Swapfig.com: the minifig trading platform
Posted by Huw,
If you are a fan of collectable minifigures and have a box full of spares and a few gaps in your collection, then Swapfig, the minifig trading platform created by Brickset user silentmode, is for you.
It's not a new site, in fact its just celebrated its third anniversary, but it's one that many of you might not be aware of which is a shame because it looks great, works well and fulfills a much needed function in the community.
Until last week I had not really had cause to use it, but now I find myself needing a couple of Disney figures so I thought I would give it a go. I was impressed enough to write this article.
After you have signed up and logged in you can start indicating which figures you have to trade and which ones you are after.
It's as simple as selecting the CMF series from the drop-down list, selecting 'haves', 'owns' or 'wants' then completing the form below with numbers and conditions. If you have a large number of spares it will take a while but it's very easy and once done it's done.
Here's what I have to trade:
Here's what I want:
When you have done that you can then see who has what you want and wants what you have on the 'potential trades' list.
There are lots of options to restrict results by location and so on. Here's what it showed me when I grabbed the screenshots last week although I see today that there's a lot more in the list.
Once you have identified someone who you want to trade with, you can make them an offer using a neat drag and drop interface.
Then it's simply a case of pressing the 'Make the offer' button then sitting back and waiting for the other user to reply.
As well as CMFs you can use the site to trade normal minifigs, polybags, keychains, brand store opening sets and more, and in addition to the end-to-end trading explained above there's so much more functionality available. In fact the whole site is really very sophisticated and well-thought out.
If you have not used swapfig.com before I encourage you to do so. Obviously the more people that use it the more useful it will be for everyone.
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24 comments on this article
Looks good! I'll check it out for sure. Hoping to find a Darth Revan polybag - luckily, I have a Yularen and TC-14 polybag, as well as many other spare figures, for trade.
Awesome thanks!!! I signed up looking to trade a couple Disney Minifigs for ones I don't have
Very neat!
I check it frequently
looks like the attention is getting the better of its server, trying to login or re register but getting lots of problems with resett password, user doesnt exist or already does. Will try again later
Looks awesome. I have never heard of this site.
Great!!
Works fine. Inspired by http://swap.minifiguresseries.com which seems to have more European traders.
I have used the site for approx 15 trades over a couple of years and it has proved very useful. Glad to see it getting some publicity!
Just signed up!
@Tick1970 -- I noticed the same issues too. I tried to reset my password and kept getting errors and when going to certain pages I would get server errors as well.
@Tick1970 And so, the Brickset Effect strikes again!
Is this a British exclusive thing?
Got my first trade going on this week ! Donald for Stitch woot !
Tempted to see how this is going to work for me with Star Wars minifigures. I have quite a lot of spares going (non-army building characters) that some people may want but I imagine that many of the minifigures I need are going to be hard to come by. I guess that's where the increased user base comes in. More people can only mean better variety of minifigs available.
The insistent pop-up like quotes to turn off AdBlock are becoming aggravating. I know sites like to make money, but this swap site had BIG ads all over.
@ the rancor. If you're keen, get in touch and I might be able to help you out and vice versa. Let me know if you want my details
Although a good concept, the site is way to buggy for me and certain things could be made more simplier. Very annoying actually.
^ Get in touch with @slientmode, then, I'm sure he'd like to know and fix the issues.
Absolutely great site!
I buy on BrickLink quite a bit but the interface there is clunky to say the least. Swapfig, in contrast, is a delight to use.
Does anyone else have problems using the 'potential trades' option? I used to use the site a lot but I have been scammed a number of times so I would be careful and check for users feedback.
How much is it to ship a fig to someone?
Site is a complete bug fest now. We finally got an influx of members after the site being dead for 6 months and now the site doesn't even load.
The site is great when it works but since the upgrade the site has experienced too many problems which resulted in members leaving. Honestly, there is no better site for trading because of the variety of figs and polys. I hope everything gets worked out soon so all of the new members joining stick around.