Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

It's been a long while since I used swap paid postage on here.  I've forgotten the total cost to printing the label.  Anyone know?

I know it's been discussed before on the .50 fee added to that postage cost.  With the current rate to send one dvd at $2.80, the additional fee is cost prohibitive.  Many people say they pay it because it supports swap. 

I wonder if they've ever thought to just add a donation button instead of using that automatic fee?  I'd be more inclined to use the site postage if I could add my own donation rather than having it automatically applied.  For one, it would save me having to go to another site and enter in all of the information--time saving is important to me.  This option could potentially increase site postage use.

The printable postage fee is $0.55. I don't know if it helps support the site, but if it were more reasonable, I'd use it much more often.

Does that fee apply even if you have money in your account to pay for the postage?

It says there's a fee of 55 cents every time you buy printable postage from the site.

Shellie, yes the 55 cent postage fee is separate.  It does not matter if you have money in your account. 

It's been awhile, I didn't know the fee was now .55!  $3.35 to mail one dvd is much too high!  I'll keep using PP postage.  I've run across only one exception--and rarely have used it--which is when mailing to military addresses, which PP doesn't seem to like.  After repeatedly trying to get postage on PP, I ended up coming back to swap and printing the postage label.

I like the membership on the book site. It just seems to me that there should be some kind of alternative here.   

Gloria, I used to have the paid membership on paperback swap. One year I was the gold member then silver, now I am A la Carte which is free.

There's a fee for printable postage and I does not matter if you have a paid membership or not. 

Postage shouldn't be free, but do they also add an additional fee to that on paperback?  That's what I think needs to go away on here.  There should be another alternative to raise funds.  Postage is getting outrageous. 

On the paperback site you earn "free swaps."  So you pay a membership, but earn free swaps. I have a bunch of free swap credits on paperback.   You earn Free Swap for Printable Postage  and "you are not required to pay the .49 fee in addition to a credit when you order a book."  

I have some "free swaps"  left from my Silver membership on paperback swap.

I think with the paid membership you can buy ONE printable postage without the extra 55cent fee ONCE a month. 

Valerie, I had to go look, because it seems I never pay fees on there.

"Free Swap" means a "fee-free swap". In other words, using a Free Swap allows you to request a book using only Book Credits (no Swap Fee).

Standard Members get UNLIMITED fee-free swapping  - you can request as many books as you wish, without paying Swap Fees (normally 49 cents/incoming shipment). Compare to Limited Membership, which allows you to request 30 books per year without swap fees.

1 Free 55-cent Postage-Printing Fee per month (each fee = 55 cents; up to $6.60 annual savings).  Compare to Limited Membership, which allows one courtesy Postage-Printing Fee per quarter (every three months).

My point is, there should be an alternative way for swap to raise funds, and give us a break on postage. 

I got your point Gloria.

If someone mails 12 packages a year using site postage it's and extra $6.60 a year in fees.

If someone mails 100 packages a year its $$$$$$$$$

If someone didn't mail often, maybe that extra $6.60 wouldn't be such a bad deal, after all.  Especially if the least expensive membershp were $12.

But for me, because I do mail quite a bit, if I purchased site postage on 8 @ week = $4.40 and $17.60 a month!  That's way more than the $12 mem fee that paperback charges, and is not worth it for me.  Besides, there are plenty of weeks I'm mailing much more!  I'd rather be earning free swaps.

What if the cost of printable postage declined over time. For example, over the course of a year

• The first 20 mailings cost 50 cents each.
• The next 20-40 mailings - 35 cents each
• 40+ mailings - 20 cents each
• After 52 weeks, you start over at 50 cents. 

I would maybe use PP all the time. Currently I only use it when I mail 2+ credits swaps.

i never print postage from here i just take them all to usps. i would love to see the book site go back to how it used to be & not have paid memberships. the whole point of these sites is to get things for free, & a paid membership flies in the face of that.

There has to be some way for the site to have revenue; it's not a charity that the site owners are paying for out of their pockets. However, I would be interested in a membership fee option for this site, that would waive request and printed postage fees. I wonder how difficult it would be for them to figure out a reasonable amount that members would be willing to pay.

I'm going to go back to the suggestion I made initially and say adding a donation button would be preferrable to adding additional cost to postage.  Maybe on the page where you add swap money?