Guidance for parents and guardians
Control settings
You as the parent are responsible for your child’s actions on Tradem. You can set your control to whatever you think is appropriate for each child.
For younger children, we recommend you tick the option for approving all actions on the website, from buying to selling, to allowing the child to meet another child in person.
By clicking on this option, you will be asked for approval at all stages of your child’s communication with other children. If they want to sell something, you are asked first, if they want to buy something, you are asked first… if they message or receive a message from another child, you can see this too. By keeping a close eye on your child’s actions online, you can see where they are financially savvy and where they are not. You don’t want your child spending all their money without thinking or making offers on items that they don’t need or cannot afford. If a child makes a mistake, see it as a positive opportunity to talk it over with them and discuss better choices and options. Here at Tradem we are all about encouraging communication about finances with your children.
For the older children, you might want to give them a bit more independence and hold off ticking the ‘Approve’ button in all the controls. You will still be able to see all their buying, selling, messages and actions in your control hub, but you wont be asked to approve every time they do something. This means you are responsible for them but you give them a bit more of a free reign to make decisions for themselves.
Take a look at our policy on parental controls, where you can find more information about different age groups and proposed settings for each group to assist you. Remember, every child is different and you are best placed to in deciding which level of control you want to have over your child’s activity.
Internet safety
It can be hard to know what age you should start letting your child use the internet independently, what is safe and what isn’t, and how long you should allow them to be online for during the day. We see more and more research and reports being released, providing a variety of guidance for parents which can ultimately make us feel anxious and confused about whether or not we are doing the right thing.
Tradem certainly doesn’t claim to have the answers to these questions, but there are a number of organisations that are able to give advice and support to those who would like more information. We have included some links at the bottom of the page.
We want to ensure that your child is safe when using the internet and the Tradem marketplace. To try and make the experience less arduous and stressful, we have gathered together a few helpful hints.
Tradem has been designed with safety at its core
The marketplace has been designed to ensure the safety of the children using the site. We have followed advice from many organisations including the UK Council For Child Internet Safety, the Information Commissioners Office and NSPCC.
- It is a safe trading platform where children can learn about real life online trading, in a safe and monitored environment
- There are background checks on all adults signing up
- Vigorous monitoring and safeguarding
- No commercial use of data
- We do not allow adverts, so children can’t be influenced by what they see, nor are they tempted to click away from Tradem
- We have a range of tutorials, designed to educate and support children on their journey with Tradem
- We give parents/responsible adults the ability to control the level of independence each child has, which includes being notified of any offline meetings, and the ability to see chats
- If selected, parents/responsible adults can receive real time notification of what their child(ren) are purchasing and selling online
- Through the activity feed, parents/responsible adults can watch their child(ren) learn about money and grow in confidence
- We highly recommend that for children under 8 years old, both the child and parents/responsible adults explore and use the site together
What you can do to keep your child safe on Tradem
- Follow the rules
Although the Tradem marketplace is designed to be fun and engaging, we do have a few rules to make sure that everyone is kept safe and happy. These rules are found in:
We know that long documents are boring to read, and that most of the time children don’t even understand what they are talking about. However, often these documents are important as they help keep them safe. That is why most of the things you find on our website have been written so that an average 10-year-old can read and understand them. Make sure you are able to help your child if they don’t understand what something means or require you to go into more detail. We are also here to help if you need some support.
- Membership Code of Behaviour
Above all else, each child is expected to abide by and follow the Membership Code of Behaviour, which can be found in the Rules of the marketplace . Make sure your child knows that this code is designed to protect them and other users.
- Control settings
When you first register a child, make sure you have set the controls to best meet their needs. We default the settings based on the child’s age but you may wish to change these. Please see our policy on parental controls. These settings can be altered at any time so you can make regular changes.
- Explore together
Allow your children to take control, but be there to help explain anything that is confusing. It is the perfect opportunity to set the boundaries and to teach them about being safe online.
- Talk to your child
Tradem is a fantastic tool to use to talk to your child. You can ask them what has or hasn’t gone to plan, discuss why their items have or haven’t sold, how the postage cost has affected the price etc. It can also open the door for you to talk about other things such as:
- The importance of protecting their private information e.g. never give away your details in chat
- Being careful if someone wants to change the delivery address or asks for payment via a bank transfer
- Meeting someone face to face to trade a product
- Strange activity on their account and what they should do
- Check their activity
No child likes their parent/responsible adult to invade their privacy, so we aren’t suggesting that you follow every chat that is happening, but if you aren’t receiving any notifications about their online activities then we do recommend that you occasionally log in to see what is happening on their account.
It is easy for a child to get into an uncomfortable situation and sometimes they may need a bit of help sorting it out. For example, they could be pressurised into meeting someone in person in a secluded area and don’t know how to say no, for fear of missing out on the sale. They could be getting cross and be using inappropriate language to a buyer or seller because something hasn’t gone as expected. They may not know what to do if someone is persistently contacting them and it doesn’t seem related to what they are selling.
It can be hard to find the right balance between giving your child the freedom they desperately crave and wanting to protect them. We hope that by occasionally checking their activities you can achieve both. If you have any concerns, please get in touch.
- Protect yourself from phishing emails and calls
Be suspicious of any unusual request for your personal or financial information, by email or phone. It may be a “spoof” or “phishing” attempt. If Tradem needs to contact you about your account, you can expect the following:
- We’ll never ask you to provide confidential information like your password or credit card details.
- We’ll only include links for convenience. No link will require you to submit confidential information on the next page.
- We won’t include attachments. If you receive an unwelcome email with an attachment, don’t open it.
- We’ll never use threatening language.
- We’ll always send a copy of any important messages to your Tradem messages.
If you receive an email ‘From Tradem’ that sounds suspicious, the actual email address that it is sent from will give away whether it is authentic or not.
Links:
Internet Matters - https://www.internetmatters.org
This is a great site to use as it provides support and practical tips for using and staying safe on the Internet. You can find advice about general online issues, how to set controls and guidance on using the Internet for different age groups.
NSPCC - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
This page gives parents advice on how to have conversation about online safety and what to do if they have concerns. They also cover other topics such as inappropriate or explicit content and parental controls
Thinkuknow - https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Thinkuknow is the education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline. You and your children can explore one of the six Thinkuknow websites for advice about staying safe when on a phone, tablet or computer.
UK Safer Internet Centre - https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/young-people/resources-3-11s
This page is full of resources aimed at 3-11 year olds. It provides lots of fun and interactive information aimed at helping children stay safe online.
UK Safer Internet Centre - https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/young-people/resources-11-19s
This page is bursting with resources to keep those aged between 11-19 safe. There are films, games, quizzes and advice.
How to raise a concern or a complaint
We want to hear about any problems or concerns you have.
The Tradem marketplace is constantly evolving and so it is important that we know if you have any worries or if something isn’t working, so we can fix it and get it right.
We want to ensure all our users are safe and that the marketplace is an inclusive area for all children. Therefore, if you have concerns about behaviour you have seen on the marketplace or any items for sale, please let us know immediately. Click on ‘Contact us’ or you can email us at hello@tradem.uk. We aim to get back to you within 24 hours.
If you need a fast answer to a question, then you can try looking in our FAQs and our policies, which are also available on every page of the website. Or call us at 020 3095 5396, to talk to someone who can answer your questions in more detail.