Frequently Asked Questions
What is Favorpals?
Favorpals is a services-exchange community. We believe that everyone in the world is good at something. We also believe that everyone, once in a while, needs help with a thing or two. Imagine–somewhere perhaps far from physical reach but within range–you can find another person willing to trade services with you in an even exchange. Imagine that what you can do is as valuable as what they can offer to do in return. This is the world of Favorpals.
What do we exchange?
Simply, we facilitate the direct exchange of services to services. As a community holding to the ideal of a pure favor exchange, we guard against the biggest sin of all–(mis)use of the m- word; absolutely nothing may be exchanged for money. No member may even mention monetary value in connection with the exchange of services.
I've signed up and have not yet received my confirmation email. Where is my confirmation email?
Your confirmation email may have been delivered your spam folder. Please go to your spam folder, and mark the email as not a spam. To avoid emails from favorpals ending up in the spam folder you can also add admin@favorpals.com to your address book.
If you still cannot find the confirmation email to activate your account, send an email to admin@favorpals.com with the subject Activate.
My Password is not working?
If you cannot login you need to check the following:- Make sure you have already activated your account. Upon sign up, an email is sent to you that contains an activation link; you need to click on the link to activate your account.
- Passwords are case sensitive. You need to pay attention to the capital (upper case) letters and small (lower case) letters of the password, i.e. a password Favor4Pals is not the same as favor4pals.
- If you have requested a new password, it is generally reset as a mixed case password.
How does it work?
It’s simple! Imagine that money doesn’t exist, or if that’s too difficult then imagine that you can circumvent the concept of monetary value. Imagine all skill sets are created equal. I can fix your leaky faucet if you mow my lawn; or, better yet, I can fix your faucet if you do my root canal surgery–you get the idea. Favorpals allows you to create a profile, search for or list the favor you want, and describe the favor you can provide in return.
How do you value different services?
All services can be equated to a single UOS–unit of service. All UOS are equal. A single dental filling is equivalent to a single tax filing, which is equivalent to a single gardening session, and the list goes on. Naturally it will be up to the parties exchanging the favors to determine an agreed-upon UOS. However, the best way to classify a UOS is to think of it as the amount of work needed to complete a service. For example, if you are offering house cleaning, a UOS would be to clean the whole house once. Cleaning three quarter of the house is not a complete UOS, cleaning the house once a week is a recurring UOS, and so on.
How do I request a favor?
Easy, simple, and free:
- Register
- Write your favor request
- Write what you can offer in exchange
That’s it.
Take a minute to register, select your city, and find a suitable category. If one doesn’t exist, select "other" and enter your favor. Try to be as descriptive as possible so other members can respond accurately. It also helps to list your neighborhood if your request requires a physical meeting.
Don’t forget to list what favor you’re offering; there will be no freebies, you’re paying in services.
Wait for a response. You will receive an e-mail from us any time a member of the Favorpals community has responded.
If I have to perform my service first, how do I guarantee that the other member will reciprocate?
While swapping is an excellent way to obtain services without monetary cost, it relies upon the honesty of the participants. A dishonest participant might arrange a swap and then never complete their end of the transaction, thus getting something for nothing. This practice is called swaplifting.
After you exchange a favor with another Favorpals member, please take a moment to rate your experience using the Favorpals rating system. This helps the community regulate itself and weeds out those who might take advantage of our system. The rating system will not only help the community identify and ban swaplifters, but it would also help us recognize the most reliable members.
Also, when considering a favor exchange use your best judgment before making the agreement–much as you would for anything else in life really.
Who can join Favorpals?
Anyone who understands and shares our ideal. Favorpals benefits all people and organizations that recognize the mutual benefit in exchanging services rather than currency. It also enables those who lack "hard currency" to obtain services they could not otherwise afford. Please join our community and help nurture this simple yet ingenuous economic system.
Are there any tax implications for services that are exchanged?
In the United States it is generally expected that income taxes are owed on an exchange of services. According to the IRS: "The fair market value of goods and services exchanged must be included in the income of both parties." The recipient of the service is expected to report its value on Form 1099-B and Schedule C. Favorpals take no responsibilities for income taxes accrued on any exchange made on its site.
May I have my own private network to exchange favors?
This feature will be part of our upcoming release that we are actively working on.
The current beta version of Favorpals does not support this feature.
Are there any restrictions on favors that may be exchanged?
We reserves the right to remove favors that the Favorpals community deems inappropriate.