Frequently asked questions

DropYard is your neighbourhood yard sale, online. Neighbours list things they no longer need, other neighbours claim them, and the two of you arrange a quick in-person pickup — usually at the seller's porch or driveway.

Money changes hands directly between you and your neighbour, in person.

We're starting in Barrhaven, Ottawa. As we expand to new neighbourhoods, we'll let existing users know and update our website.

So we can confirm you're in Barrhaven. DropYard is a hyperlocal community, and the whole experience falls apart if listings come from far away — pickup wouldn't be a quick walk or drive anymore.

We use your location to verify you're in the service area, not to track your movements. Other users only see your neighbourhood name, never your precise location.

Not yet. DropYard is currently restricted to people physically located in Barrhaven. If you'd like us to come to your neighbourhood next, email info@dropyard.app and tell us where you are — it genuinely helps us plan.

Yes. Browsing, listing, claiming, and pickup are all free.

18 or older. Pickups involve meeting strangers in person and exchanging money, which isn't appropriate for minors.

You'll need an email address, a password, and to allow location access. Sign-up takes about a minute.

The Drop is a weekly event — a flood of new listings that goes live at the same time, like everyone in the neighbourhood putting out their yard sale at once. The Shelf is always-on: listings that are available to browse and claim any time.

If you're a buyer, the Drop is where the best variety appears at once; the Shelf is where you go when you want to look around mid-week.

Every Saturday 8:00 AM through Sunday 8:00 PM — that's a 36-hour window where the week's new listings are live alongside everything already on the Shelf.

Items that don't sell during the Drop don't disappear — they move to the Shelf and automatically rejoin every Drop after that, until they sell. Sellers never have to manually re-list.

Tap Claim on the listing. If the seller has set the item to auto-accept full-price claims, you're confirmed right away. Otherwise, the seller reviews and either accepts, declines, or sends you a counter-offer. You'll be notified by email, push, or WhatsApp (if you opted in).

Sometimes. Some listings are firm; others invite offers. If you'd like to offer less, send the seller a counter — politely. They can accept, decline, or send their own counter back.

Yes, as soon as possible. The faster you cancel, the easier it is for the seller to find another buyer. Repeated cancellations may affect your standing on DropYard.

You and the seller exchange the details you need for pickup — pickup address, agreed time, and payment method. Confirm before you head over, bring the payment you agreed on, and inspect the item before you pay.

In your seller dashboard, tap Add item. Add a few clear photos (taken by you, of the actual item), a real description, dimensions if relevant, a price, the payment methods you accept, and your pickup windows. You'll choose whether to queue the listing for the next Drop or list it now on the Shelf.

It mostly comes down to when you want your item to first appear.

Either way, unsold items keep cycling through future Drops with no action from you. You can list confidently and forget about it.

Until it sells or you take it down. Items remain on the Shelf indefinitely, automatically rejoining every Drop. If interest has cooled, refreshing the photo or lowering the price usually gets a new round of attention.

Yes — title, description, photos, and price are all editable. Edits to the price during an active claim aren't allowed, since that's the buyer's agreed price.

Look at what similar items have sold for recently on DropYard, or what they cost new minus reasonable depreciation. Sellers who price honestly and slightly below comparable listings tend to sell faster. You can always lower your price; raising it after listing tends to lose buyers' trust.

It happens. Try one of these:

• Lower the price — even a small drop often gets a new round of interest
• Improve the photos — daytime light and a clean background help
• Rewrite the description — what would you want to know if you were buying it?
• Move it to the next Drop — Saturday traffic is much higher than mid-week

You can re-list it right away. If you'd rather not deal with it manually, DropYard will automatically re-list abandoned claims after 2 hours, so your item gets back in front of buyers quickly. You can also report the buyer who no-showed, which helps us keep the community accountable.

Buyer pays seller directly at pickup. DropYard doesn't process, hold, or touch the money.

The two payment methods DropYard supports are cash and Interac e-Transfer — buyers and sellers agree on which to use when arranging pickup.

Because keeping DropYard simple is the whole point. We're a yard sale, not a payment processor — and not holding money means no platform fees, no chargebacks, no waiting periods, and no card details flowing through our systems. The trade-off is that you and your neighbour resolve any payment issues directly.

DropYard supports two:

• Cash — most common for in-person pickup
• Interac e-Transfer — free in Canada, settles in minutes

You can accept either, or both. Buyers see which methods you accept on each listing.

Yes, with one habit: wait for the deposit confirmation before handing over the item. Confirm the sender's email or phone matches the buyer's name, and use a security question only the two of you would know. If anything feels off, ask for cash instead.

We don't give tax advice, but generally: occasional sales of your own used personal belongings aren't taxable income in Canada. If you're selling regularly enough that it looks like a business — many items each month, brand-new stock, etc. — the Canada Revenue Agency may treat it differently. When in doubt, ask an accountant.

At the seller's address, which you exchange after the claim is confirmed. Most pickups happen at the porch or driveway — no one is expected to invite anyone inside their home.

No. Porch or driveway pickup is the default. If the item needs help carrying out, agree on that in advance. If a buyer pressures you to let them inside, you don't have to.

Yes, with a quick heads-up to the seller. Just let them know who's coming and when. The person picking up still represents you on DropYard, so brief them on the basics: payment ready, inspect before paying, be polite.

Inspect it before you pay — that's when issues are easiest to resolve. If something's off, talk to the seller right there: a smaller price, a refund offer, or walking away are all options. Once cash has changed hands or an e-Transfer has been accepted, refunds depend entirely on the seller's goodwill, since DropYard doesn't hold the money.

It's as safe as any in-person exchange between neighbours — which is to say, very safe if you follow a few sensible habits: daytime pickups, porch or driveway by default, inspect before you pay, bring a friend if you'd like, and trust your instincts. If anything feels wrong, walk away.

Three options:

• In-app Report button on the listing, profile, or message thread
• Email info@dropyard.app with as much detail as you can
• 9-1-1 for safety emergencies. Always first, before anything else.

You can report anonymously.

We can review the listing, the conversation, and both accounts, and we can take action on the offending account — warnings, temporary suspension, or a permanent ban. What we can't do is issue refunds or compel payment, because no money flows through DropYard. For anything criminal — theft, fraud, threats — please go to the Ottawa Police Service first, and let us know so we can support any investigation.

Politely decline and stay on DropYard for the listing and the pickup arrangement. Deals that move off-platform lose the protections of these Guidelines, and we can't help if something goes wrong. (Coordinating the pickup itself via DropYard's opt-in WhatsApp is fine — that's what it's there for.)

We collect the minimum we need to run the marketplace — your account info, your listings, your messages, and your location (used only to confirm you're in the service area). We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with advertisers. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

Email info@dropyard.app and ask us to close it. We'll delete your personal information within 30 days, except for the small set of records we're required by law to keep.

One account per person. Households can share an account. Creating extra accounts to evade a suspension or limit isn't allowed and is grounds for a permanent ban.

If you move within Barrhaven, update your address in Settings → Pickup. If you move outside Barrhaven, you won't be able to use DropYard until we expand to your new neighbourhood — tell us where you've gone at info@dropyard.app.

Barrhaven first, then outward across Ottawa, then beyond. The more people who tell us where they'd like DropYard next, the better we can plan. Email info@dropyard.app with your neighbourhood.

Yes — we're working on an AI Seller Agent that can help you write descriptions from photos, answer common buyer questions on your behalf, and negotiate within rules you set. We'll announce it when it's ready.