Trade Paperback Swap

[techvoodoo]

There was a TPB Exchange thread, in which people were discussing the idea of starting a trade paperback exchange club. This is an idea I've discussed with other members in the past at length and I still think it's a good idea, but to properly execute something like this I think a system more robust than a simple thread needs to be put in place.

 

I've decided to put a little time into building a website for the purpose of exchanging TPB's. I've got a lot of work to do on it before it's fully functional, but I hope to have a beta testing phase ready by the end of the month. Right now I've setup the hosting and put together a basic home page design and started building the database.

 

At this point I want to share my ideas on how the system will work and lay out the rules/regulations I'll use to allow a group of people to volunteer to beta test the site with me.

 

 

• WHAT IS IT?

 

This site will be fairly simple book exchange website. It will loosely follow the functionality similar to sites like paperbackswap.com, but with a more tightly regulated membership base and only Comic TPB's being offered for exchange.

 

 

• HOW WILL IT WORK

 

Membership will be limited, at least at first, by invitation only. Once invited and after joining the website you will be asked to setup your Bookshelf. The Bookshelf is the list of TPB's you are willing to send out to other members. For every 5 books you add to your Bookshelf you will earn 1 credit up to a maximum of 2 credits for the first 10 books shared. Don't worry you can earn more. After the initial signup you will earn 1 credit for each book you ship.

 

This is the only point in the system where you will earn credits without actually sending out a book, and the recipient reporting back to the system that it has been received.

 

Once you've setup your bookshelf, 1 of 2 things can happen. You can either use your credits to claim books from other members, or someone might request you to send them one of your books on your shelf.

 

In the event someone requests one of your books, provided you ship the book to them and they confirm in the system they have receive it, you will earn another (1) credit. Habitually not fulfilling member requests will earn you strikes and lead to a ban on the site.

 

You can use your credits to claim TPB's from other members. Once you get the book you will be asked to confirm that you've received it so they can get their credit. Habitual failure to report back on the status of an exchange will earn you strikes and lead to bans on the site.

 

 

• INVITATIONS

 

Initially I will open up the site to somewhere between 15 and 25 people for beta testing. These initial beta testers must be forum members in good standing and members for no less than 1 year. Providing references such as your Kudos thread or Ebay Feedback couldn't hurt in the initial selection process.

 

Once members on the site build up a history of reliable exchanges they will be awarded with invitation credits. Who you invite will be kept track of, if they do something to get themselves banned, strikes may be applied to your account as well. Don't invite D-Bags.

 

If you'd like to be considered for the initial beta test phase, which again I plan to roll out by the end of the month, please post your interest in this thread and send me a PM with pertinent info (email address, references if you've got any, etc.).

 

 

• GET INVOLVED

 

I can't promise with any great certainty that I will complete this project. If the interest to join is low or if my obligations get in the way anything could happen. That said if anyone here is an experienced developer of HTML/CSS, PHP and MySQL, feel free to let me know if you'd like to work on the development of the site. I might take you up on the offer.

 

 

More info to follow as I get further along in the project.

[Bosco685]

[ashsaytr]

[techvoodoo]

It probably should go without saying, but just in case, at least for the initial beta testing phase I think it would be best to limit this to folks in the U.S. I'm not sure how to include people outside of the U.S., due to the cost involved in shipping.

 

Perhaps regional versions of the site can be made in the future, I'll have to put some thought into it after I've got a fully functional version up and running.

[IchigosSoul]

What about military addresses?

 

[techvoodoo]

What about military addresses?

 

Ya that's probably fine. I don't know much about the military addresses.

 

Assuming it doesn't incur any additional shipping costs to the book sender, and it doesn't take an inordinate amount of time for the item to get to it's destination (because the receiver has to confirm it was delivered) I see no issue with it.

[HarveySwick]

[techtre2003]

Good stuff Techvoodoo! Just out of curiosity since I don't collect TPBs; will condition of the books be a factor or should it just be assumed that some books may have rips/dogears/etc...?

[bffnut]

Great idea!

[jsilverjanet]

Impressive!

[slym2none]

There was a TPB Exchange thread, in which people were discussing the idea of starting a trade paperback exchange club. This is an idea I've discussed with other members in the past at length and I still think it's a good idea, but to properly execute something like this I think a system more robust than a simple thread needs to be put in place.

