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unKeep Reservation Fee Policy

Last updated: 20 June 2026

This policy explains the 1.00 GBP reservation fee on unkeep: what it is, when it is charged, when it is non-refundable, when it is refunded, and why we believe it is fair, proportionate and clear. It is written to be read by everyday users, not just lawyers. If anything here is unclear, contact us at connect@unkeep.co.uk.

This policy forms part of, and should be read with, our Terms of Service, our Buyer Terms, our Seller Terms, our Community and Safety Guidelines (in-person collection and the QR handover), our Complaints and Dispute Resolution Policy, and our Privacy Policy. Where any of those documents and this one disagree on the reservation fee, this policy takes priority on that subject.

1. The short version

1.1. unKeep is a marketplace where sellers list second-hand items for collection in person. You pay the seller for the goods directly, in cash, when you collect. unKeep never touches that money.

1.2. When you reserve an item, unKeep charges a 1.00 GBP reservation fee to your card. This is a platform service fee for facilitating the reservation: reserving the item for you, taking it off the market for other buyers, revealing the handover location, and arranging the QR-confirmed collection. The same fee applies however you reserve, whether you reserve at the seller's asking price or you reserve an offer the seller has accepted at an agreed price.

1.2a. You can reserve at the seller's asking price, or you can make an offer below it. An offer is a private message between you and that seller, who can accept or reject it; it is not a public auction or a bidding war. Making or receiving an offer costs nothing. The 1.00 GBP reservation fee is only ever charged when you actually reserve, never for making or receiving an offer. If the seller accepts your offer, you are invited to reserve at the agreed price, and the fee is charged at that point in exactly the same way as a reservation at the asking price.

1.3. The reservation fee is a real charge, taken immediately when you reserve. The money leaves your account at the point of reservation. It is not an authorisation, an earmark or a pending hold.

1.4. You must collect within your reserved 1-hour slot. The reservation fee is non-refundable if you (the buyer) cancel your reservation or do not collect within that slot (a no-show). You paid for the reservation service and unKeep provided it.

1.5. The reservation fee is refunded where the collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours, for example the seller cancels, delists, does not turn up, the item is not as described, or the seller closes their account; or where unKeep cancels (a prohibited item, a takedown, or a suspension). See section 5.

1.6. A no-show has a reputational consequence, not a financial one. If you fail to collect, an automatic downvote is applied to your rating. Nothing extra is charged: the fee was already taken at reservation.

1.7. unKeep does not hold a balance for you. There is no wallet, no stored value, no deposit and no credit you can spend with sellers. The reservation fee is a fee for a service, not your money held by unKeep.

2. Definitions

For this policy:

  • "Reservation" means reserving an item so that, for a limited time, only you can arrange to collect it and other buyers cannot reserve it.
  • "Reservation fee" means the 1.00 GBP platform service fee for facilitating the reservation, charged to your card as described in this policy.
  • "Charge" or "captured" means the actual payment of 1.00 GBP taken from your card to unKeep at the point of reservation.
  • "Refund" means returning the 1.00 GBP to your original payment card where the collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours.
  • "Completed collection" means you and the seller meet, you inspect the item, and the handover is confirmed by the QR code (you show it, the seller scans it).
  • "Buyer no-show" means you reserved an item and did not collect within your reserved 1-hour collection slot, for a reason that is not the seller's fault.
  • "Seller-fault failure" means a collection that does not complete for a reason that is not your fault, for example the seller cancels, does not turn up, delists the item, sells it elsewhere, the item is not as described, or the seller closes their account.
  • "Offer" means a private proposal you send a seller to buy an item for less than the asking price. It is 1:1 between you and that seller, is not a public auction, and is free to make or receive. A pending offer expires if the seller does not respond.
  • "Goods price" means the amount you agree to pay the seller for the item itself, whether that is the seller's asking price or a lower amount the seller has accepted on an offer. This is always paid by you to the seller directly, in cash, in person, at collection.

3. What the reservation fee is, and what it is not

3.1. The reservation fee is a charge for a service. The service is the reservation itself: when you reserve an item, unKeep reserves it for you, removes it from other buyers' reach, reveals the handover location to you and arranges the QR-confirmed collection. The 1.00 GBP is the price of that service, and it is taken immediately when you reserve.

3.2. The reservation fee is NOT a deposit. A deposit is money you put down toward the price of something, which is later returned to you or set against what you owe. The reservation fee is never set against the goods price and is never returned to you on a completed collection, because it is the price of a service that has been provided. unKeep holds no deposit for you at any time.

3.3. The reservation fee is NOT stored value, e-money or a wallet balance. unKeep does not issue you any balance, credit, token or float that you can spend, transfer or redeem. There is nothing to "top up" and nothing to "withdraw". One reservation fee is charged per reservation.

