The Kashless Journey

Lets clarify Kashless.org’s mission, profit/non-profit status

2009-11-04T21:30:22Z

I have been having lots of discussions lately about how to effectively mix profit and non-profit activities in a software company. Whenever I find myself answering the same question more than once it is time for a blog post.

Here is how we have set up things here at Kashless. Kashless, Inc. is a for profit (unprofitable = unsustainable) sustainable company. Kashless, Inc. is venture funded, and expects to make a profit for it’s shareholders and to grow its business. Kashless, Inc. develops software to enable reuse marketplaces. Kashless.org is a non-profit demonstration consumer deployment of the Kashless, Inc. software platform. Kashless, Inc.’s primary business is licensing the software platform to brands, companies, and organizations, not operating a destination consumer site. In addition to operating Kashless.org as a public service, like many leading technology companies, Kashless, Inc. has committed a portion of its profits to a charitable foundation, the Kashless Foundation, which will promote Reuse and Recycling around the world.

Ok, we have a couple bugs you should know about….

2009-11-04T21:08:28Z

Thanks to our very observant members, they have helped us discover two very tricky and annoying bugs. Well that is one reason we are still in Beta. I am going to describe the bugs here. We are working on them and should have them fixed soon. Will update here and Twitter when fixed.

Expired listings still showing up as active. On certain partner listings, the Kashless.org system tries to keep the status of listings on our site in sync with the master listing on partner site. For the last four weeks or so, this process has been broken on a large number of listings. This has resulted in people trying to make offers on listings that are expired. This can be frustrating. We have identified the cause of the bug and are fixing it.

Messages not getting through. When you press “contact giver” on a listing, if the listing is from a Kashless member, the message is delivered immediately, if it from a partner site, we have to figure out the e-mail address to send it to and deliver it outside our system. For certain partner sites, this process has been broken for the last couple of weeks and we only recently noticed it. This meant that people were sending messages, getting no response and wondering what was going on. We are used to some people simply not responding, but not 100% non-response. Well, the mails were getting dropped. Our systems didn’t receive any error messages, so it was a hard problem to figure out. We have figured out the source of this bug and are also working on a fix. Sorry for the inconvenience, but any messages sent to partner listings over the last month, you should plan never got there. Messages to kashless listings were delivered fine. We will let you know when it is fixed.

Go Green This Holiday Season: Give and Receive Free Stuff Online at Kashless.org

2009-11-03T18:56:44Z

We are so very excited about the recent partnership between Kashless.org and Recycle Bank and the beginning of the Kashless Rewards program. This morning we sent out a press release celebrating the new addition to Kashless and sparking some Kashless shopping ideas for the Holidays. Below a quote from the release:

"This program is an easy way for people to go green for the holidays by
recycling and reusing items online that may otherwise be headed to a landfill,"
said Martin Tobias, CEO/Founder of Kashless.org. "This year go Kashless and
give, receive, earn great rewards, and most important, make a real difference in"
someone`s holiday season."

Read the rest of the article on Reuters.

Kashless Rewards

2009-10-26T23:07:29Z

We are excited to announce the Kashless Rewards for Reuse Program, a new way for Kashless members to earn reward points for doing the right thing. Kashless Reward is powered by RecycleBank, the world's premier currency for rewarding green actions. Redeem your Kashless Points for rewards, such as everyday discounts at your local grocery store, gift cards at top retailers, gifts to charity, or your next travel adventure. This is a really big deal!

Members earn Kashless Rewards for posting items, taking items, inviting friends, creating saved searches and more. Simply setting up a Reward Points account and posting your first item on Kashless will earn you enough points for your first reward.

The rewards you earn for using Kashless.org can then be used toward popular brands like Panera Bread Co, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Coca Cola, Best Buy, Kraft, Cold Stone Creamery, Olive Garden, K-Mart, Whole Foods, Subway, Honest Tea and thousands of other restaurants, clothing stores, travel deals, electronics and groceries. Or you can donate your points to any participating charity. There are hundreds of reward partners and counting.

