What to do if coins never get there?

I did a swap one month ago from US to Brittan, and he has not received his coins yet.  I know that sometimes post gets lost or stolen, is one month long enough to wait? Do I need to send him other coins? what is the protocol for this?
  My first swap ever, the coins took a month and a half to get there, very scary for me.
   I have found coin swapping very fun and I will continue to swap, even with this set back(my package was 75 coin )  

 Thanks for your help

I have the same problem. I sent to UK from Brazil one month ago. I asked my partner if he had reveived. He said me that the some employees of Royal Mail are on strike.

Although the British postage system is fairly good, a LOT of mail does get lost. You should be able to report a lost parcel to the Royal Mail for them to investigate (don't hold your breath).

If your parcel was sent air mail, then a month is long enough to assume it has been lost. If you sent it surface mail, it could still be on the boat (my birth-mother insists on sending packages from the UK to Australia via surface mail, she posts the Christmas presents in June so that they arrive in time for Christmas!)

Matt

Hi; I am in a slightly different situation. I have sent 3 swaps to different members and not yet received any in return. Getting on for over one month and 2 of the members do not answer my emails???? I am getting more than a little suspicious. Tony

Cita: tonygwinHi; I am in a slightly different situation. I have sent 3 swaps to different members and not yet received any in return. Getting on for over one month and 2 of the members do not answer my emails???? I am getting more than a little suspicious. Tony

If they don't answer emails/PMs I should be suspicious. It occured to me, it could be rather easy to establish multiple accounts and fake swaps between them so as to create a false profile which on the face of it looks reliable and trustworthy.

I guess one just has to accept that, like many other things in life, swapping is a gamble. Some people are crooks, some packages will be lost in the post, and some swaps will run smoothly.

Matt

Actually it was to Germany not Brittan, and the guy said he is very unhappy, and I don't want a bad star, should I send him new coins? I am out big that way
  Should he be more patient?

In my opinion your swap partner should be more patient. I had one exchange that took 42 days before I received the coins and I genuinely believe that the package did spend that long in limbo. I am also currently in an exchange where the other party received my package 39 days ago and I am still waiting 51 days after I was told they were sent. Provided that there is reciprocal communication then I don't think either party can get upset if the fault lies with postal services of one nation or another. Obviously, there must come a point when you both agree that the coins will never arrive and make arrangements to possibly re-send but I don't think you have reached that stage yet.

If your swapping 75 coins. Registered mail would have been the way to ship.in the u.s. registered mail gives you a small amount of insurance.plus you get them to sign for it.if your swapping that many coins at once.well you might be setting yourself up for failure.

There is risk in making swaps with members that are not highly active, post on the forum,etc.

And from time to time.you will run into people that are highly suspicious,  and they turn out to be trustworthy when it comes to swaps.buy just an overall A-hole when it comes to being a person.

My rules for swapping.

No feedback user 1-2 low value coin swap.risk value$ 1

Low feedback 5 or less 2- 4 low value coin swap.

Medium feedback 5-10 medium value coin.swap. risk 5-10$

Good steady feedback and long term registration.personal preference on value.risk is most likely post office related.

Communication is a key to a good swap.

If a person does not want to talk about coins.chances are they are just a dealer trying to take advantage of a good honest system.
Where people with a great hobby want to get together for fun.not just profit.

Good luck to all swapping partners.

Thanks Radrick,

Cita: radrick007Obviously, there must come a point when you both agree that the coins will never arrive and make arrangements to possibly re-send but I don't think you have reached that stage yet.

 so if (in time) they are lost by the post, I should send him new coins?

I am taking photos of the packages with my phone postmarked at the post office with my phone.to have confirmation that it ships.

When it comes to re-shipping coins.
I believe that is a personal judgement call.. I have been in the shipping business for about 15+ years.only 3 packages were lost in limbo and 2 were delayed in the usa by 2 weeks and 1 delayed to Spain by 45 days.

  What is right for you.is right for you.You are the one that has to make your own decisions.

