How it works
From a surplus of courgettes to a neighbour who wants them.
Six steps, none of which involve money changing hands. Here is each one in full.
- 01
List what you grow or make
A listing is a good, how much of it you have, and what you would like in return. Say the variety if you know it — "Black Krim" tells a gardener something that "tomatoes" does not. Add a photo if you like.
There is no price field. Nowhere on the listing, and nowhere behind it.
- 02
Let the board match you
Your board shows listings near you, and Harvestkin lines your haves up against what other people have asked for. Where your surplus meets somebody else's want, you see it.
Distance is worked out from grid cells, not from anybody's address.
- 03
Offer a trade
Send an offer on a listing that suits you. The other grower accepts or declines. A decline is not a rejection of you, and it costs nobody anything.
Nothing is committed until you both agree.
- 04
Message privately
Once you connect, you get a conversation. Messages are encrypted in your browser before they leave it, using keys that stay on your device, so what we store is ciphertext.
We can see that two accounts are talking and when. We cannot see what is said, and neither can an administrator.
- 05
Meet and swap
Pick somewhere public, bring your half, take theirs. Harvestkin is local pickup — there is no shipping feature and it is not turned on for anybody.
We are not a party to your trade, and nothing about what you swapped is recorded as a value.
- 06
Rate each other
Afterwards you each leave a number from one to five. There is no comment box to write, and no review to manage.
Neither of you sees the other's rating until the window closes, and nothing shows publicly until three people have rated you.
What belongs on the board
Welcome here
- Fruit, vegetables, herbs and cut flowers
- Seed you saved, seedlings, starts, tubers and cuttings
- Eggs, honey and other things your animals produce
- Preserves, pickles, baking and ferments you made
- Tinctures, salves, soaps and other made goods
- Tools and garden kit you are done with
Never here
- Anything illegal to hold, make or trade where you are
- Drugs, prescription medicines and unapproved remedies
- Alcohol, tobacco, firearms, ammunition and weapons
- Protected species, invasive species and anything under quarantine
- Stolen, counterfeit, recalled, spoiled or unsafe goods
- Services, labour, rentals, digital goods and financial instruments
- Vouchers, gift cards, stored-value instruments, tokens or currency of any kind
Some goods sit in between and carry their own care — live plants, eggs, meat and home preserves each have handling rules that depend on where you live. The terms set out the full list and what each one asks of you.
Where your location goes
You place a point once, so the board knows roughly where you are. Before it is stored, the database rounds it to a grid cell — around 1.1 km north to south, and 0.5 to 0.7 km east to west at Canadian latitudes. The rounding happens on the way in, which is why the exact point never exists in a row for anyone to leak, subpoena or sell.
Your home cell stays private to your account and decides which board you see. A listing's cell is public, because that is the part that lets a neighbour find you.
The honest caveat: photos are stored as you upload them, and a phone photo can carry its own GPS tag. Until we strip that for you, shoot with location turned off.
Ready when you are.
No price tags on trades. No cut of a trade, ever. No tracking cookies.