Shelfd Trade Protection Agreement

Version 1.1 · Last updated: 17 May 2026

This Agreement governs the optional Trade Protection (escrow) service offered on Shelfd. It supplements the Terms & Conditions and the Privacy Policy. By opting into Trade Protection on a specific trade, both parties agree to be bound by this Agreement for that trade.

1. What Trade Protection Is

Trade Protection is an escrow facility provided by Shelfd in partnership with Stripe. When you and your trade partner both opt in, you each authorise a Stake on your card — a security deposit. Stakes are held by Stripe and released back to you when the trade completes successfully. If something goes wrong, you can raise a dispute and Shelfd adjudicators decide where the stakes go.

2. When Trade Protection Is Mandatory

For most trades, Trade Protection is optional but strongly recommended. It becomes mandatory when any of these apply:

• The Stake amount on the trade is £40 or higher (or equivalent in your local currency)
• You or your trade partner currently have an active strike on your Shelfd account
• Either party requests Trade Protection for that trade

3. Stakes and Fees

• The Stake is a security deposit you choose at trade acceptance. It is authorised on your card but not captured until the trade is in motion. The Stake is fully refundable on clean trade completion.
• The Trade Protection Fee is 49p base + 1.5% of your Stake in the UK (+1.0% on the Stake when the trade is international). The fee is non-refundable as it covers Shelfd’s costs in holding the funds and processing the transaction.
• The Shipping Service Fee (59p per shipment in the UK) applies separately and is also non-refundable.

Stakes and fees are processed by Stripe Payments UK Limited. Shelfd never sees or stores your card number.

4. Trade Lifecycle

1. Match. Both parties accept the trade and authorise their Stakes.
2. Ship. Both parties book and post their item using the in-app shipping flow.
3. Confirm. Each party confirms receipt of their item in-app. After both confirms, Stakes are released.
4. Auto-confirm. If a party does not confirm within 7 days of the carrier marking delivery, the Stake is released automatically. The auto-confirm window pauses if a dispute is open.
5. Released. Refunds are sent back to your card by Stripe. Banks typically take 5–10 working days to settle.

5. Raising a Dispute

You can raise a dispute from the trade screen within 14 days of expected delivery. A dispute pauses any auto-confirm window and any release of the Stake.

When raising a dispute you may submit:

• A free-text description of the issue
• Photos and other evidence supporting your claim

Shelfd administrators will review the evidence, ask follow-up questions if needed, and reach a decision in line with §8 below.

6. Consumer Rights and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013

Shelfd is a peer-to-peer collector marketplace, not a retailer. The trade is between you and another consumer. You waive the “14-day right to cancel” under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 because (a) you are buying second-hand goods sealed for hygiene reasons once shipped, and (b) the trade is between two consumers, not a trader-to-consumer sale.

Your statutory rights against Shelfd as the service provider (e.g. for failure of the platform itself) are unaffected.

7. Stripe Connect (Payouts of Disputed Stakes)

If a dispute is resolved in your favour and you are entitled to receive a transfer from the other party’s Stake, you must complete identity verification through Stripe Connect Express before the transfer can be sent. This is required by financial regulations applicable to Stripe.

For this flow, Stripe acts as an independent data controller. The information you submit during Connect onboarding is collected and retained by Stripe under their own privacy policy. Shelfd receives only a minimal status flag and your Connect account ID. See §5 of the Privacy Policy for full detail.

8. Adjudication

Shelfd adjudicators apply the following principles when deciding a dispute:

• The trade proof photos taken at acceptance are the primary evidence of what was sent.
• Carrier tracking records are the primary evidence of whether shipment happened.
• Messages between the parties about the trade may be used as context.
• If the evidence is inconclusive, the Stake may be returned to both parties or split, with a written explanation recorded against the dispute.

§8.3 Discretion. Where the documentary evidence is genuinely inconclusive, Shelfd adjudicators may apply discretion to the financial outcome of a dispute, recording a written explanation against the dispute record. Decisions are documented and reviewable internally.

9. Record Retention

Records of authorised, captured, refunded, and transferred amounts associated with your Stake and Trade Protection Fee are retained for 6 years from the trade completion date to comply with UK financial record-keeping obligations. These records contain transaction IDs, amounts, currencies, and timestamps. They do not contain card details.

Dispute evidence is retained for 60 days after the dispute is formally resolved. Where a dispute is escalated to chargeback proceedings, legal review, or a regulatory enquiry, evidence is held for the longer of (i) 60 days post-resolution, or (ii) the duration required by the relevant external process.

10. Strikes

A strike may be added to your account if you breach this Agreement (e.g. shipping a different item to the one photographed, raising fraudulent disputes, or repeatedly going silent during shipping). Strikes may trigger Trade Protection becoming mandatory for your future trades, and repeated strikes may lead to account closure.

11. Liability

Trade Protection is a best-efforts adjudication service. We do not warrant the condition, authenticity, or delivery of items being traded — those remain the responsibility of the trading parties. Shelfd’s total liability under Trade Protection is capped at the sum of your Stake plus the Trade Protection Fee for the affected trade.

12. Changes

We may update this Agreement from time to time. Changes apply only to trades opted into after the change is published. Trades already opted in are governed by the version of the Agreement in force at the time of opt-in.

13. Contact

Operator: Photon Labs Ltd
Email: Shelfd@photonlabs.dev
In-app: Account → Contact Shelfd