PaperBackSwap.com Review

Here is a website disigned by book lovers for book lovers. Two guys who shared a raging passion for reading and found that they had shelves of books they had read and were always buying more, came up with the idea that similar minded people could swap books with each other via website and the US Postal Service.
When you get to their website, you can join right away. There is no entrance fee, and the rules are simple. You have to log in 9 books or more to get started (most people who use this site have maybe 9 SHELVES of books!) After you have logged in your books, you start out with 3 credits. Each credit is good for one book through the club. You can browse by author, title, genre, or even age groups for childrens books. I have found this to be easier to navigate than Amazon.com for books I want.

After you have made a selection, the person next in line to ship that book out is notified, and they will respond whether or not they can ship the book to you. Sometimes a book disappears from the shelf, like that lone sock in the drier. Once they respond, they have a few days to mail it out, and then they post into Paperbackswap.com to say they have mailed it. Depending how far it is going, it may arrive in a couple of days or a few weeks. Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska can take a while.

If someone wants a book you have, you will receive an email telling you, and you click on the link in the email to get to the message. For most paperbacks, you can print the mailing label right on your printer. Standard 8 1/2" x 11" paper folds up just perfect for a wrapper. They have instructions to show you how. Postage for Media mail is very inexpensive... most paperbacks cost $2.13 to mail. You can opt for Delivery Confirmation or Postage printed on your wrapper, too. Books 13 Oz. or less can have stamps put on them and be dropped into the mailbox for delivery, and this would include most books. When you print out your wrapper, it tells you what to expect the postage to be, and it is usually accurate.

I have been trading books for almost 2 years now, and it can't stop myself. My pile of books to read it getting unmanageable, but can anyone really have too many books? You get a credit for each book you mail our when the other person receives it, and you pay a credit for each book you order. The selection is stupendous, thousands and thousands of books, of every imaginable type. I have even found books I have tried unsuccessfully to find at book stores and Amazon.com!

They even have Forums to leave comments or ask questions. The topics can be about the site itself, or some of the far-ranging topics are just pure silliness for the sake of a good laugh... one of the feature of the site I love almost as much as the books.

Check it out and see if it isn't the greatest thing since the printing press was invented.