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3-On Your Side: Swap Paperbacks, CD's and DVD's
CBS 3/Philadelphia - 4/21/2009 by Jim Donovan/reporter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―

If you're an avid reader, maybe a music fan or even a movie buff, you probably spend a lot on books, CD's and DVD's. But the price of fueling your hobby can add up fast. So Your Money Team has a simple way to save. 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan shows you how to get fresh material at a fraction of the cost.

Sara Schruhl loves her books. She has more than 1,000 titles in her apartment, but admits the habit can be costly. Sara says, "I've been trying to curtail the spending,
with this opportunity, it has saved me money." She's talking about Paperbackswap.com. It's a less expensive way to feed her reading addiction, allowing her to exchange books she's looking to get rid of, for ones she'd like to have.

Company President Richard Pickering says, "You simply go online, select a book you want to receive and someone else mails it to you from somewhere in the United States and you get another one in return for every one that you mail out."

It only costs the price of postage, and you can print mailing labels from the site. Pickering tells 3-On Your Side that the economy has really increased memberships. They've jumped 30 percent month to month for the last 3 months. By the way, the same company runs Swapacd.com and Swapadvd.com.

Pickering says, "So you can get a CD that's new to you, that you haven't had before for around $1.50. So instead of downloading one song for $1.00 you can get the entire CD for $1.50. "

Sara says swapping instead of shopping has saved her $500 dollars this year.

You can also swap hardback and audio books but the postage will cost you a little more. Older titles are easier to find than the new releases, but if you're willing to wait a few months, chances are good you'll find what you're looking for.

Links:

www.paperbackswap.com

www.swapacd.com

www.swapadvd.com