by Anne Parker

Created on: June 26, 2009   Last Updated: July 14, 2009

BookMooch.com is an amazing website that allows you to exchange your unwanted or old books for other books that you might want. The site offers great trading opportunities, especially because it allows you to keep your information private. If another member wants to contact you, they email BookMooch and in turn, Bookmooch forwards the message to you, keeping your email address and name a secret.

In addition to the site's excellent privacy policy, it protects your home address to. Of course someone has to see it to send a book to you, but that address is never posted on your BookMooch profile, it is sent in an email to the sender. Anyone can join, regardless of what country you live in, how old you are, and the good news is- it's absolutely free! So you might wonder how you get the books you want absolutely free of charge, with the exception of postage. Here's how it works.

When you post a book you want to give away, you describe all about the book so the person requesting the book, the moocher, will know what he/she is getting. The information required includes the book's title and the author's name. It is also optional to add the books ISBN number, it's weight and size, it's publisher and publication date, the binding of the book, the number of pages, the various topics the book might include, and a description of the condition of the book. After you post a book, you receive a tenth of a point.

When a person mooches, one of your books, you receive a full point when you send that book to them. (Hint: If you send the book through USPS, you have the option to send it media mail. Shipping it that way will save you money on postage.) That point can go towards a book that you want to mooch (Points never expire or decrease in value), or you can donate points to several charities via the BookMooch site. The charities you can donate to include:

The Public Library Charity Fund

BookMooch Charitable Fund

Books for Prisons

Charities for Children and New Mothers

Books for Schools and Classrooms

Plus, if you're going on vacation and aren't able to send books while you're away, there is an option where you can post a message to any potential moochers that you are away, but will be back in so-and-so amount of time! Speaking of neat features, BookMooch has the option for you to list the books you want on a wish list, even though they may not be posted on the site yet. When someone adds the book into their inventory an email is sent to you notifying you that the book you want is available. It's as easy as that. BookMooch.com is a simple, fun way to get new books and get rid of the old ones.

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