Paperback Swap, a Modern Day Scam for Book Communities

The old adage, it's too good to be true, holds true for many aspects of my life. Unfortunately, one of the most exciting, fun adventures I have embarked on recently have been halted because of irresponsible and rude administrative individuals. After joining Paperbackswap.com this fall, I immediately immersed myself into the workings and traded nearly 30+ books in less than two months (PLEASE NOTE: This is an estimate since I no longer have access to the specifics of my transactions on the website). In my time of trading, I had many experiences that were less than professional. However, when I did the same things myself, I was reprimanded immediately and threatened persay.

When you send someone a book on the site, you earn a credit. After selling nearly 12 credits, utilizing many others to receive fantastic books and recently sending another batch of about 12 books (about $45 in postage), I attempted to sign onto the website and was told that my account was terminated. The message stated:

Dear Jessica,

from the PaperBackSwap Terms of Use:

"National Book Swap reserves the right to terminate service at any time without notice. In the event of service termination, Site members will not be entitled to any compensation for outstanding credits."
This was a nice way of saying SCREW YOU! I also had just added PBS money in my account (allows you to buy postage from the site), so I immediately put in a PAYPAL claim to get that money back. This claim is still being reviewed.

I also sent two emails to the administrators informing them that I was signing on that day to sign my credits and I would be writing about this experience if no response was sent. I invested a lot of income into this site and all I wanted was the opportunity to sell the existing credits on my account.