My recent experiences with Craig’s List and Austin FreeCycle make me yearn
for an opportunity to develop a swapping service that I’ve had on the back
burner.

Online classifieds work. And people don’t necessarily need to make money off
of their possessions they are willing to part with.

I was shopping for a loft bed for Cassidy and Craig’s list delivered a
resident here in Austin that was willing to sell me her gently used one for 40%
of the cost of a new one. I loved it so much and it worked out in Cassidy’s room
so well that I bought a SECOND one, on Craig’s list for again, roughly for the
same discount. I even negotiated $50 off the price by agreeing to disassemble
the bed myself.

More recently, I used Austin FreeCycle to get rid of an old Sony 32" TV that
I no longer wanted. It worked but was falling apart and I didn’t care to take
the time to fix what was wrong with it. Austin FreeCycle delivered eight
interested parties within 12 hours.

All this took some time and travel (contacting and waiting for replies,
coordinateing schedules, borrowing pickups, driving across town). How wonderful
would it have been if I could have scheduled the same transacations in my
immediate neighborhood.