Saviour-V teleports in, again...

In case you're wondering, work and writing reviews don't always mix well together, so when I teleport out, it's usually to get some work done. Without further ado, I bring you review #3:

SwitchPlanet.com

The premise behind SwitchPlanet.com is simple: What if us humans exchanged items we had for items that we need? Sounds good, in a way.

Basically, if you want something, you'll need a certain amount of switchbucs (no, that's not a typo), which are earned from trading items that other people want from you. Additionally, you can "buy" switchbucs by donating a small sum of money towards Switch Funds - SwitchPlanet's initiative to help charitable organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross.

The idea is sound, but there are a few limitations.

The first of these is WHAT you can trade. Right now, you can trade DVDs, CDs, computer and console games, and books. However, they are planning to conduct trade in other things, such as clothing and consumer electronics, in the near future.

The second is WHERE you can trade. To be exact, this site seems to be geared to residents of the USA and Canada. Not to bring up an issue, but I believe it would be nice to accommodate people of other countries in this initiative. If most of the issues related to trust (not to mention postage charges) are ironed out, that is.

That aside, a third issue relates to how much switchbucs one actually needs to obtain to trade with someone else. Although I've not been able to conduct any trades, given my current location, the founder has tried his best to co-ordinate efforts to prevent over-valuing of items, from what I've managed to determine from the SwitchPlanet.com forums (and the switchbuc calculator on the site)

To summarize, this is an OK idea, but it will require more effort to become the best idea. There are teething pains, no doubt, but I believe that SwitchPlanet has the right idea. It will take time, though.

Anyway, I'll conclude the last two reviews tomorrow. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Saviour-V teleports out, as the monitor slides back into the hidden panel...