It's helpful to others if you put a date/year on your trade page. It indicates that you are actively trading.
As to the other things you've asked about, different people do things in different ways. You can set up your trade page to your own liking, set seed amounts you're comfortable with, and use whatever trading practices you think are fair. Other members will use that information to decide whether they want to trade with you or not.
Welcome and have fun! You'll meet many wonderful, generous people here!

Thank you jaynine! I never even thought about dating the page. I will remember to do that. Any other important information I should know?
CMK

Welcome to the Seed Exchange. It looks like you've done your homework. You will probably start seeing more free seed offers as the summer ends. I'm thinking about having another seed offer this fall but I'm waiting to harvest my ornamental peppers before I do.
jim_6b

Thank you very much Jim for the welcome! This seems like a fun place to be. I have been on GW for a few years, but have never ventured into exchanges before.
Am I a little late when it comes to starting trade? What time of the year does most of the trading take place here?
CMK

I don't think it's ever to late to start trading. Late summer and fall seem to be the most active times. I know it is for me. I've been collecting seed since spring and I'm waiting to collect seed from a few more plants and I will be ready to post a seed offer.
jim_6b

Hi christinmk,

Welcome to The Seed Exchange! Boy, you really did your homework here. Congrats and Thank You!

The Seed Exchange is quite active it seems all year. I am usually more active, very late fall, or winter when I hve more 'free' time. Also, a lot of seeds in the more northern zones are not collectible until quite late in the year. I remember it was late Nov I think anyway, when the butterfly bush seed pods split, so they could be harvested. I learned long ago to never harvest them until they are dried and split, as they won't properly split and release the seeds if harvested too soon.

When mailing, make sure to tape seeds to inside so they stay flat. So, one ships the bubble envelope with another/other seed envelopes inside? Bubble env with regular env holding the seeds? Correct?
I tape the little seed baggies to a piece of paper before slipping it into the Bubblie. That helps keep them under 3/4" thick, and from shifting. See Mailing Costs for Bubble Envelopes (BE) BE under 3/4" should go as Large Envelope rates which is less than those over 3/4"-Parcel rates.

Members use the little plastic craft baggies (found in the craft section at WM), or paper coin envelopes, or home made ones of paper.

What took you so long to get off your beaten path, and find your way to the Seed Exchange anyway?

Beware though....Know you're addicted to Seed Exchange-s...when... and then there are the Seed Enablers here too.

Sue

Thank you Sue!
I just wanted to make sure I didn't screw something up, which I have a knack of doing ;-)

I have a few other question. Can one re-use the bubble envelopes? If you recieve a BE from a trade can you take off the lables and use them again?

And, is trading seeds for plants (and vise versa) allowed? Or is it all seeds for seeds and plants for plants? I will have a few plants for trade next spring, so want to know for then. ;-)

I have been collecting all year too, getting ready to start exchanging. I suppose there might be a few more things that will come on later in the year here, but not too many. I don't have a great deal on my seed exchange list (started it last night!), but will next year. I just have a bit more to add to my want list :-D and some tweaking before I am up and ready for trading! I am getting very excited. Would anybody mind just taking a peek at it to tell me if all is in order? Anything I forgot to add?

Thanks all!
CMK (Christin)

Yes-reuse,recycle! Trading seeds for plants and vice versa is completely up to the members involved and is not against the rules. Your trade page looks great-I love it that you've used latin. When you're ready to trade, please let me know. You've got things that I'd love to try!!

Thanks Jaynine!! I just bought a whole bunch of bubble envelopes today, so I am all ready. That is great I can recycle them too! I read somewhere here that if the trades are not large one can cut the envelopes in half and tape up the side??

I should post my list on the discussion side in a day or two, but you can e-mail me now if you like. I saw some things on your list as well. I look forward to trading with you! :-)
CMK

Christin~You'll be seeing all manner of bubble envelopes in your seed trading future. The people here are very ingenious.
Just came in for lunch and now have to get back to rock picking (new flower bed!). Will email you later concerning trading--thanks so much!

i use the stapler instead of tape for the sides of the envi's. much cheaper!! i used to go thru rolls of tape till i finally figured that one out! **big grin** then i also do that for some of my seeds when i make my packets. they also have a thread on oragami packets.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/con021447346105.html
its really cheap and if you get bored, well, hey!! it gives ya something to do!! LOL
and if ya want, you can do winter sowing. its something to do int he winter. and gives ya good plants!! LOL the only thing i'd do different is ask people how much they want to trade befor ya make a trade. like me, i don't need 24 seeds. gosh!! **grin** some others are like that. but yep!! you do have that right. **big smile** that is so neat to see that a "newbie" is doing their homework!! **big smile** **onery grin**
~medo

Thanks medo for the advice! I spent last night trying to make a good seed envelope. The first one I did was super cute, but didn't work too well, lol! To see if it worked I put some sugar in the packet. I suppose everyone here can guess what happened! My third attempt proved much better; no spill-ages. :-) I didn't even think of staples instead of tape. I will have to do some experiments with the next batch and see how it goes.
CMK