Giftsy – Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Giftsy?

Giftsy is a peer-to-peer platform where people exchange and gift pre-loved clothing.

Instead of buying and selling, members share items through community-based exchanges and gifting.

Our goal is to reduce textile waste and build real human connections through sharing pre-loved clothing.

2. How does Giftsy work?

You start by creating your profile and adding at least one item you are willing to share.

A complete and honest profile is important to help other members build trust within the community.

Once your item is listed, you can browse other members’ items and request exchanges or gifts.

Giftsy is built around participation — everyone both gives and receives.

3. Do I need to create a profile and list an item before I can browse?

YES!

To browse other users’ items, you must first create your profile, complete the required information, and add at least one item you would like to share.

This helps keep the community fair, active, and trust-based, and also increases the chance that your requests will be accepted by other members.

4. Is Giftsy free to use?

YES!

There is currently no platform fee to join, list items, or participate in exchanges.

You only pay the shipping cost for the items you request through gifting or exchanges.

5. How is gifting different from exchanging?

Exchanging means two users trade items with each other, similar to a modern barter system.

When you find an item you like, you can send an exchange offer and select items from your own virtual closet to propose in return.

You can also choose how many items the other user may select from your closet.

Gifting allows a user to give an item without receiving anything in return.

When an item is listed as a gift, interested users send a short story explaining why they would like the item.

If the giver accepts the request, the requester pays for shipping and the giver ships the item.

This is part of how Giftsy encourages generosity and meaningful connection.

6. How does Giftsy help the environment?

Each successful exchange or gift on Giftsy represents a reuse event — an item kept in circulation instead of being newly produced or discarded.

Giftsy measures and records these reuse events and is building research partnerships with universities to validate their climate impact.

Our long-term mission is to make reuse measurable, scalable, and credible — and to help reduce the overall carbon footprint of clothing consumption.

Item-Level Climate Impact (Example)

The carbon footprint of producing one pair of cotton jeans is approximately 30–35 kg CO₂e.

That means:

• 30 pairs of jeans represent roughly 1 metric ton of embedded CO₂e from production.

Research also shows that extending the life of a garment by about nine months can reduce its total carbon impact by approximately 20–30%.

In practical terms, one reused pair of jeans can help avoid approximately 6–9 kg CO₂e in production-related emissions.

When this effect is scaled across millions of items, reuse becomes a measurable emissions-avoidance lever — not just a lifestyle choice.

7. Is Giftsy responsible for lost, damaged, or delayed items?

NO!

Giftsy provides the platform for members to connect and exchange items, but is not responsible for shipping, delivery, or item condition.

Giftsy includes a built-in messaging system and encourages members to communicate and get to know each other before completing an exchange or gift.

After a request is accepted and shipping is paid, the sender prints a shipping label through Giftsy’s built-in shipping feature and ships the item.

The sender packages the item, attaches the shipping label, and drops it off at a carrier location.

Both users can view the tracking information on the Giftsy website and receive notifications.

Users are responsible for coordinating shipping and completing exchanges directly with each other. If users prefer not to use Giftsy’s shipping labels, they may arrange and complete shipping independently using external shipping services outside of the Giftsy platform.

If you have paid the shipping fee but the other user has not responded or has not sent the item, Giftsy is not responsible for the other user’s actions. However, we can cancel your shipping label and refund the unused shipping label fee.

8. Can I sell items on Giftsy?

NO!

Giftsy is not a resale marketplace.

The platform is intentionally designed for gifting and exchanging — not buying and selling — to support a culture of reuse, generosity, and community.

9. Who is Giftsy for?

Giftsy is for people who:

• care about sustainability,
• want to reduce waste, and
• value meaningful, community-driven sharing.