Selling
31 answers · Everything about selling on dropo.
The basics
How do I sell used things?
On dropo you have three ways to create a listing: with AI, the classic way through the wizard, or by importing from another platform.
With AI you upload photos and Dropi builds your listing from them. The classic way takes you step by step through the listing process. With import you can take over an existing listing from another platform.
Take the photos in daylight if you can, describe the item honestly, mention flaws and signs of use too, and set a realistic price.
Then you decide how it is sold:
- Dropthe price falls automatically until someone takes it.
- Fixed pricea firm price, optionally with a promotional price.
- Direct saleonly the listing runs through dropo; for a fee you handle payment and handover yourself.
With drop and fixed price the sale runs through dropo: we take care of payment, buyer protection and the transaction.
Not with a direct sale. There is no checkout through dropo, no buyer protection and no sales commission.
What does selling cost?
For sales through dropo, listing is free.
You only pay when something is actually sold: 8% on the goods price, at most CHF 149 per sale. That is the normal case, if you have neither a subscription nor a higher turnover tier.
A minimum of CHF 1.50 is charged.
With a subscription or turnover it gets cheaper, down to 6.5%. The commission cap can also fall with a subscription, down to CHF 89.
For the commission you automatically get whichever of the two routes is cheaper: turnover tier or subscription. There is more on this in the questions about subscriptions and turnover tiers below.
The cap only applies if the normal commission would exceed it.
On a sale for CHF 500 you pay 40 francs of commission, for example. On CHF 2,000, 8% would in principle be 160 francs — but with the Basic cap, no more than CHF 149 is charged.
From that point on the commission does not grow any further.
The commission is calculated on the goods price only, not on shipping.
On top of that comes the payment fee of our payment provider. The seller pays it: a share of the amount paid, plus a fixed amount depending on the payment method, shipping included. It is deducted from your payout together with the commission.
Current payment fee rates:
- Swiss card, Apple Pay, Google Pay: 2.9% + CHF 0.30
- Foreign card: 3.25% + CHF 0.30
- Klarna: 2.99% + CHF 0.35
- TWINT: 1.9% + CHF 0.30
This fee is charged by our payment provider, not by dropo.
As of: October 2026.
With a direct sale you pay a listing fee instead, no commission (question 7).
What is a drop?
A drop is the interplay of four values that you set when listing:
- Starting or target pricethat is where the drop begins.
- Minimum pricethat is where the fall ends. This value stays secret.
- Drop ratehow often the price falls.
- Durationover what period the drop runs.
From these values dropo calculates the individual price steps so that the price lands exactly on your minimum price at the end.
Every drop ends with a bidding phase — either when the minimum price is reached, or as soon as someone takes it earlier.
Your minimum price stays hidden from other users. It is shown to buyers neither on the page nor during the price fall.
Drop or fixed price?
Take a drop if you do not know the market price exactly, or if you want to bring movement into the sale.
The market finds the price for you: the price falls until someone is ready to take it.
Take a fixed price if you already know your price and want to stick to it.
Which drop speeds are there?
| Rate | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Gentle | 1× per day | 30 days |
| Classic | 2× per day | 14 days |
| Fast | 4× per day | 7 days |
| Flash | hourly | 3 days |
You can also set the rate, the step and the duration yourself.
Whichever variant you choose: in the end the price lands exactly on your minimum price.
What is a Max Drop?
A Max Drop is a listing whose minimum price is around one franc.
Only with this kind of drop may the possible minimum price be stated publicly.
“Can fall all the way to CHF 1.”
Here that is part of the promise.
With every other drop the minimum price stays secret.
What is a direct sale?
With a direct sale you publish a fixed-price listing for a flat fee, for 1 to 4 weeks.
Interested people contact you directly. Money, shipping, handover and further details you arrange yourselves.
There is no checkout through dropo and no sales commission — but also no buyer protection and no payment handling by dropo.
Direct sale exists only with a fixed price.
