Roundup: Online Book Swapping Services

Back in March, we surveyed you (over in D.C.) to see if you used an online book, CD, or DVD swapping site. From your comments and not surprisingly, it appears that the most popular thing to swap is books. We've considered this too, and with all of your suggestions there are plenty of options out there. For those of you new yet interested in book swapping, here's a great starting point roundup. Add to our list if you know of others!

The process for each seems very straightforward: list books you want to give away, receive requests, mail your books (shipping is typically low), and search for books you want to receive.

Here's a starter list of the sites you recommended:

Book Mooch

Novel Action

Bookins

Paperback Swap

Swap Tree

Image: Colorful Book Nooks

Comments (12)

I recommend Paperback swap.

posted by HeatherHLP on May 28th 2009 at 1:43pm
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That first post inspired me to try Bookmooch (which I had never heard of before!).

It's not the immediate gratification of Amazon, but the price is right. I got rid of almost all the books on my inventory within the first few weeks and now I have a stack of "new" books for the summer.

posted by Kathryn on May 28th 2009 at 2:31pm
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I have enough books, wheres that chair from?!?!

No, actually...I've used Paperback swap many times before. Great site.

(But really, anyone know who makes that chair? lol)

posted by pghjezebel on May 28th 2009 at 3:19pm
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paperbackswap. Seriously has changed my life. I now read more, and have less 'one-read' book to clutter my apartment. Best service I have used so far. Plus if you have loads of DVDs and CDs, you can exchange credits between those services, and get the media of your choice!

posted by Craftypants on May 28th 2009 at 3:30pm
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I use Swaptree and I love it. I was able to get rid of a bunch of my DVDs that I'll never watch again and build my book collection. I never looked into any of the other services, so I won't badmouth them, but I love that I can swap a DVD for a book, or a book for a cd. You can even do video games, although I never have.

posted by amers230 on May 28th 2009 at 3:47pm
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I recommend the local library.

posted by Seaside on May 28th 2009 at 4:59pm
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I discovered paperbackswap on your site and I love it!!!!

posted by sunrise on May 28th 2009 at 5:05pm
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I really like paperbackswap because it lets me pay for the postage and print off the shipping label online. I don't know if the other services do this (I assume so?). It really saves me as I doubt I would ever get around to posting the books if I have to go to the post office.

posted by catnap on May 28th 2009 at 5:25pm
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people, this is america; go to the FREE library for books, dvds, cds, downloads...

posted by swanroad on May 28th 2009 at 8:52pm
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swanroad, some people take longer than three weeks to enjoy a good book. Life is busy.

posted by ponytailed_informant on May 28th 2009 at 10:17pm
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like the majority here I use and LOVE paperback swap

so far I have no complaints whatsoever.

posted by Sumhope on May 29th 2009 at 2:08pm
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book crossings!

posted by rosaleen on May 30th 2009 at 6:01am
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