1. Be polite — in the chat and in person
A swap is two strangers trusting each other for ten minutes. Courtesy is what makes that possible, so on SwapMatch it is a rule rather than a nicety. It applies in the same measure to what you type and to how you behave when the two of you are standing in front of each other.
- Write like a person — no insults, no shouting, no sarcasm aimed at someone's things. A short, plain message is always enough.
- Turn up, or say you cannot — a message five minutes before is worth an hour of someone waiting. Changing your mind is fine; leaving someone standing there is not.
- Take a no — if someone declines, or stops replying, that is the answer. Do not push, do not ask again through another listing, and do not look for them outside SwapMatch.
- Never harass anyone — no slurs, no threats, no sexual messages or photos nobody asked for, and no comments about someone's appearance, body, origin, religion, politics or income.
- Do not haggle into a fight — a swap either works for both of you or it does not. Walk away politely instead of grinding someone down at the meeting point.
- Other people's things are other people's — do not photograph, film or post a member without their agreement, and do not repost a conversation.
2. Describe things honestly
Photograph the actual item in the condition it is actually in. Say what is scratched, missing, worn out or no longer working, and say if it has been repaired. A swap that ends in a shrug costs you far more than the listing was worth: the other member can report a listing that turned out to be nothing like its pictures, and repeated reports cost you the account.
If you are not sure whether a fault matters, put it in the description. Nobody has ever been annoyed by too much honesty about a used thing.
3. Profiles, counters and coins
Opening somebody's profile is a fair place to start when you are deciding whether to meet a stranger. How many swaps they have settled, how long they have been here, what they have earned and what is on their shelf are all counted by the app from what actually happened — none of it is typed in by the member themselves. Read it as context you are gathering, rather than as a verdict anybody has reached about them.
- Let it tell you something — a settled swap is one both people confirmed, and a coin is something the app watched somebody do over weeks. Somebody who has swapped a dozen times, keeps a full shelf and answers quickly has built that up in the open, and it is reasonable to let it put you at ease.
- A thin profile is less to go on, not a warning — every profile on SwapMatch read "1 d" and no swaps once, yours included, and somebody has to be the first person a new member swaps with. Where the profile says little, let the chat and the usual care say the rest.
- A full profile is not a guarantee — it says somebody has done this many times; it does not say how this swap will go, and a history can be built up patiently by somebody who means to spend it. Check the item, meet somewhere public and walk away if it stops feeling right — however good the profile looks.
- Do not farm it — listings for things you do not own, swaps agreed with a friend to move a number, messages sent to nobody to turn a coin. These numbers are worth something only because they are earned, and the person who trusts yours next is the one who pays for it: inflating a counter breaks the Terms of Use, and we act on the account it was done on.
- A hidden shelf is an answer — a member is allowed to keep their collection off their profile, and the app says so plainly when they have. Do not press them for the list, and do not read it as somebody with something to hide — it is a switch in the settings and it is theirs to use.
- Do not use a profile to needle somebody — remarks about how new somebody is, how few swaps they have settled or what they have not earned are the same rudeness as any other, and section 1 covers them. Nobody owes you a busier profile.
4. Meet somewhere public
Cafés, transport hubs, shopping centres — somewhere with people and daylight. Bring someone with you if the item is valuable, and tell a friend where you are going.
- Check before you swap — unbox it, switch it on, try it. Both of you should be happy before you part.
- Keep it in the chat — what is arranged inside SwapMatch can be looked at if there is a dispute. What is arranged elsewhere cannot.
- Share nothing you do not need to — a meeting point is enough. Your home address, your documents and your bank details are never part of a swap.
- Walk away — no explanation needed. Nobody is obliged to complete a swap they have stopped feeling good about.
5. Swaps, not sales
SwapMatch is for exchanging things. A small top-up between two members to even out a swap is their own business, but a listing that is simply an item for sale, an advert, a service, or a request for money up front is removed.
6. What cannot be listed
None of the following may be offered, asked for, or arranged through SwapMatch — not in a listing, not in a chat, not as the other half of a swap. Local law may forbid more than this list; it never permits less.
- Anything illegal — if handing it to a stranger is against the law where either of you is standing, it does not belong here, whether or not it appears below.
- Drugs — controlled or illegal substances of every kind, anything sold as a legal substitute for one, plant material and seeds grown for them, and the equipment used to prepare or take them.
- Medicines — prescription medicine, pharmacy and over-the-counter medicine, veterinary medicine, injectables, medical devices that need a prescription, test kits, and supplements presented as a treatment for anything. This holds even when the box is sealed, even when it was legally bought, and even when you are giving it away for nothing. Take unused medicine to a pharmacy instead.
- Tobacco, nicotine and alcohol — cigarettes, vapes, nicotine pouches, alcohol and the rest are not swapped here at all.
- Weapons — firearms, their parts and ammunition, explosives, gas and pepper sprays where they are restricted, and knives made as weapons.
- Living creatures — animals of any kind, and anything made from a protected species — ivory, shells, coral, furs, taxidermy.
- Stolen or counterfeit goods — including replicas presented as genuine, and anything you cannot explain how you came by.
- Personal data and identity — documents, passports and ID cards, account credentials, contact databases, and SIM cards registered to somebody else.
- Adult material — pornography of any kind, and sexual services. Anything sexual involving a minor is reported to the authorities immediately and ends the account without notice.
- Hazardous goods — loose or damaged batteries, fuel, gas canisters, solvents, pesticides, fireworks, asbestos, and medical or chemical waste.
- Recalled and unsafe goods — anything subject to a safety recall, and electrical items with damaged cables or missing safety parts.
7. Listed only with conditions
- Electronics — factory reset, signed out of every account, activation lock removed, and not carrier-locked without saying so.
- Cosmetics — unopened, in date, in their original packaging.
- Car and bike parts — safety-critical parts — brakes, helmets, child seats, climbing and diving gear — only with a history you can vouch for.
- Tickets and vouchers — only where the issuer allows them to be transferred.
- Anything for a baby — clean, complete, with its instructions, and never past a stated expiry.
Two things drive that list: what is lawful to hand to a stranger, and what causes real harm when a swap goes wrong. A used helmet with an invisible crack is the clearest case — nothing about the exchange looks risky, and the whole of the risk lands on the person who takes it home.
8. What happens when this is broken
Seen a listing, a message or a member that breaks any of this? Open the options menu on it and choose Report. Reports stay anonymous to the person reported. You can also block someone outright, which stops them reaching you at all, with or without a report.
A listing reported by enough different members is taken off the market while a person looks at it, and an account reported by enough different members can be suspended automatically. A first, minor breach usually costs the listing — you are told when one comes off the market, on what ground, and how to question it — and repeats lengthen the suspension. Fraud, threats, and anything illegal end the account, and where somebody is in danger or the law requires it we pass on what we hold.
Every decision reaches you with the ground for it — a suspension when you next open the app, a listing taken down as a notification — and every decision can be questioned. Reply to the notice, or write to support@swapmatch.me, and a person will look at it again. A suspension never stops you taking a copy of your own data or deleting your account.
9. The language of these guidelines
These guidelines are written and published in English, and English is the only version we stand behind. We publish no official translations, and a translation — your own, your browser's, or one we send you as a courtesy — has no legal effect and cannot be relied on against the English text. If English is difficult, ask us for a translation at support@swapmatch.me; the English version still governs.
These guidelines are part of the Terms of Use.