A drop always runs through dropo’s transaction handling and commission.
| Subscription | 1 week | 2 weeks | 3 weeks | 4 weeks | included / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 14.90 | 29.90 | 44.90 | 59.90 | 0 |
| Plus | 12.90 | 25.90 | 38.90 | 51.90 | 5 |
| Pro | 10.90 | 21.90 | 32.90 | 43.90 | 20 |
| Business · Pioneer | 8.90 | 17.90 | 26.90 | 35.90 | 50 |
| Professional | 6.90 | 13.90 | 20.90 | 27.90 | 100 |
| Corporate | 4.90 | 9.90 | 14.90 | 19.90 | 200 |
| Enterprise | 2.90 | 5.90 | 8.90 | 11.90 | 400 |
As long as your included allowance lasts, a direct sale costs nothing at all. No payment process is even started then.
Free listing: private accounts can publish one direct-sale listing for free each calendar month, running for 2 weeks. This applies to real estate, services and fixed-price listings from CHF 5,000, not to Drops. A fixed-price listing stays at CHF 5,000 or more. Unused, it expires at the end of the month; boosts cost as usual.
What is a promotional price?
On fixed-price listings you can additionally set a promotional price.
This works both through the classic wizard and through the AI route, where Dropi may ask you about it on its own.
The promotional price becomes the current price. The regular price appears struck through beside it, together with the end date of the promotion.
In a drop no price is ever struck through.
There the starting price appears small and grey next to the current price.
How do I offer several identical units?
If you have the same item more than once, set the quantity under “Condition and details” — one listing for all units. How many are allowed depends on your account: at most 10 for a private account, also with a subscription and also as a Pioneer; for a store 25 to 500, depending on the subscription tier. On the AI route, Dropi asks you for it.
The units may differ only in size. In categories with sizes, you split them across sizes, for example 2 × S, 4 × M and 2 × L. One price applies to all.
- Dropevery purchase takes one unit, which goes into its own 10-minute bidding phase; the others keep falling. What then happens to their price is your choice when creating: “Keep dropping” (price and duration continue unchanged), “Restart within the remaining time” (back to the starting price, same end time) or “Restart with the full duration” (back to the starting price, a new full duration). A restart within the remaining time only applies while at least ¼ of the duration remains and at least 5 minutes stay between two drops — otherwise the drop continues unchanged. At the end, all remaining units go into the bidding phase together.
- Fixed pricebuyers choose size and quantity; the listing stays online until everything is sold.
If you receive offers, each one is for one unit of the chosen size. If you accept one, that unit is sold and goes to payment without a bidding phase; the others stay in the drop or in stock. Further offers stay open as long as a unit is free in their size.
A direct sale always has one unit. The commission and its cap apply per unit. In a subscription’s quota, the listing counts as one.
Bidding phase and offers
What is the bidding phase?
Every drop ends with a bidding phase.
There are two ways to get there:
Nobody takes it beforehand.
The price falls to exactly your minimum price.
After that there are first 30 minutes of warm-up, during which interested people can gather. Then follow 10 minutes of active bidding.
Together this section lasts 40 minutes.
Someone takes it in the middle of the price fall.
Their current price automatically becomes the first bid, and the 10-minute bidding phase starts immediately — without a warm-up.
If nobody bids along, the item belongs to that person at exactly the price at which they took it.
What is anti-sniping?
If a bid comes in during the last 30 seconds, the bidding phase runs on until 30 seconds after that bid — as often as needed.
So anyone bidding two seconds before the end does not simply win through perfect timing.
The other interested people get another chance to react.
In the end the highest bid should decide, not the fastest final second.
What is a max auto-bid?
When bidding you can optionally set your personal maximum amount.
dropo then bids automatically for you, as long as the price stays within that amount.
So you do not have to follow the last minutes yourself the whole time.
Your maximum amount is not exceeded.
How does “send an offer” work?
Instead of writing long messages back and forth, you can send a number directly.
With the first offer you may additionally attach a short message exactly once — at most 120 characters.
After that the negotiation runs through numbers only:
- accept,
- decline,
- send a counter-offer.
This can go back and forth until you agree or one side no longer wants to continue.
An offer is binding and is valid for 7 days or until the listing ends.
dropo clears expired offers once a day in the morning; until then an offer can still be accepted.
