Keepio’s Groups aim to build close, social online marketplaces

Keepio, a startup we first introduced you to in November, aims to make buying and selling online a little less stressful by focusing on trusted networks of friends. Now the service wants to help users get even more focused about who they sell to with the introduction of groups.

Keepio’s Dave Durand says that the new feature has been introduced in response to users who asked for more control over their privacy and interactions with friends while selling goods online.

Groups can be created as public, invite-only or secret. Public groups are, as the name implies, open to anyone and can be based around any theme, from geographical location to special interests. So, fans of Apple products could form a group where they sell vintage gear to each other, or a local community could offer goods to each other in a form of continuous, virtual yard sale.

Invite-only and secret groups are aimed at private clubs or circles of friends where membership needs to be restricted to just a handful of trusted individuals. Invite-only groups get listed in Keepio’s Groups directory, while secret groups are completely hidden.

As the feature has just launched, Keepio’s Groups Directory currently looks a bit bare. That said, there’s certainly a space out there for a rival to sites like eBay and Cragislist that is designed to discourage scammers. While still in alpha, Keepio is shaping up well in this regard so is well worth considering next time you have something to sell.