I have an online shop where I sell handmade accessories like hats and scarves, original artwork.  Can I post a thread soliciting a trade for an item in return for credits?  Can I post a link to my shop in my signature?

I'm 99.9% sure you cannot request credits for your goods, only books.  However, I don't see why you can't have a link in your signature to your shop

Leslie's right about the trade, but definitely post a link in your signature line.  Others do so and have introduced us fellow swappers to some great goods!

Nope.  The Help  Center says that you cannot swap anything that is not a book here.

Guidelines below

• Paperback books
• Hardcover books (dust jackets not required)
• Audio books (must be originals, not burned copies)
• Ex-library books
• Books with accompanying media
• Textbooks/Workbooks 
• Foreign-language books (if in a language other than English, the language must be specified in the book description)

• Anything that is not a book
• Anything that contains advertising
• Advance Reader Copies (also known as ARC s, Review Copies or Uncorrected Proofs--these are not the final versions of books)
• CD-ROM books/e-books (books that must be read on a computer)
• Burned copies of audio books
• Xerox or otherwise unoriginal copies of books
• Unbound pages
• leaflets or pamphlets or booklets* without ISBNs (other members complain at spending a credit for these)
• Books that require supplementary non-media materials (non-media materials cannot be sent by MediaMail)
• Pornography (sex manuals and erotica are allowed, hardcore pornography is not allowed)

*A leaflet/pamphlet is an item with fewer than 20 pages; a booklet is an item with between 20 and 50 pages.

Can I post a link to my shop in my signature?  

The rules are you can add a link in your signature but NO TEXT telling what it is.    

You also cannot request credits for goods. Credits are only used to swap for books. 

Having a one line description of your business along with a link is ok on most sites, but having a signature that is an animated flash graphic that fills a browser screen is really pushing it. Not only that, but it's rude and will give your business a bad name.

Chuck:  it is against the rules to have a description of a business in your signature line; it is NOT OK on this site.You also cannot have a flash graphic about it.