As just2vicarious says, how you resolve the issue is not for us to say but should be arrived at by mutual agreement between yourself and your swap partner. Having said that, if you have received coins and your partner has not, then it is only fair that you should re-send another batch or return the coins that you received. I would reiterate, though, that you should both give the matter plenty of time to resolve itself.

Thanks to all the members who responded to  "non arrival of coins". I agree, in the most part with all the responses. However, one of the subsequent irritations is that my 'swap partners' are not responding to emails about arrival and/or sending of coins. Given that its the vacation time I can see a couple of weeks out of touch...but 3 follow-up emails over a period of 20 days  none of which are answered is a bad sign! Thanks again.

Well I can say the same.it seems that alot of people don't want to make" friends" they want to make deals.and when the packages are said to be sent, the deal is pretty much done. And people don't respond to emails anymore.that is why I got a no star feedback.because although that member runs around the forum making swaps.he didn't want to answer his emails anymore.

This is when I think moderators should step in and email the non response person.to engage in conversation again.or they should be removed.

But like I said.once the deal is done people don't really want to talk anymore.

tonygwin

  Sorry that you have had trouble, I have read on the forum that a lot of people have had trouble. It is scary swapping and I am glad that Patgav gave me my first swap, and 5 stars, but I would not swap with someone who only asks for silver and has no stars, but that's what I did, and he started me swapping and it has been a lot of fun.  I guess you just have to be very careful there are a ton of crooks looking for sites like this.

  Radrick
   Thanks for your advice, its actually encouraging to know that they might still get there, and I think you are right, if they don't get there I will resend some others.
   How lone should I wait before I decide that I need to resend?

Cita: redsmithstudiostonygwin

  Sorry that you have had trouble, I have read on the forum that a lot of people have had trouble. It is scary swapping and I am glad that Patgav gave me my first swap, and 5 stars, but I would not swap with someone who only asks for silver and has no stars, but that's what I did, and he started me swapping and it has been a lot of fun.  I guess you just have to be very careful there are a ton of crooks looking for sites like this.

  Radrick
   Thanks for your advice, its actually encouraging to know that they might still get there, and I think you are right, if they don't get there I will resend some others.
   How lone should I wait before I decide that I need to resend?

tHANKS. fUNNILY ENOUGH ONE OF MY missing swaps is Patgav. he has now answered my email and says he sent coins... nearly 3 weeks ago....but as yet no delivery. Appreciate your response. So far I've sent 4 swaps and received one. No more swaps for me...I'll wait a few more days then  revisit the late ones. Frankly unless I get the coins I'll dump this website. I think its just too open to fraud. Tony

David,

As I mentioned earlier, I had one exchange with a member in South America that took 6 weeks to arrive, but that package was only 10 or 12 coins. Whenever I do a swap with someone for the first time, I would generally only swap between 10 and 15 coins in one go anyway. Once that swap went ok then I would swap again, just to make sure that the other member is trustworthy and reliable. I would also say that out of the 23 swaps I have made since I joined in February, 22 of those members have been great, I'm just not too sure about the one I'm still waiting for but that only cost me 5 coins. I would be very wary about sending a large number of coins on a first swap, or any coins of any significant value. Again, the key to any successful swap lies in the communication - provided you are messaging each other regularly, most issues can be resolved amicably.

tonygwin,

It is unfortunate that you have not had a good experience so far because I firmly believe that at least 90% of the members on this site are genuine collectors who are looking to exchange coins and knowledge. When I first joined I had swap offers from some team members (PatGav, TONY28) who were a great introduction to the site. Then after that I started to look at the members that they had traded with previously and those members who had an established track record with plenty of positive feeback. I hope that your first swaps resolve themselves satisfactorily and that you continue to enjoy the site.

Regards, Rick

its sad when you have some people that talk crap about people,like this just2vicarious nut, he was saying he was going to come by my house and start something.i got his email to prove it ,i crippled an i tell you what come on over