Overview

In any local economy there are resources that don’t get traded. They’re services that some people want to sell and others would like to buy. But there is no marketplace that’s safe, convenient and cheap enough to make those transactions between neighbours worthwhile.

What sort of transactions? Very small trades such as:

Example sectors in Neighbourhood E-Markets
Small periods of employment	Taxi journeys	House cleaning/ironing
Van hire	Home hairdressing	Storage
Computer/Internet time	Weight loss support	Local deliveries

 Where these transactions do occur at the moment they are typically inefficient.  You want a meal cooked for your birthday party this evening? Best start phoning round your friends in search of someone. Need some shopping done in the next hour and don’t want to go yourself? Try finding then bribing a neighbour’s teen. Want to hire a bike this morning? You might find a bike shop that will oblige, but it won’t be cheap.

What you are looking to buy in each case is a slot. You don’t want to purchase a bike, you just want one for four hours. You don’t need to offer someone a job as a childcarer, you just want a vetted, qualified, individual who will work for the duration of your visit to the movies.

This kind of purchase has always been time consuming, uncertain and imprecise. It involves phoning, checking, negotiating. Usually, it’s not worth it for such small transactions. Online markets have galvanised other areas of consumer purchasing. Sites like eBay and CraigsList are fantastic if you want to take ownership of an item. That’s a relatively simple process. Looking to buy a slot is much, much more precise and complex. It requires a new kind of marketplace.

Auction sites and online bulletin boards date back to the early days of the web. We’re now beginning to see much more advanced trading forums. Trouble is: they’re currently  working for people at the top of the economic pyramid, not those at the bottom.

The 2008 sub-prime mortgages crisis is a product of new trading technology. Automated trading between financial institutions has developed in ways that were inconceivable ten years ago. Until the foundations of their products crumbled, that was very good news for the players in those markets.

That level of sophistication can now be bought to markets for slots traded in your neighbourhood. It’s a new paradigm based on a new kind of website. This site explains how it can work, what it takes to launch this kind of marketplace in any area and what the impact might be.