Club Members Rocket Past $10 Million In Savings!
The Wall Street Journal (Website) - 2/5/2009 by PaperBackSwap.com
ATLANTA, Feb 05, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Club Members in the media swapping sites PaperBackSwap.com, SwapaCD.com and SwapaDVD.com have just passed the $10 million mark in savings for swapping used books, CDs and DVDs.
With the economy in a downturn, everyone wants to save money. Over 100,000 active members have found out that swapping online is a great way to do it. These clubs are changing the face of home entertainment: no rental fees, no hassle, and real money savings to boot. All that is required is a working email address, a mailing address served by the US Postal Service, and some books, CDs or DVDs in good condition that you don't want to keep anymore.
How it works
When you are ready to share an item you list it as available for swapping. When another club member requests it, the system will send you an email asking you to mail it out. (Yes, you have to pay the postage.) Simply print the wrapper using two regular pieces of paper. And you can add pre-printed postage directly from the site. Then you can mail it from your home mailbox. When the other member gets it (and can keep it or re-swap it), you get credit for sending it.
You're asking, well, if I pay postage, how am I saving money? Well, each item you send gets you credit good to order for yourself. Each book is 1 credit, each DVD and CD 1 credit per disc. When you use the credit you earned, the item you order comes to you free of shipping costs. So you get each book for just the cost of the postage you spent to send out a book of your own. CDs and DVDs, being lighter in weight, are even less expensive to mail. You can transfer the credits between your accounts at the three sites, and choose from the over 2.9 million books, over 175,000 CDs, and over 80,000 DVDs currently available.
So, if you pay $2.23 in postage to swap a book, you get a book of your choice for free. Pay $1.28 to swap a CD, you get a CD. Pay $2.02 in postage to swap a DVD, get a DVD for free. If you would normally pay 4 or even 5 dollars for each of these, you have saved dollars with your very first swap. And once you have finished reading (or watching or listening to) an item you can re-list it and swap it again and get the credit back. We calculate that each book swapper saves about 2 dollars a swap; each CD swapper saves about $2.50 a swap; and each DVD swapper saves about 3 dollars a swap.
With 4.29 million books swapped, that means that the members of PaperBackSwap have saved collectively more than 8.5 million dollars! The CD club members have conducted 485 thousand swaps, saving a collective 1.2 million dollars, and the members of the newest club, the DVD swappers, have swapped 188 thousand times and collectively saved half a million dollars. When multiple items are swapped at once (which is very common -- the sites make this easy to do), the savings are even greater.
PaperBackSwap was founded in 2004 as a way to swap books with friends and family. Through positive word of mouth and some great stories in Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, CNN and The Today Show among many others, these clubs have grown by leaps and bounds. We now boast members in all 50 U.S. states and territories, as well as at APO/FPO/DPO addresses, and currently PaperBackSwap members swap over 40,000 books per week -- not just paperbacks, but hardcovers and audio too.
As the clubs grow, features are added: the Wish List, which allows a member to "queue" for any item that is currently unavailable in the system and to be notified via email when it is available; the Discussion Forums that offer lively conversation on nearly every topic imaginable; Live Chat that offers a way for members to meet "virtually" in real time. There are even local Club Chapters where online friends can meet in real life. The clubs have over 100,000 active members and the membership grows every day.
For more information, visit www.PaperBackSwap.com, www.SwapaDVD.com and www.SwapaCD.com .
SOURCE PaperBackSwap.com
http://www.PaperBackSwap.com
With the economy in a downturn, everyone wants to save money. Over 100,000 active members have found out that swapping online is a great way to do it. These clubs are changing the face of home entertainment: no rental fees, no hassle, and real money savings to boot. All that is required is a working email address, a mailing address served by the US Postal Service, and some books, CDs or DVDs in good condition that you don't want to keep anymore.
How it works
When you are ready to share an item you list it as available for swapping. When another club member requests it, the system will send you an email asking you to mail it out. (Yes, you have to pay the postage.) Simply print the wrapper using two regular pieces of paper. And you can add pre-printed postage directly from the site. Then you can mail it from your home mailbox. When the other member gets it (and can keep it or re-swap it), you get credit for sending it.
You're asking, well, if I pay postage, how am I saving money? Well, each item you send gets you credit good to order for yourself. Each book is 1 credit, each DVD and CD 1 credit per disc. When you use the credit you earned, the item you order comes to you free of shipping costs. So you get each book for just the cost of the postage you spent to send out a book of your own. CDs and DVDs, being lighter in weight, are even less expensive to mail. You can transfer the credits between your accounts at the three sites, and choose from the over 2.9 million books, over 175,000 CDs, and over 80,000 DVDs currently available.
So, if you pay $2.23 in postage to swap a book, you get a book of your choice for free. Pay $1.28 to swap a CD, you get a CD. Pay $2.02 in postage to swap a DVD, get a DVD for free. If you would normally pay 4 or even 5 dollars for each of these, you have saved dollars with your very first swap. And once you have finished reading (or watching or listening to) an item you can re-list it and swap it again and get the credit back. We calculate that each book swapper saves about 2 dollars a swap; each CD swapper saves about $2.50 a swap; and each DVD swapper saves about 3 dollars a swap.
With 4.29 million books swapped, that means that the members of PaperBackSwap have saved collectively more than 8.5 million dollars! The CD club members have conducted 485 thousand swaps, saving a collective 1.2 million dollars, and the members of the newest club, the DVD swappers, have swapped 188 thousand times and collectively saved half a million dollars. When multiple items are swapped at once (which is very common -- the sites make this easy to do), the savings are even greater.
PaperBackSwap was founded in 2004 as a way to swap books with friends and family. Through positive word of mouth and some great stories in Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, CNN and The Today Show among many others, these clubs have grown by leaps and bounds. We now boast members in all 50 U.S. states and territories, as well as at APO/FPO/DPO addresses, and currently PaperBackSwap members swap over 40,000 books per week -- not just paperbacks, but hardcovers and audio too.
As the clubs grow, features are added: the Wish List, which allows a member to "queue" for any item that is currently unavailable in the system and to be notified via email when it is available; the Discussion Forums that offer lively conversation on nearly every topic imaginable; Live Chat that offers a way for members to meet "virtually" in real time. There are even local Club Chapters where online friends can meet in real life. The clubs have over 100,000 active members and the membership grows every day.
For more information, visit www.PaperBackSwap.com, www.SwapaDVD.com and www.SwapaCD.com .
SOURCE PaperBackSwap.com
http://www.PaperBackSwap.com
