FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

At the right side of each listing you see a pencil symbol, choose that if you want to go in and edit a listing and re-submit it.

If you want to perform all other actions, click on the title of the listing and that takes you into the listing.

Then at the end of the page, just under the listing price, and above your profile name on the listing, you have all the available options depending on the status of your listing.

First it states the status of the listing – Open, Closed Pending, Rejected.
Under that it states your options – Edit, Close, Delete, and Reopen (if the listing status was closed).

Users can delete their account from their personal settings:

1. Log in to the marketplace.

2. From the top bar, click on the profile picture and choose Settings.

3. Open “Settings” and switch to the “Account” tab.

4. Follow the instructions and click “Permanently delete my account”.

What information is deleted when a user account is removed?

When an account is deleted, all personal information (such as name, phone number, address, email, profile picture, payout details, etc.) are removed. All the listings created by the user will be removed as well. If the user had defined their payment details via Stripe, the Stripe Connect Custom account is deleted, too.

Interactions with other users (such as conversations with other people, transactions, reviews given to others, comments, etc.) are not deleted. However, the username will no longer be displayed next to this content. The username will no longer be available to use.

Is it possible to delete a user account at any time?

A user account can’t be deleted if they have pending transactions or they have a positive balance. As soon as all transactions are completed, the user account can be deleted.

Is it possible to recover a deleted user account?

Recovering a deleted user account is not possible. Delete an account with caution!

Log in to the marketplace.

Open your user settings panel (“Settings” from the dropdown under your photo/name).

Open the “Account” tab.

In the “Email addresses” section, click on “+ Add new email address”.

Add your second email address. Check “Receive notifications” if you want to receive notifications at this address.

Click “Save”.

Check your email inbox for instructions on how to confirm the address.

Follow the instructions. You will see the message “The email you entered is now confirmed.”.

That’s it! Your secondary email address is now set and confirmed.

Yes, you can, and you should! 

The marketplace can only work if the sellers are there to actually negotiate with or accept a sale!

If buyers are trying to get a response from you on the listing comments or if they have tried to buy your item and you ignore them, then it’s really frustrating for the buyer and it wastes the time of the buyer and the support team trying to communicate with you to no avail.

So the moderator might disable your account. 

You can fix this by simply editing your listings as follows:

1. Cut and paste your listing title into the top of the description like this.

“TITLE: put your title here”

2. Put the following text into your title now, with your date in this way (e.g. 23 Jan 2023) for when you will be available again.

“PAUSED – seller unavailable till  day month year”

3. Then close your listing.
When you come back from holiday, just re-open the listings again and submit for approval – you don’t even need to re-edit the title, we can do that for you.

Alternatively, you can let the support team know at hello@squeakycleantoys.com and they can do all the work for you!

On the listing page, the discussion where you can ask questions about the item is PUBLIC. Once you hit the buy button, you can send a PRIVATE message to the buyer – do remember that we can also see these messages so we can try to help if there is a problem.

Similarly you can message the SQUEAKY team publicly about a listing, in the comments. You can also email the SQUEAKY team privately on hello@squeakycleantoys.com or through the contact form on the website.

Once you hit the BUY button, your payment is fixed and is pre-authorized, but you can send an optional message to the seller at this point. This is all kept in our secure messaging system. Only you and the user ( and the SQUEAKY team ) can see these messages. If you want to get back to the conversation later on, and continue it, just go to Your Profile / Inbox and there you will find all your message threads.

If you want to ask questions about the listings before you get to the buying stage, you can write the questions in the listings but do be aware that everybody can see this conversation – it is public.

If there is anything else you need to contact the seller about, let us know at SQUEAKY support.

BUYERS BEWARE

If a seller sends you a message similar to the one below, they could be scammers. Please let us know immediately and refrain from communicating with them.

“Hey I just spent ages looking for this and I can’t find it any more. I have other items though if you’re interested”

It can also look like this:

“Oh no, I just realized how much the commission is here and I just can’t afford to sell it for this price any more”

If this happens during a transaction, here’s what to do.

