Book bartering online

Bookins.com is an online site that is trying out a “barter” model for trading used books, DVDs and more.

It determines a “point” value for each item for sale on a member’s list (five points for a paperback; 10, hardcover; 15, best-seller, etc.). Once some items have been bartered, a member can redeem points to purchase a book or DVD. Members pay a set number of points and a flat fee of $4.99 for shipping.

Bookins.com sends a prepaid shipping box to the seller to ship to the purchaser. It also handles any customer complaints or follow-up. The site gets about $1 from each shipping fee.