IllustratedATCs.com FAQ

Swaps are a vital part of this site, and we encourage and appreciate anyone who is interested in hosting and meets these basic guidelines:

You must be an active member of this site or AFA for at least 3 months prior to hosting a swap. You must also have a positive iTrader rating of +15. Your stats from ATCsforAll.com (AFA) also count on iATCs.

All new hosts must send their contact information to an Administrator (Amerasu, EraserQueen, themuppet, AnnD, or Cindyjob) via PM. You must include your full name, your address, your email, and a telephone number where we can reach you. There are no exceptions to this rule. The information is not stored online and is not shared with anyone.

You may host no more than 6 swaps at one time across the 2 affiliated websites. IllustratedATCs.com and ATCsforAll.com

First time hosts: You may host only one swap your first time hosting. Once that swap is complete and all cards have been mailed, you have the same hosting privileges as other members.

All ATC and Mail Art swaps should be completed within 90 days. This allows plenty of time for sign-ups, creation and mailing. The maximum length allowed for swaps on iATCs.com is 5 months (150 days) and that INCLUDES the two week grace period for mailing out returns. There are no exceptions to this rule except special or group projects (collaborative journals, Secret Santa, etc.).

Swaps must be started in the Open Swaps Forum. Please open a thread with the name of your swap as the thread title.

Put at the top of your swap thread:

• Swap Due Date - Month Day
• Sign up by date - Month day
• Withdraw by date - Month day (same as sign up by date or later)
• Number of Items - 3 for 3, etc.
• Number of participants -
• For your thread title, please use this format: "Black & White Swap DUE January 1. (If you don't do it correctly, our helpful Moderators will fix them for you as they find them)
• Please add your swap due date to the Calendar

Remember to ask PERMISSION before you post links to other people's art!

If this is your first time hosting a swap at this website, please supply your full contact information (including email and a telephone number) to illustratedatcs.com by emailing or sending a private message to a Moderator. Your information will not be made public or shared with members of this site. Your contact information is only required in case we need to contact you offline regarding your swap.

Swap hosts cannot impose a penalty for withdrawing from a swap on or before the withdraw-by date. Only Pick-A-Theme swaps carry a no-withdrawal rule.

In a swap where each participant makes an item for every other participant, hosts are required to include a Sign Up/Withdraw-by date so that participants will know exactly how many items they must create. Hosts are encouraged to offer a Waiting List so that withdrawing participants can be quickly and easily replaced.

If participants in these types of swaps withdraw after that date, then the host may give a neutral iTrader (leaving a neutral is optional). If the host chooses to leave neutrals, they must clearly write in their swap guidelines that a neutral will be given to anyone who withdraws after the withdrawal date. If the host gives one late withdrawing participant a neutral iTrader, the host is bound in fairness to give all late withdrawals a neutral iTrader.

Please note that we have a different policy here on iATCs than what some are used to on ATCsforAll.com. Hosting costs money and you must be prepared to cover postage for international participants who cannot send you stamps or $1 to cover mailing costs. If you are low on funds and still want to host, then you may limit the number of participants in your swap as a whole, not by reducing international player spots. Swaps on iATCs must be open to everyone at all times. If funds are tight, we recommend limiting your swap numbers to 10-15 participants.

Hosts have the right to:

• Return poor art quality cards received in swaps but please refer to our section on Sub-Par Cards before doing so.
• Return damaged, flimsy or falling apart cards, cards that are not on theme, etc.
• Swap quality for quality or whatever other swapping method you want to use - random, out of a hat, etc.
• If low on funds, hosts may limit the number of participants in their swaps as a whole - not by singling out internationals.

