Anyone interested in swapping books?

[tschmitt]

I'm wondering who would be interested in a site that lists just books, so that you could browse and find used one (albeit good quality) and then contact the person to arrange a trade (if local) or offering them some money for the book and postage.

Anyone interested?

[kim everett-martin]

Ted, I remember seeing a site like this a couple years ago - it was called thebookcart or something like that (I remember "cart" because they had a picture of a cart pulled by a donkey.) There weren't many books listed at the time, but it seemed like a good idea to me.

[The Bunny]

I've bought and "sold" many books through [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] -- they don't have a huge inventory, but they are growing.

From their site:

We encourage our readers to join in the spirit of the site and place their used paperbacks in our database so they can be passed on to another reader. When another member requests one of your paperbacks, you will receive an email with all the information you need to ship the paperback. We understand that it does cost money to ship, so in turn we will credit your account by $1.65, which is likely more than you will spend. In the end, all it takes is a little effort. Additionally, with the new internet postage sites, you don't even need to leave your house! We often have rewards for readers who post a large number of paperbacks.

You must become a member to add your paperbacks so we can properly credit you $1.65 per paperback for shipping. At the end of the month, if your account has over a $15.00 credit balance we will PayPal or mail you a check for the portion over $10.00.

Currently the US Postal Service charges $1.33 for a paperback up to one pound to be sent anywhere in the U.S. Not bad. If your have an extraordinarily large paperback (like a Michener) it's going to cost you $1.78 to send it out. The general rule is that any basic size paperback under 1000 pages is probably under a pound, even when you include the envelope.

The Receiver

When you become a member of thebookcart.com and find a paperback you would like to have, you can request it. Once the provider has confirmed that the paperback will be shipped, your account will be debited $1.95. At the end of the month, if your account has over a $15.00 credit balance we will PayPal or mail you a check for the portion over $10.00. Your account information is available online at any time.

In order to make your deposit you can use checks, money orders, or even PayPal for speed and convenience. To maintain the integrity of our site, however, we do request that you credit your account in advance by sending funds for a minimum of $10.00. Once the credit is received and processed, you will be able to request paperbacks as long as you maintain a credit in your account. Details, including where to send this credit, will be indicated when you register to become a member.

The Donkey

Okay, some of you are wondering about the 30 cents. Well, first of all there's the up to 6% that PayPal gets. Then there's administration, server costs, programming, wear and tear on the tires, etc. As you might imagine, this doesn't come close to covering the cost of running thebookcart.com. That is why we have Barnes and Noble and our wonderful advertisers to thank for their support. Please visit their sites often and use their services so we can continue to provide you with thebookcart.com services.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write us at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]. We hope you'll enjoy being a member of our friendly reading group!