I have happily paid thru a paypal account the shipping price plus the price of a bubble mailer to get a generous donation of seeds. Was cheaper than sending any envy and them filling it and sending it back. I, too am growing 30 different varieties thanks to several people and if mine recover enough from the hail storm I hope to shares seeds as you are, as well as trade for more varieties :) Pepper nut Kathy

You would get more responses if you would include your list of seeds that you have and would like to SASBE or trade.
Please update your trade list.
Danny

filaluvr,

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't presently have a PayPal account. Never really had much interest in one. I may need to take that route if IRC's don't cut it.

Danny,

Thanks for the suggestion to update my Trade list on my profile. I think you misunderstood the intent of my post. I am not offering any seed at this time (and when I do, the offer will be on the Exchange sub-forum). I was asking for folks experience with IRC's, nothing more.

Off to clean up my stale Trade page.

Bill

I did not get a paypal account until I bought stuff on eBay and do feel it is a safer way to trade. Hope everything works our for you and that I catch when you do offer seeds :) Kathy

IRC's was how the ponzi scheme originated.

The Ponzi scheme
The profit that could be made by taking advantage of the differing postal rates in different countries to buy IRCs cheaply in one country and exchange them for stamps to a larger value in another country was the intended profit generator for a scheme operated by Charles Ponzi, which became the fraudulent Ponzi scheme; in practice the overhead on buying and selling the very low-value IRCs precluded profitability.

The selling price and exchange value in stamps in each country were since adjusted to some extent to remove some of the potential for profit, but ongoing fluctuations in cost of living and exchange rates make it impossible to achieve this completely.

just thought I would share the interesting note on IRCs.

reyna1,

Are you instituting IÂm trying to pull a seed offer Ponzi scheme???

LMAO, just kidding. Yep, I knew that. Actually Charles Ponzi spent a number of years up north here in Montreal before he launched his scheme in Boston. In his day instant communications did not exist. Exploiting arbitrage between currencies and postal rates was a lot easier. He was a crook but you got to admire the simplicity and genius of his scheme. Today, cooks like Madoff are plain and simple copy cat charlatans of the lowest order.

Anyhow, based on responses thereÂs not much experience out there with IRCÂs. I guess IÂll start saving my pennies for postage or sign up for a PayPal account. Either way I hope to have some good varieties to share with members.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Yeah, shipping between Canada and the U.S. is a challenge. What's next, passports to travel back and forth? Oh, that's right....nevermind lol.

The PayPal thing might be a way to go, but there might be a few problems with that. First, that puts an additional burden on you - having to go out and buy the envelopes and then address all of them. Also, with all the changes that have been/are happening regarding buyer satisfaction on eBay (and therefore PayPal), you could be "exposed". These days it's pretty easy to pay for something with PayPal, receive what you bought, then cry "foul" and get a refund from PayPal, no questions asked. It doesn't have to be an eBay buy either. That leaves you in a "financial deficit". I'm not saying that WILL happen, just that it could.

I haven't used IRCs before and, even after doing a little research, don't really understand them. On the surface, it looks like an IRC costs $2.10, which enables you to redeem it for international postage to reply to sender (me). Then there's the additional $1.00 to mail the envelope to you in the first place? Now we're up to $3.10. Within the States, we can do this round-trip envelope for less than two dollars.

What about an International Business Reply Envelope which, according to USPS, is "A preaddressed response envelope that allows foreign senders to return to U.S. entities that originated them without having to affix postage." Up to 2oz. Cost: $1.45. I don't know how they work either, but it could be another option.

Perhaps someone will come along with some actual experience doing this.

Also, you might want to post this question on THP - There's a lot of international participation going on over there, if you know what I mean.

You're on a noble quest, don't give up!

Rick

Hey Rick,

Exactly the feedback I was looking for, thank you.

The USPS International Business Reply Envelope sounds like an excellent option. IÂll explore it further.

Yes, I thought about posting my question over on the THP forum but, no disrespect to members there, this is where I cut my teeth growing hot peppers. Out of respect and gratitude to all the members here that put up with my stupid questions over the years (you included), I feel obliged to share the wealth with members here (new and old).

Call me crazy but hey, IÂve been called worse today in fact by my GF LOL.

Thanks again,

Bill