I am addicted to swapping clothes online. Yep, you read that right; let me explain. I am a member of a few different sites on which people list their clothing, accessories and other items up for swap (trade). In short, it works like this: I see a skirt that I like... it belongs to Ashley. I let her know I am interested in her skirt and ask if she sees anything of mine that she wants in exchange. If we come to an agreement, I send Ashley what she wants (usually via the U.S. postal service) and she sends me her skirt. The result is Ashley now has my item and I have her skirt and the only damage to my wallet is the shipping I paid to send to her.
Here are the sites I have experience with and my pros/cons of each:
Pros: It is well-organized. The Swap Front has multiple categories (Accessories, Clothes, Cosmetics, etc.) and sub-categories (i.e. Dresses, Jackets, Jeans and Pants) that make it very easy to find what you're looking for (search function is good too). You can also sell your items if you choose, listing your things for swap, to sell, or have both as an option. There are tons and tons of items. Pretty much all listings have pictures on the same page, a definite plus.
Cons: Sometimes the site is down/slow; sometimes people may have trouble logging in (while others can log in just fine). When listing an item, there is a field that you can enter in how much you think the item is worth today. Some people place extremely high and unrealistic values on their items, i.e. someone said a white short-sleeved top by Xhileration (department store/junior's brand), worn 1 or 2 times was worth $25! (Can you believe that?!) Also, a few people are pretty stubborn and stick to their inflated values when trading.
Pros: Site very rarely has problems. There is a large selection of makeup, beauty, bath and body products. You can search by Category, Brand and/or Keywords. When browsing someone else's items, you can sort them several different ways (by Category, Title, Date Added, Brand). The forums are very active and if you are into makeup/beauty products, there are user submitted reviews of a mind-boggling number of products. Members can add items to their wishlists and Auto Find matching items that other people list. There is also a Reverse Auto Find feature that allows members to see others' wishes that match items that they've listed to swap.
Cons: As implied by its name, MUA (for short) focuses on makeup so people are not necessarily interested in swapping for clothes. There is no system in place for feedback to be given only to the person you swapped with; people could leave feedback with others they never even swapped with. Along those lines, there is also no limit to the number of tokens you can send someone (i.e. Bridget could leave three negative tokens (feedback) if she wanted). People don't always have pictures for their items or sometimes they do, but they'll tell you to see their profile for the pics, which is a bit of a hassle. Not really a con in my mind, but selling is strictly forbidden.
Pros: There is a neat feature that lets you "watch" items, like on eBay and you can see everyone who's watching that particular item (unless they've kept their list private). Furthermore, you can see the items you're watching, sorted by member (i.e. I am watching 2 of Daphne's things and 3 of Elaine's) as well as see who's watching your items, sorted by member and number of items. You have the option to make your items available to "Everyone" or "Locals Only." Members can submit questions they want answers to and others can respond/answer. In the forum there is a list of swaplifters (people who have received but didn't send) as well as a thread for site suggestions/feedback.
Cons: The site is down right now (happens pretty often). Feedback (called karma) can't be left until both parties have shipped; this can be problematic if I sent my top to Cathy and she's received it, but she hasn't sent to me. Compared to the other two sites, there are more users who are quite young (high school early teenage young) and more people with money issues/problems. Lastly, when trading with someone there is an address form you have to fill out. Once you send this form, your last initial, city, state and zip code appear on your profile and stay there until you edit/delete them... kind of annoying. Most of these cons (and some others) are being resolved though, according to the site CEO.
There are a couple more sites that I have heard of, but do not know much about. They are:
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Swap Thing (more of a general swapping site... clothes and anything you could possibly think of)
While swapping is great, there are some down sides/risks involved. Shipping can add up quite a bit, especially if you trade often, send large/heavy items or trade internationally (shipping to Canada isn't that much worse than in the States, but overseas is expensive). I'd recommend taking your items to the post office, weighing them to see how much it would cost to send them and then, based on that amount, decide whether or not to ship in a flat rate envelope, flat rate box (best when sending many/heavier items across several postal zones/across the country), a regular priority mail envelope or using your own shipping materials (best if sending one or two lighter items). Sometimes people misrepresent their items (i.e. a dress arrives with a few small holes that weren't mentioned). People can take a long time to ship. You could get swaplifted (hasn't happened to me... yet).
The up side: I've saved a great deal of money by adding to my wardrobe without buying new clothes. The selection is pretty good too; people list things from stores/places I wouldn't otherwise have access to (geographically or monetarily). Swapping helps others get what they want also and helps the earth by keeping things out of landfills (I've seen piles of clothes mixed in with trash in Oakland so many times). A few people are now my "friends" (I say that in quotation marks because we've never met in person) and I've learned a bit about fashion/clothes/trends. I think the pros outweigh the cons. Oh and I love getting packages in the mail!
Have you swapped clothing online or in person? Are you a member of a clothes/fashion swapping site that I haven't listed? If you are, I'd love to know what it is. Could you tell me more about Dig 'N' Swap and/or Swap Thing? Please do!
Stay tuned, another post about swapping other things/in general is imminent.
