Book trade services?

[asterroc]

Anyone use online book trading services? Frugal Reader is one I just came across (you ship books to other members in exchange for books from others, paperbacks are 1 point, hardcovers 2 points, you pay shipping), and I've heard of another though I forget the name now (you get a monetary credit to your account each time you send in a book, each book is worth a different amount, I forget if you send directly to other members or to the webpage owners). Any of these any good? My questions include:

* Is it free?
* Can it print shipping labels?
* How fast is turnover of a book you list?
* How reliable is the shipping?
* How/when does it release your address to the shipper (if another human)?
* Does it do audiobooks?
* How does it value books?
* Can you unlist a book you own?
* What if you don't get the book?

Comments

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

Try swaptree.com.. I just started myself, and just traded two books fairly effortlessly. The interface is simple, but my only gripe is the lack of book categories (cooking, nonfiction, etc). You have to slog through a lot of Grishams and Danielle Steel sometimes.

It prints shipping labels, and honours privacy quite well. You have lists for books you want and books you have, and then have to trade.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Hm, maybe. My dislike w/ this one is I've a bunch of audiobooks I'm willing to trade away, and I think they should be "worth" more than say, a paperback novel. Maybe this would be a good one to list my CDs though.

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

I think the worth isn't quite measured like that, though.... if you have something that's wanted by many people, then you have a greater pool from which to choose from. For instance, I just traded a paperback "Why We Buy" for a large Professional Chef book. The worth was determined by me and the person with the other book.

Something to consider....