Offers are possible with drop and fixed price, not with a direct sale.
Sellers can switch offers off: under Settings › When listing, this applies to all their listings. The “send an offer” button is then missing. Ongoing negotiations continue.
In a drop it can happen that the automatically falling price reaches the offer you made.
The offer then dissolves and you are notified — from that moment you can buy the item at the current price.
As with every purchase in a drop, this starts a 10-minute bidding phase.
What happens if my offer is accepted?
If your offer is accepted, a binding order arises from it.
What follows corresponds to a won bidding phase.
From that moment the buyer has 24 hours to pay.
After that the order runs through dropo’s normal transaction handling.
If payment is not made within that period, the same rules apply as for an unpaid won bidding phase: the order expires and the buyer receives a strike.
What happens if nobody bids?
Then the listing expires without a sale.
There is no automatic purchase and no winner.
You can reactivate the listing via “My listings”.
That gives it a new sales window.
Money and transaction
When do I get my money?
As soon as the buyer confirms receipt, the payout is triggered and transferred via your connected Stripe account.
If the buyer does not respond, the system sends a reminder after 5 days and escalates the case after 7 days.
Every escalated case is examined by us by hand.
We get back to you as soon as possible and, where needed, contact both sides.
How do I set up my payout, and who is Stripe?
Stripe is our payment provider. For every sale through dropo, Stripe processes the payment and pays out your earnings as soon as the buyer confirms receipt.
Our contractual partner is Stripe Payments Europe, Limited in Ireland, a regulated payment provider.
You can list without bank details. As soon as you sell something through dropo, you connect your account once via Stripe – or earlier if you like. After that, every payout runs automatically through this connected account.
During setup, Stripe verifies who you are – rules against money laundering and fraud require this from every payment provider.
Depending on the case, Stripe asks for your name, date of birth, address and bank account, sometimes also an ID document; for stores, the company details.
If Stripe asks for your type of business, choose “Individual or sole proprietorship” as a private person. You don't need your own company for this.
Stripe processes this data under its own responsibility and also stores it outside Switzerland, including in the USA.
dropo only receives what is needed to handle the sale, above all whether the verification is complete.
More in «Privacy», section 10.
The buyer won the bidding phase but is not paying. What happens?
Whoever wins a bidding phase has 24 hours from the end of the phase to pay.
Reminders go out 12 hours and 4 hours before the deadline.
If the deadline passes, everything happens automatically:
- The order is cancelled.
- The listing starts again as a new drop from the starting price.
- The buyer’s account gets a strike.
- If they already have ratings as a seller, their reliability drops as well.
If the buyer has paid in the meantime after all, nothing is cancelled.
Before the automatic cancellation the system asks the payment provider once more whether the payment has arrived in the meantime.
The seller is not shipping or handing over the item. What happens?
The seller too has to fulfil their part of a paid order.
If a paid order stays without shipping or handover, the seller gets a reminder after 5 days.
After 7 days the case is escalated automatically and the order becomes a dispute.
The seller receives a strike for non-fulfilment.
The money is neither paid out automatically to the seller nor refunded automatically.
It stays held until the case is clarified.
dropo support examines the case and contacts buyer and seller where needed.
Is there a firm deadline for shipping?
When listing, the seller states an expected delivery time.
Available for selection are, for example:
- 1–2 days,
- 3–5 days,
- 1 week,
- a custom entry.
This delivery time serves as information for the buyer.
It is not an automatic technical shipping deadline.
If the seller has still not fulfilled a paid order after 7 days, the case automatically becomes a dispute and is escalated to dropo support.
Can I cancel a purchase or a sale?
A completed purchase, a won bidding phase or an accepted offer is binding.
That is why there is no general cancel button for buyers or sellers.
Whoever buys, bids or sells should do so deliberately.
If a party still cannot fulfil their obligation, they should inform the other person as early as possible via the transaction page.
If no solution can be found there, or if one party remains in default, the case is escalated through the intended procedures.
dropo support then examines the specific case and tries to find a solution together with both sides.
How do buyer and seller exchange the shipping address or handover details?
After a purchase, buyer and seller get access to the shared transaction page.
