The Valley Exchange FAQ

The Valley Exchange is a LETS System.

(you can visit our website for an explanation of LETS Systems: http://thevalleyexchange.org/lets-systems-explained-2/)

The unit of currency that The Valley Exchange uses is the Lorin. One Lorin(L) is roughly equivalent to one Australian Dollar.

Just click on “Membership Form” in the menu on our home page (thevalleyexchange.org).

Registering is easy: fill out the details and in 1-2 days you will receive an email for you to set your password. Once you have set your password, you are ready to trade.

Your Trading Name will be the first 3 letters of your First and Surnames (eg. John Smith would be JOHSMI).

Contact the Administrator to discuss ways in which you can still participate.
(please use the “Contact Us” form on the webpage or SMS 0419 399 377)

The registration fee is $5 per person. It is used to cover the cost of running the website. Please give it to one of our committee members after you have completed the membership form.

There is an annual fee of $5 and 5L(to pay the administrator for his or her time).

Transactions recorded on the internet or via SMS do not attract any transaction fee. However, there is a 0.1 L(10 cent) transaction fee charged to the buyer for paper cheques to reimburse the time taken to process these.

There is no interest on your Valley Exchange account.

There are three ways in which you can record your transaction:

1. On the internet

• visit thevalleyexchange.org
• log in (you will find the area to do this at the bottom of the menu – on a mobile device you access the menu by clicking on the box with 3 horizontal lines in the top right hand corner)
• select “Trading” from the menu (this page is only accessible if you are logged in)
• the buyer fills out the “Trading” form and clicks “Submit” at the bottom.
• tip: you can add the “Trading” page to your home screen on your mobile (you would need to check the “Remember me” box when you logged in for it to allow you to use this shortcut)

2. By SMS

• the buyer sends an SMS to 0419 399 377
• the format should be:

Transfer LORENS from BUYERS’s trading name to SELLER’s trading name for DESCRITION of goods

 eg. Transfer 10 L from JOHSMI to ALIJON for Apples

• these transactions will take 1 – 2 days to appear in the transaction list

3. By Trading Cheque

• these are available next to the box at co-op
• you are welcome to keep a supply at home
• the buyer fills out the cheque and signs it
• this is then deposited in the box at co-op by the seller
• the buyer is charged an administration fee of 0.1L (10 cents) for these transactions

• if you made the transaction on the internet, then you can click “Transactions” from the menu to see your transactions (sometimes takes a few minutes to update)
• if you made the transaction by SMS you will need to wait a few days to see the transaction appear in this list
• if you made the transaction by trading cheque it will take up to a week to appear

• click on the menu item “User Balances”
• send us a message by clicking on “Contact Us” and request a statement (an admin fee of 0.5L applies)
• tip: you may wish to reconsider selling to someone who has a very large negative balance and is likely to have difficulty earning Lorens

“Offers” are things you can give to or do for other people. “Wants” are goods or services you would like others to do for you.

• It’s very common to find it difficult to identify the full range of skills you already have or what you can request from others. We encourage you to participate in a process of identifying your Offers and Wants with our Administrator.  There are likely to be lots of things you hadn’t even thought of that can make a difference to not only your life but that of others as well.
• Don’t forget you can change your Offers and Wants at any time.  Sometimes it is not always possible to continue with your Offer, such as it may be seasonal produce or you may be going on holiday or even ill.  If you are unable to Offer your service at any time you will need to “Trash” it so that you don’t receive unnecessary calls.
• It is preferred that you honour all advertised Offers so as not to waste other’s time.

There are three ways you can organise help when you need something done:

1. Look through the Offers list to find a match and contact the seller directly to organise the transaction.
2. List what you need in the “Wants” section and see if somebody contacts you.
3. Ring the Administrator who will then try and find someone who is able to help you.
   • It should be remembered that there is no guarantee that things you want can or will be provided or indeed things you Offer are things that others will want. We will just do our best to match up both offers and wants – it depends very much on how flexible and willing people are to help others with things they need.  It helps to believe that everyone does want to help but understand that sometimes it is difficult for us to find time to do that.

You don’t need to have anything in your account to begin trading. As ‘money’ in this system is just a book entry or ‘point scoring’, there is no need for a supply of it. You begin by going into debit (not debt). This means your account has a negative balance but unlike with conventional money you do not have to pay interest on it and there is no stigma attached to it (unless it gets large and is never reduced). Your debit simply means that you owe the community goods and services to the value of the debit at some future time.