Even Trade

Even Trade is for two people who want to trade — eggs for editing, firewood for a ride, an hour of tutoring for an afternoon of fence mending — and want it to feel fair. You each say what you bring, in plain words. Even Trade suggests what each side is worth and says why, so nobody has to name a number to a neighbor's face. Slide it, or set your own price. One sentence shows the whole trade; you both tap Agree on your own phones. When it actually happens, each of you marks it done. THERE IS NO DATABASE Your trades live on your phone and the other person's. There is no account, no sign-in, and nothing to track. We can't see your trades, so we can't sell them, lose them, or be asked for them. The only time the app touches the internet is the minute two phones spend linked for a trade, through a relay that forwards scrambled messages and keeps nothing. NO MONEY MOVES Even Trade is a record of what two people agreed, not a wallet. Nothing is bought, cashed out, or transferred. If a trade is lopsided, the difference is simply remembered. STANDING OFFERS Keep a list of what you can offer and what you're looking for. It fills in with one tap when you start a trade, and anyone who scans your code sees it. GROUPS When the people around you trade too — a group, roommates, a market, a congregation — someone organizes it, sets the going rates once, and members join with one scan. Inside a group, a lopsided trade can be settled with anyone in it, so eggs for editing works even when the editor doesn't want eggs. YOU OWN IT One price, once. No subscription, no renewal, no upgrade nag. The way software used to work. A FEW THINGS ARE YOURS TO LOOK AFTER Your phone is the record: send yourself a catch-up file now and then, and it restores onto a new phone. The yearly file is your record for taxes; we report nothing to anyone. Even Trade is made by Tree Media Group, a documentary film company in New York's Hudson Valley. We make films about how people and places work. This is a tool for the same thing.