Can God give a “message” to a few people to start a website that’s all about giving things away…yes, GIVING stuff away. Well, apparently that’s what happened over at www.giveitaway.com. While I thinking about how much stuff I have, I wondered if anyone would like my gently used items. Clicking away, I entered the words “give stuff away” into a search engine. I found a website specifically designed to get my no-longer needed or wanted items into the hands of someone who wants them.

The site does not call these donations they call them gifts. At giveitaway.com people are asked to give a gift. It’s pretty simple. Someone gives a gift and another receives it. The giver is even encouraged to pay for any shipping or delivery charges so that there are no surprises or hidden fees to the receiver.

I like the idea but had a few concerns.

I read every page on the site and had questions like: who are these people? They don’t have a “contact us” button or even a place to send email. In the “about us” section there are no names listed, only the story that inspired the creation of the website. They don’t even have a question and answer section where the visitor could find out things like:

Can I remain anonymous during the whole process?
Is there any liability in a gift that I give?
Is there a limit to how many gifts I can get from the site?

While the creators obviously want to do something good by encouraging the joy of giving, this project may gain more steam and momentum if a few more things were put in place.

I’d like to know and see the names and faces of the people behind the idea. They may want to remain out of site and out of mind for humility reasons, but I think it would be good to build a relationship with site visitors, encouraging them to return.

With that said, I could not stop myself from registering for my very own “give it away” account. Once it was official I looked around to see what gift I had to give. After considering a couple of items, I finally decided on a brand new ipod nano case. I bought the case a couple of months ago and never opened the package. “Ah…someone might enjoy this”. So it’s now in the system waiting for a taker!

I like what the nameless and faceless people are doing at giveitaway.com. I hope their inspired idea changes the way we view our stuff by helping us give things a second life (they also accept new items) instead of tossing them away. While the website could use a bit more meat. It certainly does not lack in heart. www.giveitaway.com is facilitating generosity.

I hope I get a taker for the ipod case! This could be really fun!