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Hi everyone. I would really appreciate anyone advice from anyone about trading pieces. So far I have traded one grab bag poad on here and have posted other pieces for trade on the classifieds but have not had much response to ads or messages. I have talked to a few great people on here about trading but I am a little discouraged about how to try and find older grab bag pieces that people may have to trade.
Seeing I am fairly new, I never had the chance to get older grab bags and have been searching for some older ones like the candycorn unicorns I just love. I have found a couple of them I am talking with about trading but I have seen many from old threads that I would love to find out where they ended up as I have been told a few I liked were traded at least a couple times and not sure where to look or who to ask about tracking anything down.
I have seen people posting pics of so many great ones they traded for that never even showed up on picture threads so I am just wondering if there is a kind of underground trading thing going on that certain people just know who to ask for ones they want and they won’t trade with any new people or post theirs to show new people to have a chance at any? I have talked with a couple others as well who have been quite discouraged about the lack of people willing to talk to them about trading.
I have even made the effort to message several people asking what ones they are looking for so I could try and find them those ones to trade for and have been so busy trying to message people to get them ones they want that it seems I have missed the opportunity to trade for ones I liked. Is this just me thinking crazy thoughts or do I need to join some secret club to find out how to track down some pieces I really liked to trade for? I was so excited to get my unicorns in only to find that most of the ones I would have loved to have traded for were all traded before ever being publicly posted. This makes me sad. 🙁
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
Trading is up to the person who owns the piece, really. No one who wants to trade is obligated to do so publicly. It’s not a secret club, it’s just how things go. Personally, if I like what you’re offering up for trade, I’ll contact you about it, whether you’re new or an old-timer like me.
Some people make arrangements even before they get their grab bag and know what they’re going to get. Some people only offer to trade once they see something they like and only do so privately. Some people end up trading totally by happenstance – that’s happened to me.
The whole grab bag thing is a chance you take. You take the chance of getting something you like, you take the chance that someone has a piece you like and that they don’t like!
And some people don’t post their collection, period, either because they’ve been harassed before, know someone who has or are simply very private. So that’s why sometimes, you don’t see pieces until they’ve been traded: the GB comes from a non-picture-posting collector and goes to a picture-posting collector.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmI think the keys are time and patience. Pieces continue to move as peoples’ tastes and circumstances change, and you have a “Want Ad” in the Classifieds.
My only suggestion – and others may disagree – is that a general ad “Candycorn Unicorns Wanted” will get more responses than a specific ad like “Wanted to Buy – Blue Candycorn GBB with rainbow spots and lavender eyes”. If I see photos in an ad and none of my pieces match, I ignore the ad.
Kim, I certainly know what you mean. 🙂 As a relative newbie here myself I have wondered the same things you are.
I think the main thing is that this is a wonderful community that builds a lot of solid relationships. Members who have had former dealings with each other, or just know what someone else is looking for, private message each other and work out trades, etc. that way.
It does leave some of us out in the cold, but the longer we are around, the more relationships we form! 🙂
I, for one, have been so thankful I posted a “Wanted” ad. Through my ad I have had wonderful members contact me to give me the opportunity to own the pieces I love. In this way I have acquired three pieces I never probably would have gotten otherwise.
So, in short, just throw your interest out there! And, like etruscan said, patience is the key! I know my tastes change, or the piece wasn’t quite what I thought it would be in person, and I have let something go that I actively fought for!
In short, don’t give up hope. Melody keeps painting more and more incredible pieces and GBs, so there will be many, many more opportunities to get more of what you want. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
I’ve actually decided to stop posting Want Ads for grab bags because they seem to hurt me more then help me. I tend to find people who aren’t huge fans of me going out of their ways to try and get ones I am searching for more then often. *shrug* I don’t care that much either way because life moves on regaurdless, but I’m at least not advertising my top picks anymore because of it.
Sometimes it feels like it’s all in who you know and a heck of a lot of luck. There is a lot of behind the scenes trading, but there’s no way to keep that from happening. Lots of people promise certain things to certian people, friends secretly share their grabs and word gets around through PMs between friends pretty fast. I don’t think any of it is really meant to be mean at all, it’s just how it goes.
