Staying safe

Everything on WhimSale is picked up in person, at somebody’s home. That is the whole point of it, and it is also the part no software can make safe on your behalf.

What we check, and what we don’t

Being direct about this, because assuming otherwise is how people get hurt:

• We verify that a seller can be paid. Stripe confirms their identity and bank details before they can sell online.
• We do not run background checks. We have not visited the address. We have not seen the item. We do not know who else lives there.
• A seller has not been vetted by us in any sense that should change how careful you are.

If you are picking something up

• Go in daylight, and pick a pickup time that is not after dark if you have the choice.
• Take someone with you, particularly for anything large enough that you will have your hands full carrying it.
• Tell someone where you are going. Your order page has the address and the time, so send them the link.
• Stay outside if you can. A seller should be willing to bring the item to the door or the driveway. Someone who insists you come into the house for a lamp is worth a second thought.
• Your pickup code is yours. Do not send it ahead, do not put it in a message. You read it out when you are standing there and the goods are in your hands.
• Do not pay again. You have already paid. A seller asking for cash on top, or asking you to send money another way, is a reason to leave. Tell us.

If it feels wrong, leave

You do not have to explain yourself, be polite about it, or pick up something you have paid for. Get back in the car, cancel the order, and you will be refunded in full. “I can’t make the pickup” is a complete reason and costs you nothing.

If you are the seller

• Do the handover outside. Set aside items belong by the door or in the garage, not somewhere that requires a stranger to walk through your house.
• Have someone with you for an open sale, and certainly before you publish your street address.
• Put away what is not for sale. An open sale means people in your space. Keys, mail, purses, laptops, prescriptions and paperwork all go somewhere else first.
• Publishing where your sale is makes your address public. We ask you before we do it, once for each sale, and there is no pin until you say yes. Saying yes is permission for two things: an exact pin at the address you gave us, on a public map that anybody can read, and that same street address on your sale page. The pin is up from the moment you publish, not from the moment your doors open, and it comes down once the last of your hours has passed. Anyone who has bought from you is shown the address either way, because that is how they find you.
• Do not hand goods over without the code. It is a three-digit number the buyer reads to you. If somebody cannot produce it, they are not the person who paid.

Things that should make you stop

• Anyone asking to pay, or be paid, outside WhimSale.
• Anyone asking for your pickup code before you have met.
• A buyer who wants to send a courier for something they bought sight-unseen from a private house.
• Pressure to hurry, to come alone, or to come at an odd hour.
• An item that is not what was described. Do not confirm the code. Once you do, the sale is settled.

If something has already gone wrong

1. If you are in danger, call 911. Do not email us first.
2. For anything else, email hello@whimsale.com with the order number. We can see the whole transaction, and we can refund, suspend an account, and preserve the records.
3. If money is involved and it is not resolved, your card issuer’s dispute process is still open to you.

Also worth reading

• Prohibited items: several of them are on that list for safety rather than legality.
• Terms of service: cancellations and refunds.