7-year-old Bennett Flynn of Mill Valley and his brother Tommy are cleaning out their closet of old books. Their mom Kristin can help them get rid of those they no longer want and get something in return.
She can swap it on Swaptree.com.
She simply goes on the site, types in the UPC code of the item, then adds it to her "have" or "trade" list. Then lists items she wants in return on her "want list."
Swaptree.com then matches her up with someone who wants to trade with her.
"The environmental karma of doing it feels great," Flynn said.
Flynn also says it is a great way to build a library, get rid of the clutter she does not want and save money on items she does want.
That is exactly what the founders of Swaptree.com had in mind when they launched the site in July 2007.
"There's a lot of opportunity for growth with the economy being down a little bit, now's a great time for families to look for ways to get media items for their family," founder Greg Boesel said.
Right now the site only allows trading of books, movies, CDs and electronic games.
But with hundreds of thousands of users and 3,000-4,000 trades a day, the site expects to expand the list of tradable items in the future.
"That you can use your old books as currency towards new media just seems great because I have so many books on my shelves," Flynn said.
Perhaps the best thing about Swaptree.com is it is all free; traders only pay the cost of shipping.
Users rate other users and those ratings are posted. You should only deal with users with good ratings and know that users assume all risks. Swaptree.com will not take responsibility for any transactions that do not go smoothly.
