Mods, could you sticky please? Thanks!! Stickied, OL1 Nov 13, 2011 Thank you!! (<-- These blue words ARE NOT part of the secret words; but thanks for paying attention!!)




Well, if my once-favorite radio station is beginning to play Christmas music, I guess it’s that time of year again.


Props to Loa for her fantastic, thorough rules; which I am using as guidelines but not copy/pasting.

Another rule has been added for clarification. It is BLUE. That rule is NOT part of the Secret Words!


Compliance with the rules is MANDATORY. Once the wantlists have been handed out, YOU MAY NOT DROP OUT. There will be a secret word within this post and you MUST include it in your application; or I will ignore it.


Sign Up
Send me a PM with the following information to sign up:
1) “I want in!” or some variation thereof.
2) Links to your feedback.
3) The Secret Words

The Swap
The couple of years that I hosted and co-hosted the UHS the $20 (USD) category was pretty popular, so we'll go with that. You must spend $20 on the ponies. Not shipping or goodies, but $20 on the actual ponies.

Feedback
You must have a total of ten (10) feedback. PM ME, RAD, with links* to your feedback here, on eBay, Amazon, or another messageboard (for example: Pony Finders)(this feedback CAN be for non-MLP). Feedback should be no more than two years old.

* = Not "this is my name on eBay." LINKS to your eBay feedback. Or Arena or where ever.

Wantlists
PM me your wantlists, but pare them down to ponies within the $20 range. (So no Mimics. :)) Also, send me the information on the condition that is acceptable for your gifts. Be specific! Are you looking for a baity pony in a specific pose but it's been too elusive? Let your partner know!!! Will except small eye smears but not symbol smears? Tell me! Oh, and don't particularly enjoy a certain generation? You guessed, let us know!! One last thing: Your wantlist is FINAL. There will be NO CHANGES MADE once you have sent me your wantlist.
Ponies MUST be in good condition. If your partner is ok with a slight haircut, small smudges, symbol rugs, or something SMALL, then that is ok. But cancer, smooze, cuts, missing ears/legs/plugs, mold, ingrained dirt, etc is NOT EXCEPTABLE. Try to get your partner a pony in as NEAR MINT as possible.

Shipping
Packages must be mailed out between January 9th and January 13th. Please get a receipt and be able to (preferably) scan it or (at the very least) take a picture of it as proof that you have mailed your package. REMEMBER: The $20 cost DOES NOT include shipping!!!

The Rules
Alike the Official Swap, I'm just going to spell everything out so that there is no misunderstanding.

- Have fun! Remember, you’re going to get something great, so give something great!!

- You MAY NOT be a part of the Official Holiday Swap. You may not be in another swap that involves you receiving Hasbro-made ponies.* This swap is for those that don't qualify for the Official (newbies), did not make it on time for the Official, or have older feedback.
* = Oh, and you don’t want to get two Fireflies from two swaps.

- Also, it would be preferable that you were not part of more than one other swap. IE: You may be part of a customizing swap, plus this one. BUT, you MAY NOT be part of two customizing swaps plus this one. If your other swaps are ending BY THE END OF NOVEMBER, then you may join. This is for monetary purposes as well as division of attention (especially with the holidays coming).

- Please wrap up your gifts in pretty wrapping paper; make them look pretty and scream "Open me, I'm fun!!" AVOID tissue/news paper; it will bleed into the pony.

- Buy ponies that are on the wantlist. You must spend $20 on the PONIES, not the shipping to you, and not the shipping to your partner, and not on goodies. The $20 is to be the ponies' actual worth; ie if you buy a Peachy on eBay for $5 but she's only worth $1, you still have $19 to spend to meet your goal.

- The wantlists, what you are spending $20 for your partner, are PONIES. Not keychains, not ceramic ponies, not something pony-related/merchandise. Actual PONIES. G1, G2, G3, Ponyville, G3.5, G4 according to the wantlist.
I get the generations beyond the obvious G3 ponies mixed up, forgive me.

