A San Francisco company is selling onion futures contracts, and the delivery plan depends on one person reaching out to buyers. The San Francisco Onion Futures Company offers private, transferable contracts for the future physical delivery of yellow onions, priced up to 12 USD per onion.
The business is run by Sophia Vysparov, whose homepage is a11ce.com. The contracts are listed by delivery month with current pricing, and they can be bought directly on the page. Pricing and purchase require JavaScript, so the site won’t show you anything without it turned on.
How the Contracts Work
The contracts are sold up to 6 months out, and prices range from 3 to 12 USD per onion. Payments are accepted via Stripe. If you want to buy, you click, pay, and wait for delivery.
Delivery happens in the first week of each contract’s month. A representative of the company contacts the registered owner to arrange it. Usually, contract owners get a list of possible times and locations where they can collect their onions. If a buyer can’t make any of those times or is outside the primary delivery areas, delivery may be handled by a third party at no extra charge.
The primary delivery areas are San Francisco, Toronto, Seattle, and Chicago (via For Our Futures). The company also invites delivery partners for other areas through email at onionfutures@protonmail.com.
The Legal Case
The company says it is legal, but it leans on a narrow reading of federal law. The 7 U.S. Code § 13-1 prohibits “contract[s] for the sale of […] onions for future delivery […] on or subject to the rules of any board of trade in the United States.”
The San Francisco Onion Futures Company is not a board of trade, defined as an “organized exchange or other trading facility.” The company sells contracts privately to individual buyers and does not operate any exchange or secondary market.
The Transfer System
You can resell or transfer your contracts. Each contract comes with a unique key, and giving that key to someone lets them update the registered contact and delivery information. That voids the old key and reissues the contract under a new one, so you or any previous owners can’t change the registered information back.
There is no way to view the registered delivery information for a given key, so sharing it doesn’t expose your information. The system is designed around the idea that a key is a shareable token, not a secret.
The Refund Problem
The company offers no refunds or cash settlement. You are free to resell your contract keys up until the start of their delivery months. But the company notes that although they will do their best to contact you and deliver your onions, no refunds are offered even in the case of a failed delivery.
That is the whole plan. One person contacts you, and if something goes wrong, you lose your money.
What Happens Next
The company’s FAQ is thin. It explains delivery, pricing, and transfers in a few short answers, and it closes with an email address and a reference to the proprietor. There is no indication of a customer support team beyond that single email account.
The site itself is simple. It lists contracts, shows prices, and handles purchases. It is not a complex trading platform. It is a single person selling onions at a fixed price, with a delivery promise that relies entirely on her reaching out.
The Verdict
This is a small, amusing operation. It is not a hedge fund, not a commodity exchange, and not a scam in the usual sense. It is a single person selling onions with a delivery plan that depends on her contacting buyers, and a refund policy that admits delivery failures mean no refund.
The legal argument is genuine. The company is not a board of trade, and it is not running an organized exchange. It is selling private contracts to individuals, and it is doing so openly.
But the delivery system is fragile. It works only if the representative can contact every buyer, and it fails completely if she cannot. And the lack of a refund means a missed delivery is a total loss for the buyer.
The transfer system is clever. Giving a key to someone hands over control of the contract, and the old key stops working immediately. That protects the buyer’s information, since the company says it cannot see the registered details tied to a key.
Still, the company is betting heavily on one person’s ability to manage deliveries across multiple cities. If she misses a call or a message, the contract is lost. If she moves or stops working, the contracts are lost. The company does not describe a backup plan.
The pricing is straightforward. Contracts cost between 3 and 12 USD per onion, and the prices are recalculated daily at midnight San Francisco time using a proprietary algorithm. That means the price you see today may not be the price you see tomorrow, though the company does not say what drives the changes.
The primary delivery areas are San Francisco, Toronto, Seattle, and Chicago (via For Our Futures). The company also invites delivery partners for other areas through email at onionfutures@protonmail.com.
The company is not hiding anything. It is a small operation, and it is presenting itself honestly. It is also a business that could fail if its representative fails to deliver, and it offers no safety net for buyers who lose their onions.
That is the whole story. A person is selling onions with a delivery promise, and the buyer takes the risk.
Key Facts Box
– Contracts sold up to 6 months out
– Prices range from 3 to 12 USD per onion
– Payments accepted via Stripe
– Primary delivery areas: San Francisco, Toronto, Seattle, Chicago (via For Our Futures)
– Delivery arranged in the first week of each contract’s month
– No refunds or cash settlement
– Contact: onionfutures@protonmail.com
What the FAQ Covers
– Is this legal? Yes, to the best of our knowledge, citing 7 U.S. Code § 13-1
– How does delivery work? Representative contacts buyer to arrange pickup
– How are prices set? Recalculated daily at midnight SF time
– Can contracts be transferred? Yes, via unique keys
– Are refunds offered? No, even in case of failed delivery
The San Francisco Onion Futures Company is a real business, and it is operating within the law. It is also a fragile one, built on a single person’s ability to deliver a product that carries no protection for the buyer. That is the joke, and the joke is on anyone who buys without thinking about it.
Source material: “San Francisco Onion Futures Company,” onionfutures.com.
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