Secret Santa gift exchange! discussion
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2016 Gift Exchange
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Technical Questions
This is more a technicality than a technical question hahahahhaaDo the gifts need to be books? 'cause I'm really into arts and craft, and I put a bunch of knitting patterns on my wish list!
Cheers!
Mod
~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~ wrote: "On ARe, it's a little green present box with a blue bow. You buy the book and it appears in "My Library", you then click on the present link and put in the person's email and remember to take yours..."And to follow up on Lei's comment, if you're using Amazon there are a number of links on the right hand side of the screen for each book you look at.
The first two, in the top box, are for buying the book for yourself and which device you want to send it to. The second box has two links for getting a free sample of the book and which device you want to send it to. The final two links, not actually in a box, are labelled 'give as gift' and 'add to list'.
The 'add to list' link is used to create a 'wishlist' on Amazon which you can link to for your Secret Santa to use to buy you books that you've been wanting to read but haven't gotten around to buying, yet.
If you click the 'give as gift' link you are taken to another screen where you get to choose to either email the book directly to the recipient or email it to you and then you email it to them from your own inbox. This is also where you can change the name that is recorded on the 'gift'. It defaults to the name you have given Amazon, but is easily changed to whatever anonymous name you want to use (it's just a matter of remembering every time you give a gift, which can be harder than it sounds).
Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "This is a book exchange, so books only! You can keep your wishlist for other people not part of this exchange, though!"Roger that!
Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Unapologetic_Bookaholic wrote: "Who do you pick who to send gifts to? Just go to elfster and pick someone?"You'll get more information on the date the exchange starts :)"
Oh, ok. Thank you.
I'm really confused on using elfster. Help!I made a GR shelf with my wish list books (ss-wish-list)
How do I get it linked or into elfster?
Edited... ok I figured out how to link my book shelf.
Am I to do anything else for elfster and wish lists?
DeeNeez wrote: "I'm really confused on using elfster. Help!I made a GR shelf with my wish list books (ss-wish-list)
How do I get it linked or into elfster?
Edited... ok I figured out how to link my book shelf.
..."
My GR wish list has 85 books in it. I chose some of them (the ones I'd really like to get) and put them on my elfster wish list.
DeeNeez wrote: "Am I to do anything else for elfster and wish lists? ..."As long as your Secret Santa can access both, you're all set. UNLESS, you have priorities, like the titles you want the most, maybe you can add those to your Elfster wish list.
Piper wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Unless otherwise requested, we give ebooks and not physical books. The $15 spending limit is a strong suggestions, but our little elves ar..."Piper, did you get your wishlist synced with the gift exchange yet? I still don't see you on the accepted list for the exchange. You might want to PM Heather and let her know your name isn't showing up. I don't want you to miss getting matched up!
Mod
Make sure you are signed up on Elfster! The exchange deadline is fast approaching!
Hi, I feel like such a klutz but I think I finally did it all correctly, singed up to Elfster and managed, I believe, to share my Amazon wishlist as well. I stuck to books only because I believe that's the whole point, please correct me if I'm wrong. I have, however, a small problem: I could only create a wishlist on the US Amazon site, I really could not find the option in the NL site. I also could only add physical books to the list because, the moment I chose the ebook format, I was requested to keep shopping in the Dutch site and the adding option disappeared. Probably this has been discussed before in the thread, but I just wanted to clarify it for myself. I am not asking for the paperback copies of the items in the list, it was just my only option to add items at all. Physical books will always be welcome of course, but that would completely go over the budget. Ebooks or audiobooks are fine! :-) I have not been paired yet, I think, so I don't really know what else to do other than enjoying my own enthusiasm :-)
RedL. wrote: "Hi, I feel like such a klutz but I think I finally did it all correctly, singed up to Elfster and managed, I believe, to share my Amazon wishlist as well. I stuck to books only because I believe th..."I don't know how it is with the NL site but I know that I'm not able to buy, gift or receive ebooks from the amazon.com site (or any other amazon site that isn't the German one) and the option of gifting isn't available at all on the amazon.de site.
