Ages ago I signed up to be a beta tester for a service called Swaptree. I finally received my invite last month, and at long last signed on last night. (The beta is public as of July 4th, so you can try it out yourself.) The premise of Swaptree is simple. You list books, movies, games and music that you’re willing to trade and then browse for items you’d like to get in exchange.

I set up my Swaptree account by typing in the ISBN numbers of 9 books I have and got a list of 176 items that I could potentially receive in a trade. These included 143 books, 18 CDs, 8 video games and 7 DVDs. Not bad. I initiated one trade and now I’m sitting back to see what happens.

The service is drop-dead simple and I can see how it might get addictive. However, it does have a few quirks.

1. Despite the fact that Swaptree is willing to set up three-way trades to help you get what you want, there’s still an issue of critical mass. Only 3 of the 9 books I put in my “have it” list came up with possible trades. Many people would like my copy of Life of Pi, but there are no takers for Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.
2. Trades are free, but you do have to factor in shipping costs. Paying a couple of bucks in shipping to receive the first season of Lost is a great deal. But if you’re getting a paperback book, you might as well hit the local library.
3. Got a bunch of VHS tapes you’d like to get rid of? Sorry, no can do. They’re bulky to ship and the number of VCR-owning households is rapidly declining. Swaptree says, sell’em on eBay!

Get the full Swaptree FAQ here. I’ll post again when my first trade goes through.

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