International postage

Hi everyone!

The hosts and I get occasional emails from artists outside of the US who would like to participate in the swaps.  When I was doing all the hosting, I asked international swappers to send me postage money (in US dollars) via paypal, but now that we're guest hosting we don't have any standard protocol.  I've been leaving it up to the hosts on how they want to handle it.  Some hosts don't have paypal, and most international swappers don't have US stamps or dollars on hand to stick in the mail to the host.  I know a few generous hosts have just absorbed the cost of international postage on occasion, but at over $1 per postcard, that could add up fast.

So here are a few thoughts:

• If you live outside of the US, contact your host directly to see if they are willing to coordinate an international swap.  Each swap description includes the host's email address
• If you are a host and have questions about how paypal works, feel free to email me.
• If an artist sends 4 postcards from outside of the US, the host may have to send the 4 new postcards back to you in an envelope, which would only need one global stamp, rather than sending each card individually with its own stamp.
• If you live in the US and are feeling generous, you could toss an extra stamp in your envelope as a thank you gift to your host every once in a while and your host could use that to cover not only international postage, but the occasional postage error made by another swapper.

Finally, Joanne has asked me to update her swap descriptions, asking artists to include loose stamps in the envelope rather than attaching stamps to the postcards as we usually request.  This will give her more flexibility with using the postage. I added a paragraph to each of her swaps noting this.

If any other hosts want me to add info about their personal international swapping preferences, just send me an email and I can edit your swap description.

It's fun to send and receive mail from all over the world.

If any of you readers have any great suggestions for how our hosts can do this,  leave a comment!