I am a frugal type, and also very much a bibliophile. I always hated the idea of throwing books out, but for a very long time I was faced with the problem of having far too many books and not nearly enough book shelves. Actually, not nearly enough space for all the many, many boxes of books that I couldn’t fit onto the already sagging bookshelves.
Then came kids – but that’s another story entirely…..
Kids and all, some of the books managed to survive. And we got a lot more books for them. And we were given a lot more books for them. And then we began buying and printing books for them to use for homeschooling.
Well there were just far, far too many books! And yet there were dozens upon dozens of books I still wanted to buy or borrow or print.
One answer to this book chaos is to recycle books. Giving a gently used book as a gift to a friend or family member (who lives outside our home!) Donating books to the little reading corner at a favourite coffee shop, passing them on to a friend with younger kids. Giving them to the school library. But that didn’t always get us anything in return, and while it warmed my heart it meant I couldn’t always get more books. And I really wanted more books.
So a better option for the frugal bibliophile is to book swap. No longer a matter of finding someone nearby who shares ones tastes in reading materials, book swapping is now something that can be done with an online friend who lives at the other end of the country – or indeed, in some far-off country on another continent.
Book swapping sites allow readers to trade in used books and get new ones. Some also encourage social networking. Friend lists, book clubs, literary commentary are all made possible. And one site actually encourages people to track specific copies of a book, to see where in the world each copy travels. Some sites allow members to earn commissions for referrals. Some allow members to trade DVD’s, audio books, or even computer games too.
Most book swapping services allow for you to list books and other items quickly, by simply entering the ISBN number (or UPC code, for non-book items.) This takes a great deal of the work out of entering a book into their database, and usually results in a nice looking entry complete with the publication information and a cover image. Several services allow the sender to print out mailing labels – or in one case, an actual post-paid mailer, made from standard paper. And wish lists at some of the sites allow for automatic notification or auto-requests, so when books you want become available, you’ll know right away. Trading in old books has gone hi-tech!
Here’s a round-up of a handful of different book swapping services. I’ve tried to describe how the service works (what you pay, what you get in return, who is responsible for what) and major points to consider (method of payment, extra features, where you have to live to be a member.)
All the services are listed alphabetically. I’ve included the better known ones plus a few that are newer or less none – particularly the ones that allow users from outside the United States. Choose the service that best suits your needs – or try a couple and see which works out best!
- Free US membership for one year, for the first 10,000 members
- Must register at least 9 books to qualify for free membership
- Regular membership price is $12
- You buy book credits at $3.50 and use them when you see a book you want
- When someone requests a book you’ve listed you receive a prepared, post-paid envelope in the mail – just pop the book into it & send it on its way!
- There is no cost to sender or receiver, either for packaging or shipping
- The number of books you may request at any time depends on how many you have listed to share: up to 10 books at a time if you have 40+ books listed
- Funded by membership fees and Amazon affiliate
- No international memberships available
- Free international membership, with mirror sites in several different languages
- Members Plus program identifies members who have contributed to the community in a number of ways
- Each individual copy of a book is logged into the database with a unique identifying number (most often a printable sticker is used)
- Books can be “released in the wild” for people to find, or members may trade or request books from each other
- If you find a book it’s yours to keep – even if you’re not a member!
- You can request a book or suggest a trade without worrying about points or credits
- Users can create book rings or book rays which usually involves sending the book on by mail (sender pays postage)
- Sometimes users will send a box of books out, and recipients are free to take any (or all) books in the box on condition that they put in as many as they take before sending the box on to the next member
- Some businesses set up a BookCrossing Zone where anybody can pick up free books, or leave books off
- Some members organize local meet-ups to trade books or just talk about them!
- Schools and libraries can participate by entering their books into the system
- BookCrossing asks folks to journal about the books – part of the fun is discussing the book’s merits and seeing where it ends up!
