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Online trades let you exchange old items for 'new'
The Arizona Republic - 8/16/2009 by Kara G. Morrison

It's like free shopping - postage not included.

Fueled by the recession and the green movement, online swap sites are thriving. They're satisfying people's hunger for something "new" by letting them trade things they don't need for things they want.

People swap books, crafts, gift cards, clothes and makeup. But wait! There's more. People also trade cellphone plans, car leases and even their homes.

On these Web sites, members either negotiate direct trades with other members or use a type of non-monetary point system to "buy" and "sell" their stuff.

There's no membership fee, but if you use the site's postage and label-printing service, the fee is $1 per month. Shipping generally costs less than $3 per item. Other media swap sites include swapacd.com, swapadvd.com, paperbackswap.com, bookmooch.com, frugalreader.com and switchplanet.com.