FAQs · Money · 01
HiFi Registry handles exactly one thing when it comes to money: the listing fee. $25 for equipment or dealer listings, $5 for music media, charged to the seller when they publish. Every dollar of the actual gear sale — the transaction between buyer and seller — flows directly between the two parties, on payment rails they both choose. HFR does not sit in the middle.
This is a deliberate design choice, and it's the single biggest structural difference between the Registry and the other marketplaces you've used. Here's what it means in practice, why we built it this way, and how it changes how you should think about a high-value transaction.
Only the listing fee. Paid by the seller, to HFR, via PayPal, at the moment the listing is published. That's the only dollar amount that ever touches an HFR account.
The gear sale itself — the transaction between the buyer and seller — never enters HFR's systems. We don't hold funds during shipping. We don't release funds after delivery. We don't take a percentage of the sale.
Buyer and seller agree on the payment method in DMs, then settle directly. In the used high-end audio market, the common choices are:
Neither buyer nor seller is required to use any specific method. HFR neither collects nor processes the payment for the underlying sale.
No. Deliberately.
Every marketplace that holds funds during a transaction — Reverb, eBay, Audiogon's escrow tier, StockX-style flows — is a money-services business. That designation requires money-transmitter licenses in every state, KYC/AML compliance programs, escrow-eligible banking relationships, bond insurance, and continuous audits. Millions of dollars per year in compliance infrastructure. To pay for it, those platforms charge a percentage on every sale — usually somewhere between 5% and 13% — plus additional payment processing fees on top.
HFR chose the other model: flat listing fees, no fund handling, no commission. On a $30,000 amplifier, that means HFR takes $25 total. The other $29,975 flows between you and the other party.
The tradeoff is real. Marketplaces that hold funds can offer their own guarantee. HFR cannot — and does not pretend to. Instead, your protection comes from the payment method you and the other party agreed to use, plus the trust infrastructure the platform provides around the transaction (below).
Whatever the payment method provides.
PayPal Goods & Services is the strongest available layer for a shipped item — it covers non-receipt and items significantly-not-as-described, up to PayPal's per-transaction limits (currently around $20,000 with standard conditions). Wire transfers are effectively final once cleared. Cashier's checks and Zelle offer no meaningful post-transaction recourse.
Match your payment method to the risk profile of the transaction. On a $500 phono cartridge with a verified seller, wire transfer via Zelle is fine. On a $25,000 pair of speakers with a seller you've never worked with before, PayPal G&S is standard practice — even at the cost of the seller's fee.
Not everything an escrow model would give you. But real infrastructure, on every transaction:
The Trust Score chip and the Accountability Record are covered in their own FAQs — worth reading before your first significant transaction.
HFR doesn't mediate disputes between buyers and sellers — we don't adjudicate what happened or issue rulings. Resolution runs through the payment method you used.
If the seller didn't ship, shipped the wrong item, or shipped something significantly not as described, open a dispute through the payment method you used. PayPal has a formal Goods & Services claim process. Your bank may be able to pursue a wire recall if you catch it fast enough. This is where the money actually gets returned (or doesn't).
What HFR does provide is the record: the bilateral rating both parties leave on completion, and the issue tags a buyer can flag. That becomes part of each party's Accountability Record and Trust Score — an honest signal for the next person deciding whether to transact with them, even without HFR stepping in on the specific transaction.
Less than you might think. Specifically:
Specifically not visible to HFR: the payment method used, either party's payment credentials, or any details of the payment settlement.
When a transaction is marked complete, buyer and seller indicate what the deal closed for. That dollar amount is added to the Listing Comps sold-price table — but no buyer or seller information is disclosed alongside it.
Some sellers will suggest moving payment discussion off the Registry — to text, to email, to a phone call. That's fine. Unlike other platforms, HFR doesn't restrict how buyers and sellers communicate — if both parties would rather take a conversation off-platform, they're welcome to.
Our recommendation, not a requirement: keep the terms of the deal — item, price, payment method, shipping arrangements, timing — in the Registry messenger. Written record of what was agreed protects both sides if anything goes wrong. But it's your call.
HFR takes flat listing fees only ($25 equipment/dealer, $5 music media). Buyer and seller settle the transaction directly, on payment rails they choose. HFR does not hold funds, offer escrow, or mediate disputes. Trust Score and Accountability Record apply on every transaction — regardless of payment method used.