The forums I love best at Dave’s is the Seed & Plant Trading ones. The variety and generosity of people always amaze me!!!
In following in the footsteps of The Queen of Swaps, Sheran I have to give her a standing ovation for her intrepid patience with themed swaps. I’ve only done two so far and the experience has made me appreciate her mightily.
There are two pitfalls that will stop anyone in their tracks. Generalized d-mail titles and anonymous trades.
I’m sure all of you have run into d-mail that has a Subject of Seeds, Trades or just Hi in the Subject line. If you are like me, you are always in the middle of a few trades. Trying to find a post in your d-mail with the above mentioned Subject for a specific trade is frustrating to say the least.
Make it a point to always put what you are trading for or what the d-mail is about in the Subject line.
Another is when trading for seeds or offering SASE seeds You will get an envelope in the mail with an SASE inside. That’s it, no indication of who it came from or what they are expecting.
Make it a point to always put a note inside with your screen name and what you are trading for and the name of the Themed Swap if applicable.
If everyone does the above, there will be a lot less growling and hair pulling, at least on my part.
Xeramtheum
Being Better Traders
Amen... :-)
Thanks for the tips
Just a lurker so far in this forum, but I thought this might be helpful. I create folders for any dmail subjects to help keep myself organized. If you don't already, you could file them in folders for each trade, etc. and spend less time trying to find what you're looking for. It really has helped me.
Can i add, using reply to answer the dmail rather than starting a new dmail thread. I loose where we are up to if i have to flit from one thread to another. lol
But other than anything that makes life easy when trading!
Mike
That's a good one too.
X
Good tips!
I also prefer (and usually specify) loose postage... I don't always wait for a SASBE to arrive, sometime I just go ahead and send seeds on their way, so having postage that I can then use on the next BE that I send out is better than having stamps stuck to a SASE. Besides, it makes no sense to me to use an envelope to send a BE -- just enclose loose postage and an address label.
Oh, and no prepaid metered postage please, just stamps... it's not legal to use metered postage labels in that way, and my post office won't take them.
And by all means include a little note reminding me what trade or SASBE offer this is for, and please please please tell me your DG name!
Replying to an earlier Dmail is definitely useful in keeping correspondence organized.
I've been sending a print-out of the d-mail with the trade. It confirms the particulars of the trade, ie. address, dates, plant names. If I print someone's address from the address exchange, I send it along with a hand written thank you note.
I think including your screen name in any transaction is probably the most important one of all. I received some wonderful seeds the other day. They included no screen name. I finally was able to find the d-mails for it, but it would have saved me a lot of time if they had only included their daves/screen name. I like Jasmerr's idea of creating a folder for rudderless d-mails.
Don't forget to utilize the trade tracker. It helps a lot and has a place for notes at the bottom. And also do not forget to leave feedback about the trade that can be accessed on the individuals homepage. It helps to get the newbies started if no one has had a tradwe with them and they need some references.
I usually put the trades into the trade tracker along with the persons screen name and real name in the notes section.
Nothing is going to help make some trades easy. I agree the screen name is a must so you can match them. I recently mixed up two different Donna's that I was sending seeds to. Now that is a problem when two people you trade with have the same first name also. LOL
I've started putting the screen name in Brackets beside their name in the name field, it shows easily and Daves automatically puts it nice and tidy under their name. It saves searching notes, which are not on the main page. It never occurs to me to leave a feedback though, maybe I should start.
I ended up making a table for trades. It seems to be working just fine. I find Dave's trade tracker a bit cumbersome like their trade list. It's really too bad that you just can't paste your list into the seed trade list. I sent in a suggestion for that. Can't remember who, but someone did just that in their journal and gives out that link for trades.
X
I think the trade tracker is the next big thing on Dave's list of garden improvement projects.... :-)
I try and make it simple to find me by using my real name as my screen name. Not very imaginative but i hope it makes finding me easy. hehe
I don't mean finding me as in turning up on my door step as i won't invite you in because i'm far to miserable. hehe
Mike
Dave did work on the trade tracker recently and has a post about it in the Davesgarden forum. He made
it so that the d-mail address works as an address to tell the person you received the trade and did other tweaks there also.
