Gratis For Gratis

Our project is about the creation of Gratis4Gratis, a website aimed to ease barter and second-hand resale. The e-commerce is based on the absence of real currency: every transaction is paid with our HappyCoin or through exchanges among users.
The virtual HappyCoin only represents value inside this environment, which is working as the community actively cooperates, reviving objects otherwise fated to become waste.

► WHY
Gratis4Gratis is fueled by the passion and the experience of a group of people willing to steer an economy based on consumption and waste in the direction of sustainability. The goal is saving money and resources through the reviving of goods considered unuseful or unfashionable, thus leading to a reduction of pollution due to industrial byproducts.
We – as a society - must address large-scale industrial productive processes as a source of an immense amount of waste, resource consumption and pollution, with their cascading effects on health and other social costs.
In fact, the theme of sustinability, for a modern industrial society as ours, has taken central place in public opinion and debate, and we are determined to ride this wave.

► VISION
· Monetary revolution, not based on material value but on trust and reuse;
· A new way of thinking society and wealth;
· A new way of thinking the relationship between life, work and leisure time;
· Spread of G4G model by means of other, similar reality.

► PROJECT
Gratis4Gratis website is already in place with some of the functionalities we planned. To date, a user can register on www.gratisforgratis.com, create a user profile and fill it in with an unlimited number of items to be exchanged or sold.
The e-commerce can work both by barter and by sale, provided the only allowed currency is our HappyCoin. While barter is an exchange between people, the use of our virtual currency (1,00 euro = 100 HappyCoins) does not involve the use of real currency in any way. The user can obtain HappyCoins (HC for short) in several ways: by registering to the website, by reviewing products, services and other users, by selling or buying. Thus, any contribution to the community is rewarded.
We aim to the creation of a dense network of ratings, reviews, geolocation and blog items, capable of reassuring and support people interested in entering the community and using the website, so as to reach the critical mass of an actual virtual market inhabited by people and governed by cooperation.
Target agents in this market are not only people but even business (especially small/medium size). We think even companies can benefit from this environment as a solution for unsold products, circulation of products in a non-competitive environment, free online advertising and the purchase of useful services/goods. The registration for companies is not free, so as to compensate for website maintenance costs.
Companies can promote their events, and users can gain extra HCs participating.
Moreover, companies can issue special offers and discounts for users.
Users can finalize transactions with no real currency involved, but a standard fee (estimated in 1 euro each) is applied on shipping, and premium shipping has a small additional cost. So users can choose the premium service in order to be able to track their shipment and decide the time of delivery, or they can avoid this costs by autonomous transfers.
There will be an additional functionality for Purchase Groups, through which users can lower shipping costs and gain other benefits. In social terms Purchase Groups will be an occasion for a tightening of the community. The creation of Groups will be implemented in the website, and their growth will be regulated by users themselves, making them more real and lively. This means the website will let them talk freely about everything they want (deal, shipment, opinions) without restriction; this is an added step forward the establishment of a real community.

► TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ISSUES
As previously stressed, our project is based on the use of virtual Coins, not translatable into real currency. The resources for website maintenance will come from Company subscriptions and other optional services such as online shipping, display advertising, exclusive services for dealers.
We think dealers will be interested in Gratis4Gratis for settling their unsold goods: being unuseful off-line, they will be converted in virtual Coins and then in other, more useful goods. Moreover, the mere presence of the dealer/company in the environment will translate into visibility and brand awareness.
The chosen legal form in Italy is SRLS (Società a Responsabilità Limitata Semplificata) since we are a group of young people willing to create an innovative, social/technological Start-Up.
The website is now under construction, entering the finalizing/testing phase; visit http://gratisforgratis.com and http://test.gratisforgratis.com.
We aim to completion in 3 years from debut, through the development of functionalities dedicated to dealers and infiltration in social networks.
Similar, existing websites:
1. http://soloscambio.it
2. http://arcipelagoscec.net
3. http://www.coseinutili.it
4. http://timerepublik.com
5. http://www.sardex.net
6. http://www.bartex.it

► OBJECTIVES
1. creating a socially cohesive and collaborative e-commerce community;
2. starting from North-West Milan, reach sector primacy on a national level;
3. involving and integrating small/medium companies;
4. generating income in 9/12 months from debut, through:
a. online shipping of goods;
b. company advertising and pay-per-click;
c. creation of coupons to be spent at stores;
d. yearly premium subscriprions for private users (hobbysts, artisans,...);
e. yearly premium subscriptions for companies;
f. commercial consulting (events, press office,...).


► WHAT IS ALREADY IN PLACE
An initial back-end version of the website is already in place at a public link (not visible to users) as demo for evaluation, financers and partners, complete with most of its final functions.
Also available some documents: action plan for coordinating the next six months of development, budget estimation, guidelines for our team and the core-business.

► WHAT IS THE GOAL
The next step forward is the development of an essential app for mobile users, based on geolocation and notification for near available products, integrated with maps for easy navigation to target.
Next step is the creation of a network of e-commerce websites, similar in ethics and structure: an online pseudo-franchising will be the key to exporting our model, promoting an exchange based on community rather than profit.
Once reached a sufficient level of users exchange and profit, we will use part of this profit to sustain the most effective new nodes in the growing network, as well as an incentive to the most active users, thus boosting participation and commitment.
Another key-feature is the possibility of exchanging services (baby-sitting, private lessons, houseworks,...) along with second-hand goods.
The final goal is to become a European-level operator.

Beta website: https://gratisforgratis.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/GratisForGratis/