Sharing Is Good: How to Save Money, Time and Resources Through Collaborative Consumption (15 page)

Because sharing allows us to extend the life of an item, it’s important to choose a style of sharing that will allow that life cycle to go on as long as possible. Ideally, we should try to put it in the hands of someone who needs it and will use it immediately. This is most easily accomplished by swapping.

Swapping can be accomplished via a face-to-face connection

or online. In order to participate in a swap, you’ve got to let the 84

Sharing is Good

world know what you have and what you’d like to have. In this

sense, swapping is very similar to bartering because no money is

exchanged and the mutual benefit of all parties involved is a high priority. The difference between swapping and bartering is that it doesn’t require a mutual exchange to happen at the same time or

with the same person (aka one-for-one swapping). You may list

several items that you’d like to share on a swapping website and

find that there’s nothing you need or want in exchange. When at-

tending a local swap event, you might find one person who wears

the same size shoes and really needs your old winter boots. In a

barter situation, the only way for them to get the boots would be to offer something you needed or wanted. In a swap scenario, they can snag your boots while you might find something you need from

someone else.

Through the online sharing site Yerdle, I’ve given items like books and clothes to one person in the community, and then received items like a digital voice recorder from another member days or even

weeks later. Some online swapping sites realize that a coincidence of wants is hard to come by, so they reward community members with

points each time they give something away. Accrued points can then be used to “purchase” something from another member when the

time is right. However you choose to do it, remember that
swapping
is often just a fancy term for
purposeful giving
.

If no one in your immediate social circle is interested in swap-

ping, it’s time to take the search online. A number of online

communities exist to help individuals host or find a swap in their areas. SwapforGood.org helps people host clothing swaps that raise money for local domestic violence shelters. TheSwapTeam.org is a

similar resource that has chapters in Montreal, Boston, New York

City, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, Winnipeg, Northampton

(MA) and Quebec City (at least that’s how many there were at this writing; they seem to be ever-expanding). Both are great websites for finding swap events as well as getting some support and guidance for What to Share

85

holding your own exchange event. While these sites focus on clothing swaps, it’s possible to exchange just about anything through an online swap service. And don’t forget about sites like Freecycle and Craigslist which have been facilitating moneyless sharing in communities around the world for many years.

Ready to start sharing goods? Here is a sampling of all the

collabor ative consumption services I’ve found to help you share your clothes, furniture, media, toys, and more. Many are designed to facilitate online sharing, but some are merely platforms to help organize and execute face-to-face swapping events.

Please note: The fol owing sections contain information about companies and organizations that offer sharing services. Because the sharing
economy is growing and changing at a rapid pace, it’s possible that company names, websites, or service offerings may have changed, merged
with other services, or become defunct. Great effort has been made to ensure that the listings are accurate by the time of publishing, but be aware
that information could be outdated by the time you read it. As always, do
your homework, proceed with caution, and realize that this is the happy
problem of participating in a new and exciting movement!

Swap.com
— The leading online swap marketplace for books, movies, music and games. Amazing selection. Browse this website to

find items that can be claimed from online community members or

check out their directory to find or list local swap events.

•
Cost to join?
There is no fee to join or trade on Swap.com.

•
One-for-one sharing?
Yes, all trades on Swap.com are one-for-one, meaning that you will trade one item and receive one item in return. Swap.com does NOT facilitate two-for-one trades where

a user trades multiple items for a single item.

•
Point system?
No.

•
International?
No, right now, Swap.com is only available to US

residents.

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Sharing is Good

•
Who pays for shipping?
The person sending the item is responsible for shipping.

•
Insurance?
None.

BookMooch.com
— Lets you swap books you no longer need in

exchange for books you really want.

•
Cost to join?
There is no fee to join or trade on BookMooch.

•
One-for-one sharing?
Yes.

•
Point system?
Yes. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at

BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or

put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.

•
International?
Yes. You can request books from other countries, in other languages. To help compensate you for the greater mail-ing cost, you receive three points when you send a book out of

your country, but it costs the moocher only two points to get the book.

•
Who pays for shipping?
The person sending the book pays for shipping.

•
Insurance?
None.

Goozex.com
— A trading platform for video games and movies.

Goozex is a unique platform in that members simply list the games and movies they want to trade. Goozex then finds a match and notifies both parties of the potential exchange.

•
Cost to join?
Goozex doesn’t have a membership fee, but, unlike other platforms, members pay a $1.99 transaction fee (called a

Trade Token) for each product they receive. Purchasing more than

ten tokens at once is rewarded with a slight discount.

•
One-for-one sharing?
No. You are not required to give a game or video in order to receive one.

•
Point system?
Yes. Points are earned by “selling” items to other members and spent by “buying” items from members. Points

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represent the trading value of any video game or movie on the

network.

•
International?
Goozex only allows the trading of items that are playable in North America (United States, Canada, and

Bermuda). But there is no indication that other countries are off-limits for trade.

