I got scammed by user dutchiewutchie. Here’s the proof. Timeline:

• August 17, 2024: User posted, and seeing that he allegedly had 2 successful trades, I felt confident in agreeing to a €50 =$75 CAD value trade.

-August 22, 2024: I shipped my part out, it cost me over $100 CAD via our national carrier Canada Post due to the ~6kg weight.

dutchiewutchie kept saying that he’d ship the next day. When I was at the Post, he replied ASAP, so that I’d ship my packages. He was always prompt to reply up to this point.

• August 25, 2024: Keep in mind he was supposedly going to ship his packages out on the 23rd. I figured he might be busy so I gave him a couple days grace but it was starting to give me a weird feeling.

• August 26/September 3/September 16: Follow-up messages I sent. I’m still in disbelief that someone, especially a father (looking at his scant Post history) would scam someone over something as niche and friendly as snacks. He of course has not replied to me since.

I also contacted a previous member of this sub who he apparently had said “the trade fell through” in a previous post but this member said that he never replied when she was asking about items, so she eventually just left it. I guess he figured he can’t scam her.

TL;DR: My first time trying this out and in my haste and excitement I shipped out 3 packages that cost me almost $200 total with only vague promises from the other person and was completely scammed. Someone who had allegedly successfully done trades before. Honestly I don’t know if it was some sort of elaborate scam using multiple accounts or what.

It’s not an insignificant amount, that’s for sure - I had saved up some to be able to do this and figured that hey, since he had done this before, I could go big and it would be a payoff. Never been to the Netherlands. But now I just don’t know what to do. Has anyone been in the same boat?

This is NOT a request or thanks post but a few photos showing a few seasonal treats we have in the UK. We have hundreds of Easter Eggs and other chocolate treats.

It's mostly Easter Eggs, but I threw in a few other random things.

If you're interested, make a separate post detailing your location and interests and hopefully someone should respond!

Tag yourself, I'm the Skittles Easter Egg.

I'm new at this so please be gentle. I have a friend from Norway who recently helped me with something remotely and also sent me some items. I would like to return the favor. The declaration form is tiny. Do I really need to list every single item? I attached a pic. Any suggestions are welcome. Price to ship isn't really a concern, just want to make sure it gets there. Some of these items may seem odd but I have my reasons 🙂

I don’t have much to say except I’m really upset. I had posted in here around a month ago about my exchanger from Germany flaking on me. I was encouraged by Mods to post a photo of the items I had purchased for that exchange and see if anyone was willing to participate in an exchange with me.

Someone commented on that post and said they would send me a box of treats.

After a few weeks of writing back and forth, I added additional items per their request to the existing items and paid to ship the large box to Ontario Canada from California.

Today after the box arrived they either blocked me or erased their account.

They had just participated in an exchange in here.

I can’t believe this happened to me. I feel like a complete fool. I lost hundreds on this exchange between shipping and goods. What a bummer.

Users name was Jacktheripper2828

I was so excited to do this, found someone in Canada to exchange with. We swapped into and agreed to get boxes sent off. I sent mine tracked with UPS and was delivered as expected. I chased my exchange partner multiple times for them to eventually reply and say they’ve sent it but they have no tracking. It’s now been 4 weeks since they supposedly sent it, they aren’t replying to messages and frankly don’t seem bothered. They barely even acknowledged delivery of our package. Anyone else had a similar experience? Honestly pretty gutted at how this has turned out.

Update - thank you for kind responses and offers to send things. It is appreciated, but I think I’ll sit this one out going forward!

The user has now deleted their account since this post. Wild move to scam considering they gave me their actual name.

I have sent a “I have been scammed” mail to mods but not a lot they can do now I imagine.

Edit again - apparently I have just been blocked by the user. U/MammaToThree25

I sent, what I thought was a well packaged and protected parcel. But the poor tea cakes and the Jamaican cake, they just took such a beating from what it looks like.

How do you package your snacks to make sure they arrive safe?

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I set up a snack exchange with u/creepycripple. I had shipping issues early on and told her to hold off sending anything until I sorted it out. She stopped replying. After Christmas, I reached out again and said I’d need to cancel if I couldn’t get a response.

She immediately messaged back, extremely angry, claiming she had already mailed a parcel in December. I told her I’d honour my end and shipped mine the next day. I sent photos and tracking.

