Frequently Asked Questions

Swap.com allows you to trade books, music, movies and video games that are just lying around for the books, CDs, movies, video games that you do want to try. Simply put: Swap.com gets you the things you want for the things you have.

Unlike auction sites or other used item sites where you can sell or purchase items, on swap.com your items will only cost you the price of shipping. What do you do when you're done with the item you received? You swap it out for something else. It's a cyclical process that makes sense, and costs you less per month than a buying a book, movie, CD or video game brand new.

The only cost associated with swapping is the cost to ship your item to your swap partner. This typically averages around $3.20. That's it. No other costs are involved.

You list the books, CDs, movies, and video games that you have to trade, and then list the books, CDs, movies and video games that you want and swap.com does the rest.

Swap.com will show you all of the items that you can receive for the items on your 'have list'. By clicking the "GET NOW" link next to an item you'll get more information about both the item and the trader so you decide whether or not you want to move ahead with the swap.

When you're ready to swap, choose the item you want to trade and an e-mail will automatically be sent to the other parties in the transaction. If the other traders accept, you'll get an email letting you know the trade is completed and you will then be provided the shipping address where you need to ship your item.

First, simply tell us what items you Have to swap by searching for your items in the search bar at the top of the page. After you select the item from the results, click the “Add to Have List” button at the top of the popup and follow the quick steps to choose the version you have and what condition it is in.

The next thing you need to do is tell us what you WANT. The ONLY way that other users can initiate trades with you is if you have items on your want list. The easiest way to get things on your want list is to do a search for the item that you want in the search bar at the top of the page. Once you find the item you want, just click "want it" and that item will be placed onto your want list.

You are responsible for paying the shipping for the item that you are sending. You can use our automatic shipping label feature and print out a label from your home without having to go to the post office. We'll just charge your account the applicable shipping amount based on the weight of your item, then you just drop the envelope in the mail and you're done! Swap.com labels also come with built-in delivery confirmation tracking. This not only lets you know when your item arrives, but also protects you in case your swap partner tries to claim that they never received their item.

If you don't want to use our label printing feature no problem. However, we recommend that you ship all of your items first class (regular mail rates) so you can track your package to ensure it arrived. (FYI: because books are significantly heavier, we recommend that you ship all books using Media Mail, which is a special class of service the USPS provides which is significantly less expensive than first class.) We still recommend you purchase delivery confirmation to be able to prove you shipped your item.

Yes, you can! Take the CDs you never listen to and trade them for movies you want to see or games you want to play. Need a new book? No problem - trade one of your media items for a book and when you're done, just swap that book out for something else. Easy, eh?

All trades on swap.com are one-for-one, meaning that you will trade one item and receive one item in return. Swap.com does NOT facilitate two-for-one trades where a user trades multiple items for a single item.

Let's say you want a book that Sally has, Sally wants a CD that Dave has and Dave wants a video game that you have. Swap.com will manage the trade so that you can get what you want from a third person who wants something from a second person who wants something from you. Confused? Don't be.

Swap.com's ability to automatically calculate and create three-way trades is what allows you to be able to receive so many items. Don't be surprised if you are shipping your item to one user and receiving your item from a different user.

Completely. Using swap.com is no different than selling your used CD on eBay, or taking that book you just finished and selling it to your neighborhood used bookstore. The only difference is that on swap.com there is no money exchanged between swappers.

No, never. Your personal information is safe with us. Read the full privacy policy

We use U.S. Eastern Standard Time (-0400 GMT).

At this time, swap.com is only available to residents of the United States. However, we are growing quickly and we plan to expand internationally. Stay tuned!

Simply use the search bar at the top of the page to find the item you would like to swap. A drop down menu will appear where you can choose the type of item you have (book, music, movie, or video game). If there are multiple versions of your item, you will be asked to choose which item you have (make sure you clicked the "Add to Have" button). All you have to do is click on the exact item you have. The next step is to describe the item condition. That's it. Click the "Add item to my Have list" button and you are ready to swap.

The easiest way to add an item your want list is by searching for the item that you want in the search box above. Once you have found the right item, click on the "want it" link next to the item, and it will be added to your want list.