 

I've decided to put a little time into building a website for the purpose of exchanging TPB's. I've got a lot of work to do on it before it's fully functional, but I hope to have a beta testing phase ready by the end of the month. Right now I've setup the hosting and put together a basic home page design and started building the database.

 

At this point I want to share my ideas on how the system will work and lay out the rules/regulations I'll use to allow a group of people to volunteer to beta test the site with me.

 

 

• WHAT IS IT?

 

This site will be fairly simple book exchange website. It will loosely follow the functionality similar to sites like paperbackswap.com, but with a more tightly regulated membership base and only Comic TPB's being offered for exchange.

 

 

• HOW WILL IT WORK

 

Membership will be limited, at least at first, by invitation only. Once invited and after joining the website you will be asked to setup your Bookshelf. The Bookshelf is the list of TPB's you are willing to send out to other members. For each book you put on your Bookshelf you will earn 1 credit up to a maximum of 3. Don't worry you can earn more.

 

This is the only point in the system where you will earn credits without actually sending out a book, and the recipient reporting back to the system that it has been received.

 

Once you've setup your bookshelf, 1 of 2 things can happen. You can either use your credits to claim books from other members, or someone might request you to send them one of your books on your shelf.

 

In the event someone requests one of your books, provided you ship the book to them and they confirm in the system they have receive it, you will earn another (1) credit. Habitually not fulfilling member requests will earn you strikes and lead to a ban on the site.

 

You can use your credits to claim TPB's from other members. Once you get the book you will be asked to confirm that you've received it so they can get their credit. Habitual failure to report back on the status of an exchange will earn you strikes and lead to bans on the site.

 

 

• INVITATIONS

 

Initially I will open up the site to somewhere between 15 and 25 people for beta testing. These initial beta testers must be forum members in good standing and members for no less than 1 year. Providing references such as your Kudos thread or Ebay Feedback couldn't hurt in the initial selection process.

 

Once members on the site build up a history of reliable exchanges they will be awarded with invitation credits. Who you invite will be kept track of, if they do something to get themselves banned, strikes may be applied to your account as well. Don't invite D-Bags.

 

If you'd like to be considered for the initial beta test phase, which again I plan to roll out by the end of the month, please post your interest in this thread and send me a PM with pertinent info (email address, references if you've got any, etc.).

 

 

• GET INVOLVED

 

I can't promise with any great certainty that I will complete this project. If the interest to join is low or if my obligations get in the way anything could happen. That said if anyone here is an experienced developer of HTML/CSS, PHP and MySQL, feel free to let me know if you'd like to work on the development of the site. I might take you up on the offer.

 

 

More info to follow as I get further along in the project.

 

That is awesome, Tech. I think this is perhaps the best way to go about it, after having gone through a few ideas of my own.

 

 

 

-slym

[slym2none]

Good stuff Techvoodoo! Just out of curiosity since I don't collect TPBs; will condition of the books be a factor or should it just be assumed that some books may have rips/dogears/etc...?

 

Considering this should be for people to swap out stuff they have for what they want to read but don't own, condition shouldn't matter. As a matter of fact, I don't think it should even be mentioned. If you have a TPB that is about to fall apart, tape it up before sending it out! Otherwise (again, all IMHO) condition shouldn't matter one bit.

 

 

 

-slym

[ashsaytr]

Good stuff Techvoodoo! Just out of curiosity since I don't collect TPBs; will condition of the books be a factor or should it just be assumed that some books may have rips/dogears/etc...? [/quote

 

im sure if we are just passing these around for readers... that wouldnt be an issue... but i could be wrong~

[Jeffro.]

Good stuff Techvoodoo! Just out of curiosity since I don't collect TPBs; will condition of the books be a factor or should it just be assumed that some books may have rips/dogears/etc...?

 

Considering this should be for people to swap out stuff they have for what they want to read but don't own, condition shouldn't matter. As a matter of fact, I don't think it should even be mentioned. If you have a TPB that is about to fall apart, tape it up before sending it out! Otherwise (again, all IMHO) condition shouldn't matter one bit.

 

 

 

-slym

 

It will matter to some and if condition is not disclosed there will be problems.

[NinjaSealed]

There was a TPB Exchange thread, in which people were discussing the idea of starting a trade paperback exchange club. This is an idea I've discussed with other members in the past at length and I still think it's a good idea, but to properly execute something like this I think a system more robust than a simple thread needs to be put in place.

