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WZZM 13 ONLINE
(WZZM) - Chances are you've done it once or twice in your life, but never knew what to call it. Yes, we're talking about "re-gifting."
It became a household word after the hit show "Seinfeld." That's when you take a gift you received and give it to someone else as a gift. Hey, a penny saved is a penny earned, right? Well, it could be embarrassing if you get caught "re-gifting." Instead maybe you'll want to "swap" it.
Swap.com is a popular website that is expanding. Laura Byers has been using it for nearly three years.
"At that time it only traded DVDs, CDs and books. Now it trades everything," said Byers. Even clothing. That's why she is swapping out some of her growing sons' shirts and jeans.
The website is simple to use. You simply list everything you're willing to give away, or "swap" under your "Haves" list on the website. Then you start a new list of things you are looking to receive. You put this under your "Wants" list and that's it. Swap.com does the rest of the work for you.
Laura simply checks her e-mail once a day to see if she has any proposals. She has complete control and can deny any trade. Swap.com considers everything traded of equal value, so if you trade a boxed movie set, that would be equivalent to just one movie in return. If you think it's not fair, you can easily deny the offer.
Laura loves the site so much she and her family has a box constantly filled with items that are ready to be traded. She prefers this way much more than a classified ad or selling her products at a garage sale due to the ease.
"For me, it's an issue of convenience. With craigslist you need to have direct contact with the other person, whereas on Swap if you don't care to have direct contact, you don't need to, Swap will handle everything." She uses it so often, she even prints her own postage labels from home and knows what it costs to send a DVD in the mail.
"$2.52 and we mail a movie we don't want and we have a new one in return. My husband said it's better than renting because you can keep it as long as you want and if you watch it four or five times and then decide that you're tired of it, you can trade it again."
While "re-gifting" can be embarrassing, Laura says there is nothing to be embarrassed about with "swapping".
"One of the ways to not be tight on cash is to not overspend." And with swap.com, Laura's family certainly isn't doing that.