IconBuffet is a site with collections of icons, some which are free and some which are not. Central to the site is a trading system for receiving icons.
Signing up for the site uses a fairly simple sign-up system, asking for nothing besides name, email, password and optional avatar. I also like how it checks the availability of the username through Ajax. Alternatively, you can register by entering your OpenID log-in. Sadly, the OpenID sign-up doesn’t seem to work because when I try to enter my OpenID log-in it takes me to a 404 (on IconBuffet; not MyLID which is my identity provider).
In order to get icons, you must find a friend on the site who has the set you’re after. You may then ask them to swap their icons for some of yours. However, the catch is you have tokens which you must pay the site to receive icons (essentially placing a 10 icon set limit monthly on free accounts) and stamps which you must use to send icons. You can earn stamps by receiving icons.
After you have swapped until you get the icons you want, you may download the icon sets to use.
The site is a lot of extra work than is necessary to get icons, however, it makes the whole process more social and allows you to link with other designers.
IconBuffet is good fun, but not good to use if you need icons quick.