 

I've decided to put a little time into building a website for the purpose of exchanging TPB's. I've got a lot of work to do on it before it's fully functional, but I hope to have a beta testing phase ready by the end of the month. Right now I've setup the hosting and put together a basic home page design and started building the database.

 

At this point I want to share my ideas on how the system will work and lay out the rules/regulations I'll use to allow a group of people to volunteer to beta test the site with me.

 

 

• WHAT IS IT?

 

This site will be fairly simple book exchange website. It will loosely follow the functionality similar to sites like paperbackswap.com, but with a more tightly regulated membership base and only Comic TPB's being offered for exchange.

 

 

• HOW WILL IT WORK

 

Membership will be limited, at least at first, by invitation only. Once invited and after joining the website you will be asked to setup your Bookshelf. The Bookshelf is the list of TPB's you are willing to send out to other members. For each book you put on your Bookshelf you will earn 1 credit up to a maximum of 3. Don't worry you can earn more.

 

This is the only point in the system where you will earn credits without actually sending out a book, and the recipient reporting back to the system that it has been received.

 

Once you've setup your bookshelf, 1 of 2 things can happen. You can either use your credits to claim books from other members, or someone might request you to send them one of your books on your shelf.

 

In the event someone requests one of your books, provided you ship the book to them and they confirm in the system they have receive it, you will earn another (1) credit. Habitually not fulfilling member requests will earn you strikes and lead to a ban on the site.

 

You can use your credits to claim TPB's from other members. Once you get the book you will be asked to confirm that you've received it so they can get their credit. Habitual failure to report back on the status of an exchange will earn you strikes and lead to bans on the site.

 

 

• INVITATIONS

 

Initially I will open up the site to somewhere between 15 and 25 people for beta testing. These initial beta testers must be forum members in good standing and members for no less than 1 year. Providing references such as your Kudos thread or Ebay Feedback couldn't hurt in the initial selection process.

 

Once members on the site build up a history of reliable exchanges they will be awarded with invitation credits. Who you invite will be kept track of, if they do something to get themselves banned, strikes may be applied to your account as well. Don't invite D-Bags.

 

If you'd like to be considered for the initial beta test phase, which again I plan to roll out by the end of the month, please post your interest in this thread and send me a PM with pertinent info (email address, references if you've got any, etc.).

 

 

• GET INVOLVED

 

I can't promise with any great certainty that I will complete this project. If the interest to join is low or if my obligations get in the way anything could happen. That said if anyone here is an experienced developer of HTML/CSS, PHP and MySQL, feel free to let me know if you'd like to work on the development of the site. I might take you up on the offer.

 

 

More info to follow as I get further along in the project.

 

You rock my good fellow.

[Maccai3]

i think a few problems would come from being given credits without giving any book out, multiple accounts and you could basically just take everyones books

[slym2none]

Good stuff Techvoodoo! Just out of curiosity since I don't collect TPBs; will condition of the books be a factor or should it just be assumed that some books may have rips/dogears/etc...?

 

Considering this should be for people to swap out stuff they have for what they want to read but don't own, condition shouldn't matter. As a matter of fact, I don't think it should even be mentioned. If you have a TPB that is about to fall apart, tape it up before sending it out! Otherwise (again, all IMHO) condition shouldn't matter one bit.

 

It will matter to some and if condition is not disclosed there will be problems.

 

In my opinion, it shouldn't. But I don't speak for everyone.

 

 

 

-slym

[Jacey]

I used to be a part of a TPB exchange several years ago......condition wasn't considered a factor. It was just too difficult I'd assume, and the idea was readers. I didnt trade often so didn't stay on, trying to remember the website

[DeadpoolJr.]

What about board members who don't get along with each other, I could picture a member wanting to borrow a book from another, but that person not wanting to loan it out to them. Would that person still get a strike? It doesn't really seem like a request, since a request can be denied, while being threatened with a strike seems more like you have to do it or else.

 

Also how long could a person have the book or books for? I think it would make sense that there should be a time limit for how long someone could keep someone else's book for. Maybe 1 or 2 weeks after it arrived at their door, or if the two parties came to a certain return date themselves?

[slym2none]

Check all butt-hurt at the door, I say.

 

 

 

 

-slym