gameplay, sending a gift to a friend

[JaidLynn]

Hi all.  Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to one & all.  Let me start by apologizing if this is the wrong forum for my question, as well as a duplicate posting for the same question.  I have been searching for a while on a few different websites with no joy for an answer.

My problem is in sending & receiving gifts from my friend.  I only know 1 person in real life that actually plays this game—they are the reason I am addicted to this game.  Subsequently, they are the only friend I have in my Electronic Arts friend list.

I have sent them several gifts through my Sim’s mailbox & also through the player profile window that you can access in game {circle with  …  in lower left corner of screen}.  They have either never received the gifts or have not been able to figure out how to get them.  I was at their house the other day & inquired about the gift they got (I think it was a random selection) & got the blank stare.  They didn’t even know you could do that I guess (they have been playing WAY longer than me).  So I showed them the 2 ways that I knew to send a gift & sent them to myself from their game (they had been playing when I showed up).

I eagerly logged into Sims3 when I returned home later that night.  To my disappointment, there was no gift waiting for me anywhere I knew to look.  My toon went & got mail from the mailbox several times with nothing appearing in my inventory & also no moodlet or any notification of having received anything in the upper right corner of my play screen.  In addition to all of this, there is no record in my in game player profile, of ever having sent a gift—it is blank.  To date, I have sent at LEAST 5 gifts to my friend.

Am I doing something wrong?  Is there someplace else I need to be looking to receive a gift from my friend?  Is this a bug or glitch in the game?
I am sorry if this post is too long.  I struggle in the balance of too much information with short & sweet—seen too many people post with not enough detail.

Thanks again!!

[MrsFlynn]

Hi JaidLynn,

I've never sent gifts via the game before, so I'm not sure how exactly that works.  However, we (Hubby and I) have sent a few store items from our store account to a friend via their store account, and it worked.

So best that I can suggest is to log into your Sims Store account -- http://store.thesims3.com/ to see if it notes you've sent/received any gifts.  Look in Purchase History. And ask your friend to check their Sims Store account, purchased history to see if they've been gifted anything.

You may have to contact EA's customer support if you don't see any notes of gifted items in your purchase history.

If you've found that you've received any gifts, you can download them from your purchased history page.

I'm going to search on it to see if I can find anymore information on the problem.

*Edit*  You may already be familiar, but thought I'd post these links anyway just in case.

About Gifting
http://www.thesims3.com/gettingstarted/aboutgifting

Friend Gifting (Feature)
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Friend_Gifting_(feature)

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.

MrsFlynn

[saltpastillen]

Hi JaidLynn.

For the in game gifting to work you need to be online while playing. If you make sure you are logged onto the EA account while in game your mailbox should sparkle when there are gifts waiting for you. When you collect them you will get a popup window showing who they are from and asking if you want to send one back.

It is very strange that you didn't get the gifts from your friend, I don't gift in game a lot but have had no problems giving or receiving gifts.

[JaidLynn]

Hi JaidLynn.

For the in game gifting to work you need to be online while playing. If you make sure you are logged onto the EA account while in game your mailbox should sparkle when there are gifts waiting for you. When you collect them you will get a popup window showing who they are from and asking if you want to send one back.

It is very strange that you didn't get the gifts from your friend, I don't gift in game a lot but have had no problems giving or receiving gifts.

I agree, it is frustrating as well as strange.  Thank you for posting a reply to my question.  Still having trouble.  I have tried all that was suggested.  I had read in one obscure place that this was a Supernatural ONLY feature, so even though my kid was gonna use Supernatural & I would stick to Pets (so we could both play at the same time) I went ahead & downloaded Supernatural but have not had a chance yet to try it out.  I will soon & post my results.  I still think this would be odd though, as the option had been there when I only had base game installed.  Usually when something can't be done without a specific e.p., that option doesn't even show as an available option.  At any rate, thanks again!!

Hi JaidLynn,

I've never sent gifts via the game before, so I'm not sure how exactly that works.  However, we (Hubby and I) have sent a few store items from our store account to a friend via their store account, and it worked.

So best that I can suggest is to log into your Sims Store account -- http://store.thesims3.com/ to see if it notes you've sent/received any gifts.  Look in Purchase History. And ask your friend to check their Sims Store account, purchased history to see if they've been gifted anything.

You may have to contact EA's customer support if you don't see any notes of gifted items in your purchase history.

If you've found that you've received any gifts, you can download them from your purchased history page.

I'm going to search on it to see if I can find anymore information on the problem.

*Edit*  You may already be familiar, but thought I'd post these links anyway just in case.

About Gifting
http://www.thesims3.com/gettingstarted/aboutgifting

Friend Gifting (Feature)
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Friend_Gifting_(feature)

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.

MrsFlynn

Hi Mrs. Flynn.  In response to all the help--which I greatly appreciate, thanks again!  I have not had anything charged to my credit card, as I was not gifting through the Sims Store, only trying to do the free in-game feature & so was my friend.  I also have not purchased anything digital, so therefore my credit card is not on file ANYWHERE for Origin or Electronic Arts.  As I stated above, I will try again now that I have Supernatural installed  **fingers crossed** to see if it now works. 

Thanks all,

JaidLynn