1. Making an offer
A buyer can make an offer where the listing and conversation support it. The seller may accept, decline or counter. A pending negotiation can prevent another parallel offer on the same piece until the current negotiation ends.
A bundle offer can contain 2 to 10 active pieces from one seller. It is tied to the exact item set and its own conversation. Changing the buyer's Collection later does not change the negotiation.
An offer must be below the current asking total and in pounds sterling. Sending an offer is not payment and does not itself reserve the piece.
2. Offer states and counteroffers
An offer can be pending, accepted, declined, countered, cancelled or expired. A counteroffer becomes the current proposal in the same negotiation and preserves the earlier history.
Only the buyer and seller in the negotiation can act on it. A seller-originated proposal cannot be silently replaced by a new buyer bundle; it must be answered in the conversation.
A terminal offer can allow a new proposal if the item remains eligible. The interface identifies who proposed and who accepted an offer.
3. Accepted-offer hold
When an offer is accepted, the exact item or bundle is held for that buyer for 24 hours without an additional reservation fee. The buyer can release the hold before payment.
If payment does not complete before the hold expires, the pieces can become available again. A seller must not deliberately bypass an active accepted-offer hold.
A bundle checkout uses the immutable item set and accepted price recorded for that conversation. It cannot silently expand to other Collection items.
4. Paid Reserve
Paid Reserve is a separate optional request for one listing. The buyer chooses 1 to 7 days. The request expires after 48 hours if the seller does not decide.
If the seller accepts, the buyer has 24 hours to pay the reservation fee. The hold starts only after the payment provider confirms payment.
The daily fee is £0.25 plus 0.5% of the listed item price, rounded to the nearest penny, multiplied by the chosen number of days. The fee is separate from the eventual purchase price and is not credited against it.
5. Paid Reserve endings and refunds
A buyer who changes their mind, releases an active hold or lets it expire does not normally receive a reservation-fee refund.
If the seller or Valdeni ends an active paid hold early through no fault of the buyer, the reservation fee is refunded. Provider error, duplicate payment and statutory rights are handled separately.
Paid Reserve does not require the seller to sell the item after the hold ends, and it does not remove any statutory rights that apply to a later purchase.