A Message For the OfferUp Community
Below is an article originally published on Apr 22, 2020 in OfferUp blog. Go to OfferUp's company page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.
As a marketplace that promotes interpersonal connection, both online and offline, we are deeply saddened to see the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis span the globe. Our hearts go out to all of those who have lost loved ones or fallen on hard times as a consequence of this concerning and rapidly-changing situation.
In order to adapt to the challenging times both behind us and ahead, and provide the best possible support to our employees and the OfferUp Community, we've changed a few things about our business and have some suggestions for buyers, sellers, and shippers with our best tips for navigating online marketplaces in the days to come.
The trust and safety of our community is our number one priority. Certain medical and healthcare items are not allowed for sale on OfferUp, including listings that claim the item can diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or virus, or any items that claim to be CDC or WHO approved.
We will continue to remove items that violate our prohibited items guidelines and monitor for price spikes and items with false claims through a mix of automated and manual review.
Posts that violate any of our guidelines, policies, or terms may be removed at our discretion. Additional actions including account suspension may be taken for severe or repeat offenses.
We will continue to monitor this situation and we will provide updates on this blog to communicate any changes to the OfferUp platform or our policies in response to COVID-19. Please click here to read more about how we are supporting our paying Autos Dealers as they adjust to the difficult economic times ahead.
Our Employees
Out of an abundance of caution and in line with local and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, our employees are working from home until further notice.
Our team is contributing to the broader conversation on best practices to support remote work, so keep an eye on the Life at OfferUp Instagram for some of the creative solutions they have come up with to make their work-life work better at home.
Our Buyers and Sellers
These are unprecedented times, and many are changing their daily routines in order to adapt. Some community members have started doing "no-contact porch pickups", and others have shifted their sales entirely from in-person pick up to shipping. Here's how to activate shipping for your existing items:
"Turn On" Shipping For Posted Items
If any of your items are shippable (learn more about OfferUp Shipping Policies), you can easily edit those items so they show as shippable to OfferUp buyers. This will help you reach new buyers, and remain in compliance with any stay-at-home orders in your area.
You can easily "turn on" shipping for any items you have already posted. Here's how:
- Go to the Selling Tab under "My Offers"
- Tap the item you'd like to enable for shipping
- Tap "Edit"
- Go to "Delivery Method" and tap the button next to "Sell & ship nationwide"
- Tap "Save" and that's it! Your item will now appear as shippable nationwide.
Our Community
OfferUp has always been local first, and we want to support our local communities in this challenging time. OfferUp was created in Seattle and we have been welcomed with open arms in our second home in Miami. As a commitment to our home locations, we're pledging to give back and help some of those hit hardest by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic:
- We've donated to The Plate Fund in Seattle — an organization that provides one-time $500 payments to furloughed restaurant workers.
- Donations were also sent to Frontline Foods in Miami — an organization that works with local restaurants to provide meals to medical workers on the front lines of the pandemic
For our auto dealer community, we've updated our billing rates for Verified Dealers. Click here to learn more about how we're supporting our autos customers.
To help with ongoing support, our Customer Support team is standing by to continue to provide assistance to OfferUp buyers and sellers across the nation. You can reach our Support team for help seven days a week on the Help Center, Facebook, or Twitter.
We will continue to look for ways to empower our community to connect and prosper. Thank you for being a part of the OfferUp Community.
FAQ
Sharing Responses to the OfferUp Community's Most Frequently Asked Questions Related to Coronavirus
Should We Be Meeting Up In-Person?
We know that many OfferUp buyers and sellers continue to complete in-person meetups during this time. In accordance with current CDC guidelines, we recommend keeping the following tips in mind before scheduling a meetup:
- Stay home if you don't feel well, and do not meet up if you or someone in your household displays symptoms of coronavirus or other respiratory illnesses.
- Maintain a distance of at least six feet at all times.
