Reusing your stuff is a cheap, planet-friendly move, and now you no longer have to hold a giant yardsale to find a good home for your favorite but ill-fitting ski helmet or that extra garden hose you never seem to use. Swapping or borrowing saves resources because less stuff has to be made (fewer cds or dvds to press for example), less shipping of materials around the world producing greenhouse gases and eventually less crap clogging our landfills or using energy to incinerate. And it’s really just awesome to be able to get something you want (the latest Leo DiCaprio flick) in exchange for something you want to get rid of anyway!
And don’t forget that the holidays are coming up….save your wallet and go lighter on the Earth by swapping stuff you want to get rid of and get gifts for your family at the same time!
Swaptree is a national service, only in the US for now, where you list what you want to get rid of and list what you want (cd’s, books and movies only). The site’s software does the rest, finding matches among people. It’s really sleek and super easy to use even if you’ve never done anything like it before. It does get a little addicting seeing what you can get for what you already have!
Swaptree is a site where you can trade books, music, movies and video games that you don’t want, for the books, CDs, DVDs, video games that you do want, for free.
Unlike auction sites or other used item sites where you can sell or purchase items, on swaptree your items will only cost you the price of shipping. So if you don’t really see the point in selling a book online for $3, just so you can then go out and buy a new book for $15, then swaptree is for you!
The best part is that once you get an item from someone and you finish reading, listening or viewing it, you can just list it on swaptree and get something else for it!
On Neighborrow you can borrow, trade or recycle locally (though they do have a mailing option, the site encourages near-by borrowing).
Borrow: Neighborrow enables you to borrow things that you want to use but do not want to pay for (books, movies, music, tools, household items, baby items, etc). You can also borrow things that you only need once in a while or things that you only need to use a single time. It makes “no cents” to purchase or even to rent certain things, especially if you do not have to. Once you borrow something, we keep track of where it is, where it has been, and when it is due back.
Trade: If you do not want the item back, but do not just want to give it away or throw it out, you can trade it for neighborrow-bucks. This “currency system” means that you do not have to find a counter party that has something you want. You can then use your neigborrow-bucks for anything on the site that someone else doesn’t want.
Recycle: Get rid of items you do not use anymore. We make it easy to find someone who wants it so it won’t go to waste
wow very cool….swaptree….thanks so much for the heads up. i just got rid of Blazing Saddles dvd, for the latest Oprah book. perfecto
11/01/07 » 2:17 pm »
Thanks for the great tip! My community of friends has been brainstorming a way to share our goods with each other, in an easy to use format. Sounds like these two online services are exactly what we need, I will be sure to check them out!
11/01/07 » 5:44 pm »