Issues When Exchanging Coins

I have swapped only a few times with different persons around the world and everything went fine. The only problem has been that I haven't clear want list or swaplist. That has caused the same problem that you pointed out - the list is changing all the time and your swap friend may start asking you coins that you don't even have at all. So I have ended up to take the missing coins from my own collection or to place an bid on internet auction. It also take a lot of time to check and write what you have and haven't time after time when other guy keeps asking more and more coins for him.

Scarry situations. Sending anything through the mail is sort of like playing a game and you just never know the results for sure. And when it comes to someone in other couhtries, just what could you do if they messed you up with a lousy deal? For example if you tried dealing with someone in Ireland and they just took your coins and nothing in return. Just what could you do about it. You surely wouldn't go there for a coin.
And as for feedbacks. I've said this many times before. My Son uses ebay and when in college, all the kids got together and gave each other massive great feedbacks. da thousand or million feedbacks from kids like those means very little so be carefull with that feedback stuff.
Not sure if you've ever tried the world coins here on this forum but very possibly you should try using this forum for such deals if you have the amount of post required. At least if you did most of your dealings with members, a few words about a lousy deal could mean something.
An another thing is when dealing with some countries, if you received a faked coin, just what could you do about that too. I don't think you'ld go to China to coplain about that.
I just looked and you only have 27 posts so far. Just go to get busy on this forum so you can buy and sell here.

Babar - don't worry about bad country expectations. All you can do is to do your duty well and they will trust you as a person in the future. What comes to packing issue - I would just ensure that coins will hold their positions and wont make any noise. What about the security of Pakistani and the other country's postal services? Do you need your envelope to be registered?

At first it was my understanding that coins here can only be sent via registered mail. Yesterday I learnt that coins and currency are absolutely not allowed to be sent via post. I told this to the guy who I was exchanging with, and he basically said "if they ask, tell them it is Pakistani souvenirs", so I sent them anyhow, and as far as my end goes (giving it to the post office, having it weighed and registered) it went fine.

To be totally honest, Pakistan post is really horrible . Even with stuff like postcards (which I don't send registered), it is like a 50% chance that it never reaches the recipient. Aside from that, the thing I'm worried about is if at some point they x-ray the packages and actively remove it and confiscate it if it has coins in it. Unfortunately, that is not the sort of thing you can ask someone at the post office

Wrap them up in paper, then place them between two pieces of cardboard with tape around the edges. After you put it in an envelope, it also helps to cover the envelope in clear tape to reinforce it.

I finally did 2 swaps through numista, and I got the first swap's coins a week ago. Something very exhilarating about getting stuff in the mail . Unfortunately the guy I am trading with hasn't gotten my coins yet...I hope there are no problems. I had sent those before I got the advice in here, so they were just free inside the envelope (not wrapped or taped or anything).

The second guy (the one who said that he wanted to receive my coins first before he sent his own) finally got my coins today, and said he'd send off his now. He even gave me a good rating, which should be helpful in future trades.

I'm finally on a roll!

I've got the results of one trade so far, and another (according to registered mail) is almost here, so hopefully this is doable, and that makes me happy.

I alluded to this slightly in my previous post, but after dealing with a couple more prospective swappers, I've run into a variety of trading mentalities, so I was curious, and thought I'd find some clarity on the issue here.

What do you look for when balancing the coins you are giving for the ones you will be receiving?

As I said before, I am mostly interested in coins in circulation from different countries- stuff involving ancient coins, or silver and gold content, or rarity doesn't usually enter into the equation. I'm new to this, so I was just summing up the total weight of my coins, and the total value of my coins, and trying to make them almost equal to the weight and value of the coins of the person I was trading with.

Is this the standard way? How do you do it?
I've encountered some people who, on their list of coins for exchange, had a little note that said "Will only exchange for 2 coins" or "Will only exchange for 3 coins", which struck me as a little odd...while I somewhat understand that for proofs, what if the coin I was exchanging was equally valuable? Another guy, after I had picked a couple of coins from his collection to match the value of the coins he had picked mine, excluded one of the ones I picked, because, he said "I had to pay more for this coin".

Is there some standard operating procedure I am missing out on? How is this stuff usually done?