Please remember that adding an item to your want list tells the other swappers that you really really want the item and are open to swap requests.

Think of swap.com as your own personal shopper who is always after the items you want. If swap.com doesn't know what items that you want, how are we supposed to find any trades for you? So make sure you have items on your want list as well as your have list.

A Universal Product Code (UPC code) is the unique number underneath the barcode found on the back of CDs, movies and video games.

ISBN's (International Standard Book Number) are printed on the back of a book above the barcode, and they also appear on the back of the book's title page.

Don't worry - we can fix this. Our database has millions of books, CDs, movies, and video games and is updated weekly with new items, but there are still numerous reasons why we might not recognize the UPC/ISBN for your item. For example, the item was a foreign release, part of a multi-item set, was obtained through a CD/movie/book club, or was published by a smaller independent publisher/record label.

If you have an item that you are unable to add to your have list, please report it to us via the Contact Us feature for ISBN/UPC issues. Simply complete the required fields to send us the ISBN/UPC code, the title of the item, the author/artist/publisher, and the media type (book, CD, movie or video game). Your inquiry will be automatically routed to our database administrator who will then research the item and if possible, add it to our database. When it is available on the site, we will contact you via email.

The process is handled on a case-by-case basis, and as you can imagine, it does take some time. We appreciate your patience as we continue to update our database.

You should describe the condition of the item as best you can. Add details like "The CD case has a crack in it, but the CD is in great shape" or "Video game only used once - still in excellent condition." Is there a dust jacket on the book? Is there an original jewel case for the CD? Is there an instruction booklet with the video game? The more you share, the better the possibility of a successful swap. A happy swap yields a positive rating from the person on the other end of the transaction, and that means more trades for you.

For now, you are allowed to list CDs where you only have the disc and not the cover or artwork. (However in this situation, you MUST list the items as only being in "acceptable" condition and the missing artwork and case MUST be noted in the item description field.)

However, for movies and video games, you can ONLY list items which INCLUDE THE CASE AND ALL ART WORK. We find that many of our users want to re-trade movies and video games after they are finished with them, so it is essential that you only list movies and video games which are "complete" with case and all artwork.

If the condition of your item is below "acceptable", then you cannot list it on swap.com. You wouldn't want to receive an item that was damaged, broken or dirty, would you? Remember, your trader rating is at stake, so be accurate in your descriptions!

Unfortunately, swap.com will not support the trading of VHS video tapes. However, we just added audiobooks to our lineup of items to trade (and Blu-Ray movies too)!

Swap.com also allows you to add items to your have list that you don't want to currently trade. Think of this as your "own list" -- it's a list of items that you own that you don't want to trade, but just want to hold on to in the event you change you mind.

There are two ways that items get onto your "own list". When you add an item to your have list, there is a checkbox that says "i am offering this item for trade". If you uncheck this box, that item will be placed on your "own list". Additionally, after you receive an item in trade, the item that you received will automatically be placed in your "own list" after you rate the user who sent the item to you.

When a trade is rejected on swap.com because a user was not satisfied with the condition of the item they received that item is temporarily "frozen" until the condition of the item is reviewed by swap.com. This way, we can ensure that the condition of the item meets our item condition guidelines. This allows us to quickly remove items in poor condition from the system and prevent them from being involved in future trades.

No. Well, not unless you want to. Swap.com wants to make sure that high value items such as new video games, multi-disc movie sets and multi-CD sets, will be traded fairly with other items of high value status. Therefore, if you list a new video game we won't allow people to initiate trades with you unless you are receiving a high value item from your want list in return. However, if you want to initiate a trade where you get, say a book for your new video game, you are free to do so.

You are not allowed to trade burned, copied, or electronic items on swap.com. This includes e-books, CD's containing purchased and/or downloaded albums or songs from any online site, unauthorized movie reproductions, and video games that have been purchased through "Steam" or other video game download sites and/or servers.

You can trade CD's that are missing their original artwork and case, however you must list those CDs as being in "acceptable condition," and the missing artwork and case MUST be noted in the item description field.

