Swap it, or sell it?
Both are fine. They are good at different things. Here is the straight version.
The short answer
If you need cash, sell. Marketplace, Vinted and Depop will get you money, and SwapBox will not. We do not buy anything and we do not pay you.
If what you actually want is different stuff rather than money, swapping skips almost everything people hate about selling. Most of what makes selling tedious is the negotiating and the meeting. A locker removes both.
Where the time actually goes
Writing the listing
- Selling it
- Photos, description, price. Then the same again when it does not sell and you relist it lower.
- Swapping it
- Photos, brand, size, condition. About 30 seconds, and you never set a price.
The haggling
- Selling it
- “Is this still available?” Lowball offers. People who agree a price and go quiet.
- Swapping it
- None. Value caps do the negotiating, so nobody argues about what something is worth.
The handover
- Selling it
- Arranging a time, giving out your address or standing in a car park.
- Swapping it
- You drop yours in one compartment and collect yours from another. No meetups.
Getting stung
- Selling it
- Limited recourse if the item is not what was described, or if payment falls through.
- Swapping it
- Both sides put down a refundable bond. Check your item at the locker and raise anything within 24 hours.
What swapping costs
Collecting an item currently incurs a flat $5 locker fee, regardless of how long it sat in the locker.
You also put down a refundable bond before each swap. It comes back in full once the swap completes. It exists so that both sides have something at stake, which is what makes it safe to trade with someone you will never meet.
So a completed swap is a few dollars and no spending on the item itself. The full process is here.
When you should just sell
- You want the money, not another item.
- The piece is worth more than $1,000, which is above our cap.
- It is in a category we do not take, like jewellery, watches or electronics.
- You are nowhere near a locker. Right now that means Carrara Markets on the Gold Coast.
Plenty of people do both, and that is a perfectly sensible way to use us.