Swap site satisfies strapped shoppers

Tracy Walters loves books so much she keeps a spreadsheet: books she's read, books she owns, her all-time top 10. She likes scary, supernatural books, "as long as they're not gross or disgusting," so Dean Koontz and Stephen King make the list.

She doesn't see herself as "a romance person," but Nora Roberts makes the list, too, for great stories. The best? Well, that might be Alice Hoffman, who wrote "Practical Magic" and "Aquamarine." Or maybe that quirky, interesting John Irving.

This Christmas, books will be her gift of choice for many of her relatives and friends. But the Erda resident recently lost her job, and she's not in a position to break the bank, either. So the price tag will be the time she spends making a thoughtful selection for each individual and the cost of postage as she mails a book she's giving up in return.

She plans to swap to get the right books.

Kolin Durrant, who lives in Salt Lake City, said he will use the same care — and rack up the same cost — as he shops for some of the gifts he'll give his 2-year-old son, Gavin. Time and postage. He recently scored mint DVDs of "Madagascar II" and "Kung Fu Panda" for the tot.

"He goes through phases, but they're short," said Durrant. "Seems like he's on Scooby Doo for two months, then on to Little Einsteins. Trading makes sense."

Both Walters and Durrant swap items online using SwapTree.com, which lets consumers trade books, DVDs, video games and music CDs. A person lists what he has and what he'd like to receive in a straight-across, single-item swap. SwapTree.com pairs the haves with the wanna-haves. The only cost is postage to send the package on its way to a new home.

SwapTree does the match-making, said Mark Hexamer, vice president of marketing for the trading Web site. The companies hopes to make money not off the traders, but from advertising as traffic soars. And though you can't trade an expensive book for two smaller books, they will do three-way trades where Person A can send his book to B, who sends a DVD to C, and she in turn sends her book to A.

The site, which launched in 2007, has several hundred thousand users and sees several thousand trades a day. Traffic is picking up with the approaching holidays, Hexamer said.

"In the recession, with money so tight, we have doubled or more our traffic. It's big with moms, who are in charge of the media budget. It's really appealing to take that game your son got two months ago and is done playing, and trade it on for the next one, in great condition."

Both Walters and Durrant said they're cutting shopping expenses in other ways, too.

Besides swapping books and video games, Durrant, who said he's made more than 100 trades at SwapTree, said he and his wife Jennifer have decided to donate money to charities in the names of people to whom they normally send presents. It's going to be a tough holiday for a lot of people, he said, and that's one way to make a difference.

Walters searches out prices on the Internet even if she plans to buy in local stores, and by the time she shops, she knows what she's after and where to get it, "so I can get in, get what I need and get out."

This year, though, she, too, is paying more attention to the homeless and the poor. Unemployment just before Christmas has been humbling, she said. And bittersweet, because now she is "back to what Christmas is about." She said she plans to do more for people who are struggling.

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