In the last couple weeks, I've mailed out over 40 trades and SASEs, most of them SASEs. I have such a backlog of bubblewrap and padded envelopes, that I just ask for postage. Here is how I answer the D-mail requests. "Yes, I can send you the seeds you requested. Just send me 52 cents in postage, including your real name & address, your DG name, and a list of the seeds you want. Here is my address....." It usually works pretty good. One thing that can make it much harder is not posting to the same D-mail. Some people start a new D-mail each time they respond, and I go nuts trying to find the right one to respond to. Thank you, Dave, for the search in D-mail!
Maybe I go a bit overboard, but I cut & paste my trade D-mails to word docs, then sort them according to status. I have a folder for Trades Pending, Trades Sent Out, Trades Completed, Unsatisfactory Trades, and Cancelled Trades. I try to put everyone's name and address on the docs, as well. I've got files going back to 2003.
Weezingreens I do pretty much the same thing for trades I underline and bold in d-mails, Please be sure to include your screen name and what I am suppose to be sending you and sometimes it's still forgotten.
Since I started using my form, things have gotten less stressful. The second anyone contacts me or I contact them, I write them down and if they use their real name in an email that gets written down next to their screen name.
All of my seed packets have my screen name on them. When I send plants or cuttings, I alway's include my card.
X
I have been so lucky that all of my trades have been satisfactory. My only complaint is those who will not acknowledge receiving the pkg until I specifically ask. Please dmail the sender that you received their pkg.
All of these are great suggestions, and I too have folders for my trades like mentioned above. It works great. I agree that one of the things that bugs me most of all is when I don't get a reply that my seeds, plants or a package has been shipped out or received. I always try to let the person know that a package has been mailed out so they can be looking for it ... especially when it's a live plant or a package that you might need to watch for. Also, if I might add here ... I especially love the idea that was mentioned above to print out the trade or Dmail from DG as I'm blind and can't read the print notes that are enclosed in my packages. when it's a type written note I can scan it and my computer will read it to me. :-) I staple it to my seeds and can identify them when I need to find them. This is a * big * help to me. I love this idea!
Wow ... In fear of sounding really dumb.... how do you do Daves garden stuff?
How do you know which seeds are which? That must be really difficult with small stuff!
Ok i'll stop asking dumb questions now!
Mike
Hey Mike!
No question that you don't know the answer to is dumb! LOL I have to be very careful about marking my seeds and also my plants. I chart things on the computer and label things either by their name or number if I don't have enough room on the label to write the name in Braille. I pour my seeds out on a paper plate when working with them, so I can feel them ... then it's easy to pour them back if I don't need all of them. :-) If it's a purchased seed package ... I have a scanner which will scan the text and a program on my computer called OpenBook which turns the text into speech, so I can read it. If it's hand writing, though, I can't. :-) that's why I love it when I get type written notes and explanations so I can tag and inventory my seeds. And of course, how would anyone know to do this if I didn't share? So when I saw this thread I thought ... why not? There might be other blind gardeners, right? smile
Wow, the people here at DG continue to boggle and amaze me! IO1, you really made me smile today :) Late last night I was doing some wintersowing and was on my hands and knees in the dark basement trying to find some seeds I had dropped that I only had a wee bit of. I can see just fine and can barely get things organized...you have my complete admiration.
Thanks for sharing everyone!
~Sunny
Wow again! I suppose you never know untill you have to cope with something like that. But i think i'd be screwed! I'm organised with my seeds but not that organised.
There are like a million questions i want to ask but not a clue what they are!
One of them would be about how does your computer understand my really bad spelling? lol
Mike
101...maybe start a new thread for all of us curious people to grill you on :))
Go ahead and hijack the thread. Everything has been said and agreed with above (well i agree anyway) If you tell someone by d-mail then everyone else won't know.
Either that or start a new thread. Cause i wanna know.
Please! hijack the thread! I find this all very interesting!!!!!
X
101 I am also amazed at someone with your disability would sow seeds. I could see you planting plants that you could feel instead of seeing. I am afraid I would not do either because I would not be able to see the bloom. Do you feel the bloom and retrieve the visual in your memory? I am in awe.
