SwapitShop works on a simple premise: kids want to do online shopping too.
The only problem is that the kids don't have
credit cards, and generally don't have too much
pocket money either.
So SwapitShop suggests that kiddies auction their unwanted items off on swapitshop.com for a virtual currency of
swapits. These can be gained in different ways:
- 10 Swapits for registering.
- 5 Swapits for sending in a token from Cheesy Wotsits.
- any number of Swapits for sending in a successful swap.
Of course, as befits a kiddies site, there are rules, basically involving banning certain unsuitable items. But there's a wide range of
Pokémon cards for one swapit each. Given that the seller has to pay postage to Swapitshop (Swapitshop pay outgoing postage), this means it's costing them 18p to send a card whereas a hundred swapits may buy you, say, a book.
There's also a load of cheats for sale... an expensive way of getting things freely available on the 'net...
Swapitshop make their money from sponsors, such as Wotsits, who pay swapitshop for the right to put tokens on their products. This, coupled with the fact that everyone gets free swapits when they register can only lead to swapit
inflation.
Swapitshop.com is currently only available in the UK as postage is too expensive abroad.