Hit Flip www.hitflip.co.uk

Initially I was very disappointed and felt misled that only a tiny minority of the 1000s of DVDs listed are actually available. After an initial panic removal of my listed DVDs (given they were being snapped up rapidly - I was paying to post away my DVDs - but could not find anything I wanted that was available). After a few days I realised that you need to check listings daily to see newly added stuff (or put items on your "wish list") and now I think it does actually work rather well. I've not had any problems so far with receiving items.

My main reservations are that even though swaps might sound cheap at 79p each, other sites do this for free, and hitflip will charge you double for some items. It all soon adds up.

Also, if you want to order 18 rated films you need to pay another £5 and go through a validation process that needs them to post you a letter from Germany. Several days later I get my 18 clearance completed and the movie I wanted is no longer available :-(

Finally, and most annoyingly, there sometimes seems to be no rhyme or reason to some of the point pricing of items ("flips"). The site determines this automatically, so you may find your DVD gets a 1 flip price (or more typically 2 or 3) but an item you want might be 9 flips (giving it a double price swap fee) - for no apparent reason at all. Flips are expensive to buy (~ £3) so you are usually trading flips you have earned. If your items are getting only 2-3 flips each this limits your choice somewhat!

I constrast this with readitswapit.co.uk - a free site that does 1 to 1 swaps with no "points" system. I think this works better - even if the actual values of items is very different, it usually works out in the end. Something like this would probably be better than the seeming random "flip" pricing.

Still, now I have got to grips with the site I do enjoy it and would recommend it - just make sure you understand it all before you start to avoid nasty suprises.

Hit flip is a swapping site where you can swap CDs, DVDs, books and games. I've been a member for a few months, and have found it easy to use and once you've got the hang of it, the "flips" system is very logical and simple. I have never had any problems when swapping personally, but there is a good rating system so you can tell how good and reliable other swappers are, which is a useful feature. Available items are shown clearly with a green tick in the product details, and if you have enough flips and credit you can add and receive these immediately. If the product doesn't have a green tick or there is a waiting list, you can still add them to your wish list and join the queue to receive them as soon as they become available.I've been very happy with the service so far.