There’s more than one way to trade online. Here are details on PaperBookSwap and similar sites:
BookCrossing.com
Users: More than 730,000
Books registered: About 5.3 million
Cost: Free
Just books? Yes
Other notes: Works not through trades between members, but by users “releasing” books into the “wild” in public places (park benches, coffee shops). Those who find the books register their finds on the site, tracking their progress around the world.
Bookins
Users: More than 30,000
Books available: More than 512,000
Cost: $4.49 to receive a book; sender’s postage provided.
Just books? No, you can give and receive DVDs, too.
Other notes: The site coordinates transactions and handles any follow-up, so users don’t have to deal with other members directly.
BookMooch
Users: About 25,000 active users
Books available: About 52,000
Cost: Sender pays postage.
Just books? Yes
Other notes: Operates internationally, unlike most swapping sites.
Novel Action
Users: Company doesn’t disclose this information.
Books available: About 7,000
Cost: $25 a year plus postage
Just books? Yes
Other notes: Good for bulk readers. Pick out an entire box of books at a time, and then ship back an equal number of quality books.
PaperBackSwap
Users: “Tens of thousands,” according to co-founder Richard Pickering, with 10,000 logging in on any given day.
Books available: More than 2.7 million
Cost: Sender pays postage.
Just books? Yes, but points can be traded to sister sites SwapaCD and SwapaDVD.
Other notes: The biggest book-trading site on the Internet recently had titles by Jodi Picoult and T.S. Eliot.
Rachel Kaufman,
special to The Washington Post
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