Website Allows Users To Cheaply Swap Media

via CBS11

Adding to a book, CD or DVD collection doesn’t have to mean going to the bookstore or purchasing expensive downloads from the web. There’s a way to find authors, musicians and movies and only spend a few dollars.

Sara Schruhl of Irving admits she has an addiction to books. “It’s an expensive habit, but if you have to have a habit, I guess it’s a good one to have.” She has more than a thousand titles in her apartment.

Schruhl has been trying to curtail her spending. She found a website to help her save money. It’s called PaperBackSwap.com.

Schruhl says it’s a less expensive way to feed her reading addiction. PaperbackSwap.com allows her to exchange books she’s looking to get rid of and receive titles she’d like to have instead.Company president Richard Pickering said, “You simply go online, select a book that you want to receive. Someone mails it to you from somewhere in the U.S. and you get another book in return for everyone you mail out.”

All it costs is the price of postage, which is about $2 using special postal service rates. The site will print out a mailing label. Pickering explains, “It actually has the postage calculated on it, the address of where it’s being mailed to, your return address so you don’t have to do anything.”

There are more than 3 million titles available on the site. Consumers can search by author, title and keyword. Schruhl likes the feature that allows you to create a wish list.

The same company also runs SwapCD.com and SwapDVD.com for those who want to exchange music and movies. The same process applies. According to Pickering, “You can get a CD that’s new to you that you haven’t had before for around $1.50. So instead of downloading one song for a dollar, you can download the whole CD for $1.50.”

Sara Schruhl says she’s saved about $500 this year by swapping instead of buying new. “It’s very simple, and there’s a whole tutorial at the very beginning which will walk you through everything.”

Consumers can also swap hardback and audio books, but the postage will cost a little more. Older titles are easier to find than new releases, but newer titles usually become available within a matter of months.