GETTING STARTED
To receive your first box of books, you will need to activate your account by choosing and paying for the plan that works best for you. You can click here to start your activation.
Before activating your account, we recommend that you browse the book collection and add books into your wishlist. You can also update your book preferences. This will help us curate and match books to your family; you will have a better chance of receiving books that you like!
When a Swircle Box arrives, go to the Swircle Box link and follow the instructions there. An unlock code will be displayed. You can use this code to unlock the lock on the box. Please remember to verify the books as the first step before you take out any books.
Swap Points allow you to swap books with the Swircle Box. You spend Swap Points whenever you take books. You earn Swap Points whenever you give away books.
When you activate your Swircle membership, you will be given 80.000 Swap Points to start, which will allow you to keep 4 to 10 books in between each delivery.
You can see how many points a book is worth by browsing our collection; the value is directly related to the price of the book when it was still new.
If you have books you want to take, but don’t have enough books to give or enough Swap Points left, then you can optionally buy additional Swap Points instead.
A book is worth the same amount of Swap Points to take or to give – this means you can take a book now, and give the same book back later and there will be no gain or loss to your Swap Points (if the book is still in good condition, and if the book is still the same price when new).
When you cancel your membership, your Swap Points balance must return to the starting balance of 80.000 Swap Points. This can be done by swapping back all the books that you took, or by paying to replace the swap points that you used (more info here).
No, it is a swap, not a rental. When you give books, you earn Swap Points. When you take books, you spend Swap Points. There are no late fees and you can keep the books forever if you want; effectively, you “temporarily own” the books you take.
In a few months (or years), if you no longer want a book anymore, you can give it back to the Swircle Community to earn the same amount of Swap Points back (if the books are still relevant and in good condition).
We use your book preferences as well as your Wish- and Skiplists to match books to your family. Although boxes are shipped directly from one family to another family, the books you receive are not random: our algorithms carefully analyze the books inside a box and decide which family should get the box next. 65 to 100% of the books inside your box are books that we believe your family will enjoy.
You can improve our matches by:
– keeping your book preferences updated
– adding more books to your wishlist
– adding books you don’t want to your skiplist
– using Swircle for a longer time
When a box has arrived, click on the Box link and the app will walk you through the steps. If you’re curious, here’s the overview now:
- Unlock: Your box is locked during transit. Only you can unlock it. The code to unlock the box will appear on the app. Use this code to open the box.
- Verify: After you open the box, make sure that you got all the books that were supposed to have been delivered to you. Use the app to verify all the books that arrived. If there are any damaged or extra books, you can also report this on the app.
- Swap: After verification, you can now swap books with the box. You can take books or give books, in exchange for Swap Points. The amount of Swap Points for each book is displayed on the app. To take a book, go to “Take” and click on the book you want to take. To give away a book, go to “Give” and take a picture of the barcode of the book you want to give away. If the book you want to give away is not already in our list of approved books, we will manually review your book and get back to you within 24 hours. When you’re finished, a summary of the books you swapped and the Swap Points you earned and used up will be displayed. If you want to take more books than the Swap Points you have, you can optionally buy additional Swap Points.
- Wait for Label: Once you’ve confirmed your swap, you will need a shipping label to send your box to the next family. Our algorithms will match your box to the next family and email you a shipping label within 12 hours. Print your shipping label and place it in the sleeve on the outside of the box. You can now bring the box to any post office.
- Done: The box is now on its way to the next family (or being re-directed to Swircle Headquarters for maintenance if necessary). In 4 to 6 weeks, your next box will arrive! In the meantime, you can update your preferences and add books to your Wish- and Skiplists.
After you activate your account, a box will be delivered to you within 3 to 5 business days.
All subsequent boxes will arrive between 4 to 6 weeks after you ship away your previous box. You can see the estimated delivery date of your next box in the Box link.
An email will be sent to you when a box is on its way to you.
You can keep the books for as long as you want, however, the box should continue travelling within a week. Your next box will only be delivered 4 to 6 weeks AFTER you have shipped away your previous box. In other words, the sooner you ship away your current box, the sooner you will get the next box. On average, families keep the box for 3 days which is enough time to complete a swap. Tip: Use the time in-between deliveries to comfortably read your books.
You can check out the plans and their prices by clicking here.
For all plans, the shipping cost is included. Every 4 to 6 weeks, you will get 10 to 20 books delivered to your home in a Swircle Box.
When you activate your membership, you will be given 80.000 Swap Points to begin, which allows you to keep 4 to 10 books from the Swircle Box.
If you want to take even more books and don’t have your own books to give, then you can buy extra Swap Points here.
The boxes are shipped directly from family to family, and only maintained by Swircle as needed when someone reports a problem. If you prefer the books to be maintained every time and come directly from the Swircle headquarters, then you can choose the Premium Plan.
For all plans, the books you get are not random; our algorithms match, curate and make sure that 65 to 100% of the books inside your box are books that we believe your family will enjoy. The books you receive are 2/3 based on the information you give us, and 1/3 a surprise.
