Baby gear, passed on properly
Buy and sell second-hand prams, pumps and clothes from families nearby — with your money held safely until the item is actually in your hands.
The problem with buying second-hand baby gear
You want the pram. It is $400 instead of $1,200, it is barely used, and it is fifteen minutes away. But you are being asked to bank-transfer a stranger, or to turn up with cash and decide in ninety seconds in someone's driveway whether the brake works.
So a lot of good gear never changes hands. It sits in a garage until it is worth nothing, and someone else buys new.
The Middle Child fixes the part that stops the sale: the money.
How your money is protected
When you pay, the seller does not get the money. We hold it.
Picking it up? Your card is only authorised — nothing is charged. You meet, you look at the item properly, and you decide. If you want it, you enter the seller's six-digit code and that is what pays them. If you do not want it, you walk away and you are never charged.
Having it posted? We hold your payment until it arrives. You mark it received, and then you have 48 hours to check it before the seller is paid.
The seller gets the same protection in reverse: the money is confirmed and waiting before they hand anything over or post anything. Nobody has to go first.
For buyers
1. Find it nearby. Browse prams, breast pumps and baby clothes from families in your area. No account needed to look.
2. Make an offer, or place a hold. Offers last 48 hours. A hold reserves the item and authorises your card — it charges nothing.
3. Inspect it, then pay. Enter the code at pickup, or mark a parcel received and check it within 48 hours. Your money does not move until you say so.
For sellers
1. List it in a few minutes. Answer the safety questions, add photos, set a price. Being honest about the flaws is what makes second-hand baby gear sellable.
2. Get a confirmed buyer. You will know the money is there before you agree to meet or post anything.
3. Get paid. Straight to your bank, minus 2%. Postage comes to you in full.
What's on The Middle Child
Prams · Breast pumps · Baby and children's clothes
Prams are collected in person — they are too big to post, and we would rather say so than quote you a postage price that turns out to be wrong.
Never sold here
What we will never sell
No car seats, capsules, boosters or child restraints. Not in any condition, not at any price.
A restraint that has been in a crash can look perfect and be finished. Nobody — not the seller, not us — can verify a seat's history. Every other marketplace lets them through anyway. We would rather be the one that does not.
If your pram came as a travel system, keep the capsule and sell the pram on its own.
What it costs
3% of the item price. That is 1% from the buyer at checkout and 2% from the seller's payout.
Card processing — 1.75% + 30c — is passed straight through at cost and shown as its own line. We do not keep any of it.
Postage is not touched. The buyer pays it, the seller receives it in full.
Nothing to list. No subscription. No fee if the sale does not happen.
Where we're up to
The Middle Child is in closed beta in Melbourne, on iPhone, with a small group of families testing it before anyone else gets in.
If you have a garage full of gear your kids have outgrown, or you are about to start buying, we would like to hear from you.