I find that my Suddenly Frugal readers are on the cutting edge of all things cheap, thrifty and free. That’s why I’m hoping you can help me with a story a national woman’s magazine has asked me to put together for them. (I can’t reveal the name until the assignment is finalized, and I don’t want to jinx anything.)
Previously, this magazine had reprinted my post “Getting Something for (Almost) Nothing” and now the editors want me to expand on the notion of where you can go on the Internet to get free stuff.
Well, of course there are my Freebie Friday deals, and the magazine has written about Freecycle, Paperbackswap and BookMooch. So I don’t need any opinions on those items. However, I have put together (with the help of an intern at the magazine) a list of Internet websites where swaps and freebies abound. You’ll find that list below.
If you have any personal experience using these sites–for better or for worse–will you post a comment? Or, if you have additional suggestions for my list, will you post a comment?
In addition to these national websites, are you aware of any local, regional or national organizations that have started swaps or freebie free-for-alls? I’d love to hear about them, too.
I’m stoked to read what you all have to say about these sites.
- Swaptree
- Prior Attire
- Barter Quest
- Barter Bee
- Basenotes (as in perfume)
- Campus Book Swap
- Title Trader
- Toy Swap
- Makeup Alley
- National Gardening Association Seed Swap
- Swap Baby Goods
- Swap Mamas
- Best House Swap
- Home Exchange
- Babysitting Swap
- Swap Thing
- You “U” Swap It
- Dig “N” Swap
- What’s Mine Is Yours
- Swap Style
- Time Banks
- Meetup
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
I just recently signed up for swaptree, and I love it. I used to use PaperBackSwap, but as an avid video gamer (and sometimes movie collector) I love the way swaptree works. It’s neat that I can trade an old novel for a new video game. They also can set up what are three-way trades, so the person you’re sending your book to isn’t always the person you get the new video game from. It takes a little bit to set up the account, as you need to fill out your “want” list and your “have” list enough for the program to be able to find trades for you. Really rare and really popular stuff is probably hard to come by, unless you can offer something that’s also really popular. But on the whole, I really like it and have had a good experience with it.
A couple other sites that you might want to look at (I haven’t used them myself) are vDumpsters at vdumpsters.com and Rehash at rehashclothes.com. The first is supposed to be similar to Freecycle, I think, and the second is specifically for trading clothes. Hope that helps.
Hey Leah,
I find that a lot of these sites just take so much TIME to sign up for. I have 22 books sitting next to my desk that need to go bye-bye, but I just haven’t found that chunk of minutes to sit and list them all. One of these days…
But I wanted to tell you about a “Swap Party” I just attended. I threw the idea out there and someone with a bigger house than I have organized it. More than 20 women got together and brought their “stuff.” You could bring 1 thing or 10. The playing field was divided into two sections — the “Polyanna” section and the “Bid and Barter” section.
Everyone had a great time and I ended up with a park bench for the garden! I can give you more info if you want it, but I thought this was a cool “personal” way to exchange used “stuff.”
Lisa
I enjoy Paperbackswap in part because I can get audio books for my (blind) son. Shipping is easy for me: the post office is on my way home from work.
But time is an issue, definitely. Easy access and user-friendly structure is essential, or “free” isn’t worth it.
I’m using both Paperbackswap and Bookmooch these days, and I gotta say that I prefer Bookmooch for ease of use. While Paperbackswap does allow you to print out an easy shipping label, I’ve found that I can use PayPal to print out not only shipping labels for my Bookmooch mooches but also postage, too. That saves me the trip to the post office. However, I do find that Paperbackswap has more ISBN numbers in its database than Bookmooch. Which is why I’m trending towards using both to get rid of my books and get new books, too.
Did you see the piece about fruit exchanging/sharing in the dining in/dining out section of the NYTimes this morning? Some of that is orgnized on-line. I posted the article to my facebook profile. It’s a great concept for sharing backyard-grown fruits – mostly in CA but possibly elsewhere.
Some friends and I did an informal clothing exchange. We were all pregnant or had just given birth, so we were in need of some clothing updates. We all brought what we had to give/loan, looked through each others’ stuff, then took what we needed. Super easy and fun!
Hi Leah,
I’ve visited your site before and thought I would remind you of my site. I post all kinds of freebies everyday on my Sweeties Swag site – Free Music>, Free Magazine Subscriptions, and my favorite Word of Mouth Programs to get full size free samples mailed to your door.
Hi, Wendy:
Of course I’d thought of Sweeties Swag but my editor isn’t interested in sites with samples. She wants bona fide trades or full size products that are available. It’s a fine line distinction, I know. Thanks.
Leah
Not a problem. Have you tried Freecycle.org?
I don’t see Zwaggle (http://zwaggle.com/) on your list. I have looked at it, but not used it; they are a parent list to trade kids stuff.
Did you see the recent Real Simple article on Bartering? It lists some additional websites.
I like Swaptree a lot, but its interface took some getting used to. For example, you can look at your have list and see that you could get say 1 of 5,000 different items (books, music, DVDs). You don’t want to plow through all of those. Instead, you can go to books > categories > specific category > click on tab to show only books you can get now. Also, you need to move quickly: one day you could trade for 1 of 5,000 items and the next nothing, because the one other person requesting the item made a trade already. The best thing for us: I traded a bunch of my husband’s old Playstation 2 games for books.
I’ll have to check out that Real Simple story. Thanks for pointing that out. Also, thanks for the testimonial on Swaptree.
Leah
Good point–I should have Zwaggle on there. Thanks.
I know of a couple of people who have used Homeexchange.com to travel and have loved it. Of course, one was living in Barbados at the time, while the other had an apartment in Manhattan, so I am sure it was not hard for them to find prospective exchangers.
I started using Swaptree a couple months ago, and I LOVE IT. I have gotten rid of so many books, cds, movies and video games that I don’t want for stuff that I do want! Even stuff that’s hard to find in stores – like CDs by Aqua and Toy-Box, and PC games from the early 2000′s.
If any of you Swaptree users would like to speak with me about your experience, I’m writing a story for Good Housekeeping on swapping and Swaptree is one of the services I’m highlighting. Please email me directly at leah dot ingram at comcast dot net. I thought I could email you directly from these comments but that doesn’t seem possible. I’ll keep looking, though.
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