Update: the freebiemeet is now closed, see you next time!

The freebiemeet is open! PLEASE read the instructions! Really, pretty please! There's not even that many of them, and you will save us all so much time and confusion. This is not that hard. Plus, it's free stuff! It's all good, but it's even better if you read the instructions.

For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, giving and getting free stuff, there will be a poll along shortly.

If you have perfume-related items you'd like to give away (as opposed to swap for something else — our next swapmeet will be in March), and if you're reasonably sure you can mail your items within the next month, feel free to list them below in the comments AFTER reading the instructions.

If you see something in the comments that you want, and if you already have a reader account here and have commented at least once (no new accounts today, sorry), you can call dibs AFTER reading the instructions.

I will leave the comments open until next Saturday, then I’ll close the freebiemeet. We'll have a follow-up post in about a month so everyone can tell us how it went.

How it works: giving away perfume

1. You need to tell others where you’re willing to send (only in your country? International?). If you would list that first, it will save other readers time.

2. Anyone who wants to play can list the items they have. Please NUMBER YOUR LIST (up to 15) and group items you'd prefer to keep in one package. In other words, if you want to give away ten samples and want to mail them all to the same person, list that as one numbered item. Please do not include more than 15 numbered items or groups in your list — it really helps to keep the thread easy to read. You can list full bottles, partial bottles, decants, samples, whatever you want, but please specify what they are!

3. You will have to post your email address in your comment, or have some other way for readers to contact you — one option is to list your email address at gravatar.com, and then link to your gravatar page in your user profile here. Another option would be to link to a contact page at your own blog, or anywhere on the web where people can find a way to reach you.

4. Package your items appropriately and mail within the next month. You might want to read through items 7-8 on our swapping post.

How it works: getting perfume

1. If you see an item you want, call "dibs" in the comments. Again, you can only do this if you already have an active reader account — I will not be approving comments for new accounts on this thread. You can claim up to 1 item on any given list (please be specific by using the item number) and no more than 2 items total for this episode. Obviously, you should not call dibs on anything that has already been claimed, so you might want to refresh the page before taking the time to leave a comment. Once you can see that you're the first person to call dibs on something, send an email with your username and mailing details. Please DO NOT ask the other party to email you.

2. Please don't leave comments for any reason other than calling dibs...these threads get long enough as it is!

Note: top image is Viola "Milfull" @Mon jardin [cropped] by ai3310X at flickr; some rights reserved.