I asked for books from ARe and I will probably only be able to gift through ARe.
As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up with?
RedL. wrote: "Hi, I feel like such a klutz but I think I finally did it all correctly, singed up to Elfster and managed, I believe, to share my Amazon wishlist as well. I stuck to books only because I believe th..."A lot of the ones I added are probably in the wrong format but I will add a note or something to specify that I'm asking for the ebook versions.
Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up with?"There's still the option to buy directly from publishers. I know that I am not able to buy from all of them and I don't know if all of them have the option to gift ebooks.
I guess we should wait and see who we end up with. The last resort is a gift certificate :)
Josy wrote: "RedL. wrote: "Hi, I feel like such a klutz but I think I finally did it all correctly, singed up to Elfster and managed, I believe, to share my Amazon wishlist as well. I stuck to books only becaus..."I am really glad to have confirmation I am not the only one with this kind of problems. So stupid. Protectionism on books?! I hope it will work. I really don't feel much like romance this Christmas so I think I will forego trying AR, but who knows...
Josy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."That is actually a great option too, and I should add a gift certificate as well, just in case, thank you for reminding me.
RedL. wrote: "That is actually a great option too, and I should add a gift certificate as well, just in case, thank you for reminding me. ..."Lol, you're welcome :) Of course, it isn't as much fun as gifting books but at least it's an option.
Mod
It *might* be an issue. Can you gift through Amazon UK? Or get books from Amazon US?
Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up with?"Francesca, would this site work for you?
http://www.ebooks.com/
I don't have an account there and I've never bought from them but I checked the first 5 books on your wish list and they are all available there. It seems the option to gift books is available internationally. But it seems the only format available is secure EPUB.
https://support.ebooks.com/hc/en-gb/a...
EPUB format, from whatever sight, would work for me too, I have a converter...
Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."About this, I know from previous experience if the bookseller (in this case Amazon) doesn't have distribution rights in the purchasers area of residence you can't buy the book. I tried gifting a book to someone in the US which was a country that the seller had distribution rights for but because they didn't have distribution rights for Canada I wasn't allowed to purchase it.
I ended up giving a gift certificate so that my giftee could get the books she really wanted rather than what I was allowed to buy and while I do like giving an actual gift I know the person that I was giving it to loved it because she waited until the gift exchange was done and used it to get any books that she hadn't been given but really, really wanted.
Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."I can always use ARe to buy the other persons books if they've chosen books on there, that's not a problem, but it's just I know there won't be any books on there that I'll be interested in and then that would cause a problem for the person that has to buy for me.
Josy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."That site should work perfectly! I'll post a link to it on my profile later so that my secret santa will have a point of reference.
Francesca wrote: "That site should work perfectly! I'll post a link to it on my profile later so that my secret santa will have a point of reference...."Oh, that's great!! Glad I could help :)
I hope it works!!
I just realized that I'm a ARe person too. I just might have to add that link to the list as well. Oh boy I really need to do updating and checking things. Wow you ladies have my mind boggled with all this info. I feel like a newbie. :)
Mod
Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Can you gift from Kobo yet? I haven't checked in a while."I don't think so, I had the same thought and wasted about a half hour on the site trying to find out because 'ohmygod!!! don't even try their help function I did. I asked 'can I gift Kobo books to friends?' I thought this was fairly straight forward and I got over 500 responses of which none of them had anything to do with gifting books...zero, zip, zilch, nada. So, I'm going out on a limb here and saying "probably not." Kobo you make me sad :(
This is one of the reasons why I put gift certificate on my wish list as well. Sometimes due to geographical restrictions on sites, I cannot buy books or the Santa cannot give me books as well.
Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up with?"Francesca, have you check Omnilit (https://www.omnilit.com/). It is actually a sister-site of ARe, you can shop there and your Santa can also buy books there for you Omnilit has non-romance titles, so maybe books you are interested it are there as well.
