Every order you pay for through Taled checkout includes buyer protection. It costs a flat $1.49 per order, and you’ll see it on the listing and as its own line in your cart before you pay.

If your book doesn’t arrive, or turns up significantly not as described, raise it with the seller and then with us. If we uphold your claim, you get the book price and postage back. Always. If we can’t recover the money from the seller, Taled covers it.

The $1.49 pays for payment and dispute handling, so it isn’t refundable once your order’s paid, except where the law says otherwise. The exceptions we make ourselves: if the seller cancels your whole order before posting it (or, for local pickup, before handover), you get the $1.49 back too. The same goes if a pickup seller doesn’t turn up or won’t hand over the book and we uphold your report. Buyer protection never replaces or limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

The rest of this page has the detail, for buyers and sellers.

Taled is a marketplace intermediary. When you buy a listed book, you buy it from the seller, not from Taled. The sale contract is between you and them.

We run the marketplace: listings, search, chat, and payment through Stripe. We’re not the seller of record, we don’t act as agent for the sale, and we don’t authenticate or inspect the books people list.

Buyers pay a flat $1.49 per order. An order is everything you buy from one seller in one checkout, so three books from one seller is one $1.49, and books from two sellers is two orders at $1.49 each.

It pays for two things Taled does on every order:

It isn’t refundable once the order’s paid, because the payment and dispute handling it pays for has already happened. That’s the case except where the law says otherwise. Here’s how cancellations work:

If we uphold any other claim, you get the book price and postage back, but the $1.49 stays, because the dispute handling it pays for is what got you that refund.

It isn’t insurance, and it isn’t standing escrow. We only hold your payment until the seller is paid, which for a posted order is usually when they mark it as posted (sections 4 and 5). Fees are in Australian dollars and include GST if it applies. Sellers pay a separate seller fee that doesn’t change what you pay. All fees are on the Fees page.

Nothing here takes away rights you can’t lose under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Paying the $1.49 doesn’t change that. Buyer protection sits on top of whatever ACL rights you have.

We can’t decide every ACL question for you. For big sums or business disputes, your state or territory fair trading office, ACCC guidance, or independent advice can help.

For posted orders, the seller is paid when they mark your order as posted in the app, or when you tap Confirm it arrived, whichever happens first. Their payout is then released through Stripe. Until then, we hold your payment through Stripe. That hold ends when the seller marks the order posted (or when you confirm, if that’s sooner). It doesn’t wait for you to say you’re happy, so there’s no standing escrow. Local pickup works differently: we hold the payment until the handover is confirmed, as set out in section 5.

That doesn’t weaken your protection. If we uphold your claim after the seller’s been paid, you still get your money back. We recover it from the seller’s payout or Stripe balance where Stripe’s rules allow, and if we can’t, Taled covers the shortfall.

Tapping Confirm it arrived just tells us the book reached you. It doesn’t stop you raising a problem afterwards, like damage you only notice once you start reading. The guide times in the Timeframes section still apply.

Under Stripe’s rules, a seller’s payout can still be held or reversed for fraud or risk. We also hold a payout that hasn’t been released yet while you have a card dispute (a chargeback) open with your bank. Raising a claim with us doesn’t pause the payout on a posted order, and it doesn’t need to: if we uphold your claim, you get your money back as set out above. Local pickup is different. Tapping Report a problem pauses the payment, as set out in section 5.

Some sellers let you collect the book in person. You still pay through Taled checkout, the same $1.49 buyer protection applies, and there’s no postage. The difference is timing. For a pickup order, we hold your payment (through Stripe) until the handover’s done.

Once you’ve paid, your order shows a 4-digit handover code. Only you can see it. The seller never gets it from us.

Giving the code tells us the handover happened and the book matches what you could see at pickup. So only give it once you’re happy.

Don’t send the code in chat, and don’t read it out before you meet. If anyone asks for it by message, email or phone, don’t give it to them. Taled will never ask you for your code.

Keep the code to yourself and tap Report a problem on your order. That opens a dispute and pauses the payment, so the seller isn’t paid while we look into it. Then follow the steps in section 7.

Do the same if the seller doesn’t turn up, or won’t hand over the book. If we uphold that, we treat it like the seller cancelling your whole order, so you get everything back, including the $1.49.

After 5 wrong entries, code entry locks. Sort it out with the seller in chat. If you’ve got your book and it’s right, tap I’ve got my book and the seller is paid. If it isn’t, tap Report a problem.

Sometimes the seller forgets, or their phone dies halfway through the meet-up. That’s fine.

The 14 days start when you order, and the pickup you agree with the seller has to fall inside them. If the book isn’t collected in that time, and the seller hasn’t tapped I’ve handed it over, the order cancels automatically. You get the book price back to your original payment method. The $1.49 isn’t refunded, except where the law says otherwise, because the payment handling it pays for has already been done.

If it was the seller who didn’t turn up, tap Report a problem rather than waiting for the order to cancel. That way you get the $1.49 back too.

If the seller cancels your whole order before handover, you get a full refund, including the $1.49. If they cancel only part of it (say one book from a bundle) and you collect the rest, you get that book’s price back and the $1.49 stays, the same as a posted order.

Your code confirms the condition you could see at the handover, not everything about the book. If you get home and find a serious fault you couldn’t reasonably have spotted on the spot, like pages missing from the middle, message the seller and report it within 7 days of pickup. That’s the same guide we use for posted orders. Things you could check at the handover, like the cover, spine, edition and obvious wear, are settled once you give the code. None of this cuts off your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

If we uphold a report that the seller didn’t turn up or wouldn’t hand over the book, you get everything you paid back, including the $1.49. For any other upheld claim on a pickup order, you get the book price back (there’s no postage to refund) and the $1.49 isn’t refunded, as set out in section 8.

