Don’t Buy Books, Swap Them

If you want to keep certain books, CDs or even DVDs instead of loaning them from the library, a cheaper way to acquire and keep them is to swap them for some of your old books. One site to do this is PaperBackSwap (PBS), where people have been swapping books since 2004, along with their CDs and their DVDS.

Paperbackswap has a US-based membership, which is free, where you can trade your books for credits, and then credits back into books, and you can also purchase credits if you want more books than you are willing or able to trade.  The great thing of this approach is that you don’t have to find the exact person who wants your book, and has the book that you want. Also, trading in or getting book is the same number of credits, 1 per book, and you even get 2 free credits when you join as a new member! When you want a book, you request it online and another member that has the book and wants to earn a credit will post it to you directly. You do the same when you want to swap a book for a credit. Overall, it seems like a lot cheaper than paying retail for a book, and you get to keep the new book of your choice for as long as you like too, well, until you want to trade it for another.

Here is more information on PaperBackSwap: