You will see next to the Ship & Receive link there are brackets with 2 numbers inside. For example in this picture you can see (1/0).

The first number is how many items you currently need to ship to other users. The second number is how many items you are waiting for to arrive. If the brackets showed (2/1) it would mean that you have 2 items to ship and 1 item you are waiting for.

When you confirm that an item has been sent or received in either Direct Swapz or Point Swapz they will be removed from your Ship & Receive page and the number count adjusted accordingly.

If you click the More button next to an item waiting to be shipped you will be able to see the address details you are shipping to.

 In fact, swapping for points no longer means that swapz involve just two people doing a deal. With the introduction of points a swap deal can now become a swap circle involving several users who can all get what they want!

Ideally, to get points, you should swap an item you have with a user who has points and then swap these newly acquired points for what you want. As the swap circle grows and more swapz take place and satisfied swappers will list more items leading to more even completed swapz.

With the addition of swapping for points the possibilities are limitless.

In Point Swapz you have 2 tabs: Completed and My Points. As soon as a Point Swap is agreed, the swap details move to the Point Swapz Section. 

As with Direct Swapz, there are 5 Swapz Stages to follow:

Stage 1 is where the user who has sent the Swapz Points sets their delivery address. At this stage the Swapz Points are removed from their point account. which is found in the My Points tab.

Stage 2 is when the user who is receiving the points sends the item, marks it as sent and gives details of any tracking numbers.

Stage 3 is when the user receives his or her item and confirms receipt by clicking the confirm delivery button.

Stage 4 is when Swapz Points are added to the sender’s point account which is found in the My Points tab. At this stage both users should rate the swap.

Step 5 means everything is complete with the swap and hopefully you both had a great Point Swapz experience.

My Points

My Points is your Swap Points “bank” account. A green arrow means you have had points coming into your account and a red arrow means you have sent points to another user.
 

In the grey Members Area, if you have a number showing next to your Point Swapz link it means that you have that many Point Swapz in progress.

On the My Points tab is also the link telling you how to get more points if you need them.

Browse around the site to find items you are interested in and then make a proposal. To do this, on the right hand side of every listing is a Make PROPOSAL button.

You can either propose one of your listed swapz by selecting it from the list shown or if you would like to offer something that you have not yet listed there is a link that let’s you add it there and then. There is also a space to add and extra message to the person you would like to swap with. Once you have typed your message click the submit button and it will instantly be sent to the other user.

All proposals you receive can be read in My Swapz  > Active Swapz  and then clicking the New Offers link. Clicking on each proposal listed brings up the full details of that item

The New Offers link lets you view each proposal in detail by clicking the view button next to each proposal in the list. In each proposal is a reject and accept button. When you reject a swap proposal there is a space to add a message why – please keep this factual and pleasant.

If you accept the other user’s proposal you are now at step 1 of the swapping process.

At this stage, you and the user you are swapping with should both set up the delivery address that you want your item sent to. Once both delivery addresses are set up you move on to the second step where you send your items.

At this stage you send your part of the swap to the delivery address the other swapper has specified. It is VERY important that you send your item by Registered, Recorded or Special Delivery. Click the send button and enter the date you sent the item and the tracking number details.

We now move on to stage 3. Once you have received your item from the other swapper click on the confirm delivery button  to confirm you have received the item.

This is the rating stage of the swap which is important to both swappers. Your rating tells other users how honest and reliable a swapper you are. Click on the rate this swapbutton and honestly fill in the details.

Reaching step 5 means the swap is completed. We hope you had a great swapz experience.

Then you select the main category that the item you have to swap should be listed in. For example if you have a Nintendo Wii the main category would be PC & Video Gaming.

Next you will need to choose the correct subcategory, which in this example is Nintendo Wii. Once you have selected this then click the Next Step button.

