BookMooch Review

www.bookmooch.com

Overall 4.75 of 5 view all 4 reviews

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alynnk
Coraopolis, PA

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book trading made easy.

avid reader, Every day computer user, budget conscious

Pros

Convenient, Ease of use, Free

MAY

2008

BookMooch is another one of my favorite book-related websites. Though I am always surrounded by books that I haven't yet read, I am also always looking for more.

Using BookMooch is relatively easy: after signing up for an account, you are asked to list books [usually by ISBN] that you have read and would like to give away to another member who has expressed interest in them. Members have 'wishlists' of books they want to read, or 'mooch' from the site, and when a book matching the information on their list is entered into the system, they are notified with an email, allowing them to log into the site and request the book. The sender mails the book directly to the requestor, often through the USPS. There is no cost to join the website, or to request books; members pay only postage when sending books to a requesting member. Media Mail is often the means of mailing, and the cost is around $2.

Using BookMooch has allowed me to clear out some books that I might not read ever again, or that I had planned on donating to a library or selling to a half-price store. Instead, this system allows me to give my books directly to other members, earing points when I agree to send the book. Those points can be used to ask for other books for myself.

BookMooch has been praised because it is a way of recycling; unwanted books find new homes instead of sitting around or getting thrown away.

Sometimes it is hard to log into the site quickly enough to mooch the very popular books, but there are often hundreds of members vying for a single copy of the bestsellers. For readers that might not have access to a local library or have exhausted their local library, BookMooch is a perfect solution, as the books can be mailed and recieved from your home.