I looked it up & got nuthin but a bunch of weird companies! Lol
Me too!
I thought there was a BOLO swap; we all make Western wear accessories.
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Haha, I must read/watch more books/programs that use that acronym than others.
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I think we’ll go with “Small-Batch Ornament Match”.
I’ll definitely list both titles, this time! Want everyone who has been looking forward to it, to be able to find it.
It has been suggested to me in a PM that we consider limiting it to U.S. swappers due to shipping cost concerns. I’m reluctant to do this, but also want to protect people from having to pay more shipping fees than they can afford. I am considering different options and will try to set up a poll about it.
International shipping rates are rising, and I’m told the EU has a new policy whereby the recipient of a small package would have to pay extra ($15 in one case) to receive their item, above and beyond whatever the shipper paid.
Also, be aware that U.S. domestic rates may have also increased. They officially no longer allow any type of package to go First Class. As of July, that is now restricted to letters/papers.
Should Small-Batch/Sweat Shop Swap be Domestic or International?
- Yes, open to everyone!
- Restricted to U.S. to make it affordable
- Open to international, with each swapper declaring their location and whether or not they’ll ship internationally
- Open to international, but each swapper shipping only within their own region (US or NA, EU, etc)
- Other (please tell us in the comments if you have a great idea!)
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voters
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“I’m told the EU has a new policy whereby the recipient of a small package would have to pay extra ($15 in one case) to receive their item, above and beyond whatever the shipper paid.”
That may be incorrect, and I may be the misinformed source.
The mail clerk at the Post Office told me that Edel (in Ireland) would have to pay $15 to receive the package, but Edel says that is for items valued over $45.
She even sent a link to the regulations.
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Ah, thanks for clarifying! (That will actually make a difference to what I craft for @Edle in the ornament swap!)
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Yes, I did pass your situation on to her just in case this may happen to someone else. I’d hate it to come up a lot in her swap. I’m glad you got some clarification.
I suspect different PO understand things differently. I’ve had that where my local PO (small county one) says all intl customs forms have to be done online (a pain), but over the summer I went to the larger city one that said I can do paper. In fact, since I hadn’t pre-paid my customs form, I had to fill out a paper one.
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Shipping regulations are mystifying and constantly changing!
Of course, I should point out that people are free to craft flat things that could be enclosed in a card. That would be a good way to limit shipping costs.
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I voted ‘other’.
I think partner matching will be really hard unless you either only allow US swappers or allow international without region restrictions. International shipping is getting so expensive, but I’m hoping there is a way to include international people in the swap.
My idea is each swapper makes 2 types of ornaments - one that you are willing to mail internationally and a second option for domestic (people within your own region). International swappers would be limited to the international option. Domestic swappers could be either limited to the domestic option only or (at the discretion of the swapper) be allowed to pick from either the domestic or international option.
I have participated in many of the past sweat swap shops and would routinely offer “bluebird’s choice” as my ‘item’. I made one sample of each option and let people pick their favorite one, then once all the ‘orders’ were in I finished making my items. I always found it fun to see which option was the more popular one. 
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I really like this idea.
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Those of you who have done the Sweat Shoppe Ornament Swap in the past, do you recall whether it was posted who would get which ornaments, or whether it was just a surprise when you went to your mailbox?
I was thinking it might be fun to have your “send-to list” as a private message so that recipients could be surprised, but was also thinking it would make it harder to track things to do it that way.
What do people think?
It was all public, I believe. It was kinda like “shopping” but “lottery” style as you may not get all your top choices.
If I were hosting, I’d make it public. It would help catch any errors.
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It was all posted in the thread - I remember being confused my first year when I saw that the people I was sending to weren’t necessarily the same people who were sending to me (as would generally happen in a “normal” swap). But that was a “me” problem! 
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When you change the name, you can @ any people who were previously in it in the discussion to say this swap is the one “previously known as”, that way your swap title isn’t a mile long and they will definitely get a notice that swap is happening.
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Good idea! I actually don’t remember everyone who used to sign up for it. Maybe once I get the swap posted, I’ll ask people to help me tag people who used to participate. Thanks for the suggestion!
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For your sanity, I’d keep it public. In past rounds there were occasional mistakes in the send/receive lists that were caught by other participants. Sure wouldn’t want you feeling bad if something was discovered after mailing happened.
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Just echoing everyone else here. It was always public. Gatorwrangler would post the list and then tell us to wait until she gave the ok a few hours later that she approved the list and it was ok to start sending… She wanted to make sure people had time to look it over and catch any errors as it they did happen from time to time.
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Sounds good! I’ll set it up that way.
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The swap is officially open! (I accidentally posted my draft, so I went ahead with it…)
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