Adding detail to your swap listing is what makes it stand out and let other people know what you have to offer. The clearer the information you add, the more chances of a quick successful swap.  The Title is the headline of your swap – tell people what it is, not what you want. Use the description area to describe to other users the condition, features and anything else about the item you have to swap. The value that you give should be relevant to the type and condition of your article. If you just want to swap and value does not matter, then select the 1 penny option. Make sure that your swap location region, town and postcode are accurate as many members enjoy swapping locally and making new friends. When you have filled in all the details click on the Next Step button.

I Want To Swap For is where you can tell other users the type of things you would like and be most interested in. make sure what you are asking for is of a similar value to the item you have listed. By ticking I am open to all swapz you let other users know you are happy to receive all proposals and will choose to swap for something that catches your attention. We recommend you always tick this option.

Now it’s time to add pictures to your listing. Pictures are vital as they show other users more about your listing than words alone. Listings with pictures are 24 times as likely to lead to a swap than those with just words!

For your first picture, click on the Browse button and browse your PC until you find the image you would like to use. Once you have selected your image click on the red Upload button. You will see a thumbnail of your picture when it is successfully uploaded. If you would like to add more than one image now click on the Additional Image button which will bring up another Browse button for you to use. Each time you select another image from your PC you must click on the Upload button. Images should be under 200kb in size and be in Jpeg format.

Clicking on the next step button let’s you check your listing before setting it live on the site. If you need to edit any part of your listing, click on the Previous Step button. Clicking on the Finish button makes your listing live on the site. If you don’t want to list your item straight away you can Save as Draft to activate at a later date. You can find draft listings in My Swapz  in the Drafts tab.

You can edit your live listings at any point by going to My Swapz > Active Swapz and setting the drop-down menu next to the listing to either Edit Info, Edit Category or Edit Pictures and following the on-screen instructions.

Here are a few tips on how the new search engine works:

1. Swapz search does not search for words which have less than 3 letters in them - for example if you enter “hi” or “A8? it will not bring up any results.

2. Some words like “have”, “you”, “from” etc. are not searchable. Currently in the search black list we have the following words:
all, and, any, are, but, can, for, from, get, great, has, have, just, not, one, only, out, the, this, very, will, with, you, your

3. Swapz search is not case sensitive - for example the words “bmw” and “BMW” will bring up exactly the same results

4. If you enter several words the search engine brings up the most relevant results to the top of the list.

5. The search results list is formatted with newly listed items at the top.

We hope you will like your new search - fell free to post your comments here and we will try to further improve it based on your experience and feedback.

The founders of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay have been sentenced to a year in jail in Sweden for breaking copyright laws by helping millions of users download music, movies and computer games for free.

Experts believe the ruling could be the first step towards ending illegal downloading, which has cost music and film companies billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The 2 founders along with 2 employees were sentenced to a year in jail after being found guilty in a Swedish court of making 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal downloading on the website Piratebay.org.

In a Twitter posting before sentencing, one of the founders said: “Nothing will happen to The Pirate Bay, this is just theatre for the media.”

The Pirate Bay provides a forum for its estimated 22 million users to download content. The site has become the entertainment industry’s enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa.

Home swaps are attractive to because property owners can save thousands of pounds on estate agent fees and enter into a chain-free purchase.

An industry expert says: “Home swapping may seem a little off-the-wall but for the savvy seller it could be the key to finding that elusive buyer.

The reality is that an increasing number of sellers, frustrated and disillusioned by the lack of genuine buyers coming through estate agents’ doors, have clearly decided it’s time to take matters into their own hands.

With many people struggling to make ends meet and worried about losing their jobs, there are a growing number of homeowners looking to downsize rather than upsize in the current economic climate. This provides the perfect backdrop for home swaps - one party looking to upsize and the other looking to downsize.”

Source: Daily Telegraph - 14th April 2009

It was added to let you see who has browsed your profile and listings. Why? Well, if a user has browsed you or your listings it is most likely you have something listed that is of interest to them. By knowing this and browsing their listings in return it should help you make more successful  swapz, quicker.

To see your Guests’ profiles and listings just click on their username to open their profile. As well as checking out their swapz  and wantedz listings take a minute to read their About me – it could be a chance to make a new friend with similar interests.