Culture

Forget that yard sale

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.

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Elinor Mills

Jan. 10, 2007 1:21 p.m. PT

A new Web site offers a way for people to get rid of their stuff without having to sell it at a yard sale or just dump it. Gigoit.org (which stands for garbage in, garbage out) is a nonprofit that offers a sort of online marketplace for people to exchange stuff that they don't want anymore but is still usable. You can search for specific items (for example, floor lamp, leather coat, coffeemaker) within so many miles of your ZIP code or see recently posted items in your area. There is no cost to post or acquire items.

The ad-supported site faces stiff competition from the likes of Craigslist, the popular classifieds site that has a "free stuff" category where you can find .

I just tried Gigoit.org for my ZIP code and found only one item posted three weeks ago. The site, in beta since December, just launched last week, so it's understandable that it wouldn't have a lot of users yet.