Swapping is the new Shopping as Hitflip.co.uk opens for business

Hitflip acquires Swopex.com, the UK’s Leading CD, DVD and game trading site to create Hitflip.co.uk, Europe’s largest online ’swapping’ portal

London, 29th March 2007 – Online media exchange, www.Hitflip.de, the market leader in Germany and Austria, has acquired Swopex, the UK’s biggest CD, DVD and game exchange portal and fused the two leading brands together to create hitflip.co.uk, Europe’s largest online ‘swapping’ destination. UK ‘swappers’ can now join Hitflip.co.uk online to enjoy the unique Hitflip experience then begin swapping their unwanted DVDs, games, music CDs, audio books, and books simply, securely and cheaply.

Adam Finlayson, country manager for Hitflip UK, said, “The Hitflip ‘swapping’ phenomena has been an instant success in mainland Europe with customers taking the attitude that it’s better to exchange used or unwanted media titles rather than always buy something new. The popular Eighties morning TV show for children, Noel Edmonds's Swap Shop, became essential viewing for millions and for some, a way of life , so we know the UK is a nation of would-be swappers; people just need the right medium to help them do it.”

By fusing Swopex into Hitflip’s way of online exchanging, a new ‘exchange’ experience is being delivered to UK swappers. Web 2.0 technologies lie at the heart of the service and the technology is able to match complex swaps between millions of users and form recommendations based on the user’s habits and friends to ensure fairer distribution. In addition, UK customers now benefit from new social networking features and the ability to trade books and audio books.

Speaking on why people love Hitflip, Adam said: “Online swap sites, like Hitflip, are becoming serious rivals to auction sites such as eBay or e-retailers such as Amazon but what we do is a little different. For a start, ‘Hitflippers’ always save money as there is no fee when posting products up for swap. If nobody is interested in a swap then there is nothing to pay. A buyer only has to pay 79p per item when they receive a swap. ‘Hitflippers’ also like the social aspects of being part of hitflip. eBay or Amazon can be cold ‘faceless’ places at times, our members enjoy a relationship with other hitflippers, who have similar tastes - a more friendly trading society."

Hitflip Statistics:
- The most swapped UK DVD so far is Matrix.
- Europe loves to swap Robbie Williams CDs
- More than 100 new users are joining Hitflip each day
- More than 500 new products are added daily

Swopex members have already transitioned over to Hitflip complete with their trading history and credits, so that they can continue trading.

Hitflip (www.hitflip.co.uk) is a legal peer-to-peer platform for the exchange of media products. Hitflip brings together offers and inquiries for DVDs, music CDs, games, books and audio books, giving home media collections a new value. Depending on the product, the average charge is 79p per transfer: there are no subscriptions or hidden costs. Hitflip users are protected against fraud and damaged media by the Hitflip guarantee. Hitflip members are currently offering to exchange more than 125,000 different DVDs, over 20,000 different audio books and plays, over 40,000 games, 65,000 books and 85,000 music CDs. And these numbers are increasing daily. Hitflip was founded in 2005 by three post-graduate/doctoral students at the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar, Germany.

Adam Finlayson, Hitflip UK
adam.finlayson@hitflip.co.uk
Tel: +49 (0)179 1493816

Jimmy Tse, SquareMango
jimmy@squaremango.net
Tel: +44 (0)7932 455085

Hitflip Media Trading GmbH
Hohe Str. 58
50667 Cologne
Germany

This release was published on openPR.