A neighborhood marketplace without the strangers.
Facebook Marketplace brings people you have never met to your driveway. A neighborhood board keeps it between people who live here, which is why the couch, the kayak, and the extra tomatoes all move faster.
Why the neighborhood board beats the marketplace
Selling to a neighbor is a different transaction. Nobody is haggling over a bike at 10pm from three towns away, nobody is a no-show, and the person picking up the dresser is someone you will see at the mailbox tomorrow.
Communities already do this, badly, across a Facebook group nobody moderates, a Nextdoor feed full of arguments, and a group text that scrolls away. One board for the neighborhood, organized by category, fixes it.
How it works
Three steps, and you are running. No procurement, no implementation project.
Start the board
Pick the categories your neighborhood actually needs: for sale, free, recommendations, lost and found.
Invite the street
Share a link or post a QR code at the mailboxes. Neighbors join and start posting the same day.
Run a garage sale weekend
Set a date, let households list what they are selling, and publish one map of every participating driveway.
What you get
Everything below is included from the start.
For sale, free, and lost
Four categories that cover almost everything a neighborhood posts, with photos and prices where they help.
Trusted recommendations
The plumber who actually showed up, endorsed by neighbors instead of a review site full of strangers.
Garage sale maps
One weekend, every participating address in one list, so buyers drive the whole loop instead of one driveway.
Quiet moderation
Neighbors can flag a post, and anything that gets flagged enough hides itself until someone reviews it.
Listings that expire
Sold items and stale posts clear themselves out, so the board never turns into an archive nobody scrolls.
No public exposure
Posts are visible to your community, not indexed on the open web and not shown to the whole metro area.
A resident can start this today
Neighbors trading with neighbors is coordination, not governance, so nobody needs board permission. Your board is clearly labeled community-run rather than official HOA communication.
If the association later adopts Lantern, the marketplace keeps running and the community gains everything else.
Common questions
Is this free?
Yes, starting a marketplace board for your neighborhood costs nothing. There is no fee on what neighbors buy or sell either, because transactions happen between them directly.
Do I need the HOA to approve it?
No. This is neighbors coordinating with neighbors. The space is labeled community-run so it is never mistaken for an official HOA channel, and the board can claim it later if they want.
How is this different from Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor?
It is limited to your community, so you are dealing with people who live where you live. It is organized by category instead of an endless feed, and it is not a social network with a comment war attached.
How do payments work?
They do not run through Lantern. Neighbors arrange payment however they like, the same as any garage sale. We are the listing board, not the middleman.
What keeps posts from getting out of hand?
Neighbors can flag anything, and posts that reach the flag threshold hide automatically until reviewed. Listings also expire on their own so the board stays current.
Can we do an annual community-wide garage sale?
Yes, that is one of the most popular uses. Set the weekend, let households list their addresses and items, and publish one map buyers can follow.
Give your neighborhood one board
Tell us about your community and we will help you get set up, free.
- Help setting up your categories
- A shareable link and printable QR code
- Garage sale weekend support
- No cost and no board approval needed
Ready in about a minute. Prefer we set it up with you? Leave your details instead:
Further reading
Other ways neighbors start
Same platform, different starting point. Pick whichever problem your community feels most.