Hosts cannot do the following:

• Turn anyone away from a swap because the host thinks their art isn't good enough. Everyone got in here fair and square so all swaps are open. If it turns out that the cards submitted are sub-par, then please refer to our FAQ on sub-par cards.
• Turn away a swap participant because they're new and don't have an iTrader rating (unless it's a PAT of course or other swap where iTrader is required by iATCs).
• Set your own iTrader ratings for swaps. Please refer to our iTrader Requirements List. If your type of swap is not listed there, please contact an Admin for help.

Host are obligated to send out returns within 14 days of the due date. No exceptions. You cannot wait for cards beyond the two week mail out date.

Late Cards - What Should a Host Do?

We do not want our swaps to run late. All artists should make every effort to ensure that cards arrive ON or BEFORE the swap host's set DUE DATE. There is a two week period that hosts are allowed between the due date and the mailing out of returns. The host can choose to mail out immediately or use the two weeks as a grace period to wait for all artist's cards to arrive.

Please be understanding of each other first and foremost.

Artists: Please stick to the due dates as people are waiting on you. Respect everyone's time and efforts and withdraw rather than hold up swaps (except for PATs).
Hosts: You may mail out cards the day after the due date or you may wait up to 14 days for cards still in the mail. This two week period is to be used at your discretion. You are not obligated to use this time if you don't want to. Please try to be flexible if cards are in the mail and were mailed before the due date. Sometimes mail mishaps happen. However, the final choice is yours. Hosts: For cards mailed on or after the due date, the site policy is to assign a Neutral iTrader rating.

The two week mailing out period is NOT for swappers who want to send cards at the last minute. It is to be used by hosts at their discretion. Hosts are not obligated to wait for any cards after the swap due date and they are not obligated to use any of the two week mailing out period. Hosts should give participants a neutral rating for cards that were mailed after the due date and/or were too late to be swapped out - at the host's discretion.



Swap mailing guidelines

• Domestic: Mail cards at least 4 business days prior to swap due date
• Canada / USA: Mail cards at least 7 days prior to swap due date
• International: Mail cards at least 14 days prior to swap due date

Negative ratings are reserved for PAT cards that do not arrive at all or are sent directly to players from the participant. In this case, only the host would leave a negative. In the case of PAT cards that are not sent to the host nor direct to the participants, a negative iTrader should be given by both host and affected group members.

Artists must send in their swap cards before the due date. It is recommended that participants make their cards prior to or just after joining swaps in order to get them in on time. It is unacceptable to mail cards on or after swap due dates. Artists who continue to do this will receive an Administration given neutral for holding up swaps, regardless of the hostess given rating.

Artists who do not finish their PAT or CAT cards on time should mail directly to their group members at their own expense. Their returns will be sent out by the hostess, AFTER their group mates have received their cards. The late sender will receive an Administration given neutral for holding up the swap, regardless of the hostess or group member given ratings.

Any artist who receives 3 or more neutral ratings for late swapping will be suspended from trading here for a period of 3 months.

Hosts must be prepared for the time and financial commitment of hosting a swap. Most players in the same country will send you a SASE for their returns. However, international participants will not be able to do this. You must be prepared to cover the postage of returns to international participants. If funds are short, please limit the total number of participants in your swap rather than not accepting international participants.

Hosts who do not send out the cards received from swap participants will receive negative ratings. If you are unable to fulfill your hosting duties, whatever the reason, just contact us and we will take over your swap for you and pay to get the cards from you to a new host. We do want to help if you're having a problem. Please don't run away with other peoples' cards.

Hosts who take off with user's cards will need to do a few things if they are to become active members again:

• Return all cards to players immediately. You have 30 days to do this. If you need addresses, either PM the players or send a PM to Amerasu, EraserQueen, themuppet, AnnD, or Cindyjob.
• You will be unable to join any swaps for 3 months. You are welcome to trade one on one once you have returned all cards to players.
• No hosting swaps for at least 6 months.
• All negative ratings will remain on your iTrader, even if you return the cards.

