Three east end cafes designated official Bunz trading zones

Photo: Bunz

Bunz Trading Zone, an unlisted Facebook group where users can barter their unwated stuff for absolutely anything except money, has rolled out official trading zones at seven Toronto cafes including three on the east side.

Tango Palace in Leslieville, Tandem Coffee in Corktown and The Only Cafe on the Danforth are now deemed safe meet-and-swap spots for Bunz members to exchange items.

Don't want to meet someone at your house to trade an expensive bottle of scotch or collection of dildos? The new safe havens are meant to eliminate any anxiety around trading through the group.

The cafes are now displaying a troll decal as a mark of affiliation with the group, and for the next seven weeks Bunz will be featuring a cafe on its blog and offering free coffee to group members who make trades in the zone.

With over 30,000 users on Facebook and a claimed 12,000 on the Bunz app, the group generates dozens of new postings every day, most of which are attempts to swap mundane items like TTC tokens, booze and used clothing. Still, more eccentric trades are commonplace, and though there is a social aspect of the group that distinguishes it from classifieds sites like Craigslist, red flags go up when dealing in the rare and bizarre (dead animals, anyone?) with complete strangers.

The official Bunz trading zones can be found at this Google Map link: http://bit.ly/bunzTZs