FrugalReader (FR) is a club founded in 2004 by Gene McCabe of Franklin, TN (USA). Its purpose is to use the Internet to facilitate the parity trading of books among member bibliophiles in the United States.
Size edit
As of February 2006, 29,000 books are listed on FrugalReader. Books are listed by 1,350 members. FR ships only within the United States.
Membership requirements/restrictions edit
Membership is free and is offered to individuals residing at addresses served by the United States Postal Service, including APO and FPO (military mail) addresses.
Operation edit
A credit system is used to enable members to trade books for credits and credits for book. Consequently, a member need not seek another member who desires a parity trade; credits are the medium of exchange. Both paperback and hardback books may be traded, as well as audio books. By default, a paperback book is one credit, and audio books and hardback books are two credits. Users are encouraged to use PayPal's label printing service to send their books so their trade record will not be affected if the book gets lost in transit.
Income Generation edit
FrugalReader offers one paid service to the membership, a premium membership before having two trades marked recieved. FR also sells attire bearing the club logo. FR also has advertising arrangements with Google and Amazon.com.
Author Spotlight edit
FrugalReader is testing an author spotlight, featuring one author a month. Authors that have been spotlighted include Chris Genoa, Ashley Nicole Cook, and Nicole Del Sesto. The January spotlighed authors are Claire & Mia Fontaine.
Other Sites edit
Swaptree, Bookins, BookMooch, PaperBackSwap, Readers United, Title Trader, and WhatsOnMyBookshelf are similar Internet sites that include book trading services.