The Ins, Outs, and In Betweens of 50/50

So now that you've learned some basics, you may also have learned that Upland certainly isn't the latest way to get rich quick, nor is it for the faint of heart. In fact, earning upx, if you're not holding a master's degree in economics, can actually be quite hard. City releases rely as much on luck as they do research, and thus many players tap out, after learning just that. 

But, if you've managed to slowly start making your way into the metaverse, and you've come this far, you're probably already a member of Upland's Discord, and if you're not, you certainly should be, it's a wealth of information. But I digress. Perhaps in your daily reading you've seen the terms "swapping" or "50/50" but other than feeling like you've landed in the middle of an insider conversation, have no clue what that really means. Let's deep dive in. 

What is Swapping?

To understand what swapping is, you first have to understand Collections. Each city release features its own collections. These range from Standard, to Ultra Rare and all have one time payouts in upx for completion. Each collection has a limited number of properties that are part of that collection. As you can imagine, the smaller the number of properties, the harder to mint and the rarer the collection becomes. But, it also becomes the most coveted. As cities get older, or players get banned, or quit, these properties become harder and harder to collect. But they also become SUPER expensive! As new players, whether your seeking collections for badge completion, or bragging rights, these harder to get collections, are going to cost plenty! Because of this, coupled with the difficulties new players face earning upx, swapping was born. Veteran players, and collection owners devised a plan within the TOS of Upland to "share" their collections with others, temporarily, earning both players a cut of the collection payout. (more on this below)

But how does it work? 

First, you have to find an upland swapping server. After you've joined, verify your account according to their guidelines, and read their rules. Because these properties have value, trust me, the rules are important! Once you've verified your Upland account, next begins the tough part, finding someone to swap with. Don't worry though, it will come, usually within a few hours, someone will offer to swap with you.

Second, you need to build your reputation. So how do you do that? Right away, lured by big money, new swappers want Ultra Rare and Rare collections, good luck! You have to earn those swaps. So start small, with Standard and Limited collections. Find those willing to swap with you, and begin the process of building reputation within the community, and trust among collection holders. Almost all reputable swap servers, have levels you must achieve to advance. We must pay our dues after all. 

After you've joined a server, and found someone to swap with, your conversations are carried in DM.  They'll send you a pic of a set of addresses within the collection you've both agreed to swap. You then search those addresses in Upland.

Next comes the offer. 
It is good etiquette for the non-collection holder to send the offers, as the owners are already taking all the risk. Click "offer" then select "property" from the drop down menu under "offer type" and choose your property. Once you've sent offers (either 2, 3 or 4, depending on the collection) Inform your swapper you've sent for the first collection. After they accept it, it'll take a few minutes to secure new ownership to the blockchain. 

Once secured, you'll open collections, select the city the swapped collection is in, and fill in the spaces, with props you just acquired. Some properties belong to multiple collections, so make sure you collect on all the ones that qualify. This benefits you and your swapper, and stops you from having to complete so many swaps. Once you've collected the upx for a collection, let your swapper know you've collected, and are ready to receive the addresses for the next collection you're going to swap. Above all, communication is key for swapping, inform your swapper of sent offers, accepted offers, upx collected etc. 

From here on out you'll use the properties from the previous collection in your offer, so the collection owner, continuously gets his properties back in trades, until the end, when you'll swap the last collection for your own properties sent in the first trade. After all collections are swapped, say you earned 20,000 upx. Well that's where the 50/50 comes in. You have to split the proceeds with the collection holder. But, unless you've earned the right to "send upx" in game, there's only one feasible way to pay your swapper. The Burner Prop.

The collection owner will send you an address of a low mint property. You send an upx offer of half the amount of upx you earned for swapping, plus the cost of their burner. We used 20,000 upx for the purpose of this introduction, so you'd send 10,000 upx, plus mint price offer on the burner prop. The collector accepts the offer. Once secured, you set the offer threshold on the burner property to 0% and they offer to buy it back for just the mint price. Once accepted, your first 50/50 swap is complete! You'll have to publish your swaps accordance with your servers guiltiness and rules for your swaps to be counted toward your reputation. While it can be time consuming to swap larger collections, the rewards more than make up for it.

So what's the Catch?

Really, there isn't one. Swapping, though not encouraged by Upland, is a perfectly legal form of game play. 

Pros and Cons.

Obviously the pros are earning upx, basically free to both parties involved in the swap. Earning collection badges you otherwise couldn't afford. Building reputation for yourself, as an upstanding member of the swap community in Upland. 

Sadly, there are cons associated with swappers. Theft has happened and is the black mark in this wonderful metaverse society of ours. Thankfully some 90% of swappers are trustworthy individuals, who are just happy to earn some in game currency. The other 10% have only nefarious intentions and stolen swapped collections. These collection heists have forced some UR and Rare collectors into retirement, from swapping, thus taking those elusive collections with them, and punishing the rest of us who aren't deceitful. 

Rest assured though, for as large as the discord, and Upland community is, we all know who these thieves are, and they burn way more bridges than they build with their treachery. Crime, even in the metaverse, never goes unpunished. Keep in mind that stolen properties are super hard to sell in such a tight community, as we all know who the perp is nearly immediately and will refuse to deal with them. 

Bottom line, as a swapper with an excellent reputation, you stand to make much more in game currency, which can be turned into fiat, as more cities and collections are released, than you will ever make from a one time collection heist.

So now that you have your first real glimpse into what 50/50 swaps are, as well as, the calculated risks and great benefits associated with them, it's high time to introduce you to the Swap Server I trust most.

Upland Swapspace
Run by The Queen herself, spx1026 | SwapSpace Queen 👑 and the ever amazing PapáVegano. I truly love this server!

I first met Spx through a mutual friend. She immediately trusted me enough to send me her list of collections. We spent several hours swapping, and she taught me more about how it worked and the easiest ways to swap. She was patient, sweet, funny and really pleasant to swap with. Later I swapped with Papa, and had an equally awesome experience! They're both really kind, cool cats! 

Their server is extremely active in the 50/50 swap community. They both have their eyes glued, to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible for all of their participants. They operate on a tier of trust system, levels being earned only through completed swaps. With servers for "wants" and "lists" members of the community can usually easily find the collections they need with the exception of some URs being a little harder to swap for. But they're both striving to do the best they can in regards to helping all of us with our swapping needs.

Additionally they have servers for chatting with each other "cross-roads" as well as bsts, permanent collection swaps, temp collection swaps, even side hustles, to name a few. Since I only recommend the best, I highly recommend USS. I've provided a direct link to their Discord below. So if you're seriously interested in swapping, definitely head to their server and check them out. 

Thanks for reading. I hope this guide gives you a better understanding of the 50/50 swap process. 

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A fairly new member to Analytic Assassins, I feel I've found the best server in Upland to chill and chat. I recently was asked to take over "The Little Black Book" and hope I can serve it justice. I am thankful for the opportunity to try. 

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