- Lots and lots of extras in this community- from themed releases to Random Acts of BookCrossing Kindness
- Funded by donations and sale of merchandise
- Free international membership, but members may only swap within their country’s borders – mostly UK at the moment
- Uses a feedback system to control book requests
- Users must keep feedback up to date in order to request books
- You need to have at least 10 books in the system to request 1 book
- Frequency of requests is controlled by how many books you list: 30+ books allows you to request a book each week, whereas 10 books listed only permits one request every 3 weeks
- Funded by an Amazon affiliate membership
- Free US membership – no international members possible at the moment
- Each book you request costs you $4.49, regardless of size or type of binding
- Senders print out pre-paid shipping labels, but do have to pay for shipping materials
- Points are assigned to books – new releases, best sellers and award winning books will carry more points
- In order to request a book of so many points, you must have sufficient points on account
- You can trade audio books, as well as books in print format
- Use a want list to request titles
- Members must send books within 5 days of receiving a request
- You must have a credit card to use this service
- You can claim a refund for a damaged or missing item
- Funded by a $1 portion of each shipping fee, and by an Amazon affiliate account
- Free membership – funded by an Amazon affiliate membership
- US and international membership available
- Earn 1 point for each 10 books you enter into the system, and 1 point for each book you give away
- You pay postage on the books you give away, but none on books you receive
- A book you receive is yours to keep, though you may choose to trade it away once you’ve finished reading it
- If you send books outside your country you are compensated for the extra postage cost by earning 3 points per book
- If you request a book from outside your country you need to pay 2 points
- Use the wish list to automatically get books as they become available
- Leave feedback for folks you exchange books with, just like on eBay
- You can donate your points to charity (like a library or literacy fund) if you like
- US standard membership is free – must have a valid USPS mailing address (all 50 states, and APO/FPO addresses)
- Premium membership, for a small fee, allows you to have more control over your account options
- List 9 books as a new member and earn 2 credits
- You can maintain a wish list, so you will be notified of a book you want when it is available – or you can have the site automatically request books for you
- Funded by an Amazon affiliate membership and by Google ads
- Option to buy credits for $2.99, using PayPal/credit card/cheque – so if you see a book you want & don’t have enough credits you can “buy” it for under $3, shipping included!
- Allows you to communicate with authors and other users, write notes about books, etc.
- Free membership at the moment, though it is possible that a $10 – $20 yearly membership fee will be added in future to help cover the costs of running the site
- Sign up, list 10 books, and receive credits for 2 books
- Afterwards, you receive a credit whenever a book you send out is received – and “spend” a credit to get a book sent to you
- You pay postage on books you send out, but pay nothing on books you receive
- When you send a book out you print a mailing wrapper using regular printer paper, and can even mail the book without going to the post office depending on its weight
- You can earn credits for referring friends
- US accounts only, though they are looking into the possibility of both Canadian & international membership
- Despite the site name, books of any kind can be swapped – not just paperbacks
- In large cities members get together occasionally to trade books without paying postage
- There is also an option to buy an $8/year “Box of Books” membership that allows you to trade larger quantities of books with a single member, and save money on shipping
- Sister sites also allow you to swap CD’s and DVD’s
- Free UK membership
- No credit system – you simply swap a book for another book
- Users rate each other using a feedback system, which controls how many requests a member can make at one time
- Senders assume the cost of mailing books
- Use the wish list to keep track of books you want
- The site is funded by an Amazon affiliate membership
- Charitable donations are possible
- No international memberships
- Free US membership
- When you list an item, you can specify its condition and when it will be available
- You get 20% of the swap value when you list an item and the other 80% when you send it to the recipient
- Sender pays for packaging, but the postage comes from a post-paid label that the sender prints out
- Allows you to trade DVD’s and video games, as well as books
- Integrate with your Facebook account
- Encourages networking by offering free shipping to people in your friends network
- If you swap with people outside your network the shipping fee can be $1 or $2, depending on the value of the item
- If you aren’t satisfied with a swap you are guaranteed a refund of your trade credits
- All items get a tracking number, and you can choose priority shipping if you wish
- Sender must ship a requested item within 3 business days
- Ambassador Program allows you to earn a commission of $1 per swap for a year, for any members you referred to SwapSimple
- Free international membership
- For every 5 books you list you get 1 free point
- If you run low on points you can buy up to 5 points each month, at $2 each
- Books are assigned different point values according to their Amazon price, to reflect the difference in size, binding, number of pages, etc.
- Sender assumes shipping charges and recipient pays with the appropriate number of credits
- Can list videos, as well as books
- Your community investment share determines whether or not you can request books – it should work out that you can request roughly 10 books for each 1 book you ship
- Use tags when you list a book, as well as more traditional categories
- When you list a book you can select a commercial description or write your own – better descriptions increase the likelihood your book will “sell”
- Lots of interesting extras, e.g. Firefox extension for wish list additions, or integrate with your Facebook profile if you like
- There’s also an option to select from a list of colleges, which may make it easier for students to swap textbooks
- Funded by CafePress merchandise, Google ads
This work was created by Ruby and originally appeared on Ruby’s Star. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
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Tags: books, Free or Nearly Free
