So Excited To Swap On Saturday

I talked to Alexandria and Jen at Mercury Cafe yesterday to drop off some flyers an talk to them about Saturday's LiveSwap. I'm so excited!!!!!

I've been thinking a lot about why I spend so much time working for SwapSimple and it really is about community building and sharing. I knew SwapSimple was a great idea, but I've really arrived at a place where I understand its larger meaning. I can't wait to see SwapSimple in action this Saturday.

New Features - "Auto Wishlist" and "Tell-a-Friend"

When we list stuff for swap, we want others to order our items as soon as possible - right? Of course! Also, we want first dibs on items we want right when they're listed for trade, which is why we have just released the following two new features:

**Remember: both the features I'm going to mention below are only visible when you're logged in to your account.

1. New auto-wishlist buttons:

Even though SwapSimple has hundreds of new items listed each day, there are still some that we don't have. Maybe it's a new release you have your heart set on, or just an old obscure title you have been seeking forever. When that item gets listed for trade, I'd imagine you'd want to be the first to know.

Now, when you search for an item and find that it's not available for trade yet, there are new automatic "Add to Wishlist" buttons for you to use. These buttons automatically add items to your wishlist without even making you go to a separate page! These buttons also have a memory, so they they will appear yellow for all items you have already added to your wishlist.

This makes it really fast and easy to build a huge wishlist of items, so that you will receive an email right when the items you want are listed for trade. Please give them a try and tell us what you think.

2. Tell-a-Friend buttons:

We added "Tell-a-friend" buttons to all items listed for trade. By clicking the button, you can send an automatic, one-time email to a friend to let them know that you've found an item they may be interested in. This is a great way to introduce others to SwapSimple, but is also a great way to make more trades happen, and get more items listed on the site - and that helps everyone!

Well, that's the scoop. We're working on a whole new batch of enhancements to the service, complete with...well...I can't tell ya :-) - so please stay tuned!

Talk soon, happy swapping, and thanks for using SwapSimple!

Elliot

Elliot Hirsch
Co-Founder, SwapSimple.com

Live Swap - Feb 17th @ The Mercury Cafe in Chicago

It's that time again - another SwapSimple live Swap! This time we'll be doing it at the super-cool Mercury Cafe in Chicago, Illinois. I love this space. It's both huge, and cozy. The owner, Alexandria Kalika is so nice and she's committed to creating a place that supports individuals, groups and businesses. Definitely talk to her if you stop by.

Like our last live swap, we'll be mimicking the best features of SwapSimple in a live event. People will bring in their books, dvds and video games and we'll offer trade tickets. These tickets can be exchanged for any item type. So just like on SwapSimple.com, you can trade books for dvds, video games for books and so on.

I'm also working to make the event interactive - like coffee and swapping isn't enough:)

Here's how it works:
Arrive at the Mercury Cafe with all the books, DVDs, and videogames you want to get rid of. At the door we will give you tickets for all the items you bring. Here's how the tickets break down:

Paperbacks = 1 Ticket
Hardcovers = 2 Tickets
DVDs and Videogames = 3 Tickets

When you leave, you simply "pay" for what you took with your tickets. All items that do not trade are going to be donated to the Children's Memorial Hospitals. They are especially excited to get videogames for the kids.

Time: Noon - 5pm

Location Info:
Mercury Cafe
1505 W Chicago Ave
Chicago IL 60622
312-455-9924
Mercury Cafe Website
Map to the Mercury Cafe

Please RSVP for this event by sending an email to contact@swapsimple.com - or visit us at SwapSimple.com.

***Also - If you'd like to have a live swap event in your
area, please contact us and we'd be happy to help you set
one up. We have been doing them in Chicago because that's
where we're based, and it's just easier for us - but there's
no reason why we can't do other swaps elsewhere, with a
little help.

SwapSimple on Time.com's Coolest Sites of 2006

So, we made the list last year - just barely. There are other trading sites, but no one else is doing it quite as thoughtfully as we are. There's no other trading site that lets you trade different item types and gives you market-value based credits. It's frustrating sometimes how other sites have expensive PR firms to place their names in glossy magazines.

So we need you, the swapsimple user, to tell Time.com why you've chosen our site. Tell them about the time you traded your textbook on our site and used the credits to get a dvd boxed set or several xbox games. That's what you CAN'T do on other sites. Tell them about the $20 bucks you had to spend on a 30 min Baby Einstein DVD and how you were able to trade it in for a Disney Movie or that Toni Morrison novel you've been wanting to read. That's what they need to hear. They don't need a press release or an over-paid PR pitchperson to convince them - they need you.

Email this woman - maryannebuechner@yahoo.com - and let's see if we can make it to the top of the list for 2007.

Swapping Is Just Better

I've noticed that once people initiate their first trade, they always make subsequent trades. After receiving your first item from another SwapSimple member, you're hooked. It's neat. I wish I used SwapSimple when I was in college. I think all I did then was order stuff off Amazon or make photocopies at the library.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Why didn't I know about this show?

I never watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer until I had a ton of trade credits to spend and decided to go ahead and order one of the many Buffy boxed sets posted. What a great show!!! I didn't think that a show about a cute blonde girl running around saving the world would appeal to me, and I was totally wrong.

I'm working my way through season two, so somebody post season three in the next few weeks please.