If you’ve ever had to buy furniture, you know that a beautifully decorated space isn’t easy or cheap.
Of course, if you’re resourceful, you know that there are options, like thrift stores or Facebook Marketplace, where if you’re lucky you can find a good deal.
Wynne has a background in software engineering and is trying to give Malaysians another option.
So she and her team built a site called Barnything to help people who can’t afford expensive things, while at the same time providing the opportunity to reduce waste.
“When I lived abroad, I would try to get rid of my stuff by having a garage sale before moving from one place to another,” the founder said. “The neighborhood would come running to buy used stuff.”
She thought items like her rice cooker and portable stove would be super popular, but in the end, her scarf and winter socks turned out to be the most popular items.
“That’s something I never expected. It made me realize that just because you don’t need something doesn’t mean others won’t need it too,” she mused. “One man’s trash can literally be another man’s treasure.”
Image Credits: Barnything
Just before leaving, Wynn used a bartering method to get rid of the remaining items. She asked the community to help pack her belongings, and in return they could take her leftover beer and food. It was a win-win situation.
Then she started thinking: why doesn’t Malaysia have such a culture?
“Is it because we don’t have the chance?” she wondered. “We don’t trust each other? Or because we don’t have a platform for bartering?”
And so that’s what Barnything wanted to do.
Trade everything
Although Wynn had the idea, it was her team that took action. After hearing about her idea, they built a minimal site and enrolled her on a Chinese crowdfunding platform without even letting her know.
“They thought it could be fun and a way to validate the idea with all the judges,” Wynn explained. “The jury members were CEOs and management of several well-known brands.”
Image credits: Barnything
Barnything finished in the top ten finalists and received the most popular award. Through the crowdfunding competition, they gained 1,000 followers overnight.
In a sense it was a market validation, even though they weren’t entirely sure there was a market or demand for bartering.
“We built it because we could, and we stuck with it,” she admitted. “We just thought if there’s Lazada and Shopee, and if there’s Carousell, it wouldn’t hurt to have Barnything.”
In short, Barnything is a platform where people can buy, sell and exchange. Users can upload anything they want except expired items, livestock and anything illegal.
Users can purchase Brock (Barnything’s currency) to purchase items, making transactions more secure.
Once they receive the items, Barnything will release payment to the seller. This way, users don’t have to worry about not receiving their items.
Revamping the company
When you visit Barnything’s website these days, you’ll see that a large part of the furniture industry is furniture, even though it’s designed for people to trade just about anything.
Wynn explains: “One day, CUURA Space, a well-known furniture company, approached us and expressed their desire to sell their defective furniture on our platform as a gesture to support sustainability.”
Image credits: Barnything
After learning that furniture is one of the biggest sources of waste in the manufacturing world, the team quickly agreed and brought them on board.
They have added a new feature called Barnyshop, which allows furniture companies to supply furniture that is defective or that they no longer want.
Some sellers give them the furniture for free and only have to bear the shipping costs. Some suppliers sell the pieces at cost, while others offer discounts.
“The best part is that the furniture sellers only give us minor defects,” Wynn added. “The pieces are functional; maybe a string is out of place, or there’s a small, barely visible dent. You can buy these items for up to 50 percent off.”
For now, the Barnyting team will focus on building and growing Barnyshop. It seems that this branch of the business is more active and successful so far.
“We didn’t have enough traction for barter and secondhand, mostly only 800 to 100 users,” Wynn admitted.
Image credits: Barnything
Although Barnyshop only started this year, they already have more than 3,000 users.
Since launching Barnyshop, they have sold over 100 pieces of furniture and launched 40 cases of their “Get Rid Campaigns” where Barnything can collect unwanted furniture and send it to charity for a fee of RM200.
Collaborate with the community
The first time I came across Barnything was actually in a furniture store. There was a table with a Barnything display with a QR code on it.
“That QR is actually the link to our platform,” Wynn told me. “We do not have our own warehouse or showroom. For now, we’re just showing some furniture in different stores with our branding on it, which shows that (the store) is part of the sustainable movement.”
Image credits: Barnything
For Barnyshop, the team will also ‘tump’ the warehouses of furniture companies and promise to sell the defective products within about three months. Otherwise, Barnything would take the furniture back and store it in their own office.
“So far we have collected some furniture and plan to turn our office into a mini showroom,” Wynn added. “Just to show the defect isn’t really a bad thing.”
Growth, bar none
Encouraged by the community, the team has quite a roadmap ahead of it.
Barnything wants to collaborate more with influencers and improve the platform. In addition, it wants to attract more suppliers in order to offer a broader product variety.
In the longer term, the company wants to expand its platform to carry more items such as lighting, electrical appliances and more. This will help with their plan to diversify their income stream.
These efforts are currently supported by Barnything’s nine-person team, although the startup plans to expand slowly. The founder also revealed that the company has raised RM1 million in funding since 2023, funded by a software and consultancy provider based in KL.
The ambition is to expand geographically and become a leading platform when it comes to sustainable living, not only in Malaysia, but also beyond.
- Read more about Barnything here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured image: Barnything
