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.
Every account must provide business verification details before publishing listings, bidding, or transacting: a structured Singapore address, GST registration status and number, your primary business activity (SSIC code, matched against the official government classification list), a verified mobile number, and at least two contact persons. These fields are enforced by the server, not only by the form -- an incomplete profile cannot be submitted for review by any route. They are collected through the business profile page and stored against your account.
Mobile number verification uses a one-time code sent by SMS and is checked before the number is accepted. An ACRA business registration document (or equivalent) can also be uploaded as supporting evidence. We are not currently collecting a bank statement as part of this flow -- that step is switched off while we get the timing right, not removed for good.
An admin verification queue exists to review submitted profiles. What we can't yet claim is a track record: none of this -- including the phone and SSIC checks -- has been exercised at volume with real businesses yet, so treat a "verified" badge today as "profile completed and structurally checked," not as a long-standing audit history.
One correction we owe you, because the paragraph above overstates what some badges mean. The completeness rules were enforced when a businesssubmitted its profile, but not when an admin approved it, so an account could be approved while holding less than the list above. In September 2026 we checked every approved account against that list and found all of them incomplete on at least one item. Approving an incomplete profile is now refused outright, but the badges already issued are still showing. Until each of those accounts is re-checked, a "verified" badge on a business approved before September 2026 means an admin reviewed it -- not that the checklist was met.
No listing of any kind -- stock for sale, a free giveaway, or a Want to Buy request -- can be published without at least one photo. Anything actually being offered (stock for sale, or a giveaway) in a perishable category (meat and other protein, seafood, dairy and chilled, frozen, bakery, produce) must also carry a best-before or expiry date and a storage condition. A Want to Buy post is exempt from those last two, and only those two: it describes stock the poster does not have, so there is no best-before date to state.
These rules are enforced by the database itself, not only by the form, so a listing that lacks them cannot go live by any route. That has been completely true only since September 2026. Before then the database applied both rules to stock for sale alone, and left giveaways and Want to Buy posts unchecked -- so some Want to Buy posts published with no photo, and some giveaways of perishable food published with no best-before date. Those are still live; we closed the gate rather than withdrawing listings retrospectively.
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 nine recommended evidence items they supplied -- three photos (the product, its packaging, its label) and six details (batch or lot number, origin, best-before date, storage temperature, packaging condition and specification). Neither is a guarantee. flipexcess does not inspect stock, 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.
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.
Verification documents (business registration, and -- when that step is switched back on -- 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. Structured profile fields (address, SSIC activity, verified phone number) are stored in our database under the same access rule: visible to you and to platform admins only.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 message thread on each listing) before committing to a purchase.
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.