How can we help?

Yes. Creating an account, browsing ads, contacting sellers and posting standard ads is 100% free — there are no listing fees. We charge only for optional extras such as boosts (TopUp, Featured, Highlight) and Pro / Business subscriptions if you want to list more ads. Plans and prices

Click "Register" in the top menu, choose a username and enter your email. We will send you a 6-digit verification code by email. You can also sign up with Google or Apple in one click. Posting an ad additionally requires a verified phone number.

The site is fully translated into German, French, Italian and English (Switzerland's national languages plus English), as well as Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Serbian. Switch language at any time using the language menu in the header or footer.

You can register and browse from anywhere, but swissmax.ch is built for the Swiss market. Ads, locations and meeting features are organised around Swiss cantons and cities, and most sellers ship within Switzerland and Liechtenstein only.

We do not use passwords. Each time you sign in we email you a one-time 6-digit code. If you have lost access to the email address on your account, go to Account Recovery and follow the steps to verify your identity and update your contact details.

Sign in, click "Post an ad", pick the right category and fill in title, description, price, photos and location. Your phone and email must be verified, and an identity check (KYC) is required before your first ad goes live.

How long an ad stays online depends on its category: between 30 and 90 days. Before the ad expires you can renew it with one click from "My Ads" to keep it visible.

You can add up to 20 photos per ad, on every plan. Videos cannot be uploaded yet.

Yes. Click "Save draft" while posting an ad and pick it up later from "Drafts" in your dashboard. Drafts are not visible to anyone else until you publish them.

Open "My Ads" in your dashboard. Each ad has actions to edit, pause (hide it temporarily without losing stats), activate, mark as sold or renew. Significant edits are reviewed by our moderation team.

From "My Ads", choose "Mark as sold". Your ad is removed from search results and shown with a "Sold" badge. If the sale happened through a swissmax Deal, the deal flow takes care of this automatically.

We moderate listings to keep the marketplace safe. Common reasons are duplicate ads, wrong category, missing or misleading information, prohibited items, or photos that don't match the listing. The rejection email lists the exact reason and how to fix it.

On the free plan you can have up to 20 ads at a time, at most 5 per category. Paid plans allow more: Pro up to 100 (at most 30 per category) and Business up to 500 (at most 100 per category). Drafts, ads awaiting review and paused ads count towards the limit. Plans and prices

TopUp instantly moves your ad to the top of its category, where it stays until a newer ad or another TopUp pushes it down. It is the fastest way to refresh visibility for a few francs.

Highlight gives your ad a coloured background so it stands out in lists. Featured places your ad in the premium slots at the top of category and search results. The boosts can be combined.

Boosts start at CHF 1.–. Paid plans include a discount of up to 30% on boosts. The exact price is always shown before you confirm a purchase — there are no surprise fees. Plans and prices

Auto-TopUp automatically refreshes your ad to the top at a chosen interval (for example every 24 hours) so you don't need to remember to do it manually. You can turn it off at any time.

Boosts are delivered immediately, so once the visibility benefit has started they cannot be refunded. If something genuinely goes wrong, contact support and we will look at it case by case.

Besides the free plan we offer Pro for CHF 12.90 a month or CHF 129.– a year and Business for CHF 49.– a month or CHF 490.– a year. Paid plans allow more active ads at the same time and include a discount on boosts. Plans and prices

The Wallet stores prepaid Swiss-franc credit on your account. Top it up once and then pay for boosts and other paid features in one click — no need to enter your card every time. You can also withdraw any unused real-money balance to your bank account.

Every payment generates a PDF invoice that you can download from the "Invoices" section in your dashboard. Invoices include the breakdown, VAT where applicable, and the billing details you have on file.

Yes. Cancel from the Subscription page and you keep access to your plan's features until the end of the billing period you already paid for. There are no cancellation fees.

A Deal is a structured agreement between buyer and seller, with a clear price, meeting plan and confirmation step. It helps both sides avoid no-shows, scams and misunderstandings — and unlocks reviews and dispute support if anything goes wrong.

"Buy Now" reserves the item at the seller's asking price — the seller just has to accept and you move straight to scheduling a meeting. "Make Offer" lets you propose a different price; the seller can accept, reject or send a counter-offer.

Offers expire after 48 hours if the other party doesn't respond. Counter-offers reset the clock. You can always send a new offer if the previous one expired.

Yes. From the deal page, choose "Counter-offer" and propose a new price (plus an optional note). The other party can accept, reject or send another counter — the full back-and-forth history is kept for both of you.

