Little Soles

Refund & Fee Policy

Last updated: June 23, 2026

This page lays out every fee, who pays it, and when. We state it plainly on purpose. Read it with the Terms of Service, which this policy is part of. Little Soles is available in the United States only.

1. The fees, in one place

Fee	Who pays	Amount	When
LS Protect fee	Buyer	10% of the first $77 of the item price, 5% of any amount above $77, plus $1.30	At checkout, before you pay
Shipping	Buyer	$7.99 flat, or $0 if the seller offers free shipping	At checkout, before you pay
Selling fee	Seller	None	N/A
Listing fee	Seller	None	N/A

There are no hidden fees. The buyer sees the item price, the LS Protect fee, and shipping as three separate lines at checkout before paying. The seller pays nothing to list and nothing to sell.

2. The LS Protect fee (buyer-paid)

Buyers pay an LS Protect fee on every order: 10% of the first $77 of the item price, plus 5% of any portion of the item price above $77, plus $1.30. A small minimum fee applies to low-priced items.

• It is shown as its own line at checkout, before you pay, so the total is never a surprise.
• Example: on a $30 item, the LS Protect fee is 10% of $30 ($3.00) plus $1.30, for $4.30.
• Example: on a $150 item, the LS Protect fee is 10% of the first $77 ($7.70) plus 5% of the remaining $73 ($3.65) plus $1.30, for $12.65.
• This fee funds the LS Protect promise: the claim and refund flow that covers you if an item never ships or is not as described. See Section 6.

3. Shipping

Shipping is a flat $7.99, paid by the buyer.

• The seller can choose to offer free shipping on a listing. When they do, the shipping line is $0 and the seller covers it.
• Whether shipping is $7.99 or free is shown on the listing and at checkout.
• The $7.99 is a flat blended rate, not a per-zone exact cost. Some labels run under it and some run over it across the country, and the pool nets out.

4. What the buyer pays in total

The buyer's total at checkout is:

item price + LS Protect fee (10% up to $77, 5% above, plus $1.30) + shipping ($7.99 or $0).

Full example, $30 item with paid shipping:

• Item: $30.00
• LS Protect fee: $4.30
• Shipping: $7.99
• Buyer total: $42.29

5. Seller payout

Sellers keep the full item price they set. There is no commission and no listing fee. The LS Protect fee and shipping are paid by the buyer on top of the item price, not taken out of the seller's share.

How and when sellers get paid.

1. The buyer is charged the full amount at purchase. The funds are held, not paid to the seller yet.
2. The 5-day claim window starts when delivery is confirmed. Delivery is confirmed when the buyer marks the order received, or when tracking shows delivered, whichever Little Soles records first.
3. The seller's payout is released when the 5-day claim window closes after delivery, as long as no claim is open.
4. If a claim is open or under review, the payout is held until the claim is resolved. An upheld claim stops the payout for that order.
5. Once the hold clears with no upheld claim, the seller's payout, the item price, is sent to the seller through Stripe Connect. Sellers complete Stripe's onboarding to receive payouts. Stripe's own terms apply to payouts.

6. How to open a claim

If an order shows up wrong, or never shows up, open a claim.

You have a 5-day buyback window. You may report a problem and request a refund only within 5 days after delivery is confirmed. Delivery is confirmed when the buyer marks the order received, or when tracking shows delivered, whichever Little Soles records first. After the window closes, the order is final and no refund, return, or buyback is available through Little Soles, for any reason.

1. Inspect the shoes as soon as they arrive.
2. Tap Report a problem in the app within 5 days of delivery. Add clear photos.
3. We review the claim, the listing, and the photos.

What a claim covers

• The item never ships.
• The item is not as described: wrong size, wrong brand, wrong shoes, or real damage the seller did not disclose.

What a claim does not cover

• You changed your mind.
• The shoes are exactly as described and you just do not love them.
• Normal wear that matched the condition grade and the photos.
• Deals made outside the app.

If you do not file within 5 days, the order is final when the claim window closes and the seller is paid.

Seller response and complaints. When a buyer opens a claim in the window, we hold the seller's payout while we review, notify the seller, and may ask for their side, including photos and tracking. The seller may submit a response and evidence before we decide. We make the final call in our sole discretion, with no appeal beyond it. A seller may report a buyer's claim as false or made in bad faith. If we agree, we may deny the claim, release the held payout to the seller, and take enforcement action on the buyer, as set out in the Terms of Service, Sections 11 through 17.

7. Refund handling

When a claim is upheld. The buyer is refunded. If a return is needed, we arrange it. The seller's payout for that order does not release. Because the seller's funds are still held during the claim window, the refund comes out of the held funds, not out of money the seller already received.

Refund of fees. If a claim is upheld, you are refunded the full amount you paid for that order, including the item price, the LS Protect fee, and shipping.

Chargebacks. If a buyer disputes a charge with their card company instead of using the claim flow, the card network handles it. A chargeback can arrive days or even months after a charge, which is why we may pause an order or hold funds while a dispute is sorted out.

8. Fraud and abuse: payouts withheld or forfeited

The refund and payout flow on this page assumes everyone is acting in good faith. When they are not, the protections change.

• Upheld fraud against a buyer. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that a seller did not ship, faked tracking, sent the wrong, empty, or counterfeit item, or otherwise scammed the buyer, we may withhold, reverse, offset, or permanently forfeit that seller's payout, and recover funds already paid out. The buyer is refunded from the held or recovered funds.
• LS Protect and claims abuse. LS Protect is for real problems, not free shoes. If we determine a buyer filed a false or bad-faith claim, abused the claim flow, committed return fraud, or filed a bad-faith chargeback, we may deny the claim, reverse a refund already issued, and take enforcement action on the account.
• Enforcement. Either kind of foul play can lead to a hold, a forfeited payout, recovery of our losses and costs, and suspension or a permanent ban, as set out in the Terms of Service, Sections 11 through 17. Those decisions are final and made in our sole discretion.

9. Fee transparency

We show every fee plainly, before you pay, on purpose.

• The buyer sees the item price, the LS Protect fee (10% up to $77, 5% above, plus $1.30), and shipping ($7.99 or $0) as separate lines at checkout.
• The seller sees that they net the full item price, with no fee taken out.
• Payout timing is stated above: held until the 5-day claim window closes after delivery, then paid through Stripe Connect.

No surprise deductions. No fee you only learn about after the fact.

10. Contact

Questions about a fee, a payout, or a claim? Reach us at [email protected] or through the Help and Resources section inside the app.