The chat is available there as well.
Through this transaction you can settle the details needed for the sale directly between you, for example:
- the shipping address,
- the handover location,
- the desired shipping method,
- the time of handover,
- other necessary details.
dropo does not automatically transmit a stored delivery address.
The parties exchange the required information after the purchase, directly via the transaction.
What happens if buyer or seller do not fulfil their obligation?
In principle the same applies to both sides:
A completed transaction is binding.
If a party does not meet their obligation and the problem cannot be solved directly, the case is escalated.
For an order that has already been paid, the money stays held during the clarification.
dropo support takes on the case, contacts both parties where needed, and examines which solution is possible in the specific case.
Depending on the situation, that can result in a payout, a refund, or measures on the account concerned.
What happens if a parcel is lost or arrives damaged?
First contact the other party via the transaction page.
If the problem cannot be clarified there, report the case through the transaction.
dropo support examines such cases individually.
The shipping company and tracking number can be stated by the seller.
Tracking is currently not mandatory in every case.
For an escalated shipping problem, dropo examines the available information and tries to clarify with both parties what happened and which solution is possible.
How does a refund work?
A refund in the context of a dispute is triggered by dropo.
If a full refund is decided, Stripe refunds the amount to the payment method originally used.
The refund covers the original payment including the shipping costs paid through the order.
Since the payout to the seller does not take place in such a case, no sales commission is paid out to or deducted from the seller either.
Stripe’s payment fee is not refunded automatically by Stripe in the case of a full refund, and in that case it is borne by dropo.
The current payment fee rates are listed in question 2.
If buyer and seller agree with dropo on a partial refund, that part goes back to the buyer and is deducted from the seller’s payout. dropo bears none of it, and a partial refund never happens automatically.
Do I have to pay tax?
Occasional private sales of used things are as a rule tax-free in Switzerland.
Anyone who sells regularly and with the intention of making a profit may count as commercial. Other tax rules can then apply.
If in doubt, ask your tax authority or a specialist.
dropo may not and cannot give binding individual tax advice on this.
From CHF 20,000 in turnover within 30 days we point out to you as a precaution that you should check your own tax situation and possible VAT liability.
This notice does not automatically mean that you actually are liable for VAT.
Do I need a registered business?
For occasional private sales, no.
Anyone selling commercially needs a business account with the corresponding provider details.
These include, among others:
- the company name,
- the legal name,
- the address,
- the UID.
Rules and shipping
What am I not allowed to sell?
For weapons, live animals and certain esoteric items such as talismans, healing stones or tarot there is no category on dropo.
They therefore cannot be listed regularly at all.
On top of that comes everything that is forbidden anyway, for example:
- counterfeits,
- medicines,
- narcotics,
- stolen goods.
For films, the age rating is provided for as a mandatory field, or is taken into account in line with the applicable requirements.
How does shipping work?
dropo does not ship anything itself.
Whether you ship or only offer collection is your decision when listing.
If you offer shipping, it is also your job to hand in the parcel.
You set the shipping costs yourself and state them when listing.
They are added to the goods price at checkout, so the buyer pays everything in one go.
No sales commission is charged on the shipping costs.
The payment fee, by contrast, applies to the total amount, so to the shipping share as well. Factor that into your shipping price.
The current payment fee rates are listed in question 2.
If you offer both shipping and collection, the buyer chooses at checkout. The amount depends on their choice, and the handover method is then fixed.
The shipping address and further shipping details are exchanged between buyer and seller after the purchase, via the shared transaction page.
How do I edit, pause or delete a listing?
Through the menu directly on the listing, or through your listings list in the profile.
As soon as the first drop has taken place, the following values are locked:
- starting or target price,
- minimum price,
- speed,
- duration.
The price history should remain comprehensible for everyone involved.
Title, description, images, category, location and the remaining details can still be changed.
How long does my listing run?
A fixed-price listing runs for 30 days.
Then it ends.
It does not renew automatically.
You can reactivate it via “My listings” and thereby get a new sales window.
With a drop, the chosen speed determines the duration.
With a direct sale, the duration you bought applies.
Related questions
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