Safe hands
Paying through the switchboard isn't switched on yet during the beta. For now, an offer is a number the two of you agree on, and you settle it however you normally would, like cash on pickup or a bank transfer.
The rest of this page describes how paying through the switchboard will work once it is switched on. It will cost the buyer $1 plus card processing at cost, each shown as its own line on the bill. Most matches never involve money anyway: a practice partner, a borrowed ladder and a walking partner all happen without a dollar changing hands, and we intend to keep matching free.
Who holds what
| Thing | Who holds it | What the switchboard does |
|---|---|---|
| Your money | A regulated payment processor | Records that both of you approved, and tells the processor when to pay the seller: when the buyer confirms it arrived, or seven days after the seller marks it handed over if the buyer says nothing. |
| Your card details | The payment processor, on its own payment page | Never sees a card number. |
| The seller's payout details | The payment processor | Never sees bank details. The seller sets up a payout account with the processor once. |
| Handover and return records | The switchboard, locked for 90 days | Keeps tracking references and any handover photos, visible to both of you, in a store neither of you can change. We record tracking references and don't check them with the courier. |
| Your approvals | The switchboard | Records each press as it happens: the offer, the acceptance, paying through the switchboard, and any split. None of them can be edited later. |
When money is involved
Paying through the switchboard is a series of presses, each one made by one of you on your own main page, and each one recorded as it happens. Here's an example:
- 09:14:02A want and a have match, and both people agree to share first names.
- 09:14:40The buyer offers $640 on their own secure main page, with their passkey.
- 09:15:11The seller accepts on their own secure main page, with their PIN.
- 09:16:20Both approve paying through the switchboard, each on their own main page.
- 09:17:05The buyer pays $640, plus $1 and card processing, on the payment processor's page.
- 10:02:14Saturday. The seller hands it over and marks it handed over.
- 10:05:40The buyer confirms it arrived as agreed, and the seller is paid $640.
Your choice, every time
Paying through the switchboard is something the two of you choose for each arrangement. Cash on pickup or a bank transfer is always fine, and costs nothing.
A fee only when money moves
We intend to keep posting wants and haves, matching, and being connected free. Paying through the switchboard, once it's switched on, is the one thing that carries a fee: an introductory $1, plus the card processing cost passed on at cost — both shown as their own lines on the buyer's bill before anything is paid. The seller receives the agreed amount in full. Settle any other way and there is no fee at all.
Paid when the buyer confirms
Once it's switched on, a protected payment waits until the buyer confirms it arrived as promised, and then it is released. If something is wrong, either of you can raise it before then, and the payment is paused while the two of you sort it out. And nobody can sit on it: once the seller marks it handed over, the buyer has seven days to confirm or speak up, after which it releases on its own.
Questions people ask about protected payments
These describe how it will work once it's switched on. The terms of use say the same things in the formal version.
Do I have to pay through the switchboard?
No. Cash, bank transfer, a handshake: all fine, always, and free. Paying through the switchboard is one option among them, and it is only ever chosen by you on your own main page.
What does it cost, and who pays?
The buyer pays the agreed amount plus $1 plus the card processing cost passed on at the processor's standard rate. Each is its own line on the bill before you pay. The seller receives the agreed amount in full. The $1 and the processing cost stay paid whatever happens afterwards, because the card processor keeps its fee on a refund.
When does the seller get the money?
When the buyer confirms the item or service arrived as agreed. The seller marks it handed over first, and that starts a seven-day window. If the buyer says nothing for seven days, the payment releases on its own. If the buyer raises a problem inside the window, the payment is paused until it is resolved.
The item was posted to me and it never arrived. What happens?
Say so before the window closes. The seller then has seven days to add the parcel's tracking reference. If there is none, the agreed amount comes back to you. If a reference is recorded, your account and the seller's both stand, and nothing moves on its own: the two of you agree a split, or after fourteen days the rule below decides. We record the reference rather than checking it with the courier, and a false one is a breach of the terms.
It arrived and it is wrong. What happens?
Raise it before the window closes and the payment freezes. From there, three things can happen. The two of you agree a resolution and both approve it: keep it for a partial refund, send it back for a full refund, or let the payment go through. Or you send it back, tracked, and get the agreed amount back once the seller says they have it, or after seven days if they say nothing. If the seller says the return is not what it claims, nothing moves on its own. Or nobody agrees, and after fourteen days the rule below decides.
Who pays return postage?
Whoever sends it. Only the agreed amount is paid through the switchboard, so postage in either direction, paid to a courier, is outside what any rule of ours can move. A seller who wants to cover it can offer a refund that allows for it, and the two of you approve that like any other figure. Anything beyond the agreed amount is between the two of you.
Can I keep it and get part of my money back?
Yes, if the seller agrees. Either of you proposes a split of the agreed amount, both approve it on your own main pages, and the money moves that way: part back to the buyer, the rest to the seller. This is the most common ending to a disagreement.
What if we cannot agree at all?
After fourteen days with no agreed resolution, the payment goes to whichever side has recorded where the item physically went. The seller has recorded delivery tracking and no return was sent: released to the seller. The buyer sent it back tracked: refunded to the buyer, unless the seller has said the return is not what it claims, in which case the return does not count. Neither side has tracking: refunded to the buyer, because posting tracked is the seller's responsibility. Sending it back tracked is the buyer's.
Does the switchboard decide who is right?
No. We never see the item and we are in no position to judge it. The rules above are mechanical on purpose, so the outcome depends on what the two of you do, and nobody has to plead a case to a stranger. Your rights under consumer law against a seller stand whatever happens here.
Where do my card details go?
To the payment processor, on its own payment page. The switchboard never sees a card number. Sellers set up a payout account with the same processor, once, and are paid into it.
What is the one thing to remember?
Post it tracked, and if it has to go back, send it back tracked. Every rule on this page comes out in favour of the person who can show where the parcel went.
Payment scams
Common payment scams, like the overpayment refund, the fake courier fee or a "payment pending" message pretending to be us, all ask you to pay or click somewhere else. With protected payments you only ever pay on the payment processor's page, reached from your own main page, and a seller never pays anything to be paid. Anyone asking otherwise, including someone claiming to be us, is running a scam.
Your own assistant reads every message first and can warn you, although it is no guarantee, so always stay vigilant. We test assistants against a scripted scammer: the results for each attack and model are in the white paper, and the attack suite is open source in the server repository, so you can run it against your own assistant.
What we keep about a payment
The agreed amount, the fee lines, each press, and the handover and return records. Card and bank details stay with the payment processor. Everything else the switchboard keeps about you is set out on what we keep, and what we don't.