Members receive Kashless Rewards points for the following activities:

Post an offered item on Kashless - (5 points)
Create a "Wanted" post on Kashless - (1 point)
Fully complete your Kashless profile - (10 points)
Create your FIRST saved search with any form of notification - (20 points)
Every saved search after - (10 points)
Send an e-mail invitation using the invite tool on the Home Page - (20 points)

But there's more. Earn Bonus awards for...

20 point bonus award for setting up first SMS/text message saved search.
100 points bonus award for adding $10 or more Kash to your account
50 point bonus award when you post your 20th item.

You can redeem any number of your points at any time in the "rewards" section of your Account Settings or by clicking the new "Rewards" tab on the top navigation bar. With rewards starting as low as 50 Points, the possibilities are endless.

Still have questions? Find out more on our Kashless Rewards FAQ page.
Or learn more on our Kashless Rewards Video.

"Kashless.org can help"

2009-10-07T18:58:45Z

The word is getting around about us!

Today we were featured on Boot Camp with Fred Fishkin.

The interview was great, with our CEO Martin Tobias on hand to shed some light on his inspiration for starting the company, saying:

"The idea came to me when I was cleaning out my garage and I had a bunch of stuff that was still good... And it was actually much harder than I thought to give it away to a charity. There's a long list of things the Salvation Army and Goodwill won't take. So I created the site."

Fishkin closed by summarizing: "Whether you have stuff to get rid of, or need to find stuff for free, Kashless.org can help."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Listen to it here:

http://bit.ly/8eWIY

Tips for a Sustainable Halloween

2009-10-06T00:39:15Z

It's October, and that means all kinds of great things - crisp weather, pumpkins, candy, corn mazes, and, of course, Halloween.

Are you thinking about Halloween yet? If you're like me, you haven't thought much about it and don't have any supplies. This is great, because it means that you still have time to make this holiday a green holiday.

Get creative! Halloween is easy to make sustainable. Here are our tips:

1) Make your costume from recycled materials
This may sound obvious to some, and impossible to others. This doesn't mean you have to be a classic bedsheet ghost. All manner of old clothing, trinkets, blankets, and objects can be turned into a costume. See what you can dream up with things you and your friends have lying around.

2) Swap old costumes
You've got a sensational peacock costume sitting in your closet, but you know you couldn't hold your head up if you wore it twice in a row. Your friend happens to have an amazing swamp monster costume in his basement. I see swapping possibilities.

3) Choose sustainable goodies
Instead of handing out mass produced space food candies this year, try earth-friendly organic fruits or candies. Giving away only fruit carries a heavy risk of making you seem tragically uncool to neighborhood kids. A good compromise would be to mix apples and healthier snacks in with all the Mars bars and Jolly Ranchers.

4) Choose earthy decorations
Rather than festooning your place with crepe papers, howling electric witches, and orange-colored plastic objects you found at Target or Joanne Fabrics, try something earthier. Think Indian corn, dried corn stalks, hay bales, pumpkins and squashes. They're classier, anyway - your Mom and Martha Stewart would agree with me on this.

very small logo

2009-10-02T20:51:39Z

What Exactly is Upcycling?

2009-09-22T21:42:54Z

Upcycling is recycling's cool, adventurous cousin. If recycling wears vintage Levi's and grows its hair long, upcycling wears a beret and has a sporty urban haircut.

More technically, upcycling is the process of converting one thing into something of greater value. For example, transforming bottle caps into earrings or pallets into lawn furniture. It's reinvention.

Let's take a look at some inspirations from our Etsy friends:

1: Fur Coat "UpCycling," street art by Neonzoon, Berlin

2: SnuggyLuggage Upcycled Vintage Suitcase Pet Bed
by mamarose10, $60

3. YAVA Glass - Recycled Boylan's Soda Bottle Glasses
by yavaglass, $30

4. Pink Blossom - Upcycled Fabric Earrings
by lolitasummer, $16

5. 8 Ball - Circuit Pendant
beadworkbyamanda, $20

6. "Spanish Lessons" Recycled Negatives Earrings
by tomatedepingles, $22

Are you an upcycler? What do you upcycle?

Sustainable Ballard

2009-09-18T17:06:58Z

Kashless is excited to announce that we'll be participating in the Sustainable Ballard Festival, September 26 - 27th.

