Drop-off & Abandoned-Item Policy

This policy says how a toy gets from the seller's family to the buyer's family, what each family promises, what happens when a toy is not collected, and what a drop-off spot does with it. It is part of the Terms of Service. The matching rules for hosts are in the Host Terms.

How a trade works

1. Claim. A kid claims a toy (or asks, and a parent approves). The buyer's points go on hold. The buyer chooses the drop-off spot from the ones the listing offers, nearest first.
2. Drop-off, within 3 days. The seller's family puts the toy in a bag, writes the trade's two-word pickup code on it, takes it to that drop-off spot during its hours and hands it to the counter. At the drop-off spot, a grown-up helps the kid record proof: the app reads the phone's location to confirm it is at the drop-off spot, and a photo is taken of the labeled bag in the drop-off spot. The seller is paid the moment that proof lands. Without proof, there is no payment.
3. Pickup, within 14 days. The buyer's family goes to the drop-off spot. The app reveals the pickup code only on a phone that is at the drop-off spot; the family says the two words to the counter and takes the bag. Revealing the code is the pickup.
4. "It's not here", within 15 minutes. If the bag isn't there, the buyer taps "It's not here" while still at the drop-off spot. The buyer's points come back at once; the seller's payment stands, because the drop-off was proven; a strike is recorded against the seller. A false report is itself a violation, and leaves the same location record the drop-off did.

The two families never meet, never message and never learn each other's addresses. The drop-off spot's staff know a bag and two words, and nothing about either family.

What the seller's family promises

• To drop the toy off within 3 days, at a drop-off spot the listing offered, during its hours, in a bag that can be handed over and carried, labeled clearly with the two words.
• To record the proof honestly: at the drop-off spot, of that bag.
• To hand over the toy as it was shown in the video.
• To cancel early rather than go silent if the drop-off can't happen: a parent cancels the sale from the parent zone, choosing a reason. The buyer is refunded at once. Cancelling counts in the seller's reliability record like a missed drop-off, but is never a strike.

If the 3 days pass without proof, the buyer is refunded automatically, the listing goes back on sale or expires, and the miss counts against the seller's reliability record. A seller may have at most 5 claimed toys waiting for drop-off at once.

What the buyer's family promises

• To collect the toy within 14 days of the drop-off, during its hours, saying the two words at the counter.
• To use "It's not here" only when the bag is truly not there.
• To treat the drop-off spot's staff as what they are: people doing a family a favor.

Items left behind

If the buyer's family does not collect the bag within 14 days of the drop-off, the trade closes. The toy then belongs to the drop-off spot, which may donate it or dispose of it, and marks it as gone in the app. The seller's family was paid at the drop-off and keeps that payment; the buyer's family paid for the toy and does not get it. Neither family has any claim on the toy, on the drop-off spot, or on YaaFlip for it after the window closes. The buyer's family is reminded before the window ends.

Drop-off spots that pause or close

A host may pause a drop-off spot (for a holiday, a renovation, a closure) for up to 90 days at a time. When a drop-off spot pauses, no new claims may choose it, every trade already using it gets its deadlines extended by the length of the pause, and both families are told. A drop-off spot is closed for good only when no bag is waiting on its shelf; if we ever have to close one with a bag waiting, we tell both families and settle the trade with points.

Lost or damaged items

Drop-off spots agree to take reasonable care of waiting bags, and a host is not responsible for what is inside one or for its condition. If a bag goes missing at a drop-off spot despite that care, or a toy arrives damaged, tell us from the trade in Safety & support. We settle it with points — refunding the buyer, and leaving the seller's payment in place when the drop-off was proven — and that is the only remedy for a lost or damaged toy. Toys are worth 1 to 5 points, and every rule here is proportionate to that.

Porch pickup

Between families whose kids are confirmed friends, a seller's family may open its porch instead of using a drop-off spot. The clocks and the proof are the same: the seller sets the bag out on the porch and records the proof there within 3 days, the buyer collects within 14 days with the code revealed on site, and "It's not here" works the same way. The seller's address is shown only to the buyer's parent, only for that trade, and is deleted when the trade ends. Nothing left on a porch past the window is anyone's responsibility but the seller's.

When the phone won't cooperate

Location checks need the phone's location to be on and accurate enough to place it at the drop-off spot. Indoors, moving near a window or a doorway usually fixes it. If it still fails, a grown-up writes a note from the trade in Safety & support; a person at YaaFlip can confirm a drop-off from the photo or complete a pickup by hand. There is never a way to skip the check yourself.

Safety at the counter

A drop-off spot hands a bag only to someone who says its two words, never asks a family who they are, never opens a bag, and never holds a bag past its window for anyone. If anything at a drop-off spot worries you, tell us at hello@yaaflip.com.