How It Works

Unless Kids is not a subscription or a rental. Our customers have told us that they don’t want the pressure of having to keep track of the rental period for a toy or the anxiety of calculating how much they’ve spent based on a monthly rental rate. Parents we’ve talked to also say that they don’t want the rigidity of receiving a box of new toys they didn’t pick out every month or two. They want to buy the toys they want when they want to buy them while also having the ability to get rid of toys when they need to. That’s what Unless Kids provides.

Yes, there is a membership fee to use the Unless Kids platform. Once the platform is fully live, we anticipate a membership fee of $4.99 per month to build one toy chest. Each additional toy chest for another child or location will cost $1.99 per month, and you'll be able to view all of those different toy chests from the same platform. A membership gives you unlimited free delivery and swaps, access to discounted toy prices (even when the toys are new!) and special incentives for returning toys back to Unless Kids.

You can name the toy chest any name you like that signifies a certain child (with nicknames allowed for privacy), but we do ask for the child’s birth month and year so we can suggest appropriate toys in your child’s age range. Birth month is also important as it helps us ensure we have enough toys on the platform to supply toys during months where there are more birthdays than others. Like, why are there so many birthdays in April and August?

No, we'll have toys ranging from brand new to well loved. We have a condition code system for classifying a toy’s condition, and we will adjust discounts accordingly.

At Unless Kids, we have four condition codes. New is what it sounds like, a toy that we received still in the box that we unbox. Like New is a toy that has no cosmetic imperfections and/or operation issues and looks just as it did out of the box. Gently Loved is a toy that has a few minor cosmetic imperfections or a bit of wear, but still looks good and operates well. Well Loved is that toy that you can tell has been played with a lot due to its wear. The toy may also be missing a few pieces from its original set but is still completely playable and in proper working condition to bring more kids joy.

Unless Kids has a strategic partnership with the Philadelphia recycling company, Rabbit Recycling. Once a toy is deemed to have cosmetic and operational issues that make the toy no longer fun or safe to play with, we take it to Rabbit. They deconstruct the toy and recycle the various parts to keep as much of the toy out of the landfill as possible.

Our ‘Unless It’s Clean’ quality promise ensures all toys are properly cleaned, sanitized and in proper working condition before being sent to our members. Sanitation procedures depend on the type of toy. For most toys, we use a variety of safe and non-toxic disinfecting sprays. For plush toys, when at all possible we will wash and dry them according to their manufacturing specifications.

All of our refurbishments use only the safest materials, including non-toxic paint and glue.

In short, a ‘Return’ is when you did not mean to purchase a toy or purchased the wrong toy, and you want to send it back for refund. We allow returns up to 7 days after purchase, and you will receive a full refund. A ‘Swap’ occurs when you are done with an item you meant to purchase and you want to give that previously purchased toy back. 

A swap is the function in your toy chest that you use to let us know that you want to give some Unless Kids toys back that you have previously purchased while simultaneously purchasing more toys from Unless Kids. 

You don’t have to swap one-for-one. You can buy as many Unless Kids toys as you want and give back as many Unless Kids toys as you want. But it’s our intention to drop off new toys and pick up old ones in one stop at your house, so we encourage members to swap toys when they buy new ones so we can keep our operations humming along, and our members can keep their homes decluttered and their lives just a little less chaotic.

More Discounts. Less Clutter. More Play. The Unless Kids platform works because people give toys back after they've used them for a time. The value to Unless Kids is that we provide discounts for every toy no matter its condition. We also make it super easy for you to give them back. The value for the member is the service of getting rid of the toys that your child no longer plays with to prevent clutter in your home and ensure functional toys don’t end up in a landfill. 

We also provide discounts to members who are great at returning toys to buy more toys on the platform.

Please do not attempt to fix the toy. That’s what we’re here for! We completely understand accidents may happen during the course of play. If you break a toy, and we can’t address the issue through our refurbishment process, we may ask you to pay the difference between what you paid initially and what it would cost at retail depending on its condition. This will be subject to a number of factors, though, and we still encourage you to swap the toy when purchasing a different one. We are here to make this as playful of an experience as possible, and our goal is to ensure our members have a worry-free experience with Unless Kids.

If you really like a toy and you want to keep it, let us know, and we'll charge you the difference between the condition-dependent retail price and what you paid initially. If you keep a toy for over a year and don't give it back, you will be automatically charged the difference between the full condition-dependent retail price and what you paid initially.

If you cancel your membership, Unless Kids will get in touch with you to set up a time to pick up your Unless Kids toy chest and any Unless Kids toys still in your possession free of charge. You will have 30 days to return these items. If the items are not returned in 30 days, Unless Kids will charge you the difference between the condition-dependent retail price and what you paid initially for each toy you still possess from Unless Kids, just as you would if you decided to keep a toy. We will also charge a $20 replacement fee for the toy chest.

Yes, we do. At specific times of the year we will accept toys for collection to our site. Throughout the year when we’re not doing collections, members can schedule on-demand toy pickups of toys they bought from other platforms but want to get rid of for a discounted pick-up fee.