Oh, and I learn that it is ALWAYS better to ask your Elf, once you paired up, which sites work for them, so nothing will get lost in delivery :)
Ami wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."Thanks, Ami!! I haven't thought of Omnilit at all. But this makes it so much easier to buy books for non-romance readers!!
@Francesca: I have again checked the first 5 books on your wish list and they are all available on Omnilit :)
Are we supposed to follow people on Elfster? I'm curious to see what people have on their list but when I click on their name I get a kind of faded screen that I can't interact with. I think I'm supposed to friend people first? What do others do?
Oh I just figured out how to get rid of the faded screen.
Ami wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get paired up wi..."Thank you so much! That's perfect. I'll suggest my elf uses that site instead.
Josy wrote: "Ami wrote: "Francesca wrote: "As someone that doesn't use ARe and isn't interested in any of the books on there (I'm really not a romance fan), is that going to cause an issue for the person I get ..."Thank you for checking! I'll be sure to put a link to it on my profile so that my elf knows which site is the best one.
Yes, ARe and Omni-Lit are sister-sites. You only need one account but you can buy at both sites, ARe for romance and Omni-Lit for non-romance. AND you will still get the free code for 1 book, after 10 books purchase. So it's a very good deal in my point of view :)
Mandapanda wrote: "Are we supposed to follow people on Elfster? I'm curious to see what people have on their list but when I click on their name I get a kind of faded screen that I can't interact with. I think I'm su..."I don't follow anyone. You can still see their wish list even if you don't follow the person :)
Ami wrote: "I don't follow anyone. You can still see their wish list even if you don't follow the person :) "Conversely, I follow EVERYONE.
Mod
Someone followed me but i dont know what to do and how i can see who it is so im kinda confused
Crystal wrote: "Someone followed me but i dont know what to do and how i can see who it is so im kinda confused"Crystal, on the left menu you can see "Friends". Click it. Then you can see the on you follow or those who follow you ("Following", "Followers")
You don't need to do anything actually. On matching date, you will be paired up with someone, regardless whether you follow them or not, you can still see their name and click their wish list :)
Suzanne (Chick with Books) wrote: "Hello! Thanks for organizing this! Such a fun event! For the last few years I joined the BOTN Secret Santa, so this one is new to me... Could someone tell me...*Spending limit?
*Are we just doing..."
In the past I've received eBooks and physical books, I list in my elfster wishlist and profile what my preferences are and also that some books only come in ebook format etc.
I find most people prefer eBooks but some like physicals books so just be sure to indicate which you prefer. :)
I *think* I'm set? I've added books to a GR wishlist and even put in a note about the email address for the gifts, and now I have what may be a stupid question. Is there any way for me to put up a note saying that it's 100% ok for my Secret Santa to not send me stuff off my wishlist but rather send me books they loved or something like that? And in that vein, is there anywhere that I can specify the sort of books I would prefer (i.e. m/m period romances, m/m fantasy/scifi/mystery, books with slow burn but happy endings)? And/or books I don't like?
I know the wishlist itself has a 500 character limit for the note, but that....that's not enough....
I have found my secret santa via their wishlist on amazon. My problem being all of the books they want are kindle books. I live in Canada and they live in US. Should i just get them the physical copy of the book and hope that is ok?
my giftee has just items, not books, on the wish list.
Amanda wrote: "I have found my secret santa via their wishlist on amazon. My problem being all of the books they want are kindle books. I live in Canada and they live in US. Should i just get them the physical co..."You can use Allromanceebooks.com They let you send from country to country
Alisa wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I have found my secret santa via their wishlist on amazon. My problem being all of the books they want are kindle books. I live in Canada and they live in US. Should i just get them ..."I can't find the books on that site :(
Amanda wrote: "I can't find the books on that site :(..."Try their sister site OmniLit?
https://www.omnilit.com/
You can use the same account as ARe.
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Secret Santa gift exchange!
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Or in your library, after you buy the book, DO NOT download the book yourself, but click the little green box, that means you are gifting the book to your Elf
Just make sure that your Elf also has an ARe account, of course. But usually those of us who are ebooks buyers already have one there ^^