3.4. The reservation fee is NOT customer money held by unKeep. It is charged to unKeep as a service fee at the point of reservation. unKeep does not receive, hold, pool or safeguard your funds on your behalf. The 1.00 GBP is unKeep's earned fee, not money held for you.

3.5. The reservation fee is NOT the goods money and is NOT routed to the seller as payment for the item. The goods price is paid by you to the seller, in cash, in person, at collection. unKeep never handles, holds or routes the goods money and is not a party to the sale of the goods. The 1.00 GBP is never set against or deducted from the goods price. The sale of the goods is between you and the seller, sold as seen, inspect on collection.

3.6. The reservation fee is NOT a penalty, forfeit or charge for breaking a contract. It is the agreed price of the reservation service, charged when you reserve. When you do not turn up, nothing further is charged; the consequence is reputational (see section 6), not financial. See section 8 on why this is fair and proportionate.

3.7. The reservation fee is NOT transferable and is NOT spendable. You cannot move it between reservations, give it to another user, build it up over time, or use it toward the goods price or toward your unKeep subscription. Each reservation has one reservation fee; nothing carries over.

4. How the reservation fee is charged

4.1. Payments on unKeep are handled by our payment processor, Stripe. When you reserve an item, we charge 1.00 GBP to your card immediately. This is a real charge, not an authorisation or a temporary earmark. The charge is the same single 1.00 GBP whether you reserve at the asking price or reserve an offer the seller has accepted; an offer on its own is never charged.

4.2. The money leaves your account at the point of reservation. You will see a 1.00 GBP charge from unKeep on your card statement for that reservation.

4.3. From that charge there are only two possible outcomes:

  • (a) The fee stands: this is the normal case where you complete the collection, and the case where you cancel or are a no-show. In all of these the fee is non-refundable because the reservation service was provided.
  • (b) Refund: the 1.00 GBP is returned to your card where the collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours (see section 5).

4.4. unKeep cannot increase the amount, cannot take it more than once, and cannot convert it into stored credit. One reservation, one reservation fee of 1.00 GBP.

4.5. You may have a maximum of 5 active reservations at any one time. This keeps your total commitment small and predictable and prevents items being tied up by buyers who are not serious.

5. When the reservation fee is REFUNDED (seller-fault and unKeep cancellation)

5.1. The reservation fee is refunded where a collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours. Examples include where the seller:

  • cancels the reservation or the meeting;
  • does not turn up to the handover, or is unreasonably late;
  • delists or removes the item before you can collect;
  • has already sold or promised the item to someone else;
  • closes their account;
  • cannot complete the handover (for example the QR confirmation cannot be done) for reasons not caused by you; or
  • supplies, on inspection at the agreed handover, an item that is not as described in the listing, such that you reasonably decline to complete.

5.2. The reservation fee is also refunded on unKeep's own cancellation. If unKeep cancels a reservation, removes a listing under our Prohibited and Restricted Items Policy, acts under our notice-and-takedown process for unlawful or harmful content (as set out in our Illegal Content and Takedown Policy and required by the Online Safety Act 2023), or suspends a seller, the reservation fee for any affected reservation is refunded. You are never out of pocket because unKeep, rather than you, ended the reservation.

5.3. Refunds are automatic where unKeep can determine fault. For example, where the seller closes their account, the affected reservations are refunded automatically. Where fault is not clear from our records, contact us at connect@unkeep.co.uk and we will refund the 1.00 GBP where the facts show the failure was not your fault.

5.4. Buyer cancellation and no-show are not refunded. If you cancel your reservation, or do not turn up, the fee stands, because the reservation service was provided to you (see section 6). The refunds described in this section 5 are for outcomes that are not your fault. Repeatedly reserving and cancelling, or reserving with no genuine intention to collect, may also count as misuse under our Acceptable Use Policy.

5.5. When in doubt, we refund. Where a collection fails for a reason that is not your fault, our default is to refund the reservation fee. The fee stands only where you ended the reservation yourself (cancellation) or where the facts clearly show a buyer no-show as defined in this policy.

6. When the reservation fee is NON-REFUNDABLE (cancellation or no-show)

6.1. The reservation fee is non-refundable when you end a reservation you made: either you cancel the reservation, or you do not collect within your reserved 1-hour slot (a no-show). In each case this applies only where the outcome is not the seller's fault and not a seller-fault failure under section 5.1.

6.2. The reservation service has been fully provided: the item was reserved for you, taken off the market, the location was revealed, and the seller was made ready for the handover. The 1.00 GBP, already taken at reservation, is unKeep's earned fee for that service.

