit it but mods can. Pm one of us.
- Remember to ask PERMISSION before you post links to other people's art!
Note: Swaphosts cannot impose a penalty for withdrawing from a swap on or before the withdraw-by date. Only Pick-A-Theme swaps carry a no-withdrawal rule.

Hosts add to Regular Swap Directions:
.........Players - when you receive your cards for the swap, remember to leave iTrader for the Host (me) and Rep Points for the people you received cards from!

Do you need your Active Swap Moved to the Active or Archive Forum?

See the row of tiny boxes at the bottom of each post? Click on the box that says "Report" (next to the orange & red cards) and type in something simple like:

"Swap is closed to Sign-Ups, please move to the Active Mail Art Forum"

The Reported Post will land in the Moderator's Forum, where the first Moderator to see it will happily move it for you.

That's all there is to it!

Who Can Host a Swap?

All Hosts must be active members of this site for the 3 months immediately prior to hosting a swap and have a positive iTrader rating of +15.

New hosts are limited to one swap at a time, with a limit to the number of participants they can have per swap. Once 3 successful swaps have been hosted, then the host is granted full hosting privileges.
You must have your profile page filed in.

Pick-A-Theme swaps - you must have an iTrader of +30, have been an active member 6 months and successfully hosted 3 regular swaps.

How Many Swaps Can I Host?

You may host no more than 6 swaps at one time. (both open and active, total includes both mail art and ATC combined.)
* First Time Hosts are limited to 12 players and a 3 for 3 card swap.
(First Swap must be completed [mailed out] before starting a second swap)
New hosts are limited to one swap at a time until they've completed 3 successful swaps.

How Do I Start a Swap?

Swaps must be started in the Open Swaps Forum. If this is your first time hosting a swap at this website, please supply your full contact information

* Your real life name.
* A real home address.
* Two contact phone numbers
* Your email address

to ATCSforALL.com by emailing or sending a private message to a moderator.
Your information will not be made public or shared with members of this site. Your contact information is only required in case we need to contact you offline regarding your swap.

Sending Out Returns

Hosts must send out return ATCs within 2 weeks of the swap closing date. Please return any late cards to the artist.

Commitments of Hosting

Hosts must be prepared for the time and financial commitment of hosting a swap. Most players in the same country will send you a SASE for their returns. However, international participants may not be able to do this. You should be prepared to cover some of the postage of returns to international participants. If funds are short, please limit the total number of participants in your swap rather than not accepting international participants.
Hosts are allowed to request return postage from their players, either in stamps from the player's country, well concealed dollar bills or PayPal.

Hosts who do not send out the cards received from swap participants will be asked to leave the site and permanently banned. If you are unable to fulfill your hosting duties, whatever the reason, just contact us and we will take over your swap for you and pay to get the cards from you to a new host. We do want to help if you're having a problem. Please don't run away with other peoples' cards.

Hosts are expected to update members of their swaps in the thread at least once a week. This is so that all the members are aware of when their cards have arrived and so the swap doesn't appear to be inactive.

We highly recommend that hosts take their packages and envelopes to their local post office to mail returns so that the postage can be double checked. This helps prevent delays in returns for participants."

Uneven Swaps

Hosts cannot host uneven swaps. If the artist is required to send in 3 cards for the swap, then they must receive 3 cards in return. Please do not ask participating artists to send you extra cards in lieu of postage. An extra card is a gift should the participating artist want to thank you for hosting.

Pick-A-Theme (PAT) Swap Host Guidelines:
--To host a Pick a Theme (AKA: PAT) Swap you must have an iTrader of +30, have been an active member 6 months and successfully hosted 3 regular swaps.
--PATs should be completed and mailed out in 90 days.
--You can only host ONE PAT at a time.

[OriginalYouth]

MAIL ART SWAPS FORMAT

For your Title:
-List in this format:
TYPE OF SWAP: Title of swap - Due Date Month Day
For example:
CHUNKIES: Colorful Zetti 4x4 Pages - Due March 21st

There are several types of mail art swaps. They can't each have their own sub forum at this time, so this will help people quickly find the specific type of swap they are interested in.
Types of swaps abbreviated:
CHUNKIES:
INCHIES:
MISC:

Please put this swap info first in the thread:

Swap Due Date - Month Day
Signup/withdraw date - Month day
Number of Cards - _ for _
Number of participants -
-You may modify it (slightly) to better fit your swap if needed.
-Put it in BOLD for best attention
-Add 'SWAP FULL' to the # of participants field when it is ready to close.




Then, put in a nice (big!) title!

Proceed with your thread!

Thanks to everyone for working towards a standard format, and not hating me for being organizationally psycho. It's a curse. Just know that it is my GOAL to make it easier for everyone to navigate the site, not to be a PITA.

Sarah

[LisaB]

Hosts: If you don't follow this format, it means that it will take longer to be approved.
The Moderator will have to fix it and/or PM you for details, so make sure you follow the new format!
Thanks!