Not covered: paying the seller cash, PayID or a bank transfer at the meet-up instead of paying through Taled checkout. Pay outside Taled and there’s no held payment, no handover code and no buyer protection, so we can’t get your money back. Change of mind after you’ve checked the book and given the code isn’t covered either.

Let the buyer check the book, then ask for the code and enter it. Only let the book go once the app accepts it.

If the code won’t work and you hand the book over anyway, tell the buyer and tap I’ve handed it over straight away. We then pay you 3 days later, unless the buyer reports a problem first (or sooner, if they tap I’ve got my book). If nobody confirms the handover, the order cancels 14 days after it was placed and you aren’t paid. And if the buyer does report a problem, a book handed over without the code is much harder for you to show.

If you don’t turn up, or won’t hand over the book, and we uphold the buyer’s report, the buyer gets a full refund, including the $1.49, and you aren’t paid for the order.

Your payout is the book price less the seller fee, released through Stripe once the handover’s confirmed. The full rules are in the Seller Terms.

Usually not covered: change of mind after a fair description; minor wear that matches the grade and photos; wanting a different printing when the listing’s ISBN or edition was clear and matched; postage delays the seller couldn’t control when they posted on time with tracking.

Condition disputes lean hard on the guided grade and real-copy photos. Check them before you buy.

Buyer protection only covers orders paid through Taled checkout. Off-platform deals (PayID, bank transfer, cash) aren’t covered.

Follow these steps in order. Most problems get sorted in chat.

Step 1: Check the listing. Re-read the condition grade, description and photos, and note what doesn’t match.

Step 2: Message the seller in the app. Do it soon after delivery, or as soon as you realise the book is late. Say what’s wrong, add photos of what arrived, and say what you’d like: a refund, a partial refund, or a return and refund. Give the seller 48 to 72 hours to reply, a bit longer over weekends and public holidays unless it’s obviously a scam.

Step 3: Agree a fix in chat. A full refund (the seller may ask for the book back and should pay return postage when they got it wrong), a partial refund where you keep the book, or occasionally a replacement. Put it in chat so you both have a record.

Step 4: Escalate to Taled. If the seller doesn’t reply, won’t offer a fair fix when the listing was clearly wrong, or you suspect a scam, use in-app help or email support@taled.com.au. Send the order ID, the listing link, photos of what arrived (or proof it didn’t), and a quick summary of the chat. We’ll look at the evidence from both sides and make a decision under this policy and Stripe’s rules.

Step 5: Chargebacks. You can also raise a dispute with your card issuer. Chargebacks run under Stripe’s and your bank’s rules. Tell us if you open one so we’re not working on the same problem blind. While a chargeback’s open, we can’t refund you through Taled. Your bank has to close it first. Abusive chargebacks after a fair delivery can lead to account action.

We’re not a court. Serious fraud may be reported to police.

You get your money back through Stripe, to your original payment method:

We may ask you to send the book back first when the seller got it wrong (for example the wrong book was sent). In that case the seller covers return postage.

We recover the refund from the seller’s payout or Stripe balance where Stripe’s rules allow. If we can’t recover it, Taled covers the shortfall. You won’t be left waiting on the seller to pay you back.

The $1.49 buyer protection fee isn’t refunded on an upheld claim, except where the law says otherwise. (It is refunded when a seller cancels the whole order before posting or, for local pickup, before handover, and when we uphold a report that a pickup seller didn’t turn up or wouldn’t hand over the book, as set out in sections 2 and 5.) The seller isn’t charged a seller fee on an order that’s fully refunded.

The wrong book, ISBN or edition was sent; the condition is clearly worse than your grade or photos; you never posted it; or the item is prohibited.

Change of mind; wear that matches your honest grade and photos; or a return request made well after delivery with no defect. If you sell in trade or commerce, the ACL may still require a remedy, so don’t treat this as a way around the law.

If you offered combined postage, honour it. If one book in a combined parcel is disputed, be clear which one, and split the postage fairly in any refund.

If you cancel a whole order before posting it (or, for local pickup, before handover), the buyer gets a full refund, including their $1.49 buyer protection fee, and you aren’t charged the seller fee. The same applies if you don’t turn up for a pickup, or won’t hand over the book, and we uphold the buyer’s report. If you can only send part of an order, the buyer is refunded for the books you can’t send. Cancelling orders often can lead to limits on your account.

The refund to the buyer is recovered from your payout or Stripe balance where Stripe’s rules allow, including by reversing a payout already made or deducting from future payouts. You aren’t charged the seller fee on an order that’s fully refunded. Repeated upheld claims can lead to limits on your account. See the Seller Terms.

We can:

Returns are agreed between buyer and seller unless the ACL, an upheld claim, or a specific in-app rule says otherwise. For unique second-hand books, a partial refund without a return is often practical when return postage would cost more than the book. If a return is needed (for example the wrong book was sent), the seller gives a return address and both sides keep chat records. The seller should cover return postage when they sent the wrong or a significantly misdescribed book. For change-of-mind returns a seller agrees to, the buyer usually pays. Keep the packaging until the dispute is closed.

As a guide:

Late reports are harder to assess, but we’ll still look at serious cases. These timeframes are our process. They don’t cut off your rights under the law.

Terms of Use · Seller Terms · Fees · Prohibited and Restricted Listings

support@taled.com.au Taled Pty Ltd · ACN 703 628 442 · ABN 67 703 628 442