01
Do a job you're good at
Sarah needs her CV rewritten. You write for a living. You take the job, she confirms it's done, and the credits land in your wallet.
+3 credits earnedPiloting in Amersham · one town at a time
Your skills are currency.
Do a job you're good at for someone nearby. Earn credits. Spend them with a neighbour who's good at the thing you're not. No money involved.
Free during the pilot · Credits earned, never bought
+3 credits · CV rewritten-4 credits · bike servicedAmersham · 137 members★★★★★ "did it same day"
Rewrite Sarah's CV+3
Credits earnedBike service with Dev-4
Credits spentHem two pairs of trousers~2
The loop
Barter, with the awkward part removed.
Straight swaps need a coincidence: someone who wants what you do and does what you want. Credits break the coincidence in half.
02
Bank the credits
Credits sit in your wallet until you need them. They are earned by doing, never bought, so every credit in the town represents real work done for a real neighbour.
Wallet: 11 credits03
Spend them with someone else
Your bike needs a service. Dev three streets over fixes bikes. You spend your credits with him, he spends his with the dog walker. Nobody invoices anybody.
-4 credits spentWhat trades
Starting with jobs where the worst outcome is a redo.
The pilot opens with digital, creative and low-risk practical work. Regulated trades and care work are deliberately excluded until trust and safety tooling has earned it.
CV & job applicationsWebsite tweaks & tech helpDesign & photographyTutoring & lessonsBookkeeping & adminBaking & meal prepBike & small repairsGarden tidy-upsChildcare & personal careGas, electrics & regulated trades
Solid = in the pilot. Dashed = later, once the dispute process has proven itself. Struck through = not on this platform; gas engineers and childminders deserve a proper market, not a barter experiment.
Straight answers
The questions everyone asks first.
Direct barter needs a miracle: someone who wants what you do AND does what you want, at the same time. Credits break that in half. You earn from anyone, you spend with anyone, and the value moves around the town instead of being stuck between pairs.
No, and that is deliberate. In the pilot, credits are only earned by completing work. The moment credits can be bought, the platform starts to look like a payments product, with all the regulation that brings, and the wallet stops representing real work done in your town.
Credits are guide-priced against time and typical job value, not pegged to pounds. A straightforward hour sits around 2 to 3 credits, and listings show suggested ranges so a CV rewrite and a bike service can trade fairly. You always agree the price before a trade starts.
Not during the pilot. We would rather learn how people actually save and spend before adding rules. If that ever changes, existing credits keep their terms.
Digital, creative and low-risk practical work: the kind of jobs where the worst outcome is a redo, not an injury. No regulated trades, no childcare or personal care, nothing safety-critical. That list grows carefully, not quickly.
Nothing during the pilot. No fees, no subscriptions, no featured listings. If the town trades well, paid options may come later for businesses and power users, but the basic earn-and-spend loop stays free.
Thinking out loud
Why we built it this way.
Why credits beat barter
The double coincidence of wants has killed every swap site since the 1990s. Here is the mechanism that survives contact with real neighbours.
One town at a time, on purpose
A national launch with nobody nearby is an empty room. Why 200 members in one postcode beats 20,000 spread across the country.
Bring TradeOff to your town.
Towns open in waitlist order. The more neighbours who sign up, the sooner yours trades.
Join the waitlist