To get into the “Peninsula ~ Free ~ Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade” Facebook group, you’ve first got to go through Rookie. Rookie, who’s been going by that name both on and offline for years, is one of the group’s administrators and de-facto bouncers.
“If you’re in Anchorage, sorry. If you’re in Utah, nope. Florida, I don’t think so," she said. "It’s carefully guarded so only people on the peninsula can be members.”
To date, a whopping 18,700 Kenai Peninsula residents are members.
Facebook groups like “Peninsula ~ Free ~ Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade” are popular all over the world. They function like e-garage sales. Someone will post an item they no longer want — a used couch, Halloween costume, phone case, some kitchen gadget — along with a price. Members who are interested can comment or message the original poster and voila, you’ve got a deal.
It’s kind of like Craigslit, or Alaska’s List. But because it’s coupled with Facebook, where members can see each other’s photos and full names, it’s less anonymous and more neighborly, said administrator Gina Kingrey. It’s also helpful for members who live in more remote parts of the peninsula.
“Say they’re all the way in Ninilchik," she said. "It kind of keeps them in touch with people up here and lets them see what people have to offer.”
Kingrey is one of the administrators Rookie brought on to help her manage the popular page.
When Rookie was living in Homer, over 10 years ago, she heard about a buy-sell-trade group in Ketchikan and started her own, for the southern peninsula. She wasn’t working then and had more time to dedicate to moderating.
When it became more popular and she moved to Soldotna, she created a new group for the entire peninsula, the current “Peninsula ~ Free ~ Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade” page.
She’s created other, more niche groups for items she’s wanted to see on the market.
“After a while, I had so many pages going. I had a book swap page ’cause I was reading books like crazy. My very first group was the motorcycles group," she said. "At the time I had 12, 15, 16 groups going. And I was like, ‘This is too much. I can’t do this.’ It was taking over my life years ago. So I just turned those pages over to people who were active on [them] and people that would report things to me.”
She still manages the buy-sell-trade group. But now that she’s working full time, she gets help from Kingrey and a few others. While Rookie’s never met them in person, she said they were avid users of the group before they became administrators.
“When I first started, it was … like I said, I wasn’t working so my phone was always in my hand," she said. "Now, I’ll go in there at least once or twice a day to check on it. I don’t allow people in anymore, the girls that I have are doing that because now you have to answer a few questions to get in there, just to be sure that you do live on the peninsula.”
Rookie and the other administrators remove members if they’re fighting or using foul language. They also make sure people don’t post about items that aren’t allowed on the page, like vapes or other things you can only buy with an ID.
And you can’t sell crafts or clothes or vehicles. Rookie’s created separate pages, like “Peninsula Clothing Closet,” for all those items that were clogging up space on the page.
Not everyone was happy with the increased rules. Some members broke off and formed their own secessionist groups, Rookie said, like “Kenai Peninsula ~ Free ~ Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade” and “Peninsula Buy Sell Trade Anything.”
Kingrey said she uses Rookie’s group all the time. She’s sold and bought furniture, kitchen appliances and tires.
“To be able to recycle the stuff you don’t want, and it gives somebody else the opportunity to use it instead of going to the landfill. I think it’s a great opportunity. And I think it will be around for a while.”
Sometimes, the online world of the page will seep into Rookie’s reality. She said she’ll get approached by users offline.
“For a long time, people were treating me like, I felt like — I’m not a celebrity, but, like, ‘Oh my goodness, Rookie, she’s my friend,’ and they’d recognize me from Free Buy Sell Trade," she said. "They do recognize me in the stores and stuff. But I think it’s just silly. I’m just a stay-at-home mom with nothing else to do so I’m on Facebook.”
You can find “Peninsula ~ Free ~ Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade” on Facebook.