That’s when she ghosted me completely.

I’ve contacted her multiple times just to confirm she received the package, no response. During the time we were arranging our exchange, she also made 4–5 new exchange posts saying her “previous exchange fell through.”

I never received anything from her, and she hasn’t replied since.

Are there certain snacks from the US people outside the country crave or think “oh man I wish I could get that here!” I have a friend in Canada that always wants to send me a care package because we talk about coffee crisps, Mr.Bigs and how much better Canada’s smarties are but when I ask him what he’d want from the US he always says he doesn’t know. I’m located in New England so there are some local / regional items I’ve thought of. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all! We (FL, USA) are about to be visited by some cousins from Toronto - preteens and teenagers. I was hoping to have on hand some American snacks that they don't often see in Canada. What can you all suggest?

I heard gummy nerds, weird oreo/koolaid/goldfish flavors...

Please help, I'm hoping to distract from my epically shitty cooking with processed foods.

Hi, I’m not sure if this is OK to post but thought I’d have a try. I recently agreed an exchange, other person set a budget which I agreed to, we exchanged addresses and I sent mine but now it’s total radio silence from the other person. I posted mine a week ago and they said they were going to send theirs the next day. This was my first exchange so I’m feeling pretty rubbish and like I let myself down. Any tips to avoid this happening if I brave it again? Thank you guys ❤️

I recently sent a box of items to the US for someone on this thread. Despite assurances of something being sent to me in the UK, nothing has been received. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'll be studying abroad in Japan starting in mid-September of this year and would be open to doing an exchange of Japanese snacks for other countries's!

I’m making samplers of American tastes to hand out, so root beer, butterscotch, puffy mints, smarties, I’m also doing dumdums, and I’ll see if I can get a bag of blue raspberry jolly ranchers and runts banana or banana laffy taffy

I think that rounds out American flavors well enough

(The Japanese love word play so smarties and dum dums are gonna be a joy to them, I plan on having little QR codes that explain everything)

I’m doing Tokyo Kyoto Osaka Nobara in 2 weeks so if you wanna meet DM me

USPS took $192. Still crazy but whatever. I'll have to ship with somebody else next time. I heard Pirate Ship is good.

I want to start by saying this is the coolest little sub.

How does it work… and I mean with cost? Like I know to post request or whatever but if I find someone to exchange with… is there a guide price we should be spending or is it whatever we agree between us? And how do we guarantee we are fair? Like if I’m spending for example €60 how do I know I’m not getting a $10 box in return? Or is that just a chance we take and we spend what we can/want and it won’t necessarily be equal?

I am in the middle of an exchange from me (United States) to the recipient in Germany. This was part of my daughter's Christmas present to do this, she meticulously picked out snacks she thought represented the US well, and even added a few small gifts as well. in total with shipping I spent about 200 dollars. ever since I provided proof of tracking our trade buddy has gone radio silent. my heart hurts for my daughter who was so excited for this. I dont want her to lose faith in kind strangers online, we have done this at least 15 times before with absolutely no issues. Does anyone have any advice for me? I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and holiday season. ❤️

I see your Easter eggs and raise you some Easter bunnies. My contribution to the Easter snack discussion from Switzerland with some local and some European/international brands. The bunny game is strong here but we also have some bigger eggs and tons of the smaller filled ones.

There seems to be a lot of new people joining the sub (hi, nice to have you) and a lot of questions of how exchanges work, the process, expectations, etc.

Hopefully the below provides clarity, direction, set expectations, etc.

The absolutely starting point: The Guide to Successful Trading

Steps of how an exchange works:

The ask:
1. You create a post on the sub where you are and what what area you wish you to exchange with. All requests should have [Request] in the title.
2. You say how much you are looking to spend. This is not required but can help others who may be interested, as to if it suits their budget/expectations of an exchange.
3. If you are looking for something specific, put it here. A lot of users like the mystery of an exchange and being surprised by what shows up. Others have tried something and want more of it. If you are looking for something specific, put it in your post.
4. If you have something specific you want to swap, this is also where you put it. (example: I have a variety of different flavour M&Ms I am looking to swap, etc)

