A trade to and from can easily be incorporated in IHSN.  For many years
notes from people desiring trades were placed in the printed HSN.  I did
post the list arising on CONCH-L some months ago.  Of course this would
be a monthly posting, but could be updated more often.  If postings were
dated, they could be removed after some period such as 6 months, and
renewed by sending a new posting.  Not too much work is involved.

If you want to post desired trades, Email me with your desired species
limited to 10 species.  Best to include the Family name as well.  Your
Email would be included in the posting.  I could make the direct URL to
the Trade Mart "permenent" so that you could bookmark it.

The format is open to suggestions.  Should scientific requests be
separate?  Probably not necessary if you indicate desired inclusions
with a specimen such as operculum, accurate data, preserved animal,
fossil, etc.  Should the trades be listed by family as this would
decrease the reading required by specialists.

The person having a species available to fill a need would Email
directly to the person wanting the species to hold down the level of
Email.  When a trade is made, the poster should send an Email
removing the species from their list.  This could be reflected by
changing the color of the species on the posting so that people could
see the effectiveness of the listings.
--
                     Aloha from Wesley M. Thorsson
Editor of Internet Hawaiian Shell News, a monthly Internet Publication
           122 Waialeale St, Honolulu, HI  96825-2020,  U.S.A
       http://www.hits.net/~hsn                 [log in to unmask]