Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Bookins

I found this way-cool site that all book lovers should know about: Bookins.com. Bookins is an on-line book swap, and it's really easy to use. It works the same way as Half.com or Amazon Marketplace. You list the books you have which you want to "sell" and when someone comes along looking for that book, you receive a notification from Bookins to ship the book. Since this is a book swap instead of a book store, however, you earn points instead of dollars for books you have shipped. Every book is worth a certain number of points; hardcovers are more points than soft covers, best sellers are worth more points, and so on. You can use your points to "purchase" books that you want, and when you sign up, you automatically earn 20 points.

A book "buyer" pays a flat shipping rate of $3.99 per book, just like you would at Amazon or Half.com, so it isn't exactly free, but if you are going to buy a used book online anyway, this would definitely be the way to go. Bookins has made it very easy for their book "sellers". When someone wants one of your books, they send you a link to a pre-made postage label that you print off. Package your book, tape the label onto the front, and you can drop it in your mailbox without even going to the post office. The label contains delivery confirmation, and when the post office delivers your book, you are credited with your points. I just posted my booklist this weekend and I've already mailed out two books. You can see part of my trade list on my right sidebar.

Right now, the site seems to be heavy on pop-lit and bestsellers, but you can find good children's literature and an eclectic mix of other books a homeschooler would want. My thinking is that if homeschoolers can spread the word and begin using a book swap site, we can begin trading some of our used homeschool books instead of endlessly posting on used curricula sites. I would gladly trade my used books for books I plan to buy anyway, so check it out- and post your books!

Share the joy. Get your free Bookins.com membership today. Swap books, no hassles.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! I'll be sure to check it out!

Jan said...

Check out www.paperbackswap.com This site offers hardbacks and paperbacks. Each one is 1 credit. (Audio books are 2 I think) You pay the postage when you mail the book, but the most I've paid to send a book is $2.54 or there about(sending Media Mail.) When you sign up, you post 9 books and get 3 credits. Credits are then earned as you mail out books. You can check out the details there, but I've been a member for 4 months now, have sent out 74 books, recieved 49 and have not been disappointed.