- Extras are mandatory (candy, card, trinkets) and you MUST spend $5, but no more than $10. This is NOT part of the ponies!! You must include at least four (4) small items. Please send along likes, interests, dislike, allergies, and your current mailing address along with your wantlist.

- Teaser posts will be required and I will have check-in points that you MUST meet. But I'll get to those in a moment.

- Please mail on time, include a card or a note that says who sent the gift, and please buy things on the wantlist!

- I think the Official has a good idea; please avoid using bubblemailers and use sturdy cardboard boxes for the safety of the gift.

- This is a SECRET SWAP!!! Be sure you don’t accidentally reveal who you are shopping for!

Shipping
Please inform me if you’d prefer to ship within your country/continent or if you’re willing to ship overseas. Insurance/confirmation on packages is highly encouraged but not required. For those shipping outside of the country, please use airmail. If you have something come up (you’re leaving for vacation or something) PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP!! If you let me know ahead of time I can forewarn your partner and this will be allowed. If something comes up, it’s understandable, life happens. But keep the lines of communication open and tell me about it.
Also, please do not ship wet ponies, this is a bad idea as the ponies will not dry while in the package and will arrive moldy.

Missing/Lost/Unsent Packages
I will be hosting the UHS, but I will not be held responsible for missing/lost packages. I will also not be filling in for a missing/lost package. I don’t have the extra money. I wish I did.
If you forget to mail your package on time but only by a day or two, I will shake my finger at you but probably let it slide. Again, life happens. If you are more than four days late in mailing your package, I will not leave you the best of feedback.

Sign-Up Ending
November 21st. (But I usually let them slide in throughout that day and I ignore time zones. )

Secret Word
Were you reading all of those rules carefully? If you were, you’d noticed that words here or there were colored. You MUST include these eightwords in your PM to me. (The words "Pony Finders" do not count; those are colored because it is a link.)

Check-Ins/Teaser Pictures
Sign-ups end the 21st of November and I will be handing out your partners on the 22nd.

1) You MUST respond that you have received your partner’s information (and hopefully begun shopping!) no later than November 27. This should give everyone ample opportunity to get on the internet, log onto the Arena, and check their PMs.

2) Please shoot me a PM that you’ve got ponies arriving to your house for your partner, preferably by December 30.

3) At least one teaser picture is required of wrapped gifts by January 5.

Receivement and Feedback
I will make a post in the Brags on January 17th for you all to post in. You MUST include who sent you the ponies, at least one picture of everything opened, and that you are so very happy with your gift. You are more than welcome to leave individual feedback, but I will do that for everyone on my own, so don't feel obligated.
Please, please, please comment in this Brag post! Tell everyone about your gift; especially me!

Reminders
Would it be helpful if I PMed reminders? Or generic messages of 'Hey, how is shopping for the UHS going?' You wouldn't have to respond, it would just be a gentle reminder. I will be sending one reminder, about a couple of days before the shipping date of January 9th.


I will be replying to this post and editing that comment to add people to the list. After, after your name is confirmed, you may send me your want list.


Please note that I am open to suggestions/modifications to these rules. Do you think a better date or longer time for something is better suitable to the swap? Tell me! I’m a pretty easy going person and if you’ve got a better idea, I’d love to hear it. I will notify you if I change anything. I was never a big swapper due to money and I’m not as into ponies as I once was; so I’m not in your mind set of “PONIES!!! HAPPY!!” :-P

Confirmed feedback:

1) Milky
2) purplekittywuman
3) Anime_Amy
4) crystalortiz
5) SunnyDazeAhead
6) amylynnamylynn
7) Katgyrl
8) Jahlila
9) mistic_imp
10) dewprincess


According to my table, I still need information from the following people:
- Anime Amy: address, wantlist, goodies list

Oooh this looks fun! I won't be able to join though as I'm in the Advent Swap and official Holiday Swap but enjoy guys!

How fun!

