Browsing the market
Find Offers and Needs with search, filters and distance.
The Market tab
Tap Market in the row of tabs. You see what people in your community are offering and looking for, newest first, grouped by the day they were posted.
On the phone, events come first. If you have already let the app use your location, the list and compact views show listings nearest first instead, under Nearest first, with polls under Polls. For You keeps its own order. Pull the list down to refresh it.
In the web app the Market opens as cards. In the list and compact views, events sit under the day they were posted. On a local community the web app does not put the nearest first.
On the global community, the web app shows the listings near you first: the nearest within your Distance, or within 250 km of your area (the rough place you give the community when you join, or in Settings), each with how far it is. A line above the list says which. Near your area it has Show everywhere for the newest from everywhere. With a Distance, open Distance and tap Reset to go back to your area, then tap Show everywhere. On the phone, the global community keeps the listings nearest your area, so those are what the Market shows first. When fewer than eight are near you, the newest from elsewhere come underneath under Newest from elsewhere, on the phone and the web app. They don't when you have picked a Distance or are looking at Events, and on the phone they don't while you search. See "Finding things near you".
On the global community, while there are only a few listings, the Market also shows a few cards marked Example. They are made up, to show what people post, and can't be opened or answered. They go once there are enough real listings.
On the phone, the search and filters slide away as you scroll down, so you see more posts. Scroll up a little and they come back. To jump back to the top, tap Market again.
Search
Type in Search marketplace... at the top. On a small phone it may just say Search. The search also finds related words: "fruit" finds "lemon". It finds words in Chinese, Japanese and Thai too, and leaves out posts by people you have blocked. Without a connection, it searches what is already on your phone.
While there are words in the search, a button Save this search to Home appears. It opens Home with a saved search ready to add: your words, Offers or Needs if you were looking at only one, the category and the distance. There is no button under Events or Polls. See "Home".
Filters
The row of buttons under the search chooses what you see:
- All, Offers or Needs.
- For You: posts in the categories you star under Customize interests (the same stars you set on Home), and your upcoming events, the ones you said you are going to or are interested in.
- Events and Polls.
The second row narrows it down. On the phone:
- All Categories: pick one category, like Food, Tools or Garden.
- Distance: only posts within a distance of a point. See "Finding things near you".
- Trust: only posts by members who have not traded yet (Founding), by Newcomers, or by members with at least a certain trust badge.
- Beans only: hides posts that also ask for some cash.
In the web app the buttons are Category, Distance, 🌱 New members (members who have not traded yet) and 🫘 Beans only. There is no Trust filter.
If you belong to groups, a row of group buttons appears too. All Groups & Public shows everything; a group's button shows only posts for that group. In the web app the groups are in a dropdown instead of a row.
On the phone, if nothing matches, tap Clear All Filters. In the web app an empty list says No items found, and there is no such button.
On the phone, when you have scrolled down and a search or filter is on, a small chip at the top shows what it is. Tap the chip to change it. Tap ✕ on it to clear the search and every filter.
The button next to Your deals changes how the list looks: a list, a grid, or compact.
What a post shows
- a photo, or a coloured tile with the category's picture and name;
- OFFER or NEED;
- the price in beans, with /Hr if it is priced by the hour;
- RECURRING if it stays open after each deal;
- CASH TOO if the person also needs some cash, for fuel or materials;
- 🤝 IN TRUST if you have a deal on it with beans held, or ✋ ASKED if you have asked for it, or someone has asked for yours. Only the two people in the deal see this: nobody else is told who traded;
- a lock and a group name if only that group can see it;
- who posted it, with their trust badge and stars. A member who has not traded yet shows 🔑 on their author line.
Tap a post to open it. There is no separate VIEW button; tapping anywhere on the card opens it.
On a post
- Message and their name: ask a question before you commit.
- Tap their name to see their profile, reviews and trust.
- Report Post if it is a scam, offensive, misleading, or puts a child at risk (Child safety).
- Block User to hide their posts and chats on your phone. It also tells your admins. See "Blocking someone".
- Your deal on it, if you have one: what is held, whose step it is, and the buttons for it, in place of Accept Offer or Offer to Fulfill. On your own post, every deal under way on it. See "A deal, step by step".
- Taken up by someone else for now. if someone else has taken it up and it is not one that stays open.
In the web app the buttons on a post are 💬 Message and 🚩 Report. Block someone from their profile.
On the global community a post has no price in Beans: it says what the person would like in return. Where the price would be, it says "🏘️ In a local community this is a price in Beans ›". In place of asking for it, the post shows Request · Beans held safely 🏘️: tap it to see how a deal works in a local community. Messaging the person works as anywhere. See "Beans and the global community".
You cannot save a post yet.
Sharing a post
Open a post and tap Share with members. Your phone's share sheet opens with the post's title and a link; on a computer the link is copied for you to paste. Anyone in your community who taps it opens the post. Someone who isn't a member lands on your community's own page, with how to ask to join.
Where your community allows it, you can also tap Share outside the community. It is for showing one listing to a friend or a neighbour who isn't in BeanPool yet, in a chat or a message:
- The link shows that one post for 7 days: its title, words, photos, price and roughly where it is (the area, never the exact place).
- It never shows a name, a face or anything else about the person who posted it, or about you. It says only that a member of your community shared it.
- It opens nothing else: no other post, no member, nothing about your community beyond what its public card says.
- Whoever opens it can ask to join your community, open it in the app, or look around the global community.
- A post only your group or one person can see can't be shared outside.
Each link you share outside is listed under Settings, Shared outside, until it runs out. Tap Stop sharing and that link stops working at once. A link also stops if the post is taken down, if you leave the community, or if your community's owners turn sharing outside off.
Related
- HomeWhat Home is, which cards it shows on the phone and in the web app, how to add, move or remove them, picking what you're into, and privacy when you sign out.
- Posting an Offer or a NeedPut up something you can do or give, or something you are looking for.
- A deal, step by stepFrom asking to getting paid, for an Offer and for a Need, and leaving a review.
- Finding things near youShow only posts within a distance of you, or of any place you choose.
- Trust badgesNewcomer, Resident, Steward and Elder. What they mean, and why they unlock nothing.
- Beans and the global communityWhat the global community is for, one community among many, and what you see there: the 🏘️ Local community marker, the example community Example Valley, why Beans wait there, and how to start or find a local community.
The same guide is in the BeanPool app, and works there without a connection: open Settings, then "Help & how it works" under BeanPool. Every other rule, guide and manual is in the Help Centre. Guide version 162.