- The CDC recommends wearing a cloth face mask when in a public place where it's difficult to maintain social distancing, such as grocery stores. You can purchase these on OfferUp.
- Wash your hands before and after completing a meetup, and avoid touching your face (eyes, mouth, and nose).
- Meet at a Community MeetUp Spot or SafeTradeSpot and avoid meeting at others' homes wherever possible.
We appreciate our community doing their part to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
What is A "No-Contact Porch Pickup"?
To avoid more than one party leaving their home to complete an OfferUp transaction, and reduce direct contact with others, many online marketplace buyers and sellers are opting for "No-Contact Porch Pickups". This means the seller provides a buyer with their address and leaves the item on their porch. The buyer will then come, leave cash in a predetermined location, or use a digital money transfer service like (PayPal or Venmo), and take the item home.
Per our safety guidelines, we recommend meeting at a Community MeetUp Spot, or in a public, surveilled, and brightly-lit location whenever possible.
If you feel comfortable completing a porch pickup, here are a few things to consider:
- Take a look at the buyer or seller's profile. Are they TruYou verified and highly-rated from past meetups? Always look at the other party's OfferUp profile before completing a meetup.
- Trust your gut. If something seems "too good to be true" it most likely is. Even in these difficult times, no item or sale is ever worth your safety.
- Consider getting a doorbell camera. This is an easy way to keep an eye on your porch pickup without having to make direct contact.
- Set a window during the day when the item will be available to the buyer. Always aim to complete online marketplaces during the day, either in-person or with "no-contact porch pickups."
You can read our tips to more safely use online marketplaces here.
How Do I Ship Items From Home?
The USPS is an essential service and will remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, though shipping times may be delayed and hours of operations may be reduced.
OfferUp shippers have the option to visit their local USPS office to pick up shipping supplies or drop off packages that are ready to be shipped.
The USPS also carries free shipping supplies they can send to your home, as well as scheduled pickups so you can get your OfferUp items shipped without leaving your home. To schedule a USPS pickup, click here.
If you need help with a shipping transaction, contact OfferUp Support.
What Are Some Popular Items to Buy or Sell on OfferUp?
Demand for items from the following categories has been growing in popularity during this time:
Should I Disinfect Items Before Selling/After Buying?
According to the CDC, the Coronavirus is transmitted in close contact (less than six feet) through respiratory droplets. Cleaning as well as disinfecting visibly dirty or frequently touched surfaces/devices is considered a best practice to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses.
While OfferUp sellers should avoid listing items as "Coronavirus-free" or "COVID-19-proof," it is a good idea to share any increased cleaning/disinfecting steps you have taken to clean items for potential buyers.
Here are some popular items for sale that should be cleaned and disinfected before selling and after buying when using online marketplaces, per CDC recommendation:
- Tables
- Hard-backed chairs
- Doorknobs and handles
- Light switches
- Tablets, phones, e-readers, any touch-screens
- Remote controls
- Desks
- Appliances
- Toys, and all kids' items
- Bikes
- Board games
- Video games and consoles
- Books
How These Companies Are Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
As we reflect on recent events and how they fit into a much larger history of discrimination, we're also taking time to celebrate and acknowledge the many achievements of the AAPI community.
We asked several of our partner companies what they're doing to honor AAPI Heritage Month at work, and we were inspired by the range of responses, covering everything from campaigns to #StopAsianHate to educational events on AAPI history.
Here's what they're doing, in their own words:
Empowering authenticity - LogMeIn
"Our theme this year is AIM to Be Real. We are embracing our new company values and celebrating those who bring their authentic selves to work, who help create space to celebrate diversity of thought, and who give back to the API community. Our Asian ERG, Asians in Motion (AIM), is hosting several events: a discussion about bringing your authentic self to work with Jerry Won (Dear Asian Americans podcast); a refugee-led virtual cooking class; ERG Movie Club discussions featuring Bollywood films, and a virtual volunteer event where we will offer career development mentoring for young women across Asia."
