Trust Centre
An honest look at what flipexcess actually does today to protect buyers and sellers -- and what's still being built.
flipexcess is an early, pilot-stage marketplace.
Some of what's below is fully working today. Some has been built but hasn't yet been tested with real users at volume. Some is planned but not yet built. Each section below is labelled so you can tell which is which -- we'd rather be precise about what's not ready than describe it as more mature than it is.
Business verification
Every account can be asked to provide business verification details before publishing listings, bidding, or transacting: GST registration status and number, an ACRA business registration document (or equivalent), a bank statement to cross-check the account name, and at least two contact persons. These are collected through the business profile page and stored against your account.
An admin verification queue exists to review submitted documents. What we can't yet claim is a track record: this review process is new and hasn't been exercised at volume by our team, so treat a "verified" badge today as "documents submitted and structurally checked," not as a long-standing audit history.
Listing evidence
A listing cannot be published without at least one photo, and perishable categories (meat and other protein, seafood, dairy and chilled, frozen, bakery, produce) must also carry a best-before or expiry date and a storage condition. This is enforced by the database itself, not only by the form -- a listing that lacks it cannot go live by any route.
Beyond that minimum, every listing shows two separate signals: how many of the recommended detail fields the seller filled in, and how many of the recommended evidence photos (label, batch or date stamp, condition, storage) they supplied. Neither is a guarantee. flipexcess does not inspect stock unless an independent inspection has been booked and completed for that listing, and a listing that says "evidence supplied" means the seller uploaded it, not that we checked it. From September 2026 every seller also confirms accuracy and right to sell at the moment of publishing, and every buyer confirms they have reviewed the evidence before a bid is accepted.
Payment process
Payments are not live on flipexcess today. No payment provider is integrated anywhere in the product.
The "Pay deposit" and "Pay balance" actions you may see on an order are placeholders: they don't move any money, and they don't connect to a bank, card processor, or any licensed payment or escrow provider. We have not decided on a payment provider, how funds would be held, what fees would apply, or how refunds would be processed -- that decision is still open and is a prerequisite for building real payments. Until it's built, no transaction on flipexcess involves flipexcess handling money.
Data and document handling
Verification documents (business registration, bank statements) are uploaded to a private storage bucket and are only visible to you and platform admins -- they are not public and are not shown to other businesses.
We haven't yet published a full data retention schedule or a detailed, independently confirmed description of admin access controls. See our Privacy Policy for the fuller, equally honest picture of what is and isn't defined yet.
Buyer Protection
Because payments aren't live yet, there is no buyer protection mechanism (refund guarantee, held funds, chargeback-style process) in effect today. Any buyer protection programme would be built on top of the payment model once it's decided and implemented -- see Payment process above.
Seller Protection
Likewise, there is no seller protection mechanism (guaranteed payout, dispute funds held in escrow, seller-side fraud coverage) live today, since it depends on the same not-yet-built payment infrastructure.
Disputes
Buyers can already submit a real refund request or report a problem with an order -- this writes to our database and notifies the other party, it's not a mock. An admin queue exists to review and resolve these.
What's unproven: no real dispute has gone through this process yet, so we can't yet point to a track record of how quickly or fairly disputes get resolved. Treat this as a working submission path with an early-stage, not-yet-exercised resolution process behind it.
Food-safety responsibilities
Sellers are responsible for the accuracy of the product and safety information they list, including quantity, condition, and any expiry, traceability, or food-safety details relevant to the category.
flipexcess does not currently independently verify food-safety compliance for listings. We don't inspect inventory, check food-handling licences, or audit sellers' safety practices today. Buyers should use their own judgement and ask sellers questions (the Q&A panel on each listing) before committing to a purchase.
Contact and escalation
Questions, concerns, or anything that doesn't feel right about a listing, account, or interaction on flipexcess can be sent to support@flipexcess.com. This is the same address used across our Terms and Privacy Policy, and it reaches a real person on our team.