Absolute · a market of gear for what you do
Skis for the season, a SUP for the weekend, a guitar for a month while you decide. Here you borrow, swap and give things — from members with an AbsoLive profile, and Absolute centers are getting ready to become hand-over points. No prices, no haggling, no feed.
Demo: the things and people here are examples. The working version opens together with “Sign in with Absolute”.
Not a flea market
The first meaning of the English word “market” is a meeting at an appointed hour. A flea market lives for the sale; this market lives for the activity. The difference is not in the words but in how it works:
Flea marketThe way in is a product category: “electronics”, “furniture”, “everything for the home”
AbsoMarketThe way in is an activity. A thing without an activity from the AbsoLive map can’t be published
Flea marketA price, “negotiable”, “urgent”
AbsoMarketBorrow, swap, gift — no money. A card has no price, so there is nothing to haggle over
Flea marketAn endless feed of new listings
AbsoMarketA finite list: activity, place, season. There is no feed of “new”
Flea marketPay to bump a listing
AbsoMarketA place in the results is not for sale — not to members, not to partners
Flea marketA seller rating in stars
AbsoMarketA name in the community, a history of hand-overs and words from those who borrowed the thing
Flea market“I’ll pick it up at the metro”, an apartment address
AbsoMarketAn Absolute center or a neighborhood — the market has no exact addresses
Flea marketA listing hangs around for years
AbsoMarketA thing that isn’t shared falls asleep and drops out of the results
Flea marketA helmet that has “never been dropped” — on the seller’s word
AbsoMarketUsed helmets and fall-protection gear don’t change hands at all; complex gear goes with a master’s check
Three ways
Try first, decide later. There is no selling on the market: it won’t start before payments through an operator — and may never start at all.
Take it for an activity and bring it back: for the weekend, for the season, for a month while you decide.
No money: you take it for an activity and return it on time. Legally this is a free loan, not a rental.
Boots one size up, racket for racket, winter for summer. No top-ups and no keeping score of who owes whom.
Thing for thing, no top-ups: each of you gives what you no longer need.
A thing lying idle goes to someone who is starting out. The giver chooses who gets it.
For good and without money — to someone who is starting the activity.
Starter kits
Starter kits: what you need, what you can borrow from neighbors and what the master provides at the first class.
Skiing · Absolute center · Krasnaya Polyana
Your first day on the slope — with an instructor and without buying anything. Your own gear — after the season, once it’s clear this is yours.
The master providesCenter libraryFrom partnersFrom membersNever passed onYour ownNot needed to start
SUP · Absolute center · Phu Quoc
A board, a paddle and calm water. Your first outing — with a master who shows you where and when to paddle.
The master providesCenter libraryFrom membersYour own
Padel · Moscow · neighborhood
A racket to try, your own balls and court shoes. Buy your own racket — after a couple of months of play.
The master providesFrom membersYour ownNot needed to start
Hiking · Krasnaya Polyana · neighborhood
Two nights in the mountains without buying a tent or a sleeping bag. The route and the group — with a master on the map.
The master providesFrom membersYour own
Photography · Sochi · neighborhood
A camera for a month and a couple of rolls of film. Developing and scanning — with a master.
The master providesFrom membersYour ownFrom partners
Ceramics and pottery · Sochi · neighborhood
You need almost nothing: the wheel, the kiln and the clay are in the master’s studio.
The master providesFrom membersNot needed to start
Things by activity
Example cards: every thing has an activity, a way, a hand-over place and an owner.
Skiing
For how long: a week
Absolute center · Krasnaya Polyana Coming
SUP
For how long: a day
Phu Quoc · neighborhood
Hiking
For how long: the weekend
Krasnaya Polyana · neighborhood
Photography
For how long: a month
Sochi · neighborhood
How it works
Each rule is not a promise on the home page but the way the card, the form and the list work.
The “Share” form won’t save without an activity from the AbsoLive taxonomy. No activity — no place for the thing: household appliances, furniture and electronics with no activity have no place here.
Form, catalog
Every activity has a starter kit: what the master provides, what the center’s library has, what to borrow from neighbors, what should be your own and what you don’t need at the start at all.
Kits
Three ways, in this order: borrow, swap, gift. There is no selling in the first version.
Card, filter
The owner is a member with a page on AbsoLive. The thing comes with advice on how to use it, a history of hand-overs and an honest description of its flaws.
Thing card
Hand-overs happen at an Absolute center or in the neighborhood, without addresses. Centers will take things into their library for the season: the owner’s name stays on the thing.
Places, library · coming
The card has no “price” field, the catalog has no “new”. The list is finite and arranged by activity, place and season.
Catalog
Facts instead of stars: how many times the thing has gone out, since which season the person has been in the community, words from those who borrowed it. In the working version, complaints and blocks are shared with AbsoLive.
Card, rules
Up to 10 things per person, one request to one owner at a time; a thing without confirmation falls asleep. The limit is not for sale. In the demo — up to 10 drafts on a device.
Form, “My things”
A separate shelf for things members make themselves: pottery tools, guitar straps, go boards. With a standard and the master’s name.
Makers’ shelf
Rental shops and workshops will offer members terms — with no paid placement, banners or third-party ads. Partner cards all look the same.
Kits · coming
Absolute centers
Krasnaya Polyana and Phu Quoc are getting ready to open. Once the centers open, they will take a thing in, check it and hand it out for an activity — and you’ll be able to return it at the next one.
Winter — skis, snowboards, goggles; summer — hiking. A market day before the season: things are taken in with a master’s check.
The sea — SUP boards, swim masks, foam vests. The things of those who leave stay for those who arrive.
The thing, the activity, the master and the repair — in neighboring projects. The market links to them and doesn’t duplicate them.
Activities, masters and messages. Every thing leads to its activity’s page and to the map.
OpenRepair and maintenance: edge sharpening, binding setup, tent repair — these are masters’ services, not things.
OpenThings that come with a home for guests are part of the housing listing. The market doesn’t link a thing to its owner’s home.
OpenThe community’s clothing and things with its symbols. On the market — only gear you wear for an activity: a shell, a wetsuit, climbing shoes.
OpenAll Absolute projects and one account, stage by stage.
OpenThe site installs like an app: “My things”, kits and drafts open offline. Everything personal is stored only on your device.
The app is already on your home screen
On iPhone: “Share” → “Add to Home Screen”. On Android and in Chrome — the button above or the browser menu.