Swap Till You Drop!

Just because we're going through tough economic times, prompting us to pinch pennies, doesn't mean we have to pass on items we want.

On The Early Show Thursday, consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen filled viewers in on modern-day "swap meets" -- they're held online!

She reminds us that swap meets were huge in the 70's and 80's, and now, thanks to the Internet -- swapping is back! It's a form of trading, or bartering.

POPULAR "SWAPPING" WEB SITES

uswapit.com: Swap just about anything for anything (one person wanted to swap his airplane for a boat!): Users come online and add an item they want or have. There's a process to verify who you are, so people can trust you. Categories starting to grow include consumer electronics, baby clothes, and home and garden items.

homexchange.com: Swapping homes for use during vacation or sabbaticals: Since 1995, the International Home Exchange Network (IHEN) "has served the needs of vacationers worldwide," the network says. "Our members have been able to arrange home exchanges, rent their second or vacation homes, and locate unique privately owned vacation rentals worldwide."

swaptree.com: Swapping books, music, CDs, video games, DVDs; it's very popular with moms! Trade stuff you don't want for stuff you do, the site urges. "The best part," SwapTree says, "is that, once you get an item from someone and you finish reading, listening to or viewing it, you can just list it on swaptree and get something else for it!"

swapagift.com: Buy, sell, swap gift cards from 100 vendors: Swapagift.com calls itself "the leading Internet site for buying, selling, and swapping merchant gift cards." It says, "Our goal is to provide the one service that the gift card merchants won't -- an opportunity to exchange your unwanted gift cards for cash, services, and other gift cards. Swapagift.com is the only Web site that let's you pay your bills with your unwanted gift card. Imagine paying your cellular phone bill with a gift card from a leading retailer!"