Swap postage stamps for the ones your album is missing.
Every album has gaps, and somewhere there is somebody holding exactly what you need and looking at a gap you can fill. That is a swap, and it is a much older way of building a collection than bidding against strangers.
How to swap stamps you already have
Sort by what somebody else would want rather than by what you paid attention to. A run from one country, one reign or one theme is instantly recognisable to the person who collects it, and that recognition is what turns a pile into a swap.
A single stamp with real standing goes on its own listing. A rare issue, a known error, anything certified: name it precisely and give it its own page, because that is the one a collector is searching for and it deserves to be found.
Everything else travels beautifully as a lot. Duplicates, kiloware, the contents of a shoebox — say roughly how many and what they cover, and let somebody who is filling a whole decade take the lot in one go.
Photograph the front, and the back if the gum or the hinging matters. Say the country, the period and whether they are used or mint. Then say what you are hunting for, in the same detail you would want from somebody offering you a swap.
The questions people ask first.
List what you are willing to part with, say what you are looking for, and we introduce you to somebody whose wants line up with yours. Both of you have to want the other side before either of you sees the match.
Yes, as a group. Common issues are exactly what somebody starting a country or a period needs a lot of, and a well-sorted bundle is far more useful to them than the same stamps scattered across separate listings.
We work out a band for each side from what the items are and how many people are after them, and show you both the same picture of how evenly it balances. You never set your own value and neither does your swap partner.
Once you both accept, a window opens and you each send or hand over inside it. The swap completes when you have both confirmed what arrived, so neither of you is waiting on the other's goodwill.
Nothing here has a price.
Barterama is a barter marketplace: a swap site where value is shown as a band rather than a figure, and where no money changes hands at any point. Every item sits in one of twelve bands that we work out — you never set your own, and neither does the person you are swapping with. If we are not confident, the band gets wider rather than more precise.
Where two sides do not quite balance, a small extra item closes the gap. Cash never does, and there is no balance or credit on this site to close it with.
Other things people swap.
Got postage stamps to swap?
List what you have, say what you are after, and we will introduce you when somebody wants yours and has something you want.