STRIPE transactions: hit the dispute transaction button and we will look into it. If your item has been paid for but the transaction not yet completed, then you can dispute it and we can help. We will check if the seller is going to send the item and if not we can get the money redirected back to your account.

PAYPAL transactions: Paypal manage the protection here so you need to dispute the transaction on PayPal as well as on the marketplace.

SELLERS BEWARE

Usually, buyer scammers try to get you to communicate via email or phone and pay via Paypal (all outside of our protective platform) and you could end up with no payment at all.

To avoid getting messed up with scammers, do all transactions through our platform.

If a seller sends you a message similar to the one below, they are scammers. Please let us know immediately and refrain from communicating with them.

“Is this still available? If yes kindly get across to me via my email address below as I’m not always on here and because its a temporary profile which belongs to my niece. I’ll be waiting to hear from you as soon as possible.”

It can also look like this:

“Oh that’s great! please consider it sold and please cancel every other appointment regarding it as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin as a gift, i have read through the advert and I’m totally satisfied with it, sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to covid-19, and mostly due to my hearing loss and me being in wheelchair, the courier will do it. I will use PayPal to effect payment please send your PayPal email address. I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money. Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?. Meanwhile you can send me your PayPal email and registered name so that i can send the money right away and choose a good time for the pick up after payment has been received and also please confirm the exact amount i will need to pay in order to avoid mistakes.”

Even if the safety measurements are easing up, we’d like to ask you to be mindful and protect yourselves as much as possible.

• Be home: minimizing travel reduces your risk of being exposed and exposing others – walking to your local Post Office is a good way to maintain your body moving if exercising is allowed, and posting is an allowed essential service. Use social distancing at the Post Offices, it helps.
• Be smart: Use a contact-free collection, or check out a courier service option.
• Be thorough: Sellers –please clean your products before sending them off. Don´t forget that all insertable items must be sterilized. Buyers you should also clean your items as soon as you receive them, and always wash your hands. ( This UVee machine claims to kill Covid-19 virus too ! )

If you stick to the above, sorting (and selling) your things is still a great way to declutter your home, and get the extra benefits of cash in, and knowing you’re helping someone out too. It makes a great habit or past-time too if you’re getting bored ! The risk of catching the virus that causes Covid-19 from a package or letter is low. (Read all relevant information here).

The 10 basic listing requirements are:

1. The item has to be your own private item.
2. The brand & model has to be one we support.
3. The material has to be body-safe.
4. All the links and details have to be filled in correctly.
5. It has to be cleaned & sanitized and also sterilized (with photos) if it’s a used insertable item.
6. Photos must show the details & condition, & that it is your item in your possession now.
7. The price (USD)  has to be at least 25% less than the best webstore price online.
8. Delivery has to be a quote for domestic online tracked shipping
9. Payment details need to be added in order to trade.
10. Personal details are not allowed to be included.

Yes, you can, and you should! 

The marketplace can only work if the sellers are there to actually negotiate with or accept a sale!

If buyers are trying to get a response from you on the listing comments or if they have tried to buy your item and you ignore them, then it’s really frustrating for the buyer and it wastes the time of the buyer and the support team trying to communicate with you to no avail.

So the moderator might disable your account. 

You can fix this by simply editing your listings as follows:

1. Cut and paste your listing title into the top of the description like this.

“TITLE: put your title here”

2. Put the following text into your title now, with your date in this way (e.g. 23 Jan 2023) for when you will be available again.

“PAUSED – seller unavailable till  day month year”

3. Then close your listing.
When you come back from holiday, just re-open the listings again and submit for approval – you don’t even need to re-edit the title, we can do that for you.

Alternatively, you can let the support team know at hello@squeakycleantoys.com and they can do all the work for you!

When you logged in, and go into your listing, you can do these 3 things.

edit
close
delete

There are two ways you can get there.

1. Log in and hover over your profile image/avatar. You will see 4 options  (inbox, my listings, account, settings). Click on ‘my listings’ and you will be shown a list of all your listings along with their current status.
Find the listing you want to edit, close, or delete.
Click on the listing to go into it, and just above your profile image you will find the 3 options. 

