Asking someone to shop for you

A store run is a cart, not a form. Pick a shop, pick things off its shelf, pick a person, and offer a fee.

What it is, and how it differs from delivery

Delivery is a shop bringing you an order you already placed with them. A store run is someone going shopping on your behalf — you choose the person, and you agree a fee with them.

Delivery

Starts at a shop's checkout. You meet nobody. We price it.

A store run

Starts at a shop's shelf. You pick who goes. You offer the fee.

Building the cart

1. Pick a shop from the ones near you that we hold a shelf for. If there are none nearby yet, you can still name a shop and type a list by hand.
2. Add items off the shelf. Prices come from the shop's own listings, so the estimate is worked out rather than guessed at by you.
3. Add up to four shops in one run if you need to. Each shop's items are priced against that shop.
4. Offer a fee. You are shown what runners near there usually charge, and you can offer anything you like.

The money

When you post a run, a hold is placed on your card for the estimated shopping, a margin above it, the fee and any tip. It is a hold, not a charge — nothing is taken until your things are at your door.

Every job a runner can see is one that is already funded, which is the point of holding at that moment rather than later. It also puts any card problem in front of you, where you can fix it, instead of in front of a runner who has already committed.

Basket cap

Around $100 of shopping per run by default. It keeps a stranger's out-of-pocket exposure sane.

List length

Up to 60 items.

Shops per run

Up to 4.

Margin held

20% above the estimate, because shelf prices are observations and they go stale.

What a runner may not carry

Packaged groceries only, for now. No alcohol, no tobacco or vapes, no prescriptions, and no hot restaurant food. Frozen goods are fine with an insulated bag.

How the run goes

You will see it move: posted, claimed by someone, at the shop, has your things, delivered. Your card is charged when the delivery is proved, and what you pay is the real receipt total rather than the estimate.

While they are in the shop, the run shows your list live: each thing turns to Found as they scan it into the bag, or Not in stock if it is not there. We never let a runner swap in something you did not choose.

If something was not there, that line comes off — you are not charged for it. If the runner cannot finish, the hold is released.