Long awaited swap advice without postage advice...what do you think? Images available in Word Document

Swapping on Numista
 

To start a swap you will need to have coins to exchange. The idea is that you might have duplicates in your collection that are not worth much to you (in a way regardless of value) (that is why they are up for exchange) OR you might have coins that are worth more than your usual exchange...in which case you might be expecting more than one coin for your coin.
Press Start a swap and you will see this on your screen:

 
You can identify your friends or people that have coins that you are interested in. You might also think that people that live in a particular country have many coins from their own country…so if you are searching for coins from France try some of the collectors from France.

You can always search for coins by country:
 
As an example I have pretended to look for a coin…from Lundy: A Lundy Puffin!
 
So I discovered that a collector on Numista named “demo” had a Lundy Penny: seen here.
 
I then get to see demo’s swap list. I can see how many coins are available and as I only want his Lundy Puffin I asked for this coin by ticking the box and selecting Add.
 
 Then unless the other person is on Numista and ready to respond straight away you’ll wait for a response to the swap request. You have successfully created a swap request and you can add a message to open communications with your swapping partner.
 
 

When the other party (demo) receives the swap request it will look like this:
 
Note here that there is also a message from bam777 and if you click on the messages link it will take you to messages section, but if you click on the circled messages link, you can read the message as well as consult the swap offer. You will be taken to the swap monitor:
 
Clicking on the hyperlink (immediate picture below) allows you to see what is on offer (second picture).

 
 

This is where negotiation begins…you could offer a straight one for one swap…but this coin is worth more than a common coin.
ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE RESEARCHED YOUR COINS AND KNOW THEIR VALUE: Once coins have been traded there is no going back. As you may or may not know there are coins that have more value than others, different metal values, error coins, varieties, special commemorative issues, proofs, etc.
It is your responsibility as a collector to know this or to be blissfully unaware…your choice.
A person who doesn’t really care would check the box underneath the green lettering Vous (French for ‘You’) but demo is well informed…(for the purpose of this article)… what will demo ask for…to see the swap partners coins to exchange following the link above the coin images:
Then browse the coins you are looking for the useful legend seen below tells you these details:
 
This should be helpful in allowing you to see what you require in your collection.
Demo has many coins to choose from and could easily select £65 ($103, €74) worth of coins (+/-). For the purpose of this article he doesn’t ask for that much.
 
And selects add:
 
This will then be seen here in coins added swap monitor…now that both parties have selected coins…notice that Vous (demo)has opted for four coins and underneath has an option to Get more coins, where you can once again look at the spread sheet and add more coins to the list below.
 
By ticking or checking a box: you or your swap partner is agreeing to swap a particular coin or coins:
 
 
With this box checked demo agrees to give the ½ Puffin and will also need to confirm their swap offer:
 
It might be an idea to view your swap partner’s feedback, do they package their coins well (Packaging Notes follow at the end of the Swap Article)? Have they scammed other Numista members before? If they have…do you really want to swap with them? You can always cancel the swap if you need to: (Both parties can set up a different swap, under a different swap number or try and amend the current swap).
 
Demo having agreed to the swap will then await bam777’s response. Bam777 accepts by selecting all the coins that have been requested from him and confirms his swap offer:
 
Then an important message appears for demo. Demo will either choose to accept the swap offer or turn it down:
 

Demo Turns down the swap explaining why:
 
Bam777 will be informed of the turned down swap; but it doesn’t have to end here. Demo decides to opt to Get more coins and bam777 accepts this change as a result the swap has been held together by communications both parties being clear why they are making changes.
 
(More coins than before)
 
This time demo accepts. The exchange of addresses takes place and both parties are ready to post their coins. Note that some countries don’t have addresses exactly written out the same as your own. Try and make addressing instructions as clear to your swap partner as possible.
 
(As viewed in bam777’s screen)
 
(Response from demo.)

Should mention that I have drafted this in Word which is possibly going to make transferring it as a Numisdoc hard but just check out the text and there are images that explain clearly what to do.

Ben;

Looks good. However, if you can take a general suggestion from some one who has spent their life writing instruction manuals and procedures, test your instructions by giving them to someone who knows nothing about the system (in this case swapping on Numista), and see if they can, by following the instructions alone, achieve the desired result.

If they go wrong at any stage it will identify to you a probable error or shortcoming in the instructions, which can then be addressed.

I don't wish to suggest that I have found any issues with your draft, I am far too experienced in the swapping process to be qualified to objectively test it for you. Rather I just wished to pass on a little general advice which can be applied to the writing of any instruction guide - irrespective of the reality that most technical authors ignore the advice and produce useless instructions - see furniture flatpacks for confirmation of the facts of that claim!

Regards

Matt