Makeupalley is a popular website with a swapping board. People trade new or used products (depending on what you're comfortable with trading/using!) but there's always the potential for scammers. There are rules for their swaps too. It's more work than I care to do, so I usually give my extras to friends and family.

I work at a Sephora and I get a lot of gratis items that I can't particularly use (especially if they're the wrong shade). I'd much rather just give it to someone who would actually be able to use it (it's unethical for me to sell any gratis items since I didn't pay for it myself).

I agree, I think it would be very iffy, especially with potential scammers. Naturally, a person who is on the site frequently will have a better reputation than a person who just joined a day ago. Also, even if you were to just give things away for free, it's likely that person who receives it for free might just turn around and sell it and profit off of your good deed. If you plan to swap items with another person, even if you send your items, who knows if that other person is going to be responsible and send their items (I can see a lot of excuses from people saying "it got lost in the mail"). Just like you said, there's a lot of bad people out there. 

I know I'm casting a lot of pessimism about a good idea. I know that there a lot of GOOD people who have a similar passion for beauty and want to honestly contribute without intending to rip people off. 

I had that same idea,and posted it a while back. I have tons of  new, unused products. They accumulate quickly! I usually end up just giving things away.It would be nice to be able to trade with others that are in the same boat!

Aren't there websites that you can sign up for that deals strictly with swapping products?

Have you researched it?  If there's products that I buy and don't use, I usually swap with my sisters or female co-workers.  Sometimes, I give them away as gifts.

Thats good to know cuz i've thought about swapping products on that site!

That's a good idea. :)

I'm not sure how this would work out though. 

Are you thinking we send it to Total Beauty and have them send it to us? 

Cause I feel like some people might use it to scam others, which is awful, but it could happen.