If you come to this site regularly then you know I am always looking for ways to save money. That is how I stumbled upon an interesting new concept in the sharing economy of people giving their stuff to each other.
Yerdle is the site that facilitates this exchange so I put together my Yerdle review to help you get a better picture of the site and what stuff will actually cost you.
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How Does Yerdle Work?
Yerdle works off of the principles of a sharing economy. How are they making any money? It is a little complicated, but as a result of the sharing idea the cost of getting items off of Yerdles can be SUPER low.
The items on the site are used are offered as “Gives” by other Yerdle users and are of pretty high quality. I have seen many designer items and mostly everything is in really good shape. The best items on the site are (by FAR) the clothing offered, but there are also listings for:
- Baby Stuff
- Movies
- Music
- Sports and Outdoors
- Health and Beauty
- Electronics
- Books
- Tools
The pictures and descriptions on the site are very well done and the community they have built is really growing into something unique.
Yerdle Currency
The whole system works off of Yerdle dollars (YD). When you give an item on the platform you assign that item a “price” or number of YD.
When someone decides they want to “purchase” item they will pay your price and that number of YD are transferred to your account.
You can then take your accumulated YD and “purchase” items from other Yerdle users.
If you are thinking, “What keeps people from overpricing items?” I thought the same thing.
The truth is, that overpricing is frowned upon by the community and you WILL get reported, warned and then shunned from the community if you continue.
You cannot cash out YD and trying to exchange them will get you in trouble inside the system.
What it Costs You
Every item costs a set number of YD. If you are active on the site in giving this doesn’t really cost you anything.
Higher quality items are going to cost a lot more YD so if you don’t have enough YD built up and really want the item you will have to compensate with real dollars.
Every time you use take an item on Yerdle you will have to pay a shipping charge. Shipping is $5 for one item and $2 for each additional item (up to 4).
Next is where I think Yerdle is a little sneaky. When we mentioned earlier about how they make money this is how they have transitioned the program to make extra cash. Each time an item is posted there is a transaction fee.
The fee starts out at $3 and then drops to $2 once the item has been posted for 24 hours. You can see the service fees before you make your final purchase and make a decision on whether you want to spend that money or not.
There are two bits of good news, if your item is either cancelled or you do not receive the item in shipping then all service fees are refunded
The second bit of good news is that if you make it to Yerdle Pro then you drop one dollar off the service charges.
Upgrading Your Yerdle
You upgrade your account by giving items in Yerdle and successfully shipping them. There are two upgraded levels in Yerdle.
Yerdle Stars
You reach the Yerdle Star level by completing 10 gives. Once you get to this point you get a few perks:
- A nice pretty silver star badge that goes on your profie
- Customization of your profile to give you more cred on the site
- MOST IMPORTANTLY! Access to promos and offers that only Yerdle stars get in on
Yerdle Pros
Moving up to the pro level is a big deal inside the Yerdleverse (yes I made that up). You have to complete 25 gives and have an 85% giver success rate (completing a give in less than 7 days). Once you hit this level you get these “Pro Perks”:
- $1 off all service fees
- A gold star on your profile (because the silver one isn’t cool enough for you)
- Front of the line treatment from customer support
- Facebook group access – apparently all the cool kids trade all the secrets of maximizing your Yerdle account.
- A fancy welcome pack
- Pro only offers and promos
- Customizeable digital business cards that have your referral code
That’s right, there’s a referral program
Yerdle Referrals
Every user gets a personal link to invite friends to join the program. As a result of referring a friend you and your friend get $10 in YD.
On top of the extra YD, every time a friend gives their first item you get free shipping on one item. That is $5 in real money saved.
So if you have friends that like getting used, but high quality stuff cheap, you can really save a TON of money.
With that in mind BE MY FRIEND AND SIGN UP USING THIS LINK
My Overall Impression of Yerdle
I have spent a good bit of time scouring this site and learning the ins and outs of why people seem to love it.
What makes Yerdle unique is the community they are developing. People are really into the idea of giving and receiving quality items that are not needed by the current owner. As a result, as the program builds it gets better and better.
The fees were a necessary step to make the site work, and since they only make each item at most $8 they really aren’t that bad considering the quality of the items on the site.
The Yerdle Dollars are great because they encourage everyone to participate and really get the users engaged in giving.
My final impression after doing my full Yerdle review is that the program is pretty good now but has big time long term promise. As they add more users I could see this being a program that makes a real difference in helping people really save on high end.
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