About & FAQ

Trocaroo is a neighborhood barter board: offer what you’re good at (or stuff you don’t need), and trade it with people nearby for what you do need. This site is a demo MVP — everyone marked “Demo” is fictional.

How does a trade work?

Enter your zip. You only see listings within the distance you choose (local-only; proposals are limited to 50 miles).
Open a listing and propose a trade: say what you’ll give in return.
The lister accepts or declines.
Do the trade. Then both of you mark it completed.
Optionally leave each other a 1–5 star review.

What are points?

Every completed trade earns +10 credit points for each person, but only after both sides confirm. Points are a reputation score, shown on profiles and listings. They are not money: they can’t be bought, sold, transferred, or redeemed for cash.

What happens if someone doesn’t show up?

On an accepted trade, either person can report a no-show instead of confirming. A report counts as a confirmed no-show on the other person’s profile. After 2 confirmed no-shows the account is locked: it can’t post listings, propose trades, or accept new ones, and a red banner explains why. Locked members can still finish trades already in progress.

MVP note: there’s no dispute or appeal flow yet. A real launch needs a 48-hour dispute window and admin review before a no-show counts.

What is Trade Chat?

Trade Chat is direct messaging between two members. Tap Message on a listing, a profile, or a trade to open a chat, then agree on the details. Only the two people in a conversation can read it. Locked accounts can still read and reply to existing chats (to wrap up trades in progress) but can’t start new ones.

Does Trocaroo cost anything?

No. Browsing, posting (up to 10 active listings with 8 photos each), proposing trades, buying and selling, Trade Chat and the AI assistant are free for everyone — there’s no subscription and no trial that runs out. The only paid extra is an optional bump: $2.99 shows one listing first in nearby results for 7 days, labeled “Bumped” so everyone can see it’s a paid placement. Bump packs make each bump cheaper. Cash sales are paid in person; Trocaroo never handles that money. Points are never for sale. See pricing. Demo: no real payment is taken.

What does the AI assistant do?

In Trade Chat, the proposal form and the new-listing form, the ✨ AI assistant turns a short note (“mow his lawn twice for an oil change”) into a polished draft in Friendly, Short or Detailed tones, or tidies up what you already typed. It only fills the box — you review, edit and press Send yourself. It never adds phone numbers or addresses, and reminds you to meet in public for cash deals. In this demo the drafts are rule-based (no AI service is called). Free for everyone (50 drafts a day).

Photos

Add up to 8 photos per listing, JPEG/PNG/WebP up to 5 MB. Photos are resized in your browser and location data (EXIF/GPS) is stripped before they’re stored. Listings without photos show an illustrated placeholder.

Safety & trust

Meet in a public place for item swaps and first meetings. Tell a friend where you’re going.
Agree on scope, time, and place in writing before you start.
Childcare, pet sitting, and in-home help need extra care. Ask for references and meet first. At launch, childcare will require ID verification plus an FCRA-compliant background check. The “Verified (demo)” badge here is a placeholder only — nobody on this demo has actually been checked.
Licensed work (electrical, gas, major plumbing, brake jobs for others) may require a license or insurance. We don’t verify licenses yet.
Not allowed: weapons, drugs, alcohol, recalled products, and anything illegal. Minors can’t provide or receive services without a guardian.

Planned trust tiers: Contact-verified (phone/email) → ID-verified (government ID + selfie) → Background-checked (childcare, elder care, overnight sitting) → Licensed/insured (trades that need a license).

Is barter income taxable?

Often, yes. In the U.S. the IRS treats bartered goods and services as income at their fair market value (see IRS Topic 420, Bartering income). Casual, occasional swaps between neighbors may be treated differently from business activity, and rules vary. Trocaroo does not give tax or legal advice and does not currently issue tax forms — talk to a tax professional about your situation.

About this demo

Location matching uses a small built-in table of Austin, TX zip codes and straight-line (haversine) distance.
Sign-in is a demo “switch user” picker. Try it — or reset the demo data there.
Demo profile Derek Pruitt is intentionally locked so you can see what that looks like.