That is up to you. Boxes are typically shipped from family to family, directly to your home. This convenience means that the previous family will see your shipping address on the shipping label.
If you prefer to keep your address hidden from the previous family, you can have the boxes addressed to the nearest post office or pick-up location instead – in this case, only your surname is shown. When a box arrives, you will be notified by SMS or email that your package is ready for pick-up. To choose this option, simply select “Hide My Address” when you type in your shipping address in the app.
You also have the option to select the Premium Plan; one of its characteristics is that books are shipped directly to you from Swircle and not from another family.
Your can cancel your membership at any time. Click on Account > Edit Membership to modify your plan. The changes will take effect right before your next billing cycle.
Your membership can only be cancelled if you have no Swircle Boxes currently in your possession. In other words, any box you currently have needs to be shipped back to us. Simply request a free shipping label on the Web App.
When you cancel your membership, your Swap Points balance must return to the beginning balance of 80.000 Swap Points. This can be done by swapping back all the books that you took, or by paying to replace the Swap Points that you used (which represents the books you kept and did not return).
You will be charged to replace the Swap Points you used as follows:
– 15 € for up to 15.000 points
– 25 € for up to 35.000 points
– 45 € for up to 80.000 points
Once we have confirmed that your final box was returned and all the Swap Points have been replaced, your cancellation will be complete.
BOOKS & SWAP POINTS
In each delivery, there will be 10 to 20 books in your Swircle Box, but you don’t have to take everything. It’s like Netflix: you can look at our suggestions and take just the books you like right now. On average, families swap and keep around 2 to 5 books from the Swircle Box each time.
Books you did not take might come back again later (especially if you’ve put it in your Wishlist). Therefore, there’s no rush to take more than you can read in a month.
When you become a Swircle member, you will be given 80.000 Swap Points to start, which is enough to keep 4 to 10 books in between deliveries. However, we recommend taking only as many as your children can read in a month. Kids tend to appreciate just having a handful of books at a time.
Of course, you can certainly take and give as many books as you want. You earn Swap Points when you give books. You spend Swap Points when you take books. If you have books you want to take, but don’t have enough books to give, you can also buy Swap Points.
The books are pre-loved and the conditions range from good to like-new. You will also sometimes receive brand new books that are wrapped in plastic and worth more in Swap Points. You can select and keep just the books you like and are not obligated to keep any books that don’t meet your standards.
Likewise, families should only give away books that are at least in good condition. They should not have water damage, missing pages, or unreadable text. The books can have signs of being used, but should not look old or battered.
Every family can help maintain the quality of the books in our Swircle Community by flagging books in poor condition. If a book is flagged, the entire box is re-directed to Swircle Headquarters for maintenance during its next shipment.
All books that you took from a Swircle Box can be given away again – just add it to one of your future Swircle Boxes. However, the books must be in the same language: if you received a Swircle Box with German books, you can only add German books to that box.
Every year, around 8.000 German and 10.000 English children’s books are published. There are far too many options. To make it easier for parents, we try to make sure that only the top 10% of books are accepted into our database.
This means, unfortunately, that many decent books will be rejected. On the other hand, it also means that any book that arrives in a Swircle Box will be one of the best. All books are manually reviewed, and parents can rest assured that any book that they take from a Swircle Box will be a good one.
We use a combination of information from pedagogues, reviewers, librarians and booksellers to decide if a book is one of the best. It’s not an exact science, but we try our best.
Other, more concrete reasons for rejecting a book, include:
– titles that are no longer being published
– topics that promote racism, sexism, homophobia or other outdated concepts
– books that have extra parts that can be lost
– content that have heavy religious or political leanings
– books that are too large to fit a Swircle Box
– books that do not have a 13-digit ISBN barcode
– books that get dirty easily (i.e. touch books)
– books that require batteries (i.e. sound books)
– books that are not suitable for 2- to 12-year-olds
– mini-versions (i.e. “Maxi Pixi” or “Pixi” books)
– books that were published more than 5 years ago
In the ‘Box’ link you can check (or pre-check) to see if your book will be accepted.
Yes, you can. However, each box contains books in only one language. To get books in different languages, you can switch your preferred language between each shipment. For example, you could get German books this month, and then English books for the next month. You can switch the languages back and forth as often as you want for no additional cost. To change the language of the books for your next delivery, go to Wishlist > Preferences > Edit.
You can see how many Swap Points a book is worth by browsing our collection. The value is directly related to the cost of the book when it was still new. There is only one Swap Point value for the same book title, regardless if it is in good condition or like-new condition. It also does not matter which publication version it is – books that are essentially the same story have the same Swap Point value.
Occasionally, you might receive brand new books in your Swircle Box that are wrapped in plastic. These books are worth more in Swap Points than its used version. If the plastic is removed from the book, the book will then be considered used. If you receive brand new books in your Swircle Box, navigate to the Box > Take section of the App to find out how much the book is worth.
A book is worth the same amount of Swap Points to take or to give – this means you can take a book now, and give the same book back later and there will be no gain or loss to your Swap Points (if the book is still in good condition, and if the book is still the same price when new).
