Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

Topic: Question about selecting who to order a DVD from

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madmod20061 (Mark G.)



Subject: Question about selecting who to order a DVD from
Date Posted: 4/7/2013 5:04 PM ET
Member Since: 12/29/2012
Posts: 111
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Say there is a copy of a movie I want that is avalable.  Swapa shows 4 copies of it.  Is there  a way to look through all 4 member's towers to see if there are any more movies I'd want from them and have a better shot at getting my request granted?  I've noticed that people with larger towers are more likely to send the movie than the people with just a few movies.  The smaller towers more often than not will just let the request expire. 



Last Edited on: 4/7/13 5:05 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
TeaBea (Tracy B.)


Date Posted: 4/7/2013 6:12 PM ET
Member Since: 1/16/2011
Posts: 1,216
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No SWAP is set up as "First in First Out" - the first person who posted it - is the first person asked to send it to you.  Since there are 4 copies - someone should agree to send the movie.  When people let requests expire,  SWAP keeps track and inactive members are eventually weeded out of the system. 

ahurley53 (Amelia H.)


Date Posted: 4/7/2013 6:36 PM ET
Member Since: 3/26/2008
Posts: 111
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I will sometimes select pm the member.  Then when I am on the message page,  click on their member name.

Once you get to their profile page you can view their tower and wishlist.

bookreadera (Meghan A.)


Date Posted: 4/8/2013 12:53 PM ET
Member Since: 11/10/2007
Posts: 1,505
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Just wanted to add,

A smaller Tower does not mean a less active member.  There are plenty of very active mems such as myself, who have small (or in my current case, empty) Towers.  This is because we primarily trade WL DVDs or low number titles that don't sit around on our Towers.

madmod20061 (Mark G.)


Date Posted: 4/8/2013 9:36 PM ET
Member Since: 12/29/2012
Posts: 111
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I know it doesn't necessarily mean a  non active member.  I've just had a few experiences where that was the case.  An in those cases it was usually a DVD that no one else had by the time it timed out. 

glowbird (Gloria B.)


Date Posted: 4/24/2013 12:16 PM ET
Member Since: 10/4/2009
Posts: 14,266
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If there are multiple copies of a dvd, you can see who has the first copy in the que when you click on Order This DVD.  You're not actually ordering yet, so don't worry.  You are taken to a second page where you can click Order More From Member, and clicking on the button there takes you to a page where you can see the member's name, profile (if they have one), and tower.  From here you can do your investigating--if there is a profile, you can see how long someone has been a member and if they do not have a big tower but have been a member for more than a few months (hopefully, over a year at least), they're probably a safe bet to order from.  You can look at their tower and WL.

If you are not sure about requesting the movie from the member, but there are other copies available, you can request the movie from member 1 and then go back to the system and request another copy and go through the process again.  If the mem 2 seems like a better bet to send, go back to your orders and cancel the first request.  This doesn't always work for me, though.  Sometimes the system will not allow me to order more than one copy.  A friend of mine has no problem doing this.

If the copy you are hoping to request is the only copy in the system, you're best best is to let the request go through from the mem and time out.  That will place it at the top of your WL and if you set it to autorequest you should receive the next copy posted into the system.



Last Edited on: 4/24/13 12:17 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
ShawnTLD (Shawn S.)


Date Posted: 6/17/2013 6:07 AM ET
Member Since: 4/16/2013
Posts: 10
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See, the thing is, I had an issue recently, where I was trying to order a DVD(Retroactive) and there were 5 copies available. I reqested it, days went by, and it was still waiting on the member to accept. I PM'ed the member to see if they were going to be able to send it, but never received an answer, so I cancelled the order, and ordered it again. Of course, I didn't think about it before I did this, that it would be requesting it from the same member, and have just restarted this frustrating process, SO. I waited another 4 days, and then PM'ed the user again, asking if they had the DVD, and again, didn't receive an answer. So I trued to just order a second copy of the DVD, and the swapadvd system refused to allow me to do so. If I cancelled the request, I could request the DVD again, but as long as I already had the request active, when I would click order "Process your order" it would give me some red error message, unless I went back in and cancelled the first request. So, basically, I just gave up. I want that DVD really bad, but the first person in queue that has it will never ship it, so I just have to deal with it, I suppose. 

KathrynBlodgett (Kathryn B.)


Date Posted: 6/17/2013 6:54 AM ET
Member Since: 6/16/2009
Posts: 15,095
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you know, if you just waited 1 more day the request would time out and move on to the next person.... Never cancel a request because someone doesnt respond, because someone else (or you) will just request it again and get that same person. If you let it time out, that person is removed from the queue until they repost (which if they are inactive will be never) so you should always let it go the full time.

Windyastro (Laura B.)


Date Posted: 6/29/2013 12:08 AM ET
Member Since: 8/25/2010
Posts: 536
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Yes, the best way to WEED OUT inactive members is to let the request time out so they are removed from the queue.....and that way, the rest of the members don't have to go thru the same circle jerk again.  :)

racingtweety (Jennifer W.)


Date Posted: 7/6/2013 4:26 PM ET
Member Since: 3/21/2009
Posts: 368
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Well I would certainly hope that if I had something on my small tower that you wouldn't overlook me just because I have fewer items available to order than someone else. I don't post much on forums and have a small tower but I am still a member in good standing that sends out on time and have never had an item time out in the tme I have been here.

Most of what I post are WL items that go on hold or maybe an item with very few available so most of what I post goes quickly. Plus with summer here and kids home from school, I am watching DVD's way less than over the winter. Plus, with my amazon prime membership, I can watch a lot of items free with my membership so I can watch those on the go if we are out.

Not really fair to the members with the smaller towers to think that they won't respond just because you may have encountered some recently. Not all members with fewer items are going to ignore the request.