Grab Bags tend to ruffle a lot of feathers since there are only so many, and they are all so unique. Speaking personally, if you have gone through trading before it can be very stressful. Once you post something publically you know might be a popular grab and you are not prepared for an onslaught of people wanting it, you might be a little shocked and feel guilty that you can’t please everyone and end up feeling really stressed out. I feel like that a lot myself, so that’s probably another reason why people do a lot of behind the scenes trading just to avoid that stress.
I don’t think anybody is singling anyone out intentionally. ^_^ My best advice is to try and build as many relaitionships as possible and take good and clear photos of what you are offering.
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsDon’t give up! 🙂 If there’s little interest now, the next batch might have people trading up more pieces that they didn’t want to let go of before. I think some of the older batches may be harder to get as many might have a “forever” home.
As for the secret trading group, I absolutely thought there must be one too! I think it’s probably some people trading amongst friends though. I think the options are better trading publically (?), and the only “private” trades I’ve done is when I’ve offered a piece I usually wouldn’t for an item someone has up in trades, those kind of trades could appear private.
I agree with all the advice posted so far. Trading can be difficult and it can be stressful! Patience and luck plays a lot into it.
Just have to keep trying. 🙂
For the record, you’ve been around more than enough that I don’t consider you new. People who have never posted, rarely posted, or just made an account to use the classifieds–those people, yes, I would hesitate to trade with unless someone I know can vouch for them. But honestly, if someone’s been around for a few months and is active on the boards, I don’t think they’re necessarily considered a risk by most traders.
While I do understand being sad over missing out–because it happens to everyone–I have to say that comments about “tracking anything down” make me uneasy, and that’s as someone whose collection *is* pictured publicly. Imagine how someone more private feels about it. My philosophy on that is simple–if it’s not pictured recently in someone’s collection, there’s a reason, and it’s none of my business who has it. If I want something badly enough and there’s no current record of where it might be, I’ll post a want ad. Someone may privately tell me they know that that particular piece is with someone who isn’t willing to give it up, and I have to respect that. Or perhaps I hear nothing, and I just have to live with that as well. When a piece is posted in the forum, most members feel that a single, polite “if you ever consider trading/selling, I’d be interested” (public or via PM) is totally fair–and that’s where a lot of trades come from. But hunting someone who has chosen not to make their acquisition public may very well be considered harassment, no matter how innocent the intention.
As others have said, trades happen behind the scenes in a number of ways. Most people aren’t trying to shut anyone out. As one example, I know I’m not the only one who keeps an eye on what people have said they’re looking for, and a list of who wants something I own, even if I never intend to trade it. You just never know, and people generally are going to go for the quick trade where possible over having to field a bunch of offers.
Trading is often part luck, part making your wants generally known, and part patience. In general, if you’re not getting a whole lot of responses to your ads, it’s time to look at the wording, the trade bait you’re offering, and perhaps just the timing of it all. I’ll say this: the more specific you are about what you want for an item you have for trade, the more likely you are to be eliminating trade possibilities. If I look at your ad and don’t have EXACTLY what you have listed (I.e. “rainbow tiger”), I’m extremely unlikely to offer you something else like a half tiger-half Appaloosa, and I know I’m not alone in that. It doesn’t matter how gorgeous I think that poad of yours is. And I do! 🙂 To me, if someone says “I want X”, they’re not interested in anything else–which may or may not be true, but I’m not going to waste either of our time trying to find out. (Personally, I equally dislike totally open-ended ads that give me no clue at all what someone wants, because I don’t like hearing the word “no” any more than your average toddler does! But that’s just me–others may disagree.) Perhaps that’s exactly how you want it–it’s a rainbow tiger and nothing else. But if you’re more flexible than that, it’s something to consider, anyway.
I also tend to think that ads get “stale” after a while–if you’ve renewed it more than once and the item is still available, something is wrong. For a sale ad, it’s almost always the asking price that’s a problem (This goes triple for eBay listings.) For a trade ad, it’s harder to tell, so try changing a few different things. If all else fails, take it down for a short time, or try again just before the next GB release, and run it through that prime trading period about a week to ten days after the GB’s first start arriving in the mail. People generally seem to be more likely to trade during those times, even when what they’re trading has nothing to do with the GBs!
