Despite dismissing Bookins based on a quick initial impression, Eddie found my post on book swapping interesting enough to check out each service. He eventually joined Bookins and asked me to also sign up so he could get referral points. I have since traded about a dozen titles through them, and here are some of the new impressions I have of the service.

Books I Have Shipped

By far, the best thing about Bookins is how easy it makes clearing out book clutter. Doing a quick look around, I currently possess more than 500 books and 0 bookshelves. As a result, books sit atop every flat surface, fill all the nooks and crannies in the house, and pile up based on a sorting system understood only by me. In my office, a stack doubles as an occasional table. In the living room, another stack is the perfect place to display trinkets at varying heights. I even have two piles of professional titles set up as a retaining wall to hold back the slippery slide of newspapers and magazines.

I'm not a collector. Nearly all of the above books haven't yet been read, and I plan to eventually get around to each of them. If I have finished a title and decide to give it away, it goes into one of two trading piles on top of the stereo. The first is dedicated to those in good condition for listing on Bookins while the other consists of the casualties. As an example of a casualty, I have a slightly bloodied (from a paper cut) copy of Zadie Smith's White Teeth. I'd never subject a stranger to such grossness, but relatives or friends, who aren't afraid of my pathogens, might want it.

After receiving notification from Bookins, shipping a book is as easy as putting it in an envelope and attaching a shipping label. Postage via media mail is prepaid, so no trip to the post office is necessary and it costs me nothing. If you have a lot of books to give away, Bookins is an incredibly convenient and economical way to find them new homes.

Books I Have Received

The quality of my purchases have varied. The first book received, Fahrenheit 451, is pristine and appears as though it has never been read. Both Whit and Auntie Mame have broken spines but are otherwise in very good condition. Election suffers from bargain bin syndrome with icky sticker residue on the front and permanent marker marring the bar code on the back. Speaking of this last title, the mode of delivery was sort of perplexing because the envelope didn't have a Bookins-generated label on it. Rather, the shipper hand wrote my address and paid the postage out-of-pocket.

I buy lots of used books, so most imperfections don't phase me. I can handle dirt, tears, broken spines, dog ears, stickers, and marginalia. However, my nerves can't handle sketchy bindings or water damage. Loose pages means I'll eventually lose some of them, and I find nothing more annoying than trying to separate and turn ripply pages or reading wavy lines of text. Both Happiness and Drinking, Smoking & Screwing arrived with water damage, and I wish Bookins had a feedback mechanism as a way to stop incoming shipments from those who think its okay to list items of iffy quality.

Other Thoughts

$3.99 for a used book plus shipping is reasonable, but I'd buy from them a whole lot more if they based their rates on actual shipping plus a nominal fixed fee. For example, media mail on a mass market paperback is $1.59. That means Bookins nets $2.41 per such a transaction and possibly more if the USPS gives them a volume discount. Although their profit margin is smaller on heavier items, they are poised to rake in a tidy sum while users do most of the work by populating, maintaining, and shipping the site's inventory. Just for contrast, eBay earns only $0.41 on an item listed at a penny and selling for four dollars.

Points are also needed to receive books. Number of points varies from title to title, and I'm not sure how they come up with their calculations. For users, it means you have to give in order to get. But Bookins doesn't make money unless its users get. It is in their best interest, then, for everyone to have lots of points to spend, so I have received freebies for joining, Christmas, and filling out a survey. I'm sure bonus point opportunities will continue to pop up, so I see no value in ever buying extra points at the outrageous cost of $1.00 each.

Despite some of my reservations about ordering through Bookins, giving away a book couldn't be easier or freer. It's the best service I've found for finding new homes for my books, of which I have more than the average person's excess. This reason alone is enough for me to continue using their service.