All movies and video games MUST contain original artwork and case. In addition, items that were downloaded and accessed on the internet with any purchased and/or private access or registration code are prohibited.

For more information view our item condition guidelines.

Trading counterfeit items is prohibited by law and offenders will be reported to the appropriate authorities. If you receive a counterfeit movie, CD, or video game in trade with another swap.com user, please let us know by emailing us: support@swap.com.

You don't. Swap.com does all of that for you. You simply tell us what books, CDs, movies and video games you want and what items you are willing to trade, and we go out and find matching trades for you. When we find you a potential trade, we will send you an e-mail, at which point you can accept or reject the trade.

There are two ways to get involved in a trade.

First, add items to your have list. Once you do, swap.com will generate a tally of all the items available for you to receive in exchange for your item. This number can be found in the upper right hand corner of the page. Browse the items by media type or via search and choose an item you want for one of the items you have.

To initiate a trade for any available item, simply click on the "GET NOW" link and you will be shown the condition of the item, as well as information about the user who has the item. A couple clicks later and the item will be on its way to you.

You might also find yourself involved in a trade if you have items on both your have list AND your want list. As other users initiate trades amongst each other, swap.com will be on the lookout for three-way trade possibilities. When this happens, we will notify you via an email that a trade is available and you can then login to review and accept that trade.

The best way to increase the number of trades you are involved in is to keep adding items to BOTH your have and want lists. The more items you have, the easier it is for swap.com to match you with potential traders and include you in more trades.

Hint: New items and bestsellers do well on swap.com. Trading a best-selling book or a recent CD, movie or game release will generate many more items available for trade.

Finally, try browsing through items that other users have recently added to their have list. Anything you see on those pages are items someone else is trading, and if you add any of those items to your want list by clicking on "want it" there's a good chance that you'll be able to get that item for something on your have list.

That's fine. Simply enter the items that you are willing to trade, and swap.com will show you all the items that you can receive in return. At that point you can decide if any of the items interest you and if so, you can initiate a swap.

Because swap.com is a dynamic community, people are constantly adding items, so the number and variety of items available for trade will change every day!

Sure. Swap.com will show you all of the books, CDs, movies, and video games that you can receive, regardless of whether or not it is on your want list. If you see an item you want, simply initiate a trade for it by clicking on the "GET NOW" link.

Trade requests will be e-mailed directly to you. You can also log on to your swap.com account and view any pending trades by clicking "My Trades" in the upper-right part of the screen.

It's very likely that you'll find duplicate items on the site. Everyone has a copy of something, right? Just browse through the items and choose the one think looks best based the condition and description of the item, the user ratings of the traders, as well as how close the items are to you geographically, so you can minimize shipping time.

You do not have to accept a trade, but before you initiate a trade be certain it's something you want. Trades are only presented to you when you will be receiving an item on your want list in return for an item on your have list; rejecting a trade should be rare occurrence.

Also, when you reject a trade it could affect the trades of multiple users. Because of this, all rejected trades are automatically reviewed by swap.com, and users who reject trades may have their account flagged so they will not receive future trade options.

After a trade is initiated, you have 48 hours to accept the trade. If you do not accept an offer within that timeframe, the trade will expire so that the other members can initiate other trades with their items.

Expired trades can also have a negative impact on other users. If you let a trade expire we will automatically pause your account and you will not receive any more trades. In order to start receiving trades again, you simply need to login and un-pause your account on the account info tab of your profile page.

Your trade limit is the number of concurrent trades that you can participate in at one time. Each user's trade limit is based on a number of factors including the number of total trades that user has participated in already, and the number of positive user ratings that user has received.

We want you to know that swap.com will do everything possible to work with your swap partner to ensure you get the item you wanted... even if it means sending you a replacement item at their expense. Yes, you read that correctly. As of October 1, 2010, swap.com is thrilled to offer our SafeSwap program.