No, your Swap Points never expire and they also keep their value. A book is worth the same amount of Swap Points to take or to give – this means you can take a book now, and give the same book back later and there will be no gain or loss to your Swap Points (if the book is still in good condition, and if the book is still the same price when new).
If you receive a book that is damaged, you can report it on the app. You are not obligated to take any books that are not up to your standards and you are also not responsible for the book anymore once you’ve reported it as damaged.
The option to report problems is available on the app during the book verification step; checking the books you have received is the first thing the app will prompt you to do after you open your Swircle Box.
The Swircle App auto-detects if a box is low in books or low in quality of books. It flags the box for maintenance and the box will be redirected to Swircle Headquarters on its next shipment. In addition, anyone can also manually report on the app that a book or box they received is in poor condition.
At Swircle Headquarters, the boxes are emptied and cleaned and a fresh collection of books is inserted and sent back out into the Swircle Community.
MORE QUESTIONS
There is the Standard Plan, and the Premium Plan.
In the Standard Plan, 10 to 20 books are delivered to your home every 4 to 6 weeks in a re-shippable Swircle Box. You swap with the box by taking out books you want and putting in books you don’t want, in exchange for Swap Points. The Swircle Boxes are then shipped onward directly from one family to the next family. The boxes are routed based on algorithms that match the books to each family. Matches are based on preferences, wishlists, skiplists and swap history – from 65% to 100% of the books you receive will be ones we believe your family will enjoy. In addition, the boxes and the books are regularly re-directed to Swircle Headquarters for maintenance when necessary. Shipping costs are included in your price. You are given 80.000 Swap Points to start, which will allow you to take 4 to 10 books in the first month. Additional Swap Points can be earned by giving away your own books. Swap Points can also be purchased if you want to take more books than you have to give.
Please note that when you cancel your membership, your Swap Points balance must return to the starting balance of 80.000 Swap Points. This can be done by swapping back all the books (or similar books) that you took, or by paying to replace the Swap Points that you used.
In the Premium Plan, almost everything is the same as the Standard Plan. The difference is that each box and its books are maintained and sanitized in between each shipment. The condition and quality of the books are more consistent. Every box makes a trip to Swircle Headquarters first for hygienic cleaning, before it is delivered to you. We use a combination of heat, disinfectant solution and ozone to sanitize the books and the boxes.
If you’re going on holidays or need new books sooner, you can change your delivery timeframe. This option is available in the Box link if you’re currently waiting for the next box. You simply choose a new date. There will be 14-day delivery timeframe, starting with the date you pick.
Your membership renewal date will be moved the same number of days that you moved your delivery date. Therefore, you will get the same amount of boxes and time with the books even if you change your delivery date.
In the Premium Plan, there is an additional sanitization step. Boxes and books are hygienically cleaned before they are shipped to you. Our sanitization process uses a combination of heat, disinfectant solution and ozone.
Book covers and box surfaces are first wiped down with disinfectant solution using a microfibre cloth. The books are then heated in a dry environment to a constant core temperature of 70 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
The Swircle Team wears surgical masks and gloves while they’re handling your books. They also disinfect their gloved hands regularly between each batch of cleaning. Each sanitized box comes with a record that states the date of cleaning and the signature of the person who sanitized your box and books.
Finally, we refresh the air and surfaces in the Swircle library, cleaning and packing room daily with an ozone generator.
Your preferences are listed on the Wishlist page. You can click on the EDIT link beside the Preference section to edit your preferences. You can also click here to edit your preferences.
You can easily cancel your membership. Click on Account > Edit Membership to modify your plan. The changes will take effect right before your next billing cycle.
Your membership will only be cancelled if you currently do not have a Swircle Box in your possession.
You can print the shipping label at the post office for 0,35€ a copy. Simply print your shipping label at the post office when you are dropping off your Swircle Box.
Click here for more information about printing at the post office.
Swircle is a combination of the words “swap” and “circle”. It is a “swap circle” – a community of parents giving the top children’s books of the same language to each other. Boxes of books travel automatically from family to family, circulating all over the country, and then back again. It is a collective swap library, made possible by the power of community.
We know that books are magical. They make kids smarter, more creative and they teach kids about the world. But compared to digital distractions, libraries are inconvenient and books are expensive if you keep on buying them. Furthermore, multilingual families don’t have many options in other languages. So unfortunately, as parents, we end up giving our kids phones, tablets and TV… more than we want to, because screen time is cheap and convenient. 🙁
Now, what if we could use technology to make real paper books as convenient as eBooks and as cheap as Netflix? What if the library could come to you? What if books were available in all the languages that you speak?
Would our children read more? We believe so, and thus, Swircle was born.
Swircle leverages the sharing economy, shipping conveniences, and technology to make physical books in any language more accessible to children. We hope to inspire generations of readers and thinkers; less screens, less internet, more books.
For a more educated, multilingual and literate society, #ReadThinkGrow
Please call or send a WhatsApp message to 0677 63693415. You can also email us at info@swircle.at