6.3. Nothing extra is charged on a no-show. The fee was taken once, at reservation, and that is the only charge. There is no escalating charge, no daily fee, and no second bite.

6.4. The consequence of a no-show is reputational. If you do not turn up, an automatic downvote is applied to your rating (see section 7). This is the consequence of a no-show, not any further money.

6.5. If you believe the fee should be refunded, for example because the failure was actually the seller's fault or otherwise not your fault, you can ask us under section 9. If we agree, we refund the 1.00 GBP.

7. Two-way ratings and the no-show downvote

7.1. After a completed collection, the buyer and the seller rate each other. These two-way ratings help everyone on unKeep decide who to deal with.

7.2. A no-show applies an automatic downvote to the rating of the party who did not turn up. If a buyer does not turn up, the buyer is downvoted; if a seller does not turn up, the seller is downvoted.

7.3. The downvote is the consequence of a no-show. It is reputational only. No extra money is charged to the party who did not turn up: a buyer's reservation fee was already taken at reservation, and nothing further is captured.

7.4. unKeep does not pay the reservation fee across to the seller, and does not move money between users. The only money movements are: (a) you to seller, in cash, for the goods, which never touches unKeep; and (b) you to unKeep, the reservation fee taken at reservation, which is unKeep's earned service fee. Neither of these is unKeep holding or transmitting your money.

8. Why the reservation fee is fair, proportionate and transparent

8.1. It is small and fixed. The fee is 1.00 GBP, the same for every reservation regardless of the item's value, and the same whether you reserve at the asking price or at a price the seller has accepted on an offer. It is not a percentage of the goods price and it does not scale. You are always free to make an offer below the asking price, and making or receiving an offer is never charged: the only fee is the 1.00 GBP when you reserve.

8.2. It is shown up front, before you commit. We tell you the 1.00 GBP reservation fee, that it is charged immediately when you reserve, that it is non-refundable if you cancel or no-show, and that it is refunded if the collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours, at the point you reserve and before you confirm. There is no drip pricing: the price you see when you reserve is the only fee, with no surprise add-ons revealed later. This reflects our commitment under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to show prices clearly and avoid hidden charges.

8.3. It buys a real service. A reservation has genuine value: it takes an item off the market, blocks other buyers, reveals a private handover location, and commits a seller's time. The 1.00 GBP is a modest, good-faith price for that service, not a penalty pitched to deter or punish.

8.4. It is not a penalty clause. Because the 1.00 GBP is the agreed price of a service that is genuinely provided, and a no-show carries only a reputational consequence rather than any further charge, we have drafted it to sit outside the law on penalty clauses and outside the unfairness rules in the Consumer Rights Act 2015. We have aimed for plain language, an even-handed outcome (you are refunded whenever a failure is not your fault), and a charge that is no more than is reasonably necessary.

8.5. It is even-handed. Buyers are protected: you are refunded when the seller is at fault, when unKeep cancels, or when the failure is otherwise not your doing. Sellers and buyers rate each other two ways, and a no-show is downvoted on either side. The maximum number of reservations you can have at one time is 5.

8.6. It is clearly labelled and easy to understand. We avoid jargon, we define our terms, and we are consistent that the fee is "charged" at reservation and "refunded" only on a seller-fault or unKeep cancellation, so you always know which outcome applies.

9. If you think a fee should be refunded: queries and refunds

9.1. If 1.00 GBP was charged and you believe the collection failure was the seller's fault, or otherwise not your fault, contact us at connect@unkeep.co.uk within a reasonable time and tell us what happened.

9.2. We will look at the reservation, the messages, the handover record and the QR-confirmation status. If the facts show the failure was not your fault, we will refund the 1.00 GBP.

9.3. Refunds are made to the original payment card via Stripe. We do not issue refunds as credit, wallet balance or store value, consistent with the rest of this policy.

9.4. If you are not happy with how we deal with a query or refund about the reservation fee, you can escalate it under our Complaints and Dispute Resolution Policy, which explains how to complain, our timescales, and any independent routes open to you.

9.5. Nothing in this policy affects your statutory rights, including any rights you have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or, in respect of your unKeep subscription, your cooling-off rights under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. The cooling-off right applies to your unKeep subscription, not to an individual reservation fee, which is not a subscription.

10. Changes to this policy

10.1. We may update this policy, for example to keep it clear or to reflect changes in how the reservation service works. If a change materially affects you, we will give reasonable notice through the app or by email before it takes effect.

10.2. The reservation fee that applies to any given reservation is the one disclosed to you at the time you make that reservation.

11. Contact

Questions about the reservation fee or about a specific charge or refund: