An electronic Swap ‘N’ Shop for IBM employees and retirees in North America is now available at:
http://www.employeeswapnshop.com/ibmer
Hosted and maintained by Beneplace, this platform creates a private trading market between employees and retirees.
The site is simple to use for both sellers and buyers. Once you log on, you can browse ads by category, as well as location based on city names or zip codes, if you want the convenience of trading locally. As more people enter items for sale, more categories will become available.
To post items to sell, you first must register on the site (click on “register” in the blue bar) and provide some basic contact information including location, email or phone number. After that, just click on “place an ad” and fill out the fields. You can determine how long you want your ad to remain on the site.
The Swap ‘N’ Shop service is set up to enable employees and retirees to buy and sell their personal items to one another and must adhere to the stated guidelines. Items for sale cannot violate IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines such as firearms, weapons, or illegal, controversial, or unethical products or services. The service is only for personally-owned items; no businesses, no commercial properties, no services and no event listings (such as yard sales) are allowed. Transactions are between employees and/or retirees and do not involve IBM or Beneplace.
This online market place has huge potential for employees and retirees. You can even use it to trade vacation accommodations, for example, or find a living situation for a son or daughter studying in another country. A ride share category is already available to enable employees to more easily find car pools.
No doubt, it may take some time for the offerings on Swap ‘N’ Shop to grow as employees and retirees learn about this service begin to use this new online version.