2. If you are logged in, find your listing on the board, click to open it, and you should see an edit, close, or delete option. 

It has to be of the item you are actually selling so that the buyers can see the exact state of the item they will be buying.

3 TIPS:
Take your photos in a clean and clear domestic setting (but without making it too personal).
Give enough space around them to show they are your own items in your own possession right now.
You can even put a piece of paper beside it, with Squeaky Clean Toys and your ‘Display name’ written on it.

A post is closed to public view in the following circumstances.

1. Whilst it is being edited and after every edit, it needs to be re-approved by us.

2. Whilst pending re-approval to go public again.

3. If SQUEAKY decides to close the listing for any reason, it hides it from public view whilst we discuss it directly by email with the seller. The seller can edit it to re-open it.

4. A seller should close a listing when they accept a request to purchase. SQUEAKY may do that for them as soon as someone hits the BUY button.

5. A seller might close or delete the listing if they have decided not to sell it anymore.

 If you are looking at the post during this period you might get a system error saying you are not authorized to view the post anymore. This is because the post is in edit mode or pending re-approval and the only people that have authority to see it at this stage are the seller and the SQUEAKY team.

So that’s what it can look like it has disappeared off the public board. Most are temporary, deleting a post means it’s gone forever. Closing means it’s just in the background and can be re-edited and re-submitted for public view again.

Hope that helps.

SQUEAKY support

You just ask the seller if they will accept $??, and see what they say. Simple as that.

So just have a discussion with the seller, on the listing comments. (Remember the community rules and guidelines and just keep it all squeaky clean and don’t give out any personal details and you’re all good:)

If the seller agrees to a bid, they just need to re-edit the listing to show the new price and then you can hit the BUY button.

All prices are in US Dollars and shipping is currently quoted for online tracked shipping in the seller’s country.

If you are outside their country you need to ask for a shipping quote too and if you agree to that the seller edits the listing to show it for you so you can hit the buy button.

If you upload a picture where your ratio is within 20% of the 3:2 ratio, for example, 680 x 440, it will be cropped to the target ratio (660 x 440) to avoid having ugly bars on the sides!
If your image is not even close to the target ratio though, e.g. 1200 x 440 pixels, where more than 20% needs to be cropped, then no cropping will happen at all.

Free tools to resize and crop images
Try using a basic image editor (like Paint),  or some online tools like Cropp Me or Cut My Pic.

Sometimes when we take photos with our smartphones they automatically rotate. What you need to do is to open the images on your phone and edit them (rotating to the straight view), save them, delete the old photos and upload the new photos.

The seller has to state in their listing if the item is in full working order, a little patchy, or needs repair.

Some also show a picture with the power light lit, showing it is on. You could always request the seller adds that before you hit BUY.

So you know where you stand from the beginning and if the item is delivered in a different state, then you can dispute the sale and send it back.

If it is a re-chargeable item it could have lost the charge during shipping. So, when you do receive your item, we would advise charging it overnight first – before you think it isn’t working.

Don’t mark the transaction as completed until you are sure everything is ok. Then, please do!

On 14th February 2022, the marketplace has gone global since we were getting users signing up from Germany and Austria, Spain, France, UK, and Italy. So that is why Europe has the fewest listings.

To get an injection of new listings, you can help us by spreading the word.

You can also easily send an invitation to your email contacts too.

Invite someone to join here. Thank you!

You can always edit your listings. To do so, follow these steps:

 On desktop: click on your PROFILE PICTURE (top right corner), then select YOUR LISTINGS, then underneath the listings you click on EDIT LISTING.

 On mobile: click on the MENU (top right corner), scroll down and click on YOUR LISTINGS, then underneath the listings you click on EDIT LISTING.

Also, it may appear that you are not getting interest,  but the payment systems could also be rejecting buyers with incomplete or incorrect payment information. So they are doing that job to save you wasting time with buyers that may have payment problems. 

or, is your listing not appealing enough?

