Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about buying, selling, and advertising on SwipAlot — Florida’s local classifieds.
Are there any fees or costs to use the SwipAlot network?
For the average user, no. Our classified service is free to consumers, and most businesses can also post free. We do offer premium services, however you are never obligated to buy any of them. Premium services include post bumping, featured ads, website banners, and more. These features are primarily aimed at local businesses, to offer them higher visibility in their communities.
What forms of payment are accepted?
For services provided by SwipAlot on our websites, apps, or social media pages, we utilize PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to make a payment — they accept Visa, MasterCard, and more, just like a store. Our website runs on HTTPS technology, and PayPal handles all requests on their own secure server, keeping your data safe. Our site also offers affiliate links to offsite sales (for example Amazon), who may use their own payment systems that SwipAlot has no control over. Always check for a secure connection before making any internet payment.
How does the website work?
Our network of Florida apps, websites, and social media groups is divided by region, then by county and city. Starting from the home page, find the county nearest you and click the map. At the top of the page you can create a new account or log in to an existing one. After that, you can post or reply to a classified ad on the site.
What are the sizes for photographs?
Images uploaded to classified ads need to be smaller than 2 MB, and there is a 10-image limit per post — no size or dimension restrictions otherwise. Other types of advertising require different sizes depending on placement. Website banner ads tend to be 300×250 and 125×125. Ads on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages should be 500×500. Facebook group banners can be either 475×240 or 475×720.
Why do you ask for my phone number?
The safety, security, and privacy of our users are very important to us. Ads on our site are user-to-user, and to either buy or sell you need to be able to contact each other. We ask that users provide a phone number, which we verify via text message, to help us keep the ads more legitimate.
What does “Verified User” mean?
A Verified User on SwipAlot is someone who has chosen to share their phone number with us. We send an automated text message they must confirm, so the contact information you see in the ad is verified as belonging to the person who posted it. No one has to verify, but we think it’s a great safety tool to offer. SwipAlot cannot guarantee the authenticity of anything in an ad — only that the contact information was valid when the ad was placed.
What info do you get from my social login?
The bare minimum. We use a Facebook login system, and it gives us your email address, location, name, and profile picture. That’s it. We don’t use your email for newsletters or spam — anything you get from us is directly related to actions you take on our sites.
How did you pick the cities and colors?
As we spread across Florida, we had to make decisions on the cities we represent. In most cases it’s the county seat; sometimes a bigger or smaller town. We needed one city per county and picked one — apologies if your city isn’t represented. Each city has its own color coding: we looked up each county and found a color palette that was locally meaningful (a high school, a major league team, the Chamber of Commerce, the Sheriff’s office). See if you can figure out where we found your city’s color!
My city isn’t in that region.
SwipAlot has sites in every county of Florida. For our own ease, we divided the state into six regions — north east, north west, central east, central west, south east, and south west. We know some lines were blurred. One person may drive three counties away for an item, while another only wants ads in their own town, and someone near a county line may find a neighboring county easier. The regions help us manage that. We apologize if you don’t agree with the division, and ask that you use one of the alternate sites or apps.
Who can I speak to about a Facebook problem?
SwipAlot Facebook groups are run by a different team than our website. Please contact them directly at SwipAlot on Facebook.
“Alot” isn’t a word.
We know — we don’t love it either. Originally our name was Swip Swap, but we had to change it. It needed to fit the same space, and after much deliberation we landed on SwipAlot. It’s not a word in this context, it’s a name, like Walmart is a name. Even here in the office it gets written every which way: Swip Alot, Swip A Lot, Swipe Alot…