Learn more about LogMeIn here.
Educating on current events — Raytheon Technologies
"Raytheon Technologies is honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with an enterprise-wide global town hall event – Real Talk: Building CommUNITY Together. Organized by the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) employee resource groups across the company, employees will share their personal experiences and discuss ways to support Asian American Pacific Islander communities. The event will also feature prominent leading advocates from renowned civil rights organizations to provide insight into the national context surrounding recent events. We will also feature AAPI employees internally and on our social media channels."
Learn more about Raytheon Technologies here.
Encouraging awareness, growth, and learning — Moody's
"Moody's is encouraging awareness, growth, and learning during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with the following activities, led by our Multicultural Business Resource Group and DE&I team:
- Weekly newsletters featuring AAPI employee profiles and cultural resources
- Video screening and small-group discussions supporting #StopAsianHate
- Cultural panel discussion featuring employee stories
- Professional development activities
- External speakers speaking about Asian leadership"
Supporting professional development — Freddie Mac
"Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at Freddie Mac – Together, We Are Stronger
Freddie Mac supports the professional development of Asian and Pacific Islander employees while promoting an increased awareness of the value they bring to the organization and our local communities. Our InspirASIAN Business Resource Group is hosting various activities throughout the month such as:
- Personal development session on empowerment led by a coach from our Employee Assistance Program.
- "Stop Asian Hate" lunch and learn geared toward discussing the hurdles facing the AAPI community.
- Fireside chat about racial injustice with leaders from our InspirASIAN and ARISE (employees of the African diaspora) BRGs."
Fostering inclusion, learning, and belonging – Nestlé USA
"At Nestlé USA, the Pan Asian Network (PAN), one of our many employee resource groups that support our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives, will host a variety of events to honor and acknowledge Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. These activities will foster greater inclusion, enhanced learning, and belonging for the AAPI community. PAN will highlight women's development in Asian cultures, Asian leadership and what their culture means to them, culinary innovation of Asian cuisine, intersectionality of LGBTQ+ and Pan Asian community, as well as an enhanced learning watch party of the PBS movie 'Asian American.'"
Learn more about Nestlé USA here.
Promoting cultural literacy – Relativity
The Community Resource Group at Relativity
"For Relativity, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is an opportune time to not only celebrate the rich AAPI cultures represented within our company, but to also foster awareness and allyship amidst the current rise of AAPI hate. RelAsians, our internal community resource group, has organized a few activities for May: a book club focused on AAPI heritage—because we feel it's never too early to gain cultural literacy, a weekly spotlight on AAPI Relativians, and a virtual event that takes attendees on a tour through an Asian grocery store, introducing native vegetables and staple ingredients for traditional home-cooked Asian recipes."
- Contribution from Neha Pant, Sr. Performance Engineer & Angie Ocasek, Sr. Specialist, Partner Enablement – Co-Chairs of the RelAsians Community Resource Group at Relativity
Learn more about Relativity here.
Creating transformative experiences – Facebook
"At Facebook, our APIs employee resource group's mission is to create transformative experiences for all APIs at Facebook, Inc through key cultural awareness and engagement highlighting the API community. To kick off APIHM, we will host a series of events and conversations for the community and its allies designed to support the API community around the theme, The SUM of Us, including:
- Letting Others In: a mindful discussion series that privileges intersectional voices, storytelling, feedback, and vulnerability as tools for building empathy and inclusion amongst organizations.
- Racial Healing Learning Session: specific to the API Experience focused on naming of experiences and emotional responses, understanding the body's responses to racial trauma, what the audience can do in the moment for self-care, and long-term strategies to overcome the effect of the traumatic experience.
- Bystander Training/self Defense Workshop"
Learn more about Facebook here.
