Trade Anything
Introducing trade anything, well anything that is legal that is. We do not allow trading in stuff you need a license for unless you are licensed. We do not allow for trading in illegal stuff or substances.
Trade Anything is segmented into four main groups, we do not bother with categories because the search will give you the want you need.
The four main TRADE ANYTHING groups
The trade anything main groups are:
- Vegetables, this is where you can find locally grown vegetables.
- Locally Made, locally made, basically if you make your own soap from local (within a 50 km radius) materials. Then list them here for sale.
- Animals, homesteading is not without animals. Social media platforms like Fakebook do not allow for animal trading. We do, as long you ensure the welfare of the animal.
- Other, want to sell your farming equipment then select other. Basically, anything that does not fit in the above will go here.
As part of seed-to-plate, we also introducing Seed Exchange.
Why classifieds (Trading Anything)?
When we started the Trade Shack we wanted to allow Backyard Growers and Local Growers to sell their produce online.
The first release of the Trade Shack was focused on a free edeble exchange, some users requested to allow for selling their access produce, a bit of a side income if you like. Hence we introduce pricing. You still can exchange if you want to, just set the price to zero (0) and people will recognize it is for free.
Why not use Facebook or another?
You think Facebook is free, but is Facebook really free?
If your definition of free is not paying for it using money or a Credit Card, then arguably it is free. You pay for Facebook one way or the other, and using Edible Exchange Facebook pages or any other Facebook page is paid for with private data.
Facebook makes money by selling your habits, data, and profile. Any time you use Fakebook, you permit them to harvest:
- When you log in and from where (including your IP address)
- How long you spend scrolling
People, accounts, pages, groups, and hashtags you connect with - Places you check in to
Pages you follow - How you use Facebook’s camera
Metadata of content you share (like the location of a photo) - Contact information (if uploaded from a device)
- Who you talk to on Messenger and for how long
- Items you buy through Facebook
- Information other people share about you
That is just a subset of all the data that is collected. What is the price for that? It is naive to think Facebook use costs nothing. Facebook is making money with it, about $70 billion, give and take a dollar.
Facebook even tracks you when you do not have an account. And that does not even include the connections created via your friends and associates. So nope Facebook is not free.
The Trade Shack is not interested in your data. We use your login details to check if you are a subscriber and your postcode to guide you to the nearest initiative. Even then, the initiative administrator has to approve your access. Using our trade anything section requires even less information and we purge your classifieds after 30 days.
What you buy/sell/swap/exchange is purged after seven days if it is perishable, and classifieds are purged after 30 days. Gone, no record. Payment data we do not store or keep.
How much does it cost?
Nothing.
You read that correctly, to list your classified you do not pay a cent. We love coffee so if you want to buy us a cuppa please do so.
If you want to list as a local grower and sell your product online, again selling is FREE, but to have a listing online we charge $2 per month. This helps with the cost.
We believe that self-sufficiency and short supply chains are important for that reason we provide this service for free, we have members that subscribe to Plan B to help paying towards the cost of the site. We really appreciate that.
Local Edible Exchange?
It has come up several times, basically when you become a member, and provide your postcode we will give you access to the locations of the Locale Edible Exchange, REKO locations and other exchange locations.
We do NOT publish this information without validation of who you are. Eatons Hill Edible Exchange is a good example https://tradeshack.au/privacy-and-edible-exchanges/ why not. We respect the privacy of the local community and the Edible Exchange neighbors, publishing the location wide and far will only invite “tourists”.
Do you replace the Local Edible Exchange?
No, trade anything does not replace Local Edible Exchanges, if any we compliment. The local edible exchange is based upon an honesty system. We can cater for those edible exchanges that do not want to use Facebook, for the obvious reasons. If you do not want to use Facebook, we ask the Edible Exchange Administrator to subscribe to Plan B, and we set up the Local Edible exchange on our system.
REKO?
This also has come up a few times. REKO is fantastic and we are not replacing REKO. We support it, the difference between us and REKO is that we leave the “exchange of produce” up to the Buyer and Seller. We do not set a specific date or time.
We also do not charge you for the sales you make using our Trade Anything. We do not keep track of your revenue, we do not keep your classifieds, and all that gets purged after 30 days.
We provide you with the local REKO details as part of your Postcode Community page. On there we show the REKO meets and location together with their Facebook Page Link