Are your photos clear, bright, in focus? We have a guide on how to take good photos here. Freshen it up – we know that good photos help A LOT.

Have you given enough detail in the description – don´t only use the sales blurb you find online?

Has the item been shot without any distractions around? Does the item look clean, and is it on a clean surface?

Does the item look clean and sterilized?

Is your price attractive? Check the best price a buyer would find online for a new one – items that sell on the marketplace are usually at least 30-50% discounted – unless they have a collector or rarity value.

Are you charging too much for shipping?

Have you got some bad reviews from previous transactions?

It is only our sellers that need to have a premier account – this is what businesses also use.

It costs nothing and is easy to upgrade. You just put your own name in if it asked for a business name.

2 great reasons why this is better.

1. This is required in order to process credit card payments from non-PayPal buyers.
So you are widening your audience too.

2. It also allows every part of the financial transaction to be done simultaneously. So, when you accept the purchase from a buyer it all magically happens then – the payment to you, and the commission to us, and best of all it’s all triggered and controlled by PayPal. 
This makes the process really simple and secure for everyone.

and… How much commission do you take ?

Buyers – the website is completely free.

Sellers – our commission is 20% , which is only paid if you sell the item.

Generally, the additional fees taken by Paypal or Stripe for handling the financial transactions are around 3-5% on top of our commission.

We charge sellers using Stripe 23% for selling and we pay your stripe fees for you. You can receive payment from credit card and debit cards and the cash comes straight into your bank account once the buyer has marked the transaction as complete – i.e. they have received the item.

We charge sellers using Paypal 20% and you pay the Paypal fees yourself. Buyers will be able to pay using their credit cards or Paypal accounts & the money comes into your Paypal account.

You can create your buyers or sellers account here.

Getting these details from someone allows us as a business to make sure the person is real and not some random scam person. The other reason is that I personally used to sell stuff via Gumtree or Facebook marketplace, agreeing a price over the phone/email. Quite a few times when people arrived they tried to negotiate a new price or handed me less money ( and even counterfeit money on occasion). It became very odd and not comfortable at all. I thought that if people get paid beforehand, via online payment, the transaction would become a much smoother process. This is also one of the reasons why we do not allow collection or personal delivery on this marketplace.

The Squeaky Clean Toys marketplace uses Paypal & Stripe to keep all your banking details secure. Paypal & Stripe are two of the top most used and secure systems for online payment in the world.

For Stripe transactions, the action of completing the transaction instructs Stripe to begin the process of moving the money onto the seller’s bank account.

If your buyer does not do this yet the online tracking show the package is delivered, then the seller should message the buyer in the trasaction window, asking them to take action. If there is still no action, the seller should email SQUEAKY support on hello@squeakycleantoys.com and ask for help to do this. The team will then write directly to the buyer to request the completion. They will give 48hrs to do this and then email again giving another 24hrs for the buyer to complete the transaction otherwise the team will do it for them.

It’s important to build a good reputation in the marketplace so it really is better for the buyer to take the action themselves. After completion, the buyer and seller can review each other.

For PayPal transactions, Paypal does not allow the marketplace to be involved in the payment process. However we still need to know if the marketplac buyers are satisfied and this is done by marking the transaction as completed.

We use Stripe and Paypal to ensure all transactions are as secure as possible.

For both, protection can only begin if you have online tracking and give the buyer the tracking code.

Has the buyer received the item ok and hit the ‘transaction completed’ button? Once that happens, Stripe initiates the transfer of the money to your account. It usually says transfers are made in 7-10 days but we often find it is less.

With PayPal, sometimes there are delays in the transfer and it can take around 7-10 working days for the Paypal money to reach the seller’s account. Sometimes Paypal have other reasons to hold the money but they should inform you. Check with PayPal because when a purchase is accepted the money is immediately transferred to the seller’s account. If it isn’t there then Paypal should be able to tell you why!