For any trade initiate after October 1, 2010, under our swap.com's SafeSwap program, if you do not receive your item after 27 days and your swap partner does not have valid proof of shipment (either by using swap.com labels or buying delivery confirmation through the USPS), swap.com will purchase the item you wanted from one of our retail partners and charge your swap partner's account for the expense. Under this program, we can now guarantee that you will get the item you wanted. If, for some reason, the item you want is no longer available, we will send you a similar item of equal value.

After 10 business days, if you have tried to contact your swap partner without a response and you have reason to believe that your swap partner does not intend to ship your item and they cannot offer proof of shipment, simply click on the "contact this user" link on your My Swaps page. On the next page you will see the link "formally report this missing item to swap.com". Click on this link and fill in the appropriate information. That's it. After you report the item not received, we will try to contact your swap partner over the following 10 business days and, if there is still no resolution, we will send you the item you wanted and charge the other swapper's account.

If your swap partner does provide valid shipping confirmation (not just that they printed a label, but that your item is scanned in route), you will not be eligible for the SafeSwap program.

Once you have formally reported an item to swap.com, the item is placed in an "Item Not Received" status and the other user's account will be suspended until the issue is resolved.

If you do receive the item from the user, please log in to your account go to your "my trades" page and under the image of the item you have not received, click on the link "report item received".

On the next page, verify that you received your item by clicking "Yes - I received my item, and swap.com can therefore close my Item Not Received complaint." You will then be asked to rate your trade partner. Your INR complaint will then be closed, and we will look into reinstating your trade partner's account.

Lastly, if you had been in contact with the user via swap.com, you might also want to let them know it arrived. You do not need to contact Swap.com Support. If you followed the steps mentioned above, the rest will happen automatically.

Read our story on "the case of the missing item" for more information on the item not received process.

Yes, there is a time limit. You have 90 days from the day the swap was completed (accepted by all parties involved) to file an item not received complaint. We did this to underscore the importance of filing your complaint in a timely manner. The longer you go without filing, the more difficult it will be for swap.com to help get you the item you want.

At this point the trade is placed in an "Item Not Received" status. We take a user's inability to send an item very seriously and will of course assist you in attempting to complete the trade.

The other user's account will be suspended and we will contact the user both through email, the phone and other means to see that this trade is completed. If they do not have valid proof of shipping, our SafeSwap program will kick in and we will send you the item you wanted from one of our major retail partners at your swap partner's expense.

To follow every action we take on your behalf, go to your "my trades" page, and beneath the image of the item you have not received click on the link "item not received status". Here we will show you what action we are currently taking to resolve the issue, as well as any response we have received from your trade partner and any next steps we will take on your behalf.

If you do receive the item from the user, please log in to your account go to your "my trades" page and under the image of the item you have not received, click on the link "report item received".

On the next page, verify that you in fact received your item by clicking "Yes - I received my item, and swap.com can therefore close my Item Not Received complaint." You will then be asked to rate your trade partner. Your item not received complaint will then be closed, and we will look into reinstating your trade partner's account.

Lastly, if you had been in contact with the member via swap.com, you might also want to let them know it arrived. You DO NOT need to contact Swap.com Support, if you followed the steps mentioned above.

There are several reasons why you may not be able to initiate a trade. The most common reason is that you are over your trade limit. Your trade limit is the number of concurrent trades that you can participate in at one time. We set a trade limit for all our users! Each user's trade limit is based on a number of factors including the number of total trades that user has participated in and the number of positive user ratings that user has received. As we learn more about you as a trader, your trade limit will increase.

If you try to initiate a trade and get the message "this item is no longer available" this may be occurring for various reasons. For example, maybe your potential trade partner paused their account, or someone else has traded for the item that you wanted, or your potential trade partners no longer want what you have.

Regardless of the reason, if you are experiencing any difficulty with initiating trades, please email swap.com directly (support@swap.com) and we will gladly look into any issues that you are experiencing.

We understand the disappointment in receiving a damaged or broken item. We have carefully outlined the appropriate steps to resolve such an issue.

1) Verify that the item was shipped in the appropriate condition as stated under the item description. Then try to ascertain whether the damage most likely happened in transit and if so, if the user packaged the item correctly.