Oh I LOVED the inofficial swap last year - I was able to join the official and the unofficial swap last year...but it seems I must sit ou this year.

Oooooo its my Birthing day in jan too. so its like a semi xmas/birthday swap... IM IN...

pming

Sounds fun!

Yes, yes, yes and YES!

I don't understand why there is an official swap and an unofficial one ?

Ok for people who were late or other, but can't understand why the official swap is actually $10 and this one $20 ?

Should be the reverse no ? AS it is unofficial, it should cost less ?

Well I would like to do a $20 pony swap, but already in the $&0 pony swap (still don't understand anyway)

This swap is for people who did not qualify for the official swap. It gives those people a chance to be in a holiday swap so they're not left out. As for the swap limits, that's entirely up to Rad, it's her swap. The official swap has a $10 & a $30, $20 seems like a happy medium.

This looks like fun, I am thinking I might like to join!

One clarification question, tho: Is this a specific want list swap or is it a random swap and we can give our parners any pony that fits their general likes?

Another question: can we use handmade pony crafts (like ponywear) as part of the $20 pony total or does it have to be all ponies?

Such a great swap idea! I hope I can join w/lotsa great eBay feedback! *prays & crosses fingers*

The list has been updated!

Suzy66:

Quote::

1) I don't understand why there is an official swap and an unofficial one ? 2) Ok for people who were late or other, but can't understand why the official swap is actually $10 and this one $20 ? 3) Should be the reverse no ? AS it is unofficial, it should cost less ?

1) The official one is typically ginormous. I think Loa mentioned that they receive "hundreds" of requests to join. The unofficial is faaar smaller. The couple of times I helped out I got less than thirty people joining. As CrazyCatLady said, the unofficial is for people who either are too new, don't have enough feedback, or simply missed out on the official for some reason or another.
2) The $20 limit was my choice. Last year there was a choice between $10 and $20 and the $20 won by a long shot, so this year I just chose $20. Plus, to me, $20 is a decent amount to spend on ponies. (Also, wouldn't you much rather see three to five ponies in your gift, rather than one to two? I know I'd prefer more!)
3) Yes, I suppose that the unofficial could cost less than the official, but I also don't have enough people to be able to join two different monetary swaps, so I go with the middle.

Katgyrl:

Quote::

1) One clarification question, tho: Is this a specific want list swap or is it a random swap and we can give our parners any pony that fits their general likes? 2) Another question: can we use handmade pony crafts (like ponywear) as part of the $20 pony total or does it have to be all ponies?

1) As I mentioned in the rules, you MUST buy ponies that are on the wantlist. If they already have Firefly and don't have Firefly on their list and you buy them a Firefly, you have an unhappy swap receiver who now has two Fireflies. If they love rainbow ponies and don't mind collecting any army of them, then by all means this may be a (small) part of their swap. (Though I think the obvious is "don't go buying them five Parasols.") Also, again with the rainbow theme, a goodie could be a Rainbow Dash keychain (but NOT part of the $20). Does that help?
2) I guess that could use some distinction... The $20 is to receive PONIES. Not ponywear, not pony keychains, not accessories. PONIES. Ponywear and accessories was something that has crossed my mind more than once for each swap, but that's more stuff than I want to get into. If I say "Ponies only" then I personally can clearly say "This is the rule, please follow." Now, if your partner has "Ponywear" in their goodies list/likes list, you're more than welcome to have ponywear as a goodie/extra. And homemade is the best!!! Something homemade would count toward the $5-$10 spent on goodies because you had to pay something for the materials. Just make sure you still spend a little bit and get candy and a card an an ornament, ect. I do understand that some things also have an amount of time spent on them and that time = money.

I do appreciate that you are asking for clarification.

I hope I didn't cause any more confusion... Sometimes I over-explain things. ;;^_^;;

Thank so very much CrazyCatLady for answering... I work a lot and sometimes I feel bad I don't always get to answering in a hasty manner.

Awesome clarification, thanks Rad!