What is the real cost of SwapaDVD?

Unlike other some other swap sites, SwapaDVD is free to use. The primary cost involved is the cost of postage to mail DVDs from your own collection when they are requested by other members. There is no cost to order DVDs from other members – as long as you have the credits on hand that you need to “pay” for all your orders. In cases where you may be new to the site or just don’t have enough credits on hand to get that 6 disk CSI box set (the site “charges” 1 credit per disk, so a 6 disk set “costs” 6 credits), you can always purchase credits in the kiosk at the cost of $4.95 each credit (or $29.70 for that 6 disk set I mentioned). I’ve found this to be an expensive way to acquire movies and we do have alternatives.I’ve mentioned before that there are sister sites that offer swap environments for books and music. These are: PaperBackSwap and SwapaCDThe site developers allow users to transfer credits from one site to the other. Credits transferred between the book and music sites transfer at a rate of 1 for 1. However, transfers from these sites to the DVD site only transfer at a rate of 3 for 2 (30 book or music credits equates to 20 DVD credits). Conversely this also means that 2 DVD credits are worth 3 book or music credits. If one has a plethora of DVDs that they no longer want but a large list of books or music titles that they would like, this is very good news, especially since the costs involved with earning those DVD credits are less than $2.00 for postage.

On the book site, PaperBackSwap, it costs $2.13 to mail a single (1 pound) book via media mail (or $2.31 if one used electronic Delivery Confirmation). This doesn’t include the cost of shipping supplies such as tape or any mailers you might elect to use. So to convert 2 book credits (if you mailed books that weighed less than a pound) the resulting SwapaDVD credit will have cost you $3.20. If one mailed 2 hardcover books weighing 1.5 pounds each, the cost increases to $3.70 (the standard 2 pound media mail rate is $2.47) Even at the 2 pound book rate you would save $1.25 per credit over buying them at the kiosk at SwapaDVD.

My newest addiction: SwapaDVD.com

On November 14th I joined SwapaDVD while it was still in beta as I’d been a member at their sister sites (PaperBackSwap and SwapaCD) for a while and had really been successful in refreshing my reading and listening libraries at little expense. Since joining SwapaDVD I’ve received over 20 DVDs and have over 15 still enroute to my home as I write this post! Pretty good results in less than 3 weeks! The site went public on November 27th and that’s when the action really started! At 2:07 PM (CST) on November 27th, 2007 I noted the following metrics concerning the site:

3,683 available DVDs ++

332 registered members in the directory**

As I write this post, there are:

21,846 available DVDs ++

826 registered members in the directory**

** there are far more actual members who are unregistered than registered. A registered members is simply one who has input a public profile to the site. I myself am unregistered and enjoy full membership.

++ This number does not include the thousands of DVDs that have already been traded – it’s just the number currently available to browse through.

I can’t begin to guess how many members there might be now at the site, but they have a map of the US available that shows a red dot for each location (which could count hundreds of members) a member(s) has signed up. That map is full of red!

If you’re interested in trading your old DVDs in for new ones you really need to check them out. The only costs involved come into play when you actually ship one of your own DVDs to another member (usually less than $2.00 for a standard DVD). When you join, you’ll want to post at least 10 DVDs of your own that you’re willing to trade. This will earn you a free starter credit so you can order something right away from another member! The system that they’ve set-up even assures privacy as the only time anyone even finds out your real name is once they’ve printed out your order.

I’ve spent a lot of time playing around on the site so I’ll be back to post some user hints and guidelines. Until then… either click on the yellow banner above or the white radio buttons to visit the coolest new DVD trading destination on the planet!

Added January 11, 2008:

As I write this I have received 62 DVDs (or sets) and have 5 others en route to me. The stats of the site are:

32,868 available DVDs

1,325 registered members

In the past 5 days an average of 822 DVDs were added each day. Of course a significant portion of those went to fill wish list requests or were gobbled up by folks browsing the items listed on the “posted today” page.