2) If the item was not as described, and it looks like the item was damaged before it was sent, or was poorly packaged, contact the user to indicate you are disappointed with the item. You can do this by going to your "my trades" page, and under the image of the item you have not received, click on the link "contact this user".

Most issues can be resolved through simply communicating with the other user.

If the item was a CD, movie, or video game and is unplayable in its current condition, discuss this with the sender. More often than not your trade partner will remedy the situation.

While we ask that all users give honest ratings to help preserve the integrity of the swap.com rating system, it is important to keep in mind that the condition of an item is typically subjective, and therefore reasonable people can have differing viewpoints. We ask that you please follow our guidelines before giving your trade partner a neutral or negative rating due to an item's condition.

3) We always recommend following the USPS guidelines for preparing packages, but on rare occasions an item can be damaged during shipping. If this is the case, please contact the shipping carrier for more assistance. The most commonly used carriers are:

USPS
UPS
FedEx

In some instances, when a user has received an item damaged by the carrier, the sender has offered to send another item on their "Have" list to that user. This goes above and beyond our expectations and swap.com is happy to recognize these great people. Feel free to suggest this to the sender as an option, creative solutions can always be found!

Please feel free to forward any specific issues you are experiencing with a trade to support@swap.com.

We are glad this trade was resolved. When you receive an item that you reported as missing please log in to your account and find that trade on your "my trades" page.

Find the applicable trade and under the image of the item you have not received, click on the link "report item received".

On the next page, verify that you in fact received your item by clicking "Yes - I received my item, and swap.com can therefore close my Item Not Received complaint." You will then be asked to rate your trade partner. Your item not received complaint will then be closed, and we will look into reinstating your trade partner's account.

If you already rated your trade partner, and now in light of receiving your item, would like to change your rating, you can follow the same steps above. In this case you will only be able to rate your trade partner higher than your previous rating.

Lastly, if you had been in contact with the user via swap.com, you might also want to let them know it arrived. You DO NOT need to contact Swap.com Support if you followed the steps mentioned above.

A printer icon next to a user's name indicates that they use swap.com's shipping labels to ship their items. Using swap.com's shipping labels makes it very quick and easy to ship items and also gives other traders the benefit of being able to track their item during the shipping process.

Swap.com encourages all users to use our shipping labels for convenience and added security.

Each user involved in a trade should send their item by the end of the next business day. Failure to ship your items in a timely manner will have a negative affect your user rating and may result in you receiving fewer trades than other users.

This happens when swap.com sets up multi-way trades (otherwise known as 3-way trades). In this case, it is highly likely that you may be shipping your item to a different person than you are receiving your item from. Therefore, you should ALWAYS send your item to the address that swap.com provides to you in your email and in your "My Trades" page. You should NEVER ask another user for their address. If you have to ask for their address, then we guarantee you are about to send your items to the wrong person. Instead, just trust us, and use the name and address that we give you!

We recommend that you use our postage label system which will allow you to quickly print out a mailing label that includes the proper amount of postage on your regular printer using regular paper! If you haven't tried it yet, you really should - you'll never go back to licking and sticking stamps again! The additional bonus to using our shipping labels is that you can easily track your items.

If you don't want to use our label printing feature, then we recommend that you ship all of your CDs, movies and video games first class (regular mail rates). Because books are significantly heavier, we recommend that you ship them using Media Mail, which is a special class of service the USPS provides and is significantly less expensive than first class for books.

When you are ready to ship your item, swap.com will automatically provide you with the shipping amounts and postage class information based on the particular item that you are shipping.

You are allowed to ship ALL books directly from a blue USPS Collection Box if you use a swap.com prepaid postage label. If you use your own stamps, you are NOT allowed to put items in a blue USPS Collection Box if they weigh over 13 ounces. Because packages containing CDs, movies and video games are generally only six or seven ounces and below the 13 ounce limit, you can always place them in Collection Boxes regardless of whether you use a swap.com prepaid postage label or your own stamps.

