Participating in product swaps has been widely popular on various scrapbooking message boards for years. It is an excellent way to get some new stuff that you can use, while getting rid of the excess products that you probably will never use again. These product swaps have been around for ages, including in other craft media.
Typically, someone offers to host a product swap. This person then takes the names, email address’ and often snail mail address’ of all participants. She might also ask for a wish list or a top three favorite items, or perhaps even the type of themes you are working on. This is how it works. You will send your items to the hostess usually. She will then divide up the products and put new items in your box based on your request, and do the same for the others involved.
Typical items that are swapped are:
- Patterned Paper
- Stickers
- Die Cuts
- Tools
- Templates
- Embellishments (buttons, eyelets, brads, ribbons, fibers, etc.)
These swaps can also taken on the appearance of a trade. For instance, I might have a circle cutter you really want, and you might have a tag punch that I’d really like. So we send them to each other.
Another way that product swaps sometimes occur is in Round Robin format. There is a designated hostess who fills a box with a preset number of items. She then mails the box to the first participant. That girl takes out what she wants from the box and replaces the items with the items she wishes to get rid of. She then mails the box out to the next person in line, who repeats the process until the box returns back to the hostess. The only problem I have seen with this method, is that often the hostess gets stuck with real junk at the end. However, I have also seen them go well.
Product swaps are fun and a great way to make new friends.