Startup Swaptree becomes first site to allow 3-way and 4-way trading

[mandy]

Swaptree is the latest startup that's stealing a page from eBay's playbook -- and doing it one better by engineering trades that eBay can't

Swaptree isn't the first to try online bartering -- Peerflix, Bookins, and La La help people trade movies, books, and CDs, respectively, while SwapThing lets users combine goods, cash, and services.

But it is, significantly, the first site to pull off direct trades between more than two people: Thanks to a nifty algorithm designed by Boesel, Swaptree can engineer three- and even four-way trades among users who want different things...

full article: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2.../index.htm

[Kristijntje]

Another review of Swaptree:

SwapTree, a new way to get value from old books and CDs

What do you do with your books when you finish reading them? Or your videogames, DVDs, or CDs that you're tired of? Me, I stick them on a shelf until my wife harangues me to get rid of them. Then I make a run to the used book or music store, sell what I can for pennies, and take the rest to the Goodwill. I'd be happier if I could extract more personal value from these items. But only as long as I don't have to hassle with actually selling the items on eBay or at a garage sale -- I'm not that motivated...

...there's a free service, SwapTree, scheduled to launch in July. Not only is it a no-cost option, but it will let you trade among types of items -- not just DVD-to-DVD or CD-to-CD...

full article: http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6079688.html?part=rss&tag=6079688&subj=news

[mandy]

Auctionbytes on Swaptree:

Things are looking good for Swaptree, the online trading site that allows site users to swap books, DVDs, CDs and video games. Site co-founders, Greg Boesel and Mark Hexamer, had reason to celebrate when Swaptree officially turned one year old this past July. According to Hexamer, vice president of marketing, Swaptree currently conducts 2,000 daily trades and is growing at a rate of 30 percent per month...

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y208...bu0222/s03