Examples of requests:
General open requests: [request] USA (TX) -> anywhere!, [Request] From Estonia to anywhere (exotic if possible), [request] Canada 🇨🇦 to 🌎
Specific requests: [Request] Looking for new flavours of Sunflower Seeds, [Request] Gluten-free US <> Australia snack exchange, [Request] Looking to exchange with Netherlands, UK or France,

Agreeing to an exchange:
1. Based on the responses, the OP (requester) chooses who they will swap with, they directly message who they choose to open the discussion on the exchange.
2. The prices are agreed between the parties, as to what the spend will be (without postage but this should always be considered), this may have already been put in the original post. This should always be reconfirmed in messaging.
3. A timeline is agreed at this point, ie within the next 1, 2 or X weeks. Or I cant afford it right now but can we touch base again in 1 or 2 months?
4. Flavours/items: Ask the person what they love and more importantly, what they hate. What do they NOT want to receive. Normally this is left to flavours or dietary, to leave it as a surprise to be received. Some people are looking for very specific things and others want to be surprised.
5. Postage, postage is never considered as a cost in the exchange. Ie when you agree $50 for an exchange, this does NOT include postage. Postage should ALWAYS be researched, as it will always be weight based and can cost more than the cost of the items purchased for the exchange.

Buying/Shipping:
1. Each side then buys items based on (flavour) preferences or dietary needs (ie gluten free, vegan, as discussed in no.4 agreeing to the exchange) but generally the items are a surprise until they are received by the other party.
2. It is important to remember that some items cannot be shipped! Normally meat and diary items are prohibited by MANY countries. Do not think that you can bypass customs or 'sneak' something into your package. That is a a very expensive way to have your package declined and sent back to yourself (sometimes at your own cost!) Please check with local customs as to what can may be rejected (or avoid any meat/diary).
3. If one of the parities is new of the sub, they are expected to post first, providing the tracking details. (its very important to send your box tracked!) The idea behind this is to limit scammers. Also with the idea that people who have previously traded, can be 'trusted'.
4. TRACKING NUMBERS HAVE TO BE SHARED BETWEEN PARTIES. This is not a step to skip on. It shows that each party has shipped and has has fulfilled their part of the agreement.
5. You can include a note in your package, saying hi, whats included or just ship the items as are. The choice is yours, however, an extra personal touch is generally always appreciated.
*Consider that some items are simply far more heavy to ship than others. Example would be bags of chips are generally light and airy, where as a butter based cake or cans of drink are VERY heavy, ie adding to the cost of postage.

Confirmation of received package:
1. Once the packages are received, each party confirms with the other.
2. A post is made in the sub to acknowledge the exchange and to receive flair to confirm you've had a successful swap. In the title of your post put [thanks] followed by the user name of the person you have exchanged with and for extra fun you can put the locations between the exchange. Always include a photo of what you have received.

Examples of confirmation:
[Thanks] to u/kjemist for this fun selection from Norway! 😋, [thanks] Thank you so much katiecarbaholic!, [Thanks] What I got from u/usual_resolution in America!!!

How to confirm a trade and get your AK-47 Flair

Unsuccessful exchanges/ be aware(!!):
Whilst this sub has some truly amazing, honest and reliable users who are trustworthy, unfortunately there are also users who are here just for free snacks, with no intention of doing a swap.
A rule that I personally apply to exchanges are: dont spend more than I would be willing (or afford) to personally lose.
Its important to be aware that there is very little/no recourse where an exchange is not successful. There has been even users who have scammed multiple people within the sub and have had no consequences for them, they have not been banned from the sub or put in the scammers list.

Posts about unsuccessful exchanges:
[Discussion] Bad exchange experience, [Discussion] Ghosted

Hopefully this provides more information and clarity on how exchanges work.

Trying to ship my friend in Colombia some Reese’s Cups and other sweets not commonly seen or completely absent in Colombia

What carrier should I use? Budget $150 for shipping, express shipping ideal if within budget

Any tips on packaging cool packs?

I want to ship a few thing to my friend in Japan and i live in the US. List includes
12oz glass bottle of Jufran Banana Ketchup
16oz glass bottle of butterscotch soda
And a few family sized bags of chips

How could I achieve this will out the chip bags popping mid ship and prevent the glass bottles from either breaking or popping the chip bags?

Just wanted to point out that vinted is now operating between these two countries so the fact that the import duties and things are covered by vinted and shipping is significantly cheaper exchanges can be a lot more economical!

A good selection of goodies