PaperBackSwap

PaperBackSwap (PBS) is a club co-founded in 2004 by Robert Swarthout and Richard Pickering of Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Its purpose is to use the Internet to facilitate the parity trading of books among member bibliophiles in the United States.

Membership requirements/restrictions

Membership is free and is offered to individuals residing at addresses served by the United States Postal Service, including APO and FPO (military mail) addresses. Commercial enterprises are prohibited from membership.

Operation

A credit system is used to enable members to trade books for credits and credits for books. Consequently, a member need not seek another member who desires a parity trade; credits are the medium of exchange. Both paperback and hardback books may be traded, as well as audio books. While there is some debate within the industry regarding the relative value of a recently released hardcover book versus an elderly paperback book, within the PBS system the value of any bound book is always one credit, and the value of an audio book is always two credits.

Income generation

When it was started, PBS expected to have to charge for membership once costs became too high. Instead, they found they could survive by offering a few paid services to the membership.

The Box-O-Books program allows paying members to exchange boxes of books (rather than one at a time) to save on postage and provide variety. Another feature is Book Journal―similar to the service provided by LibraryThing―which provides a system for managing the books in one’s personal library with annotations and the physical locations of books. PBS offers optional printing of discounted USPS Delivery Confirmation and/or postage on labels used for mailing books. PBS also sells book accessories and other items bearing the club logo.

References

* Carroll, Sean (Sept. 18, 2006). “Web Site of the Week: PaperBackSwap.com”. "PC Magazine"
* Deahl, Rachel (May 17, 2005). “You Give Me Yours, I’ll Give You Mine”. "The Book Standard"
* Durden, Charles (Sept. 1, 2006). “A reading revolution”. "Georgia Magazine"
* Gardner, Marilyn (February 15, 2006). “Avid Readers Swap Their Books Online”. "USA Today, CBS News, The Christian Science Monitor"
* Johns, Andy (May 29, 2005). “Tales of the Trade”. "Rome News Tribune"
* Martin, Kate (March 8, 2006). “Paperback Recycler”. "The Daily Reporter Herald: Loveland, Colorado"
* Masters, Clay (January 18, 2006). “Dusty paperbacks come out of their boxes and shelves and onto the Net”. "Daily Nebraskan"
* Nurse, Doug (April 17, 2005). “He Traded Reading Habits”. "Atlanta Journal Constitution"
* Rathbun, Andy (July 27, 2005). “Read any good books lately?”. "Newsday"
* Sabalos, Sarah (June 16, 2006). “Read well for free (almost)”. "San Antonio Express News"
* Smith, Ryan E. (October 1, 2006). “Bookworms trade titles on the Web”. "Toledo Blade"
* Tedeschi, Bob (October 16, 2006). “I’ll Trade You My ‘Titanic’ for Your ‘Spider-Man’”. "The New York Times"
* Treadwell, Sally (January 12, 2006). “Got Books? Then Trade Them!”. "High Country News"
* Vogel, Charity (Sept. 17, 2006). “Pity not the Paperback”." Buffalo News"

External links

[http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php PaperBackSwap] official site