Extensive and exciting programming — 2U
"At 2U, Inc. we'll be honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with extensive and exciting programming coordinated by our employee-led Asian Pacific Islander Network (APIN). In a year marred by exceptional challenges APIN has centered activities around the ameliorating themes of joy, culture and wellness. Be it delighting in a ukulele mini concert, reading an interview highlighting an API coworker, winding down after too much screen time with a somatic healing session or engaging in a panel discussion with API tattoo artists, we have a packed month ahead with opportunities to support oneself and the API culture! Follow along @Lifeat2U on Instagram for more!"
Learn more about 2U here.
Amplifying voices and educating others – Smartsheet
"During APAHM, the API at Smartsheet community will be hosting several events and activities to educate others, amplify AAPI voices, and celebrate the AAPI community! We plan to kick off the month with a documentary viewing and discussion to learn about AAPI history, and hope to share personal stories from our AAPI employees throughout the month. We'll end with an opportunity for the community to celebrate itself by gathering together for fun and games, while eating food from local Asian-owned restaurants."
Learn more about Smartsheet here.
Rising together in sports and culture – NBA
"For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, APEX is proud to present a multitude of celebratory activities, headlined by an NBA Family Virtual Town Hall and, with the NFL and MLB, an Asians in Sports & Culture Symposium themed "Together We Rise" featuring prominent Asian personalities from the sports world. We are also launching a PSA with an NBA star, honoring Eid-al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan, offering a bystander intervention training led by AAJC, and – because the celebration wouldn't be complete without food – hosting a sushi making class for our members."
Learn more about the NBA here.
Creating courageous conversations – Commvault
"This May, we are celebrating all our Asian/Pacific Islander employees, not just Asian Americans. We will spend the month learning about and celebrating the diverse cultures of Asia through weekly events and activities led by our Multi-Culture ERG. Vaulters and external guests will teach us the history of practices such as yoga, origami, and Asian cuisines. We will also discuss topics like the rise of hate crimes against Asian people and the recent spike in COVID-19 in India. These activities and courageous conversations will engage our workforce and create support for our Asian and Pacific Islander communities around the world."
Learn more about Commvault here.
Honoring history through virtual events – Collins Aerospace
"Collins Aerospace supports our AAPI colleagues not only in May, but all year. Our parent company Raytheon Technologies hosted a virtual Town Hall last month to provide a safe space for open dialogue about recent events targeting Asian Americans in the U.S. In addition to this entity-wide event, our Asia Pacific ERG at Collins is hosting events that educate and honor the importance of Asian Pacific American history such as virtual Lunch & Tours spotlighting South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and India; and Thoughts & Support sessions. Site-specific events include virtual cooking class, and viewing PBS docuseries Asian Americans."
Learn more about Collins Aerospace here.
Highlighting new perspectives – MongoDB
"MongoDB will share daily historical facts, highlights of Asian American pioneers, and perspectives from our AAPI employees in a dedicated Slack channel. We will also be providing access to an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month webinar, organizing a trivia night, and holding Processing Together sessions for our internal AAPI community due to recent hate crimes happening across the globe. These sessions are a safe space for employees to share their stories and sentiments of what it is like as an Asian American in America today. (Read MongoDB employee Monica Lu's story about being an Asian American woman in tech here.)"
Learn more about MongoDB here.
Spotlighting diverse communities – Bumble
"At Bumble, moments like heritage month celebrations are often our anchor to ensure we are spotlighting diverse communities. In alignment with AAPI Heritage Month in May, Bumble is rolling out a series of thoughtful programming to encourage internal education and around how to support the Stop Asian Hate movement and better serve the Asian community globally. The lineup of initiatives include:
- BuzzWord DEI Discussion Series with featured guest speakers: This conversation will focus on the Asian community within the context of larger cultural issues such as dating app experiences, fetishization, masculinity, and representation.
