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Reducing the production of new products is eco-friendly and inexpensive, but swapping can be a bit of a hassle.

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home ›   tip library ›   Swapping Sites

How can insider knowledge pay off for you?

The Bite

You can trade trash for treasure through an online swap site, if you know where to look. Here's the scoop.

The Benefits

  • Getting stuff you want. Get DVDs, furniture, concert tix, anything - no new purchase necessary.
  • Clearer closets. Get rid of anything you don't need...well, almost anything: no listing your spare kidneys or step-kids.
  • Less consumption, less waste. Americans are the #1 consumers of natural resources and the #1 producers of trash (including product packaging).

Personally Speaking

While traveling abroad, Heather leaves her books in airports, trains and (surprise, surprise) bars for other English-speaking travelers to pick up. It works great except when locals chase her down to give them back.

Wanna Try?

  • BookCrossing - leave used books in designated public places for other email-alerted bookworms to pick up.
  • Freecycle - join a local group of swappers online.
  • LendList - a share site where you compile a list of things you have to loan out, then send the list around to your friends.
  • Swapagift - someone give you a gift card you'll never use? Swap it for cash here.
  • Zunafish - swap books, CDs, DVDs and video games for $1/trade, plus shipping.

Jun 04,2007


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We Forgot Clothes Swapping

I hate clothes shopping. But I love clothes swapping.

There's a Buffalo Exchange about a block away from my house, so when I'm bored with my wardrobe, I'll lug a couple canvas bags full of clothes over to the Exchange and try to brownnose the buyer into buying all of my stuff. It seems to work.

I used to hate bringing clothes in to trade, because you just know the buyer's judging your fashion sense as they separate your wares into "yes" and "no" piles. It's their job.

How'd I get over my timidity? I was broke for the first few months working at Ideal Bite (we were still in the red at that point), so swapping was the only way I could keep my wardrobe fresh. Try going broke sometime - it's a great shyness killer.

-Toshio...off to make "yes" and "no" piles for the organic pizza samples we just got...


Biter Comments...
Don't forget craigslist and all the other local sites available in most communities.

Posted by: Dace | June 04, 2007 at 07:11 AM

Has no one here heard of paperback swap!!! It's just the greatest site-- you can swap your books FOR FREE. You do pay postage when mailing books to others, but others mail you books absolutely FREE. Check it out! Swap your books with others for free! Click this link to give me referral credit and you could earn 3 free book credits in minutes ! http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?n=1&r_by=momgenet@mchsi.com Join www.paperBackSwap.com today!

Posted by: Genet | June 04, 2007 at 08:20 AM

Barterbee.com is a media trading site, much better than Zunafish and now free! I use it a lot for DVD and Video games. Can't believe you didn't mention paperbackswap.com, either. They are completely free and now have a swapacd.com site. Swapagift looks great, though, thanks!

Posted by: Paul | June 04, 2007 at 08:47 AM

I third paperbackswap.com! I also like bookmooch.com for books, because you can swap internationally, and poshpoints.com (sort of like a swapper's ebay). I do bookcrossing as well, but they have suggested on the site that you do NOT leave books lying around at airports or on planes, as they're likely to get picked up and tossed in the trash. If I'm traveling, I leave my bookcrossing books in hotel rooms, poolside, etc.

Posted by: Raven | June 04, 2007 at 07:25 PM

Gigoit is another one for swapping stuff. Fairly new, but promising! http://www.gigoit.org/

Posted by: Mallory | June 05, 2007 at 01:56 PM

I feel like I'm a few days late, but someone might see this... I buy very few books, but I am a voracious reader. I sometimes feel like I single-handedly keep my local library in business! But when I do buy something that I don't want to keep for re-reading later, I donate it to the library. They either enter it into circulation or sell it at their twice-yearly book sale fund-raisers. I also hit those book sales when I am in the market for books. It's hard to beat a hardcover for $1! And then, if I don't want to keep that book, I donate it back to the library and the whole cycle starts again.

Posted by: Jennifer | June 06, 2007 at 06:37 PM

One thing to be extremely cautious about, no matter what you are swapping or getting second hand, is BED BUGS. I'm in the process of trying to get rid of these little suckers now, and trust me, you don't want to have to deal. So be mighty careful about what you bring into your home or apartment. At the very least vacuum what you can and wash what you can on hot (drying on high). And while I generally hate chemicals, depending on the source of the item you may want to treat sofas or beds with the appropriate solution. I love reusing and recycling as much--or more--than the next guy, but you'll end up having to waste more than you gain if a reused item brings the dreaded critters into your home.

Posted by: Jennifer | June 13, 2007 at 12:02 PM

Have you seen www.bigwardrobe.com It's a totally free fashion swap site.

Posted by: Jamie Hutchinson | November 16, 2007 at 03:18 AM

I love this site Bigwardrobe.com is brilliant :)

Posted by: Melanie Craven | September 13, 2008 at 06:49 PM

Bigwardrobe.com is cool x just swapped loads of stuff in two days and got a new pair of Diesel jeans Claire uk

Posted by: Claire Townsend | September 20, 2008 at 01:06 AM

Paperback swap and bigwardrobe.com are fab thank you xx

Posted by: anna thompson | September 28, 2008 at 09:16 AM

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