Stripe takes the money from the buyer on day 1, but Stripe only releases the cash to you once the buyer has marked the transaction as “completed” i.e. they have received the items. Make sure you list the online tracking number in the transaction messaging and in PayPal too if you are using that to get paid.

PayPal will not give you any protection if it is not online tracked. Also, check if Paypal require you to use their shipping labels or  give them the tracking code too as they may hold the money if they cannot see it tracked and delivered.

With stripe, we have more access to protect the buyer/seller during the transaction – we can see if there is an issue, and if so, we will let you know. With PayPal, they control the buyer seller payment so you need to contact them directly. Do contact us if you have any queries and we will do our best to help you out.

We don’t have many sellers using both gateways, and the payment gateways do work in different ways.

One way to know is if it is in your PayPal account already since Paypal move the money straight from buyer to seller account but usually hold the funds until the item is delivered – so you could see the payment is there even if you can’t actually get at the money yet! With Stripe, they hold the money in the middle like an escrow account would, so neither buyer nor seller have it until the transaction is completed.

Another way to know if it is Stripe or Paypal is through the commission taken by the marketplace. With PayPal, Squeaky takes 20% and then Paypal takes their commission directly from the seller’s paypal account. With Stripe, we pay the seller’s fees for them, so we take 23% directly from the listing price. So if you see 23% taken then you know its Stripe.

We’re also adding in a new helpful feature for you.

When an item has been purchased, we will adjust the title of the item to start with (P) if it is a PayPal transaction, and (S) if it is a Stripe transaction.
Officially it’s meant to take both 7-10 days after the transaction has been completed by the buyer, but we notice it usually takes less time with Stripe. If you’re concerned, say 5 days after completion, contact us at hello@squeakycleantoys.com and we can look into the Stripe system and see if it is giving an ETA for you.

If you upload a picture where your ratio is within 20% of the 3:2 ratio, for example, 680 x 440, it will be cropped to the target ratio (660 x 440) to avoid having ugly bars on the sides!
If your image is not even close to the target ratio though, e.g. 1200 x 440 pixels, where more than 20% needs to be cropped, then no cropping will happen at all.

Free tools to resize and crop images
Try using a basic image editor (like Paint),  or some online tools like Cropp Me or Cut My Pic.

Sometimes when we take photos with our smartphones they automatically rotate. What you need to do is to open the images on your phone and edit them (rotating to the straight view), save them, delete the old photos and upload the new photos.

People like to feel as comfortable as possible when buying from somebody they do not know, especially online. The more information you are able to give so that people feel comfortable dealing with you, the better your results will be.

If we think your words/description or image is not squeaky clean, it will be edited out, or image replaced with a default one. 

An item is not as described if it is materially different from what the seller described in the listing for that item.

This might include:

• You received a different item or different version.
• The condition of the item is wrong. For example, the listing said “new” and the item has clearly been used.
• The item is missing parts or components
• The item was defective during first use (e.g., even with new batteries it did not turn on).
• The item is a counterfeit.
• The item is missing major parts or features, and this was not disclosed in the listing.
• The item was damaged during postage.

Depends!

If you just changed your mind, and haven’t used it, then you need to check with the seller if that is something they accept before buying. Each individual seller can make that an option and explain their terms (postage, refunds, etc).

If you have used it and it doesn’t work for what you need, then you can re-sterilize it and re-list it as a seller now.

PAYPAL says:
“If a buyer opens a dispute or claim regarding an item they didn’t receive, you may be required to provide the proof that you’ve already sent the item to the buyer. One way to show that proof is to use a carrier with online tracking. The recipient’s name and address in the online tracking information must match those displayed in your Transaction Details page. For transactions involving items worth $750USD (or its equivalent in other currencies) or more, please also keep an online receipt with the recipient’s signature as proof of delivery.

It’s important to meet the postage requirement for you to be eligible for Seller Protection. If the buyer demands that you deliver to an address different from the one in the Transaction Details page, we suggest that you contact the buyer to arrange a refund and make a new payment with the correct delivery address. You can view the detailed postage requirements related to Seller Protection in our User Agreement.

