Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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Book Swapping
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message 1:
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Jim
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Dec 23, 2008 06:34PM
A friend here on GoodReads asked me about the book swapping sites I use. I spent a fair amount of time on the answer, so I thought I'd post it here. I'd also like to hear how others find the books they like affordably. Do you know of any other sites besides the one's I'll mention in the next message? What are their good & bad points?
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I use two sites to swap books with others. Basically, you put up books that you want to get rid of & receive books you want. You get a point for sending & can use that for receiving. I'm pretty new to it - about 1 month. I've tried 3 different sites & having 2 can be a pain, but I can't decide between the two yet, if ever. SwapTree didn't work for me at all. Both have pluses & minuses that become apparent to each person as they use it. Your experience will vary from mine, depending on what's important to you.
BookMooch (BM) has condition notes while PaperBackSwap (PBS) tells you the condition it has to be in. Not important to me. If you have allergies or want pristine books, it could. PBS does let you set conditions in your profile - I guess for allergies or something.
PBS allows you to buy book credits if you run low. They're $3.45 each & whether you buy one or 10, there's a $0.50 processing fee. I bought 6 for under $22 yesterday. BM doesn't have this, but their swap ratio is a little better.
BM allows you to reserve books for your friends, but otherwise is a first come, first serve basis. So if you don't have a pretty constant Internet connection, it can be tough to get some books. PBS has no way to reserve, but serves the requests in the order they were made. IOW, if I put in a request for BookA last month, you put it in yesterday & UserX puts it up for swap today, I get first crack at it. This works better for me, usually.
PBS makes you think you need a credit card, but you don't. You can wrap on your own, print out a postage free wrapping or print out one with postage already done, if you put in a credit card. I don't. BM is self serve only.
Once you put in a book, PBS is a little nicer about giving you the info at a glance. BM makes you jump through a couple of screens to get it. I've run into situations where one or the other can't find a book, although both rely heavily on Amazon. It's not fun to put in a book manually & your chances of getting a hit are low.
BM has a 'Related Editions' search, so similar books (maybe a hardback, rather than paperback) that are a different ISBN can be found & grabbed, if you want. PBS has something like that built-in, but it's not as good.
PBS is more complicated to use in some ways, but has a few more options, like you can export your lists. Anything you can only put on your 'Reminder' list means you can get the book as soon as you have the credits. 'Wish' list items are not yet available. If you move an item from 'Wish' to 'Reminder' you'll see you only have a 'Buy New' button, not a 'Order Now' button, which means swap. You can set books to order automatically or not, they default to not.
BM can snare you when you add a bunch of books. If you're not careful, they wind up in your Inventory (have to send) list, not your Wishlist (want to get).
I put books on one place for a few days & then put them on both. You HAVE to remember to pull them off the other site when you accept that you'll send them out. Ditto when you get a book that is on its way to you - but make sure it is really in the mail first. Both have users who aren't there any more.
When I run low on books to send, I stop by the GoodWill & buy a bunch. At $0.50 each or sometimes $0.10, it's a good investment. I figure books cost me about $3 each now, $3.50 if I buy PBS credits. That's any book including hardbacks & big paperbacks. Most of your money is in shipping out, usually.
It generally costs under $3 to mail a paperback & first class is cheaper than media mail, usually by $0.20 or so. Wrapping can get expensive, so go to the Dollar store & save old envelopes. A plastic grocery bag over the book, then a manila envelope is fine. No Saran wrap. You can also use bubble envelopes. Something to keep the book dry. I don't do cardboard or anything, no complaints so far.
You can set International mailings on BM to Yes, no or maybe ('Ask me'). If you do send out of country, it costs them 2 points & you get 3. It cost me $5.20 to send a book to Japan today, but I get 3 books in return! PBS doesn't do International, I don't think.
I have a post office right on my way home, so it's easy to mail for me. If it isn't easy to mail, you may want to skip doing either site, although you do have some grace time, so if you can mail every Saturday, that's fine too.
I'm JimMacLachlan on both sites, so please add me as a friend, if you decide to join.
Jim,Thanks for telling us about this.
I borrow my books from our local library. So I don't need to swap books. Sounds a bit complicated.
Would you please post the links to the book swapping websites? How does one navigate to them?
Interesting that you mentioned allergies. Can you give some examples of the types of allergies which might affect book swappers?
It isn't all that complicated. You send one, you can get one. I collect some books since there are several of us to read them. These swap sites are the only place I've managed to find some books that are out of print. Or get them for a decent price. $17 for one used paperback on Amazon was an even swap on PBS.The sites are:
http://bookmooch.com for BookMooch
http://paperbackswap.com for PaperBackSwap
Allergies are for those allergic to pets or who don't like books from those who smoke. Sounds picky to me, but some folk are or have to be, I guess. I couldn't imagine being allergic to animals.
Thanks for the links, Jim. I'll check them out.Is shipping the books expensive?
I'm allergic to cats. Sometimes my eyes start itching and my nose gets stuffy because of the allergy. I've often wondered if the book I borrowed from the library was previously in the house of a cat owner. Now that you've mentioned it, my suspicions have been confirmed.
Allergies can be terribly annoying, at the minimum. I'd hate to think of how bad they might get. My allergy came later in life. I didn't appreciate being allergy-free when I was young. I didn't appreciate A LOT of things when I was young. (lol)
Most paperbacks cost about $2.50 to send first class (cheaper than media mail - faster & more reliable) in country. I sent a paperback to Japan for $5.20, yesterday. Envelopes & packing material can get pricey. If you buy an envelope at the Post Office, it can run close to $2 each. Instead, I reuse envelopes I receive books in or brown paper. I wrap the books in old grocery bags to keep the moisture out. Cost runs close to nothing.
I figure books cost me about $3 - $3.50. That's any book including hardbacks & hard to find. That's a good deal, especially when I'm picking up books that would normally cost 5 times that or more.
You know, you can also mark books here on GoodReads as available to swap, but I've never seen that pop up as I read through. I don't know if Otis & company have plans to do more with it (make it more visible) any time soon, but I expect not.
Jim, thanks for the info.This sounds very do-able.
I'll have to think about this. I usually bring my used books to our library's fund-raiser sale. But if there's a book I would really like to have, I will think about this book-swapping possibility.
You get a couple of points just for joining & posting some books. You'll have to read the rules to see what the exact rules are. Easy enough to try & to quit.
Like everything else, you have to do it to really understand it.Thanks, Jim. I'll keep it in mind.
