How it works
The Swopshop is a group of members in the Lewes area who can exchange their goods and services among the Swopshop community without needing to spend any money. We trade in ‘Swops’ - you can accumulate them by offering your goods to other members or by carrying out a service. You can spend them within the Swopshop community on whatever other members are offering. It’s a great way to beat the credit crunch, encourage recycling and to promote local sustainability. Here’s how you do it....!
Sign up
Click on the sign up button and enter your details. Once you have done this you will be asked to send a cheque for £10 to 2 Station Street, Lewes, BN7 1NG. made out to Transition Town Lewes Before your payment is received, you will be able to offer your items and services and be paid in swops. You will not have access to your 20 swop 'overdraft' facility until we receive your payment, but you will be able to spend any swops you have accumulated. If we do not receive your payment within 15 days of signing up, your membership will be suspended.
Offering items and services
Go to ‘My Offers’ and click on ‘Add a new Offer’. Enter the details of your item or service. Include as much information as you can to help people who might be searching. Try to give it a title that is simple and describes clearly what it is, upload a photo from your computer if you like (this will need to be in JPeg format and no bigger than 1MB) and don’t forget to include it’s Swop price and any information about your availability if relevant.
Once you’ve completed the form click ‘Submit’ and it will be displayed in ‘All Offers’ for other members to see. When you want to edit or delete your offer just go to ‘My Offers’ and click on your item.
Finding items and services
Browse ‘All Offers’ to see what other members are offering or type your requirement into the Search box that appears on every page. Once you’ve found an offer you’re interested in then click on it and you will be able to see more detail and be able to contact the member who’s offering it. It’s up to you make all arrangements and negotiate with other members for anything you are Swopping. Although we like to think Swopshop members are all lovely people please don’t forget to take all reasonable safety precautions when arranging Swops, particularly if you are going to another member’s house or if you are arranging services for children or other vulnerable people.
Wants
If you don't find what you are looking for in "Offers" you place a wanted ad. This lets other members a chance to see what people are looking for and may inspire someone to contact you because they have just the thing! As for "my offers" simply click on "my wants" on the top right hand side of any page (when you are logged in) and fill in the details
Paying in Swops:
Once you’ve received your item or service you need to pay the member who offered it the number of Swops you agreed between you. It is the responsibility of the person who ‘bought’ the item or service to arrange payment. There are two ways you can pay for an item or service. The simplest way is to click on the item you want to Swop and then click on Buy This!. Just enter the number of Swops you have agreed to transfer for that item or service and then click Swop. Do make sure that you have checked the item is still available and have confirmed the number of Swops to transfer before you pay. The alternative way to pay another member is to go to Find a Member and click on their name. This will take you to their Member Profile and you can click on the Pay button to pay them without linking it to a particular item or service. If a payment is made for the wrong amount or to the wrong member contact that member and arrange for them to refund it you - if you can’t resolve it between the two of you please contact the administrator for advice.
Feedback
Once you’ve transferred the right number of Swops you can also leave feedback regarding your transaction. Go to ‘my home’ and look at the list of recent payments. On the right hand side of each row is a small icon that looks like this:
You can click that to leave feedback about the member / transaction
Leaving feedback helps other members to find the right item or service and helps build trust so please do take the time to add a comment. Recent feedback comments will be shown on that members page for other members to read.