This information comes directly from the USPS Website: Preparing Packages

Certainly, bubble envelopes offer a lot of protection for items, but we can also recommend that you ship items using large manila envelopes. At Staples or OfficeMax, you can get 100 of the 9x12" envelopes for around $6. The large size is great, because you can put any item inside the envelope and then fold the envelope around the item a couple of times to secure it.

We highly recommend that everyone recycle their packaging material. If you receive a movie in a bubble envelope from another trader, why not save the packaging so you can use it to mail your next trade? At swap.com we are all about reusing and recycling, so let's make sure that we apply those same guidelines to packaging!

The number provided along with all swap.com mailing labels is a delivery confirmation number and not a tracking code. This means that once your item is delivered, and possibly at one or more stops between drop off and delivery, your status will update. The USPS states that the "status of your Delivery Confirmation mail piece will be available on the evening of the date of delivery or attempted delivery." NOTE: USPS can take 24-48 hours, and sometimes longer, to update the delivery status information for delivery confirmation numbers. Please remember that USPS does not always provide en route status.

Packages are occasionally left with neighbors, a building manager, or are placed somewhere relatively safe such as your porch, garage, or even behind the screen door. Please first check with your neighbors and other family members, and around the perimeter of your home, before assuming the package wasn't delivered. If you still cannot locate the package, please contact your local mail carrier. That local carrier will be the one with the knowledge of where, how and to whom the package was delivered and will be the fastest path to locating your item.

If an item that you shipped using either a swap.com mailing label or your own postage was returned to you for any reason, please Contact Us, choosing the subject: "I have another question or comment" and remember to include the item and trade # in your message. We will then contact the intended recipient to determine if their address has changed. (Do not list the returned item back onto your "have" list unless instructed by swap.com.)

If you have received an item in the mail and think it came from a swap.com user, please Contact Us. Newer members have occasionally sent their items to the wrong address, despite our efforts to prevent these errors. Please remember to include as much information as possible about the item to help us to determine the correct recipient.

Yes that's true! We allow you to print accurate postage and perfect mailing labels directly from swap.com. No more long lines at the post office or calculating the weight of an item to ensure proper postage! We do that all for you.

When you are done with a trade, you will see a link that says "print shipping label" - click on it and we will create a perfect mailing label for you that includes your return address and the address where your item will be sent. We can bill your credit card or PayPal account for the amount of postage used at the end of every month.

No, no and no. You can use your regular printer and your regular paper, and no software is required. It doesn't get any easier that that!

If you printed a mailing label that includes postage from swap.com, then you can drop your item in any U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mailbox. Your printed label cannot be used with any other delivery service (i.e. UPS or FedEx), and will result in your item not being delivered.

Yes. Once you have printed a shipping label for a trade, you will NOT be charged if you need to print that label again. Just go to the "My Trades" page and under that trade click on "reprint mailing label".

Unfortunately, swap.com was charged immediately upon clicking the "print a postage label" button. We are not able to get a refund from the USPS for the label and therefore will not be able to pass along any refund to your user account.

Please take note that by pressing the button, you agree to swap.com's conditions of use and you are giving swap.com the permission to charge your payment method of record on your specified billing date each month for the total of all of your postage charges. All sales are final once a shipping label is generated; there are no refunds of any kind.

Similar to eBay and other used item selling sites, after every transaction the users involved provide feedback on each other. Factors that are considered when rating another member include how fast they shipped the item, the quality of the item shipped and whether the condition of the item was as they described.

When we notify you that a trade is available, we show you the other user's rating before you accept the trade. If a user has a lot of trades under their belt and comes with good feedback, that's a good sign.

If you ever don't receive an item that you were promised, swap.com provides the ability to report the missing item, and we will follow up with the other user to figure out what happened.

Each time a transaction is complete, you are asked to rate the person you traded with by giving them either a positive, neutral, or negative rating. We also encourage you to leave a short written comment about the transaction.

The rating you give another user is up to you, but if the transaction went smoothly, everything was shipped on time and the other person responded to any questions that you had, that sounds like a positive transaction. However, if the item was delivered very late or was received in bad condition, that might deserve a negative rating. It's up to you, but if you give a neutral or negative rating, please make sure that provide a comment explaining why you gave the rating you did.

