The Return of Barter Economy: Swap your English Books in Germany
For many expats, one of their biggest gripes is how expensive books are in Germany, especially imported English books. The Buchpreisbindungsgesetz not only stipulates a book’s price but also prohibits publishers and bookstores to sell it for any less. The idea is to protect the value of books as a cultural heritage by exempting it from the “supply and demand” inevitability of a free market, as well as protecting the smaller, independent bookstores from being disadvantaged by a more competitive pricing chain stores more capable of sustaining. Amazon Germany is also subject to the same regulation. Since 2004 customers were no longer able to use coupons for book purchases. Thank goodness at least free shipping for books is not verboten. I can see that the heart of the law is in the right place, but on the other hand you’d have to wonder at the end of the day if book lovers aren’t the real underdog with the heaviest burden to bear?
In an age of P2P online sharing and social networking the idea and timing couldn’t be better: introducing Bookswapper.de, a free (as in free beer) website dedicated to bartering English books. This is how it works: once you signed up and created an account, you’d need to list at least 5 books to put on the catalogue. Your effort will be rewarded with a token. Each token will entitle you to an available book on Bookswapper. Should you find something you like, simply click the “swap it” button and the owner will be notified of your request. The rest is just playing the waiting game before that book of your dreams pops up in your mailbox. It’s that simple. But now you’re tokenless, how do you get more? Well you should’ve thought of that before you list your TV guides or Reader’s Digests for swapping! For each book on your list that’s requested and received, you’ll get one token. So the better selection of your offering, the higher the chance people are going to request something from you. Your generosity will be awarded with these precious tokens money can’t buy.
I have traded two books so far (A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes for A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka; Fatherland by Robert Harris for The World and Other Places: Stories by Jeanette Winterson. A third book, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, is on its way.) This is just an example of the book collection on Bookswapper: you’ll find older gems as well as recent releases. After receiving a book you can give your feedback online just like you do on Ebay. Once you finish the book, you are encouraged, but not obliged, to re-list the book by just click of a button. For your browsing pleasure the book categories are divided into fiction and non-fiction: the former runs the gamut from children’s to historical novels. There are only four sub-categories under non-fiction. I’m really hoping to see “computer/IT”, “social sciences” and “poetry” soon. Not sure where to start browsing? The front page features a random selection of books as well as the newest entries. A built-in search engine also lets you look for that book you’ve always wanted to read. Books can be added to your watch list before you earned tokens to redeem them with. There’s also a forum on Bookswapper for members to discuss with each other.
Other than the 85 Cent Postage (Büchersendung) for shipping books to your fellow book swappers, this community driven service is absolutely free. When you request a book, the book owner pays for the shipment. What better way to share your book collection and get free books in return? The more people contribute, the more we all benefit. Still got questions? Here’s the FAQ. You need a referrer to sign up, so you probably need to ask around a bit, or feel free to contact me if we’ve made our acquaintance. For each new referral who successfully completes his or her first swapping, you’ll be honored with a token. So start spreading the word already.
Did I hear anyone say “CDSwapper”?
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