Hosts cannot host uneven swaps. If the artist is required to send in 3 cards for the swap, then they must receive 3 cards in return. Please do not ask participating artists to send you extra cards in lieu of postage. An extra card is a gift should the participating artist want to thank you for hosting.

Make sure that you are REALLY committed to running a PAT swap. These swaps are a huge undertaking and you will have to stay on top of things every single day, be super organized with your lists and mail arriving at home. There is no such thing as too much communication.

You must be very clear about how it will run. Give all the details that you can think of and ask for help if you are not sure about something or need input. Ask someone to proof read the information to be sure that it is clear.

Experience has taught us that we will need to have:

1. Your real life name.
2. A real home address.
3. A real working phone number that we can contact you if we need to.

You must submit this information before you are approved to host. If you will not give us this personal information we are sorry but we can not approve you to host a Pick-A-Theme swap.

You need to require participants have an established positive trader rating of +5 in order to join these swaps because if just ONE person flakes out in a group you will have a problem. No exceptions! (Even an experienced member can flake out but this will keep a new member with little or no experience from causing a calamity.) Those with the required iTrader ratings at ATCsforALL.com will be allowed to apply their positive iTrader ratings to an IllustratedATCs.com PAT swap.

You must have a signup date deadline and a mail by date deadline. Strictly enforce your deadlines.

Your groups will be easier to manage if they stay at 5 participants per group. They can join more than one group if they want to. (Each group will produce 20 cards total.)

No more that 8 groups per PAT swap. That is a lot of cards (160) to keep track of. Certainly you can have less than 8 groups in your swap.

If they don’t send all the cards for every member of the group by the deadline they should be eliminated from the swap and their cards returned. Do not hold the swap up and wait around until they get the work completed and to you.

Like other swaps, PAT cards should be mailed out within two weeks of the swap ending date. Occasionally, members of a PAT group within the swap will mail early, resulting in that group's cards being turned in well before the ending date. In such a case, swap hosts may choose to swap out individual groups as soon as all cards are received. In no case should mailing a PAT group's returns be delayed beyond two weeks after swap closing date.

When a participant flakes out or gets eliminated from a group the other member’s of the group must receive the card back that was made for that member, with their returns. You can not keep them.

Hosts are limited to hosting only two PATs at one time.

Feel free to direct participants to these guidelines if they try to ‘fudge the rules’; please don’t risk your good standing to accommodate them.

Cards should be returned to participating artists for the following reasons:

• Wrong Theme: The card is not the right theme or medium for the swap.
• Wrong Size: The cards is the wrong size. ATCs are always only 2.5 x 3.5 and that's it.
• Poor Construction: Card is made of light paper only (flimsy), bits are falling off or it's not cut straight, there are broken bits, the card is stuck to the sleeve and won't come out, etc.
• Arrived Damaged: The card has been damaged by the post office.

Concerns about Sub-Par Cards - What to do as a host

Craftmanship: This is a juried site and artists' artwork should reflect that. If an artist's work exhibits a lack of effort or poor craftsmanship, hosts can contact the Art Panel who will assist in returning the cards to the artist. Please do not return cards without consulting the Art Panel. We want decisions to be as objective as possible and that is better achieved with 7 people rather than just 1.

Decisions about sub-par artwork must be based solely on what we know the artist is capable of compared to their other gallery offerings. DO NOT compare their artwork to the art of others.

Send PM to an administrator or mod.

• themuppet
• AnnD
• EraserQueen
• Cindyjob
• Amerasu

Open Swap forums allow members of both divisions (P&P and MMA) to participate in swaps together. However, participants must submit artwork for the swap in the medium for which they were accepted. If they are a member of both divisions, then they can submit any medium they'd like. We guarantee to our members that everyone has been juried in to this trading site which is why we insist that people submit work only in the mediums for which they were accepted. If one of your participants submits cards in a medium that they were not accepted for, please contact an administrator (Amerasu, EraserQueen, themuppet, AnnD, or Cindyjob).