PaperBackSwap: Difference between revisions

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PaperBackSwap (PBS) is a club co-founded in 2004 by Robert Swarthout and Richard Pickering of Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Its purpose is to use the Internet to facilitate the parity trading of books (or "book swapping") among member bibliophiles in the United States.

Membership requirements/restrictions

Membership is free and is offered to individuals residing at addresses served by the United States Postal Service, including APO and FPO (military mail) addresses. Commercial enterprises are prohibited from membership.

Operation

A credit system is used to enable members to trade books for credits and credits for books. Consequently, a member need not seek another member who desires a parity trade; credits are the medium of exchange. Both paperback and hardback books may be traded, as well as audio books. Within the PBS system the value of any bound book is always one credit, and the value of an audio book is always two credits.

Income generation

When it was started, PBS expected to have to charge for membership once costs became too high. Instead, they found they could survive by offering a few paid services to the membership.^{[citation needed]}

The Box-O-Books program allows paying members to exchange boxes of books (rather than one at a time) to save on postage and provide variety. Another feature is Book Journal―similar to the service provided by LibraryThing―which provides a system for managing the books in one’s personal library with annotations and the physical locations of books. PBS offers optional printing of USPS Delivery Confirmation and/or postage for a small fee. PBS also sells book accessories and other items bearing the club logo.

Press Coverage

PaperBackSwap's Complete Press & Media
The Today Show (April 21,2009). “Get paid to recycle! 15 green tips for the lazy” - by Marisa Belger
O The Oprah Magazine (March 1, 2009). “Books on a Budget” - by Katie Arnold-Ratliff
People Magazine (February 23,2009). “More Books for Your Buck” - by Thailan Pham
PC Magazine (Sept. 18, 2006). “Web Site of the Week: PaperBackSwap.com” - by Sean Carroll
USA Today, CBS News, The Christian Science Monitor (February 15, 2006). “Avid Readers Swap Their Books Online” - by Marilyn Gardner
Atlanta Journal Constitution (April 17, 2005). “He Traded Reading Habits” - by Doug Nurse
Newsday (July 27, 2005). “Read any good books lately?” - by Andy Rathbun
The New York Times (October 16, 2006). “I’ll Trade You My ‘Titanic’ for Your ‘Spider-Man’” - by Bob Tedeschi

External links

PaperBackSwap.com
PaperBackSwap Blog

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 == Income generation ==
-When it was started, PBS expected to have to charge for membership once costs became too high. Instead, they found they could survive by offering a few [[paid services]] to the membership.
+When it was started, PBS expected to have to charge for membership once costs became too high. Instead, they found they could survive by offering a few [[paid services]] to the membership.{{fact}}
 The <i>Box-O-Books</i> program allows paying members to exchange boxes of books (rather than one at a time) to save on postage and provide variety. Another feature is <i>Book Journal</i>―similar to the service provided by [[LibraryThing]]―which provides a system for managing the books in one’s personal library with annotations and the physical locations of books. PBS offers optional printing of USPS Delivery Confirmation and/or postage for a small fee.  PBS also sells book accessories and other items bearing the club [[logo]].