I guess I consider myself new compared to people who have been on here for years and I have been a little intimidated to talk to many I know already have a big network of friends they trade with after the response I have had in trying to message anyone. It’s not that I have been hunting down anything. I just sent polite messages inquiring about 2 pieces I really liked and no one seemed to know where they ended up or at least wouldn’t tell me. I was just told they had had been traded or re-traded. I just figured maybe if something went to someone who isn’t that active anymore that they may consider trading again if they knew what new pieces were available. From what I was told about the ones I asked about, it looks like they may have been traded multiple times so my thought was if it is a piece that tends to be traded over and over, how do you find who has it now to see if they would trade again? Especially if they are not active on the forum now my thought was just asking the original owners? But that didn’t work unfortunately. I guess there are lots that go to people that aren’t active on here unfortunately so maybe there are some pieces we will never find out who has them but I guess I will keep my hopes up. There are some I would give a permanent home to if people wanted to trade them again.
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
I guess I consider myself new compared to people who have been on here for years and I have been a little intimidated to talk to many I know already have a big network of friends they trade with after the response I have had in trying to message anyone. It’s not that I have been hunting down anything. I just sent polite messages inquiring about 2 pieces I really liked and no one seemed to know where they ended up or at least wouldn’t tell me. I was just told they had had been traded or re-traded. I just figured maybe if something went to someone who isn’t that active anymore that they may consider trading again if they knew what new pieces were available. From what I was told about the ones I asked about, it looks like they may have been traded multiple times so my thought was if it is a piece that tends to be traded over and over, how do you find who has it now to see if they would trade again? Especially if they are not active on the forum now my thought was just asking the original owners? But that didn’t work unfortunately. I guess there are lots that go to people that aren’t active on here unfortunately so maybe there are some pieces we will never find out who has them but I guess I will keep my hopes up. There are some I would give a permanent home to if people wanted to trade them again.
I wouldn’t give up hope, because even well loved pieces do change hands as people find something they want more–but again, tracking down specific owners when a piece hasn’t been posted as part of their collection is pretty much viewed as akin to stalking by many people here. Asking around is not going to produce the results you’re looking for even if those owners are still on the forum. I know that’s not what you intend and your heart is in the right place–I always feel a little sorry for GB’s who’ve been repeatedly traded myself, and more so when it’s a baby I’d love to have on my shelf! But if there are pieces you specifically would like to own, I strongly urge you to put up want ads for those exact pieces (Amy Jane has a good example of how to do this in the classifieds right now, with clear pics to identify the ones she’s looking for). Let the new owners come to you once they see your public interest in their pieces. Honestly, I don’t know of anyone on here who passes on the names of those they’ve traded to unless that person has already posted up the new baby as part of their collection. It’s likely that anyone who didn’t respect the new owner’s right to privacy on that front would find themselves running low on potential trading partners. If someone asks me for the whereabouts of a traded item, I’ll pass their interest on to the new owner myself, but that’s about it–and that’s assuming I remember who I traded with. 😉
But making your desires and willingness to trade for (or purchase) specific pieces DOES work sometimes. It took 3 months of want ads, a lucky GB catch, flexibility in what I offered, and most of all, PATIENCE! (Which I suck at, LOL), but I got my copper lap that way–and they’re not a common piece by a long shot. So get your ad up, with pictures of the specific babies who’ve caught your eye, and let’s see what turns up. It certainly won’t hurt, and perhaps you’ll at least get some answers on whether or not certain pieces are in forever homes.
Please bear in mind that some people don’t post photos or don’t say that they have a piece because they HAVE been harassed– actual, e-harassment– about selling or trading. I actually have two windstones, myself, that I’ve never posted or talked about, because in the past I have had people sort of hound me about rare pieces, and I have no intention of trading or selling these unless times get very hard. In which case, I will post an ad about them.
If a piece is meant to be yours, it will happen! 🙂 Just make it clear which ones you are looking for, and if someone ever wants to trade or sell they will likely find out. Renew your want ads, it cannot hurt. I find that the situation drag0nfeathers described is not overly common unless you have been here long enough to get some people miffed at you. That’s the sad downside of any community, even the best community (and ours is pretty darn awesome).
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My art: featherdust.comI agree that luck has a big role to play – sometimes I’ve been very lucky, sometimes the opposite. I will say ‘never give up’. Grab Bags that I swore I was never going to give up, I sometimes lose interest in and put up for trade or sale. This latest batch I think Melody really outdid herself. I had to trade two grab bags for one to get a couple of the ones I wanted, but they were worth it.
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