Deals are enabled per category and per seller. Some categories — for example services or unique items — work better with a plain conversation. In those cases you will only see the "Send message" option.

You can always send a normal message to ask questions. Using Deals is optional, but it is the only way to qualify for reviews, dispute support and the safe-meeting features.

Once an offer is accepted, you agree on a method: pickup at the seller's location, delivery by the seller, or a safe public meeting spot. Pick a date, time and place inside the deal and the other party confirms.

Safe Meeting Spots are public, well-lit places — typically near police stations, train stations or popular cafés — that we suggest for handovers. They are visible to both parties when scheduling a meeting.

After the meeting time has passed, both parties get a notification to confirm that the exchange happened. Once both confirm, the deal is marked as completed and you can leave a review.

If the other side does not respond within 7 days, you can complete the deal unilaterally. The deal is marked as completed and you can still leave a review — the other party will be notified.

If an accepted offer doesn't turn into a scheduled meeting within 7 days, the deal is automatically cancelled so the ad becomes available to other buyers. You can always start a new deal.

Yes. Either party can cancel an open deal with a short reason. Repeated cancellations and no-shows are tracked and may affect your reputation on the platform.

Once a deal is completed you have 14 days to leave a 1- to 5-star review with a short comment. Reviews from completed Deals are the only ones that count toward your public rating.

To stop tit-for-tat ratings, your review is hidden from the other party for 7 days or until they post their own review — whichever comes first. Both reviews are then revealed at the same time.

Yes. You have 14 days after a review is revealed to add a single short public rebuttal. Keep it factual — abusive responses can be removed.

If the other party doesn't show up, the item is not as described or you suspect fraud, open a dispute from the deal page. Our team reviews the messages, photos and history.

We aim to send a first response within 48 hours and to fully resolve most disputes within 7 days. Complex cases involving payment or identity checks can take a little longer.

Open the ad and click "Send message". You'll need a verified account — your inbox is in the "Messages" section, where conversations are grouped per ad.

Save any search (with filters such as category, canton, price range and keywords) as a Search Alert. We will email or push-notify you when matching new ads are published — instantly, daily or weekly, whichever you prefer.

Yes. Open the person's profile or a chat with them and choose "Block" under "More". They can no longer write to you, make you offers or follow you, and you no longer see their ads. Under Settings › Blocked people you see everyone you blocked and can unblock them.

Tap the heart on any ad to save it. You can organise saved ads into multiple lists (for example "Furniture for the flat" or "Bikes to consider") and share a public link with friends or family.

Allow notifications when your browser asks, then fine-tune which kinds you want from Settings → Notifications. You can also enable or disable email notifications from the same screen.

Verification is what keeps fakes and bots out and gives real buyers and sellers a way to trust each other. A verified phone is required to post ads and a verified email is required for almost every account action.

KYC ("Know Your Customer") is a quick identity check using your government-issued ID and a short selfie video. It is required for posting ads and for high-value Deals. The process is run by our partner Didit and usually takes only a few minutes.

Go to Settings → Two-factor authentication and scan the QR code with an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator, 1Password or Authy. Store the recovery codes somewhere safe — you'll need them if you ever lose your phone.

Yes. You can register and sign in with Google or Apple in one click. You can also link or unlink these providers later from your account settings.

Use one of the recovery codes you saved when enabling 2FA. If you also lost the recovery codes, contact support — we will help you regain access after additional identity checks.

We follow the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the GDPR. Your account has no password (login is by one-time code), every connection to swissmax is encrypted (HTTPS), and access to identity data is strictly limited. Read the full details in our Privacy Policy.

Every ad and user profile has a "Report" button. Pick the reason (scam, fake, prohibited item, abuse, etc.), add a short note and submit. Our moderation team reviews every report and takes action where needed.

Be careful of: prices that look too good to be true, sellers who refuse to meet in person, requests to pay outside the platform (wire transfer, gift cards, crypto), urgency or pressure to act now, and copy-pasted descriptions with bad grammar. Our Safety Tips page has the full checklist.

Yes. Go to Profile → Export data to download a complete copy of your account: profile information, ads, messages and deal history. This is your right under Swiss FADP and the EU GDPR.

From Profile → Delete account. We remove your personal data and anonymise your past activity. Some information has to be kept for legal reasons (for example invoices and dispute records) — the details are in our Privacy Policy.

Use the Contact form and select "Privacy / legal" as the topic. Privacy-specific requests (data access, deletion, rectification) are handled within the timelines required by Swiss and EU law.