- Bumble will be inviting employees to join a virtual Vietnamese coffee-making class. Created in partnership with Phin Bar, an urban brew-bar that offers Vietnamese-style steeped coffee combined with house-made ingredients, Bumble hopes to facilitate a deeper cultural learning and community bonding experience for the team.
- Bumble will also be activating channels across social media and our product to educate our community about bystander intervention and raise awareness around the importance of supporting the Stop Asian Hate movement."
Engaging in daring conversations – Procore
"In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in May, Procore recently organized an internal event to recognize and support the AAPI community. The event was hosted as part of our ongoing internal speaker series, 'Daring Conversations & Allyship,' to create space for an open dialogue around diversity, inclusion, and belonging. All employees were invited to tune in as employees from our AAPI communities shared their unique experiences, addressed anti-Asian hate, and discussed actionable ways to support our AAPI community."
Learn more about Procore here.
Taking action to foster change – SeatGeek
"This month the POC ERG will be meeting and hosting different activities to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This includes creating a safe space to discuss current events, and what actions our communities can take to foster change, sending out a newsletter which will highlight the Asian community in every aspect, and lastly, we will be hosting a guest speaker.
We hope with these planned activities and meetings, we can highlight, and uplift the Asian/Pacific American community, as well as bring awareness to the horrible ongoing attacks they are facing."
Learn more about SeatGeek here.
Uplifting and inspiring the community – Okta
"Okta's People of Color (POC@Okta) ERG is planning to commemorate AAPI Month with a series of fireside chats and iconographical facts posted internally in the #poc and #all diversity Slack channels! These chats will feature Dion Lim of ABC7 News and Comedian/Actor, Ronny Chieng. We will conclude the series with a partnership with Pride@Okta featuring supermodel, TED speaker, and transgender advocate Geena Rocero. The goal of this series is to educate, uplift, support, and inspire! The Okta leadership supports its AAPI employees, customers, and community."
Learn more about Okta here.
Empowering cultural diversity and leadership – Quip
"Salesforce will be celebrating through multiple virtual events, such as a leadership panel on the power of cultural diversity, a tea tasting, a tai chi class, a haka workshop, and more! Members of the Quip team have also compiled an extensive list of resources to support AAPI communities, including ways to donate, take action, and learn more."
Learn more about Quip here.
Focusing on lived experiences – Mindbody
"The Mindbody United ERG focuses on a different heritage or history each month, with May devoted to Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This ERG seeks to provide a platform to both celebrate and learn together. This will manifest in two ways: As a newsletter and a Zoom meeting. The newsletter will feature contributions directly from team members, while the meeting will feature Assembly member Evan Low as our speaker. It is our goal to focus on the lived experiences of the AAPI community, address discrimination, and how to chase after the part of the world we can make better."
Learn more about Mindbody here.
Promoting harmony and unity – T. Rowe Price
"T. Rowe Price is aware and appalled at the recent spike in hate crimes against the Asian community. In response, the firm will center Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month efforts around harmony and unity, in alignment with the Hawaiian value, Lōkahi – Forward as One. To share best practices, successes and areas of opportunities, T. Rowe Price will co-host a Leadership Panel on Asian Leadership Challenges with Baltimore Asian Connect, a consortium of Asian business resource group leaders at local corporations. The firm will also host a book club and restorative listening circles for Asian American associates and their allies."
Learn more about T. Rowe Price here.
Celebrating Asians globally
"May is Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month. Although traditionally a US celebration, at Autodesk we are celebrating Asians globally. The Autodesk Asian Network is hosting Innovative Leaders, including Lori Mukoyama and Jonathan Zee. Lori Mukoyama is redefining experience-driven design globally at Gensler. Jonathan Zee has an extensive portfolio of buildings that are helping to shape cities around the world at Goettsch Partners. Lori and her husband Jonathan combine design, architecture and engineering in their work while simultaneously manage a family together during this pandemic. This event is hosted by AAN, as part of a monthlong series of APA Heritage Month events."
Learn more about AutoDesk here.