•
Who pays for shipping?
When you agree to trade your item with another member, Goozex will provide you the recipient’s address

and a printable shipping label, but the cost of shipping is the responsibility of the person shipping the item.

•
Insurance?
Yes. Trades on Goozex.com are protected by the Goozex Guarantee. Should a product get lost in the mail or be

broken during shipping, Goozex will refund you the points and

trade tokens you have spent, and put your request back in queue.

In addition, Goozex transfers the points to the seller only after positive feedback is received from the buyer, providing additional protection for your trades. Earned points are delivered to the accounts of members with consistently positive feedback faster than those who are new or have negative feedback scores.

GameTZ.com
— Game Trading Zone is a community of people

who trade stuff, with an emphasis on video games. The site, which has been around for over ten years, was the first in a small family of swapping websites that includes musictZ.com, movietZ.com, and

booktZ.com.

•
Cost to join?
No, it’s completely free to browse and trade on GameTZ. However, trades are not always free on this site. Users

can list asking prices which, while typically lower than retail, aren’t always cheap.

•
One-for-one-sharing?
Yes. The “My Matches” feature will compare your wanted and available lists against all the other users. It will find people who want what you have and have what you want.

•
Point system?
No.

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Sharing is Good

•
International?
Yes.

•
Who pays for shipping?
Because this is one-for-one sharing, each person pays for the shipping of their own item.

•
Insurance?
GameTZ provides a system where members get stars for being good traders. The site recommends that you trade mostly with starred traders when you’re just starting out.

Chegg.com
— Why pay $100 for a textbook you only need for three months? This website rents an array of required and non-required

scholastic materials including millions of textbooks in any format.

Community members also gain access to online homework help and

textbook solutions, course organization and scheduling, as well as college and university matching tools and scholarship connections.

•
Cost to join?
There is no cost to join or browse the Chegg community, but there is a fee to rent a resource.

•
One-for-one sharing?
No. You’re welcome to rent as many textbooks as you like without ever offering one in return.

•
Point system?
No.

•
International?
Yes.

•
Who pays for shipping?
The renter pays shipping costs. A prepaid shipping label is provided by Chegg when returning rented

books.

•
Insurance?
Chegg guarantees arrival of your textbooks no later than the promised date. If the item is late, shipping is refunded. If a book is unsatisfactory in any way, they will ship another copy at no cost.

Note:
there are lots of similar textbook and education material rental services out there. Check out: TextBookRentals, CollegeBookRenter, CampusBookRentals, eCampus, or Rent-a-Text.

SwapAce.com
— A powerful online marketplace for swapping,

selling, buying and bartering just about anything, including services, space, and expertise.

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•
Cost to join?
There is no cost to join or browse the SwapAce community. However there are some enhanced features that require

the use of community credits.

•
One-for-one sharing?
No. You’re welcome to just give or just receive items, if that’s what you’d like. The SwapAce system does

allow for counter offers, which is a unique feature.

•
Point system?
There is a credit system that allows access to enhanced features, but they’re not necessary to swap or barter on the site. Credits can be earned or purchased.

•
International?
Yes. SwapAce has hundreds of thousands of traders from over 150 countries and growing.

•
Who pays for shipping?
Shipping costs are worked out directly between the two individuals making the trade.

•
Insurance?
SwapAce does not provide any guarantees or insurance on trades. However, the community does employ a feedback

system that allows users to see how well other swapper’s honor

agreements and trades.

PaperbackSwap.com
— Don’t worry, PaperbackSwap isn’t just for paperbacks. This online platform helps its members swap, trade, and exchange books for free. It’s a massive online database with over 4.9

million literary listings.

•
Cost to join?
Currently, there is no cost to join PaperbackSwap.

A note on the site’s getting started page does warn that there may be annual “club fees” in the future. Some additional services and products can be purchased.

•
One-for-one sharing?
Paperback swap does require you to share items in order to get items, but the giving and getting doesn’t have to be between the same two people.

•
Point system?
Yes. Credits are earned for each book you share and then redeemed to claim books others have offered. Several credits are earned just by signing up. However, there is a Box-O-Books

feature that allows swapping between members without credits.

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Sharing is Good

•
International?
Presently, PaperbackSwap is a US-only service, but plans to expand internationally are in the works.

•
Who pays for shipping?
Shipping is paid by the person sending the book. PaperbackSwap provides printable shipping labels to

facilitate this process.

•
Insurance?
No. All liability is assumed by the members.

CraftingaGreenWorld.com
— This eco-friendly crafter’s website runs a free classifieds section where readers can swap and share craft supplies online. Got too many buttons in your stash? Looking for

fabric remnants or reclaimed yarn? You can search for the supplies you need or list supplies that you’d like to offer up.

•
Cost to join?
None.

•
One-for-one sharing?
No. You can claim offered items without sharing your own, and vice versa.

•
Point system?
No.

•
International?
Yes, although most listings are in the US.

•
Who pays for shipping?
Delivery method and costs are arranged between individuals involved in the swap or share.