According to the Sustainable Ballard website, "The Sustainable Ballard Festival is a community fair and the culmination of all of our hard work - a showcase for the activities and initiatives our neighbors have engaged in throughout the year. The 2009 Festival will feature live music, how-to workshops, fun & educational activities, local and sustainable businesses and much more! Please browse our festival pages for information on volunteering, sponsoring, and festival speakers and schedules as they develop."

Some of the Kashless Krew will be holding the fort down at booth number FOUR all day Saturday and Sunday so come visit! You won't want to miss it, because we're going to be giving away loads of FREE STUFF at our booth, dancing to the music (we're right behind the main music stage) and handing out high fives like WHAT!?

(The Festival will be located in Ballard Commons Park and in the Ballard Public Library. Intersection of 22nd Ave NW and NW 57th Street. In Downtown Ballard.)

See you there!

5 Fun Ways to Get a Little Greener

2009-09-18T03:19:11Z

Sometimes it's easy being green.

Sure, being sustainable may not be all fun and games (shorter showers? Such hardship!) but some green practices are easy and fun to adopt.

Without further ado, 5 fun ways to get a little greener:

1) Shop vintage

Vintage clothing, furniture, and household items are more than just green. They're also unique, funky, and fun to look for. A day of vintage shopping is always fun, and you're

sure to find some real gems. Seriously, one of my favorite pieces of clothing (a vintage Dolce and Gabbana pencil skirt, in case you were wondering) was found in a heap of vintage skirts in a basement resale shop - and I got it for a song.

2) Go digital

Bookworms rejoice: ebooks are awesome and eco-friendly. Even if you don't have a snazzy Kindle of your own, your local library has ebooks these days, too. You can download and read them instantly - with no late fees and no trip to the library.

3) Get crafty

The sky is the limit when it comes to repurposing. Almost everything can be "upcycled" and given a new lease on life. If you can dream it, you can make it. Look around your house for ideas. My mother, a glass artist, has an entire line of recycled wine bottles. She shapes them into tumblers, slumps them into cheese boards, melts them into bowls, or turns them into mosaics. Get creative!

4) Grow it yourself

Gardening at home is as green as it gets. No chemicals, no transportation costs, no nonsense. Just good old fashioned vegetables! It's fun to see your love and care blossoming. If you're garden-shy or low on space, try growing herbs in your window sill. It's nice to have something truly green and growing - and delicious, too.

5) Take a stroll

Walking or biking to work saves on gas and cuts your stress. Sure, it may take a little longer to get there, but life's about the journey, isn't it? By walking or biking to work, you'll get in some exercise and get to know your town. You may find things you never would have seen if you were bottled up in your car racing from place to place. Make it an adventure - but take your time.

Now, let us hear it! What are your favorite fun ways to go green?

What does our shopping pattern say about us?

2009-09-10T19:31:50Z

In college, I took a course on consumer patterns. People with PHDs have applied their nimble brains to figuring out how, what, and why we buy. They've mostly answered the first two questions, but no one knows exactly why we buy all the stuff we buy.

As for the "how" of shopping, we all know from experience that there are people who shop for the object and people who shop for the experience.

But among those who like to shop, there are three sub-categories:

Group 1: People who like to shop in tidy, linear places (think Gap)

Group 2: People who like the "treasure hunt" of thrift shopping

Group 3: People who are forced to shop thriftily but would rather not

Let's assume that most Kashless users fall into group 2. Don't deny it - I've seen the server logs. I know that you don't use the search function. You're browsing through page after page of listings looking for something cool.

One of the UK's top resale shops, Oxfam, tried to organize its jumble of used goodies into the linear layout used in first-run shops like Gap or Macy's. They found that everyone hated it and stopped shopping there. Those of us in Group 2 don't want you to hand us anything. We want to find it. We're looking for a little bit of ourselves, lost in the confusing listings or the bizarrely organized piles.

So now we know how we buy. We also know what we're buying - unique, used, secondhand items that have some history.

Is this also why we buy? Are we shopping around for a little bit of identity? Are we thrifting out way to a clearer sense of self?

