New "Gifting Economy" Site Launches Today in Portland

At least one grandma was successfully procured when a recent European transplant posted an ad on a new “gifting economy” site.

Rooster was created in 2013 by Tali Saar, a Bay Area marketing executive and entrepreneur.

Saar chose Portland for Rooster’s second big-city launch because, well, we’re neighborly. “Portland is about sharing, about community,” she says. “It has good-hearted people and felt very open, very friendly.”

Portlanders may sign up with their address and email at portland.therooster.co and join one of six communities organized by geographic area. 

A quick perusal of Rooster’s “North-East” neighborhood posts, for instance, yielded a woman looking to unload a pair of fake eyelashes, a mom seeking football cleats for her son, and one neighbor asking: “Does anyone in the Concordia area want eggshells for their tomato gardens?”

Rooster does have rules: No selling or paid services; no illegal items, and, “no asking for unreasonable things—a house, a car, a diamond ring or doing your laundry are inappropriate things to ask of a neighbor.”