Please give that user a negative rating and contact us at support@swap.com with more information. We will look into the matter and take the necessary action including immediately suspending that user's account.

We have a zero tolerance policy for users who trade pirated copies of ANY item.

If you don't feel comfortable with a user's rating then you certainly can decline a trade. Please remember, however, that all rejected trades are automatically reviewed by swap.com.

This is why we highly recommend everyone use swap.com labels or purchase USPS delivery confirmation. Without a valid tracking ID, swap.com will have no way to validate your claim. Under our SafeSwap policy, we will charge your credit card or PayPal account to send a replacement item to your swap partner. Confirmation of shipment will ensure this doesn't happen.

If you use a credit card as your primary form of payment, we will charge your credit card once every month for all of your swap costs (shipping fees if you use swap.com labels). If you are assessed a charge due to non-shipment of your item involved in a trade, we will charge your card immediately so we can send a replacement item to your swap partner.

If you use PayPal, you will be required to maintain a balance in your swap.com account for any charges incurred. Each charge will be deducted from your balance immediately.

If you use a credit card as your primary form of payment, this date of the month is important for you so you know what day swap.com will actually be charging your credit card each month. The day of the month assigned to you will be constant every month. This means that all fees applied to your account between your billing dates will be charged on the date shown. So, if your billing date says the 7th of every month, all fees between the 7th of the current month and the 6th of the following month will be included in one transaction charge on your credit card. You can view your billing date on your account profile next to your payment method info.

Included in your postage amount is the small charge that our third-party postage provider charges us for creating the label, as well as the additional charge that the United States Postal Service charges us for the ability to track items when they are delivered.

We require a valid credit card or PayPal account because we want to guarantee that your swap partner completes the trade they agreed to. Through SafeSwap, we will charge the payment method on file of anyone who does not send his or her item as agreed upon and cannot provide a valid shipping confirmation tracking code. We also require a credit card or PayPal account for using swap.com shipping labels.

You may notice what appears to be a $1.05 charge. The $1.05 represents an authorization tool used to verify that the credit card was valid and to match the address that you provided. It's not a charge, just an authorization request. When you enter your credit card or update your credit card, we contact your credit card’s issuing bank to confirm that your credit card is valid, and has not been reported as lost or stolen. This is communicated via a $1.05 authorization. However, we do not actually proceed with the charge. This is simply one of the security measures we use to protect our customers. No money is actually charged, and you will see that the $1.05 authorization amount will be automatically removed by your credit card company after a short time.

You may view your account transaction history at any time. On this page you will see your billing date along with any pending account transactions.

No credit card? No problem. We allow our members to pay for their swap postage via PayPal as well. If you currently use a credit card, simply go to your account profile and click on the "Change Payment Method" link. You will be asked to add funds to your swap.com account by following the steps necessary. We recommend adding at least $10 to cover shipping charges. If you do not have a PayPal account, simply open a free account first and fund it via credit card, bank transfer, or check sent to PayPal. You will not be able to complete a swap until you have a valid form of payment to cover any SafeSwap fees you might incur.

To change your email address, simply log on to the site and view your profile. Under account information, choose the click here to change your email address option. Enter your new email address and click the "change email" button, then follow the instructions. We will then send you an email confirming the change.

Yes, you may select which swap.com emails you receive.

Once you've logged in, choose click here to set your email preferences in the 'account information' tab. You can uncheck the emails that you don't want to receive. Please note that you cannot opt out of "I wish to receive emails from swap.com letting me know when I have trades available" since those are trade-related emails that require your action.

If you are going to be unavailable to accept trades, you can pause your account so that swap.com will not find or propose any trades for you until you are available for trading again.

Once logged into swap.com, click here to pause your account. On this page, you will then be able to choose when the site will send you an email reminder to un-pause your account.

When you are ready to resume trading, simply follow the same steps and you will see the link to un-pause your account.

You may email us at support@swap.com or use the Contact Us feature. These submissions go directly to our individual team members who will contact you directly to follow-up. Be sure to include your swap.com user name and the trade number if you have a question about a trade. Our discussion forums are very popular, but they are not meant to serve as customer service options.

