The questions we get asked most

Yes, entirely. No commission, no subscription, no service fee. There is in fact no payment of any kind inside the app: Helys handles no money at all. The project runs on voluntary donations.

No. Helys handles no monetary transaction, and that is not a technical limitation: it is the very principle of the platform. What circulates is resources for resources.

That is exactly the case Helys was built for. The system does not only look for someone who would want your item: it looks for loops of three people or more, where each receives from one and gives to another. So your item can go to someone whose things you want nothing of.

As many as it takes to close the loop: two or three most of the time, more when needed. Whatever the number, you make a single exchange, with a single person.

You do. There is no price, no scale, no points system. Before accepting, each participant sees what they give and what they receive, and can discuss quantities and terms. If the exchange does not feel fair, they decline.

You can, but Helys favours proximity: the handover happens in person, with no shipping and no middleman. You can set the geographic area within which you want to see proposals.

Nothing is committed until every participant has accepted. Once the agreement is sealed, the exchange is confirmed on the spot: each person shows a QR code for the other to scan at handover. Until the scans have happened the exchange stays open, and its state is visible to every participant.

Always, and without having to justify yourself. A proposed loop is only a suggestion: it becomes a commitment only if everyone accepts.

Goods (objects, tools, furniture, appliances), vehicles, food, materials, and spaces such as accommodation or parking. The only rule: it must be yours, legal, and genuinely available.

No. You can freely browse what is offered and wanted around you. An account becomes necessary to post a listing, to talk, and to take part in an exchange.

Strictly what the service needs to work. Helys sells no data and shows no advertising. The details are in the privacy policy.

No. Organisations and businesses use the same mechanism, often at a larger scale: production surplus, unused premises, materials, logistics equipment.

Yes, on iOS and Android. The website and the app share the same account and the same exchanges.

Helys was born in Quebec and that is where the community is densest, around Montreal and Quebec City. The platform is not geographically restricted: it works anywhere members live close enough to meet.