PaperbackSwap.com
I came across paperbackswap.com, another book swapping site, while reading a blog. It sounds good: you post books that are occupying valuable shelf space, and anyone who desires them can ask for them, you send them the books and get a credit per book. These credits can in turn be redeemed to get books from others’ bookshelves.
Good in principle, but after my first bout of sending off books, I’ve found that the system is in practice annoying. First, anyone can request your books– something I thought I could handle, but after packing off 6 books to an equal number of total strangers, I’ve found that I’d really like to know who are getting my books. Did these people put up books of an equal caliber, and in equally good condition, or are they getting their credits by offering up rubbish? The person who requested my copy of Troll: A Love Story had a special condition attached to the request, that the book should be in top shape with no marks or creases. Not an unreasonable request, but instead of referring to the specific book, it said ‘all childrens books should be …’. That tells me two things: first, this person has no clue what the book is about– Troll is definitely not a children’s book: I think most parents wouldn’t want to corrupt their children with its subject matter– and second, said person is attempting to collect children’s books for reselling.
Second, as soon as you post a book, it is available for asking. Which means if you post 17 books at once, like I did, they get requested immediately (assuming here that you didn’t post utter trash), and you have to send them off in a batch. Not counting the cost of printing out the mailing labels, and packing tape, and a media envelope if you want to be nice, each book costs at least $2.13 in postage. One of the purposes of using a book swap is, I presume, to save money. Each book you send earns you a credit, and each credit is worth a book, so essentially you get a new paperback by trading an old one, plus paying $2.13– this is a good deal in the abstract, but when you have to shell out a heap of money at once, it doesn’t look as attractive. Especially if, as happened to me, none of the books you’re interested in reading are available.
Maybe a better system would allow for person-to-person swapping, instead of the current system of almost anonymity (the only point at which you get to know who the requestor is, is when you print out the mailing label). That way, I could be sure the person receiving my book is posting books of equal value, and not just taking advantage of a broken system. Also, it would be convenient if you could add a bunch of books at once, but mark them as unavailable until you need credit, and they you could activate them.