Learn more about how to handle a PayPal dispute or claim.

Sometimes things take a bit longer than expected. However, you can always contact the seller ( through the secure messaging during your transaction ) to check the status of your order. If needed, we can also talk to the seller if you are having trouble, but we cannot be responsible for what happens to your item.

If you received an item that’s wrong, damaged or otherwise not as described, you should contact the seller on the transaction messaging so he or she can quickly help you with the issue. When you contact your seller this way we open a case so we can track your seller’s response and help when needed.

If Online tracked is not automatically included with the shipping option you have chosen, please make sure you can pay additionally for online tracking before you pay for shipping the item.

If it is a USPS first-class package, you will probably have to go to the actual post office to be sure that you can get this.

Here are some links to useful guides.

What-are-the-Types-of-First-Class-Mail

How USPS delivery tracking works

Here is another (non USPS) article about adding the tracking.

Just make sure your shipping quote includes online tracking!

Yes, with some shipping options you can do this online. Some of our users do this to be able to give the buyer the tracking code first, especially if they know that they can’t get to the post office straight away.

Check out the USPS Print Click-N-Ship Online Postage

You can pay for the shipping, print the labels, and then either have the package picked up, or deliver it later to the post office. You even earn loyalty points for using it !

However, it can be a little disconcerting for the buyer to see a tracking code with an item that hasn’t even been delivered to the post office yet, or if it hasn’t registered on the system yet, so keep in touch with your buyer, especially at the beginning to re-assure them.

USA

Most sellers will use the US mail (USPS) tracking service – here´s the USPS guide to all the ways to ship. Here´s another link showing you how to work out the shipping costs. When they post a package, the post office workers assign a number to that order, that number is called US Mail Service Tracking Number.
It is also known as label or article number.

US Mail Service tracking number is usually a 22-digit number. The number of digits may vary depending on the service you are using. Different services have different types of tracking numbers.

Within the transaction messaging, sellers should give the buyer the tracking number so that everyone can feel comfortable and track it here.

Use this link to track a USPS parcel.

Canada has a different tracking service and will tell you when the parcel has arrived at your local post office in the USA.

How do I calculate shipping in the UK?

In order to calculate shipping you need to know the size and weight if your parcel. That’s simple to do with a tape measure and weighing scales. In fact it doesn’t have to be exact, you just need to know which weight band it falls into ( under 1 kg, 1-2kg, 2-5kg, etc etc ).

Then, in the UK you can use this Royal Mail web page to calculate your shipping.

All goods have a value to the customs tax man, regardless of whether they are bought new or second-hand. It can be import fees, customs duty, or tax. Check what you might have to pay on the links at the bottom of this answer. We will add more information as we find it.

The value depends on the type of goods, the declared value (usually the listing price, but some countries can also include the shipping cost and the insured cost), the weight and size, and the country it is being shipped from, and the country it is being shipped into.

Who is responsible – first the legalities?

Buyers – you are responsible for checking that the item you are buying is legal to import into your country. You are also responsible for checking, before hitting the BUY button, what you may have to pay to your own customs department, on top of the listing and shipping fee charged by the seller on the marketplace.

Sellers – Before you even give a new shipping quote or accept a transaction, you are responsible for checking that their transactions are lawful in the buyer’s county (if in the same country as the seller), and the buyer’s country (if it is an international sale), as well as in their own. You can then accept or reject the buyer’s request to purchase your item.

And then the shipping…

Note to sellers: If the item is used, please declare the value ( the LISTING PRICE paid) and mark it as a USED (or SECOND-HAND) ITEM on the customs declaration when you ship it.

Note to buyers:
US to Canada: We believe you only have to pay duty on new items over the value of $20, and no duty on used items.

Importing to EU:  Please check the government or shipping company websites of the import country to check for any import VAT or import taxes required.

We found some useful information on this FEDEX page.
Also on Eurosender.com, you will find information for shipping within the European Union (EU), and from outside the EU into the EU

Get in touch if you still have questions and we´ll do our very best to help you.