This is a sponsored post
Today I’m going to be telling you about a fantastic new site that just launched called Swaprs, it’s been in the works since 2019 and had plans to launch at the start of this year but, like a lot of things, it unfortunately got delayed due to the pandemic. They have been working hard behind the scenes all through lockdown and have just celebrated their launch this past week. I think its a great concept and don’t think it could have come at a better time, I’ve already uploaded a few swaps and I’m excited to see more people join the platform!
What is Swaprs?
Swaprs is a peer-to-peer marketplace for swapping items and services. It’s been designed to be the quickest, easiest and most effective swapping experience ever. Their goal is to get millions of people swapping all kinds of goods/services and by doing so it’ll help people save money, waste less and keep useful stuff away from landfills!
Swapping is great because it allows anyone to create value from unwanted items, skills and spare time. And it’s not just great for the environment. It’s a great way to replace old wants and needs with new ones without spending any money.
How does it work?
Really simply! I signed up and listed my first service in less than 10 minutes. Let me walk you through it…
Firstly you create your account, I signed up using my Facebook profile which was super quick, then you upload an item or service that you are willing to swap. I listed ‘Clothing Alterations’ as my first swap as it’s something I used to do years ago and advertised locally on FB and it always seemed to be an in-demand service, especially around the summer holidays as people were getting out their summer clothes and organising uniforms for the kids.
You can also add in your “wishes’ or things that you are hoping someone could give/do for you, one of my wishes I added was ‘Front Driveway Weeding’…We all know I love gardening but there is just something about weeding the front driveway that I absolutely hate with a passion
Once you’ve added your first Swaps you can go and browse the Market place to see what other people are offering.
If you see a listing you like the look of then you can ‘Request Swap’ and send your offer to the other ‘Swapee’.
What sort of things can you list?
Almost anything (legal and reasonable) is allowed – from vehicles to gardening services. Swaprs are trying to make it easy for anyone to contribute and create value from their items, skills and spare time. I’ve been trying to declutter a few more items from around the house and shed recently and found a big stack of plant pots that I don’t need – something like that would be great to list on Swaprs and maybe I could even offer to teach someone how to pot up some plants along with it.
Think of the skills that you have that might seem really simple to you but could be something that someone else was never taught, things like baking bread – maybe you’ve got a spare loaf pan that would be handy for a beginner baker to learn with, or even sewing – if you’re anything like me you’ve got a stash of fabric offcuts that could be really useful for someone to learn how to sew with. Maybe you don’t find ironing a chore and could offer to do a basket of someones ironing if they’d come over and pressure wash your driveway, the possibilities are endless.
The list of items that aren’t allowed is fairly obvious/what you’d expect and includes things like alcohol, tobacco, firearms or other weapons, profanity, sexual content or medications of any kind, you can read their Terms of Use for further details.
What’s to stop people getting scammed?
Good question! This is something that the creators thought about a lot and they have come up with a rating system to help keep all users safe and promote good behaviour, you can anonymously rate the users you communicate. You can rate a user from 1 – 5 (5 being the best). To help prevent false or misleading ratings, you can only rate a seller once you’ve at least had a conversation with them. If you do have any issues on the Swaprs site then you can report content or email them directly at [email protected]
Why I think Swaprs is such a good idea
Since the pandemic hit I’ve been seeing some big changes in the way people interact and rely on each other. Back when this all started and we were worried about food shortages or supply line delays there was a resurgence of the ‘dig for victory’ type messages from the post-war era, which I was thrilled to see as an avid gardener.
We had a local Facebook group made for people who were having to shield and couldn’t go and get their own shopping – people were taking it in turns to drop essentials off for them and it saved a lot of high-risk families a lot of stress.
It might not seem like much to some people but I feel like it’s really highlighted how much we need to rely on each other as local and wider communities to help with everyday tasks (things like mowing the lawn for someone who might be too unwell to get out and do it themselves) and with so many people being made redundant and families facing money struggles at the moment, being able to be kind and help out people with items you might no longer need can really go a long way to helping make someone’s life a bit easier.