I think so. My secondhand, thrift-store things say a lot more about me than my department store purchases. This is what good thrifting is all about: being yourself, being sustainable, and having fun.

How do I love free? Let me count the ways!

2009-09-02T20:34:51Z

Are you there, readers? It's us, Kashless.org. And we have some questions for you! Who doesn't love questions? Come on, admit it - you love filling in quirky questionnaires about your favorite ice cream flavor and book titles just as much as we do.

So today we want to ask you this:

if you've gotten something off Kashless.org, what is it?

What do you like about it?

What don't you like about it?

How was the experience different than buying new or used items?

And just for fun, if you could get one free thing off Kashless.org, what would it be?

We want to hear about your experiences!

The Kashless School of Art

2009-08-28T23:18:13Z

Are you interested in some free original art? Who isn't?

Kashless has our very own artist! Cohitre is a Seattle-based user who has taken to drawing quirky and cool dinosaurs and posting them on the site. I hope this trend continues!

Keep and eye on Cohitre by following their listings here: http://bit.ly/d4nNt. If any more Kashless artists emerge, we'll be sure to highlight them, too!

Good job, Cohitre - we love what you're doing.

Help Kashless Spread the Word in Your Community

2009-08-19T23:18:59Z

Wish there was even more free stuff on Kashless.org than there is now? The more members we have, the more people there are to connect and share with. A great way to get your friends, family and neighbors to become a part of the Kashless family and begin practicing re-use is by helping us spread the word in your area.

That's why we put together this Kashless Flyer:

Kashless Flyer.pdf

Print 'em out, pass 'em around and spread the word about Kashless.org to your community!

Here's a picture of Kashless at Powell's Bookstore in Portland, OR:

Kashles Celebrity Skis - Winner and Runners Up!

2009-08-06T23:19:49Z

The winner of the Kashless Celebrity Skis is Ladd!

Here is Ladd's response:

"Well Ive been elected to sing about Kashless being so tight
As a huge PUSA fan and a skiing wild man I'm feeling alright (about my chances that is)
I certainly think these lyrics will create confusion
Got a free stuff problem well Kashless' got a solution
Just let Kashless do what they do and let them connect us to free stuff
Let them connect us to free stuff, they've done connected me

Well Ive been selected to change the lyrics to this song, to this song
Im goin to do my best but the rhythm might be all wrong
Might be all wrong
Well I gave it my best cause I want Dave's skis
With some help from Kashless I might get them for free (its what they do)
Kashless do what you do and connect us to free stuff
Connect us to free stuff, they've done connected me"

** Another part of Ladd's response that won us over was this "With your permission if I get your free skis, I will be donating them to my favorite charity's auction, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where I will probably buy them back as a donation (unless there is a deep pocketed PUSA fan in the audience in which case I will be sad to no longer have the cool skis, but happy that the money raised when to a great cause)."

Thanks Ladd for participating! We hope you enjoy the skis!

Some fantastic quotes from the runners up:

"i love kashless because i find the most random things that i actually need. it's also a great way to find unique and hard-to-find items like antiques and such. one man's trash is another man's treasure right? i also found it to be a great way to get rid of some of the things that have been sitting in our storage for years!" -bettafly21

"economy's wrecked,

landfills, piles of disrespect,
an ingrained neglect.

tons of new objects,
consumerism's quite suspect.
mindset to correct.

with luck we'll connect
and reduce greenhouse effect.
an Earth to protect.

thank you to kashless,
purpose, savvy intersect.
skis i shall collect." - Troy

"I like Kashless!Everyone is interconnected by what we say ,do,experience and spend or trade!That is what makes us unique!Kashless keeps things moving between people and provides new friendships and experiences in life!" - mdslhefte

"I love going kashless (not to sound so clechy) because as a teenager without much money it is cool to have a place where I can go and find free stuff." - dbt1994

" I think you are doing a Just thing here by keeping Kashless going here.I came on this site a few months ago to get help with needing insulation and sheetrock. This site is a neccesity." - marsh.cleaning (Jamie)

Dave Dederer's Autographed Acoustic Guitar is NOW up on the Site!