The terms, plainly.

Who can use Second Date Books

You must be 18 or older to use Second Date Books.

Buying

Every book is priced by a formula, not by the seller: half the cover price, adjusted for condition — Like New (100%), Good (90%), or Acceptable (80%) — rounded to the nearest 50¢. Cover prices above $30 count as $30 in the formula.

When you buy a book, you pay:

• the book price,
• plus 12% of the order’s book total ($2 minimum per order),
• plus shipping,
• plus tax where applicable.

The 12% covers labels, payments, and running the site. The full book price goes to the seller — we take no cut of it.

Promo codes and fee waivers

A promo code may waive the book price, the platform fee, shipping, or all three — whatever the code says, that charge becomes $0 and anything left is charged normally. If a code waives everything, the order totals $0 and skips payment processing entirely: no card is charged, because there is nothing to charge.

Founding Readers

Founding Readers — the first readers invited to the site — pay $0 platform fees during the founding window: until they have sold 100 books or one full year has passed since they were designated, whichever is longer. After that, Founding Readers pay the usual platform fee.

Selling

Listing a book is free. When your book sells, you keep 100% of the book price. Payment is released 3 days after confirmed delivery, unless the buyer opens a claim first.

You don’t set the price — the formula does — but you do grade the condition honestly and write the pass-on note.

Swaps

Swaps are one for one and blind: each side sees a value band (about ±$2 around the formula price), never the exact price. There is no haggling. If the two books have different values, the difference is included in the settlement as an equalizing payment.

Each swap carries a $2 fee, charged when both sides accept. Each side pays its own postage. If a swap is cancelled before anyone ships, the fee is refunded.

The Second Date Promise

No catfishing. No ghosting. Every purchase and swap is covered by The Second Date Promise: a full refund — book price, platform fee, shipping, and tax — if your book never arrives or isn’t as described.

You have 3 days after confirmed delivery to open a claim from your order page: never shipped (no tracking by the 3-business-day ship-by deadline — no photos needed), or badly misgraded or damaged (photos required — send photos of the book you received. Our moderators compare them against the seller’s listing photos, which only the seller and our moderators can view. The seller never sees your photos).

If a condition claim is upheld, you get the full refund and keep the book — no return label, no return postage. (A seller can still ask for the book back within 3 business days and pay the return postage themselves; you’re never charged return postage in any path.) The seller funds condition and never-shipped refunds (their payout for that book is cancelled). Parcels lost or damaged by the carrier are covered by our small reserve (about 1%): you get the full refund, and the seller still gets paid — they shipped in good faith.

Claims stay off public profiles: they’re recorded privately and reviewed by hand. Pattern claim abuse gets accounts warned or removed.

Bad swaps

If a swap partner never ships, or ships something badly misgraded or damaged, report it. We review every report by hand. A sender found at fault is removed, and the other swapper gets the $2 fee back. Postage already paid to the carrier can’t be recovered.

The Reading Room and book boards

The boards are for talking about books. Posting requires signing in; reading is open to everyone. Two rules keep them usable:

• Mark your spoilers. Wrap plot details in ||double pipes|| so they stay hidden until a reader clicks to reveal them.
• No harassment. Threatening, abusive, or harassing posts can be reported, and we review every report by hand. Posts or accounts that break this rule can be removed, warned, or banned.

What you can list

Second Date Books is for used books only. You may not list:

• counterfeit copies,
• a book misrepresented as a different edition or condition than it actually is,
• a book in unlistable condition — mold, pests, odor, water damage, missing or loose pages, or an unsafe binding,
• anything else illegal to sell or ship.

Listings that break these rules can be removed, and misgrading a book is covered by The Second Date Promise above.

Accounts

You sign in with Google. One account per person. To delete your account and personal data, email hello@seconddatebooks.com. Order records we’re required to keep for taxes and the law are retained as required; everything else goes.

Changes

If these terms change in a way that affects you, we’ll say so on the site before the change takes effect. Continuing to use Second Date Books after a change means you accept it.