DVD Swapping Websites - Trade, Exchange and Swap DVDs Online

Bartering, trading, swapping, exchanging...whatever you want to call it, the activity is as old as human history can trace. Online trading sites have taken this principal to a whole new level however, allowing you to swap your unwanted stuff with people all over the country and in the case of some, with people all over the world.

Movie swapping sites facilitate the trading process by avoiding the kind of one-to-one trading you find on forums and message boards by using credits which take the place of direct trading. This makes the whole process easier and opens up the marketplace to a vastly larger group of people.

Possibly the biggest movie swap club in the United States is SwapaDVD, the sister site of the excellent book sharing club Paperbackswap.

At the time of writing SwapaDVD has a large membership of movie lovers sharing close to 70,000 DVDs in their database. That's a lot of movies, and you could be trading yours with them a few minutes after joining for free and listing your used DVDs too.

Psst. Want a free DVD?

SwapaDVD encourages new members by giving them one free DVD sharing credit when they join and list their first ten titles on the site. Since each normal DVD will cost you just one credit to order (box sets, TV show series etc. cost more as they are more expensive to buy) that's a free DVD movie you can order from anyone else on the site and have delivered to your doorstep free of charge.

How cool is that!

Once, you have listed your used DVD swaps onto the site, you will start receiving swap requests from other members.

Complete each request by sending that DVD off to the requester in the mail. When they receive it, and verify it is in acceptable condition, you will receive at least 1 swapping credit in return which you can then use to request more DVDs from other members.

Get bored with these and relist them for more credits...are you starting to see how much money you can save here? All you pay to receive a DVD is media mail postage in one direction. That's around $2 at current rates.

SwapaDVD also gives you the option to buy DVD swapping credits through the site rather than swapping movies for them. The price is $4.95 per credit at the time of writing but if you check on the site's user forums (look under DVD bartering) you will often find other people selling their excess credits for around $3.50 or less if you choose to go this route instead.

You can also check the forums for people offering special deals and bargains on the DVD stack. Often, you'll be able to pick up 3, 4 or even more DVDs from one person for the cost of just one credit.

SwapaDVD also offers printable postage directly through their site so you do not have to waste time and gas on a trip to the post office. Just print out the postage at home and leave the package for the mailman to pick up.

I really like how this site works compared to many of the others out there. The user interface is great, the site easy to navigate as a whole and there are some nice user friendly features which make the trading process easier.

For example, you can place reserve orders on DVDs not yet in the system and so long as you have credits available these will be automatically requested and sent to you without you having to keep checking in all the time to see if there is something you want available.

The credit-based system also avoids that awkward social bartering you'll see on other sites, especially forums, which admittedly some prefer but for myself, find just plain off-putting.

Overall, I'm impressed with this site and the money saving opportunities it presents. You can also pat yourself on the back for going green into the process because all this reuse and recycling keeps those DVDs out of a landfill and cuts the number being produced as well.

Join SwapaDVD Today!

SwapTree is another swapping site which allows you to share DVDs, books and CDs with people across the United States.

Swaptree is free to join and free to use so all you pay to trade your stuff is postage in one direction plus of course, the value of the item you are swapping...which is effectively zero dollars if you aren't going to use it any more!

Swaptree works a little differently from the other sites on this page because here you are swapping directly with other users on the site, not swapping for credits. SwapTree has an interesting way of doing this however, which leads to every item you list having a massive amount of trading options.

Every item you list as having is matched with people who have items you might want. So, for example, you list the movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" as a used DVD you want to swap. The system will then hunt around for everyone who wants that movie and display all the other DVD, Books etc. you could get by trading your DVD with others on the site.

It is then up to the both of you to ship your item to each other. Easy - and easier still when you consider you can print postage directly through the site and just leave the package out for your mailman saving you a trip to the post office in the process.

The best thing about SwapTree is how you can trade a book for a CD or a movie for a book or any other combination if you choose. Perhaps you've got tired of your DVD collection taking up space, well that's great because you can swap them all for books or CDs rather than having to do a peer to peer swap for more DVDs.

Another nice thing is you can actually list the condition of the item here and read others descriptions of their item condition. Used DVDs can get a bit scratched and cases dog-eared, which is fine for some but not so for others. By listing the condition, you avoid any confusion and potential problems later. Other swap sites rely upon user integrity and common sense when it comes to listing items which generally works out great but does sometimes meet with unreasonable responses.

SwapTree is a free DVD swap service, you don't pay for anything but the normal postal rates of shipping a swapped DVD, so there are no "per transaction" charges you might find at DVD swapping sites like PeerFlix.

Join Swap Tree Today!

Switch Planet is not a dedicated DVD swapping club, but instead lets you swap books, CDs and DVDs all on the one site.

It also works a little differently to the aforementioned SwapADVD in that here, you set a price in credits for the items you want to trade rather than it being a simple one for one swap. The 'currency' used here is called Switchbucs with each Switchbuc being worth around 50 cents.

Whilst, in theory varied item pricing makes more sense, because a brand new just released movie ought to be worth more credits than an older, bargain basement title, this method does also have its drawbacks.

Firstly, you might get more credits for your shiny new movie, but you are also going to have to use more of them to request their shiny new movie too.

I also find a lot of rather optimistic credit requests on here. I was just looking at a used copy of Snakes On A Plane at Switch Planet which was listed at 18 Switchbucs by one user which is the appoximate equivalent of $9.

OK, great, except it's $5.99 for a BRAND NEW copy at Amazon!

Anyway, negative points out the way early, the really nice thing here is the ability to be able to trade DVDs for books, or books for CDs etc. That kind of flexibilty is welcome.

You can also list items you have but not list them as being ready for trading right now. This enables people to contact you through the site interface and make you an offer. If you feel like doing some real bartering, then Switch Planet gives you that option.

I do find however, the sites dedicated to just one media type whether it be books, gaming or DVDs, have more of those items available and it is therefore easier to find the titles you are looking for fast without waiting days or weeks for someone to list them.

Switch Planet is of course, free to join and free to use so it is definitely worth checking out.

Join Switch Planet Here!

SwapItShop - This isn't a dedicated DVD swapping site but instead, allows you to swap all kinds of things including movies, books, stationary, clothing, shopping vouchers, gadgets and more. Swapitshop uses credits they call "Swapits" which you can use to bid on items other people have listed on the site. Swap your own stuff to earn Swapits or look around for other ways in which you can also earn Swapits without trading anything. An interesting concept which might work for you British swapping fans.