Why would I want to do that? Since we have two types of üGroups, there must be two reasons.

1. You have an interest or passion that you share with other enthusiasts. Maybe it is cycling, antiques, classic cars, paintball, fishing, collectibles, video games, model railroads, snowboarding or skiing, and on and on. Once you set up an Open üGroup other enthusiasts that share your passion can join the üGroup and then browse, buy, sell, and trade with others that have the same interest. It is like a Ubokia marketplace for your passion.

2.The second type of üGroup is what we call a Protected üGroup which is by invitation only thus creating a much higher level of trust for buying, selling, and trading. Most people already belong to existing communities or groups of people they know or share something in common with. This might be a local mom’s group, your church, local cycling club, the neighborhood you live in, or the business park where you work. Only members of a protected üGroup can invite new members. Protected üGroups are kind of like Google Circles for buying, selling, and trading with people you are already affiliated with.

When you post a want or an item for sale, you can choose whether to post it to your üGroups or not and whether to make it visible only to your üGroups. If you post it to a üGroup, then your item will be highlighted when others from your same üGroup browse. Members of the üGroup can also restrict browsing only to items that were posted to selected üGroups. For example, one might want to just look through wants posted by members of their cycling üGroup. When a want or seller item is made visible only within a üGroup, it is considered “private”. Only members of that üGroup are able to see that want or seller item. This provides a particularly strong degree of trust when combined with protected üGroups. An example might be a protected local mom’s üGroup where a mom might post that she is looking for a babysitter or other moms to carpool with. Only members of her üGroup will be able to see and respond to her want.

One final benefit of üGroups is they allow a member to see whether the person that they are negotiating with belongs to a common üGroup. So when you post a want to the entire Ubokia community and multiple sellers respond, you can see whether a seller belongs to one of your üGroups and therefore is more trustworthy.