I once had a client that was blind that had a townhouse built for her. I took her home one day and she invited me in to see her new home. First off , at the front door was beautiful flowers blooming in a pot and her small flower bed. She took me from room to room showing me beautiful fabric combinations and lovely furniture. I asked how she was able to decorate her home if she could no see the styles and colors popular at that time. She is very inquisitive, always asking questions and opinions of others. She also reads a lot on the computer. From that she is able to tell her mother or a friend what she would like in her home. Her home looked like a decorator had been hired. Every thing was also in it's place. This part amazed me too. How do you know that you haven't dropped things all over the home? I am a klutz with fair eyesight and I drop papers and small things without realizing it. Please tell us more about how you manage daily. Do you have small braille tags that go on your clothing when you take them off to launder and then put away. Also do you work outside the home? My client did, she was a social worker for the blind.
what does the 101 represent? I think I read it somewhere and was going to remember.. I'm sorry for going on so but I really am interested in how you cope. Cindy
I should think that l01 has an advantage when it comes to 'seeing the seeds', also an advantage in sorting. By this, I mean that all seeds I have ever collected, no matter how small, can be rolled between your thumb and fingers. If it doesn't roll between your finger, it is probably the chaff. The more sensitive your fingers, the more likely you could tell the difference... now, if you sneeze and seeds fly all over, l01 is probably in the same boat we are!
X, on the seed trading forum I read where people start threads in the "hunt" for people who sent them seeds without identifying themselves. As well as others who fail to include valuable information in their trade and now are having to back-track. Hopefully people will learn from the helpful tips in this thread by slowing down a minute before mailing off their trade and take the time to ask themselves this question before mailing it, Would I understand the who, what, where, and when of this trade if I were to receive it instead?"
Perhaps the ease of communication here on DG creates a feeling that we are all sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, so we know each other. Sadly, for a tired old brain like mine, once I get 40 SASE's going, I can't remember anybody's DG name, much less their real name. By sending their real name, address, DG name and their want list, I can get the package out sooner. I always process the easy ones first. If I must sort through all my expected SASE's, they go to the back of the line. It's only fair to those that send as I requested. Cut and pasting the emails is great, since it saves time and gives all the info. Here is my list of the things that make trading easier:
Contact me by D-mail, not on the thread.
Please include what you are interested in with the first message. (If you just ask for seeds, I have to write back to ask which ones, then write back to let you know whether I have them.)
Always reply to the original D-mail so that all info is in the same place.
Send real name & address (You'd be surprised how many people send their address without their real name.)
Send your DG name & want list
If it is a trade, please use bubblewrap or some sort of cushioning with the seeds and use 52 cents postage. (seeds get damaged in the PO rollers)
thanks for all those tips.
I did my first SASBE back in January, and i had no idea what i was doing -- not thinking I could just send the BE with a note and extra postage, I had to find an envelop that i could put the BE into.... but this all makes more sense...
X -- i like your lil note cards... next year, if i manage HOW to save seeds -- i'll do something like that too. very cool.
I seem to learn something new every day.
terese
Bumped up for the new guys on the block!
X
Do check postage as rates have increased.
bump
And postage is going up again I think in May
Susan !!! All this time and I didn't know that!!! You ARE amazing, my friend!!! Certainly an inspiration to the rest of us!!!
Incredible points....ALL of you...as for the DG vs "real" name...I did what Mike did so should be easy enough even when I'm too thick headed to remember. ALL of you have been such patient teachers - I'm still in awe as to what I've learned in the past few years...big ole thanks to everyone. Please do remember what is obvious to those that have been here forever...isn't to newbies. That being said...just like to remind everyone that if you're not using a bubble envie....please put some type of protection (bubble wrap/foam etc) around the babies you're sending esp. the bigger seeds....printing HAND Stamp on the envelope (when not using a bubble envelope) is SO appreciated as well. This will keep those seeds from becoming crumbles....yikes
AND of course, until the PO raises their rates... Hand Stamp and/or bubble envie's postage starts at .58 cents - just an FYI
This message was edited Mar 12, 2008 10:33 PM
Thanks for bumping this thread as a reminder to all of us and for the newbys. :)
Thanks also, Chantell, and everyone else for the kind words. :) I just love to garden and have been blessed. That's where the "IO1" comes in. It stands for
i= me
O= owe
1= One, God ... the only One
Without Him, there would be * no garden. :) And without my DH's help and patience, I wouldn't have one either. LOL
Y'all have a blessed day.
~Susan