In a bad economy like this cash is king.  You can trust the rules and reputation of some online trading sites now that they’ve been up and running for a while.  From books to clothing here’s some stalwart sites to save your cash and still get something new to you. Popular freecycle enables you to give or get what you want from someone near you.  Local groups are moderated by a volunteer.   You join a Yahoo group and get a daily or weekly email “digest” or summary of what you can get or is being given away. My local group has 3,265 active members.  I trusted it when I read the rules.

Other popular sites help you directly swap books, clothes, music or movies – or indirectly swap items by accruing credits for what you give to the online community. The matching service is usually free.  Participants simply pay for postage. Swaptree, for example, facilitates direct trades of books (around 700,000), CDs, movies, or games.  Plus you can print out postage through the site.  That’s usually under $2, at the cheapest rate (“media mail”) yet it can take 14-21 days. See other book swapping sites: Bookins.com, PaperBackSwap and Bookmooch.com. Swapping books is popular for many people yet the library is my cheapest, most efficient option. I can reserve books online the moment they are released and get an emailed notice of their arrival for just 50 cents.

Yet one can get stylish, “lightly-used” quality clothing via some swap sites. At Big Wardrobe you can swap or turn your unwanted clothes back into cash. For just women’s clothing see Swap-O-Rama (for in-person exchanges at a nearby place) and Swapstyle.com (an online fashion exchange). What swap sites do you love using?