Commerce belongs to everyone
The Pelagora network is an open-source network for peer-to-peer commerce. Buy, sell, trade, rent, and share directly with people around you — no platform taking a cut, no predatory fees, no gatekeepers. Reffo is a platform built on this network, giving you additional features and convenience.
The problem
Centralized platforms profit from your transactions
Today's online marketplaces charge sellers 10-20% in fees, harvest your data, and dictate what you can and can't sell. They insert themselves into every transaction between people who would otherwise trade directly.
A person selling a bicycle to their neighbor shouldn't need to pay a corporation for the privilege. A small business shouldn't lose a fifth of every sale to a platform that contributed nothing but a listing page.
We believe commerce is a fundamental human activity — and the infrastructure for it should be open, free, and owned by no one.
Our answer
An open protocol, not a platform
Free to Run, Always
The protocol and beacon are free, open-source software. Run your own node, list your inventory, and trade peer-to-peer without paying anyone a dime.
Your Data Stays Yours
Your inventory lives on your own machine in a local database. No cloud account required. No one can harvest, sell, or delete your data.
Decentralized Network
Beacons discover each other on the Pelagora network through a distributed hash table. No central server to go down, no company to shut things off.
How it works
Three steps to start trading
Run a beacon
Download the app or run one command. Your beacon is your personal storefront on the Pelagora network.
List your items
Add anything — products, rentals, services, things to trade. Photos, prices, descriptions. Your listings, your rules.
Trade directly
Buyers find your items through search, send offers, and you negotiate peer-to-peer. No middleman takes a cut.
Open source
Built in the open, for everyone
The protocol and beacon are open source. Audit the code, fork it, improve it, or run your own node.
The Protocol
The shared type system and schemas that let beacons speak the same language. CC0 licensed — public domain, use it however you want.
Beacon
The self-hosted inventory node. Runs on your machine, stores your data locally in SQLite, connects to the Pelagora network via DHT.
Reffo Marketplace
This site — a search interface and discovery layer for the Pelagora network. Connects beacons to buyers and makes the network accessible. Operated by Reffo.ai.
The vision
A world that trades freely
Imagine a network where anyone on earth can buy, sell, trade, rent, or share with anyone else — and the only cost is the price they agree on between themselves. No platform skimming 15%. No algorithm deciding who sees your listing. No account that can be suspended on a whim.
That's what the Pelagora network is for. Not another marketplace that replaces the last one, but an open protocol that makes marketplaces unnecessary. The same way email lets anyone message anyone regardless of provider, Pelagora lets anyone trade with anyone regardless of platform.
The infrastructure for human commerce should be a public good. We intend to make it one.
How we sustain it
Open protocol, optional services
The protocol and the beacon software are free and open source — that will never change. You can run your own beacon, trade peer-to-peer on the Pelagora network, and never interact with Reffo.ai at all. The network works without us.
Reffo.ai is the company behind the protocol. We run this site as a discovery layer and offer optional services on top of the Pelagora network — things like API access, managed service provider integrations, and enhanced search visibility. These are conveniences, not requirements. If you choose to use them, some may carry a fee.
This is how we keep the lights on and fund development of the protocol itself. We believe this is the honest way to build: give away the foundation, earn trust by being useful, and only charge for the extras that people actively choose.
The promise
- The protocol spec, beacon server, and core tooling are free and open source.
- Peer-to-peer trading on the Pelagora network will never require a Reffo.ai account or fee.
- Optional Reffo.ai services are always opt-in — you choose what you use.
- We will never insert ourselves into transactions between independent beacons.
Join the movement
Run a beacon. List something. Be part of the Pelagora network — a network that puts people before platforms.