We take customer support very seriously and do try to respond immediately to all customer support issues. However, depending on the volume, we cannot always guarantee such a response. If you do not hear from us after a few days, feel free to contact us again. We assure you, we will respond to all emails.

If you are not receiving the confirmation emails it is likely the emails have been caught in your spam filter. Emails can be filtered as spam directly by your computer as well as your Internet Provider (ISP) by default or selected settings.

You may want to double check to see if your emails are in fact being filtered and trapped by a spam filter. If so, you will need to follow the filter instructions to add "donotreply@swap.com" to the safe or trusted list.

After checking that you have added the correct email addresses please click on the RESEND EMAIL button. You should then receive our confirmation email. Please confirm that you received this email by clicking on the link in the email. In most e-mail readers, this link will be active (clickable) but may not be working correctly. If this is the case, please copy the entire link in the email and paste it into the URL address section of your web browser.

You may have logged into your swap.com account to find the message "Your account has been suspended. Please contact swap.com." Your account may be temporarily suspended for a variety of reasons, including problems with your payment method, or your failure to ship your items. Obviously we take both issues seriously.

When this occurs, we like to speak directly with the specific user involved so we can work to resolve the situation. Please email us at support@swap.com.

Thank you for trying swap.com. We do appreciate you joining, however we understand that swap.com may not be right for everyone.

You may close your account at any time provided there are NO outstanding trades and your account does NOT have an outstanding balance for any pre-paid swap.com mailing labels or SafeSwap item replacement fees.

Once logged in, click here to permanently close your account. Please choose the most appropriate reason for closing your account.

Remember that once your account has been closed, you can no longer access swap.com with your username nor can you open another account with your registered email address.

Swap.com started Swap4Schools because we recognized that we could help our members make a difference in the lives of kids across the U.S. Any educator connected to a U.S. public school can create a free account with Swap.com and build a Want list of items their school or classroom needs. Our members will be given the opportunity to donate to a school if there is a match of Haves and Wants.

After creating a free account, educators build their Want list. This is the stuff their school or classroom needs. Educators will continually update their lists as new needs arise. Now comes the fun part. Every time a Swap.com member adds an item to their Have list that matches any school's Want list item, they will be given the chance to donate instead of swap. If the member chooses to donate, they will be given the shipping information for the school and asked to send their item within a few business days. The school's Want list will automatically reflect the change.

Member's can also search for a specific school to donate to and view all the Want lists of any classroom connected with that school.

Simply go to www.swap.com/swap4schools, search for your school and click on the register link. You will be asked to provide a few pieces of information to register. Our member support team will verify your connection to your school and send you an email when your account is all set. Couldn't be easier, right?

First, thank you for donating your stuff. It's pretty easy. Sign up for a free Swap.com account if you don't already have one. Then, start adding books, movies, music, and video games to your have list. If any of the items you have matches a participating school's "want", you will be given the opportunity to donate that item instead of swapping it for something else.

If you are interested in donating to a specific school, simply search for a school at http://www.swap.com/swap4schools, and, if the school is participating, you will be able to view their classroom Want lists. Other than shipping, there is no cost to you for donating to schools.

Just as you would with a regular swap, you can either print Swap.com labels at home (it will have the school name and address printed on it), or you can use your own postage source. If you live close to the school, you are also welcome to drop it off there. Please make sure you clearly identify that the item was from you so you can be properly recognized on the site.

You mean besides the satisfaction that you helped further a child's education; potentially saved a teacher from having to buy that item with their own money; and helped a school during these difficult economic times? Well, you will be recognized on the site as a "do-gooder" so everyone can see that you selflessly donated. You will also get recognition from the school. If that's not enough, you will have the undying thanks of everyone at Swap.com for proving that there still is so much good in the world.

The Basics

Listing Your Items

Initiating and Completing Trades

Shipping Items

Printing Mailing Labels and Postage Labels

Trusting and Rating Other Swap.com Users

Payment Methods

General Account Information and Site Questions

Swap4Schools