We pride ourselves on making changes to improve animal welfare here at Preloved. We understand the responsibility that comes with allowing pet adverts. That’s why we do everything we can to protect the animals advertised on site. We do this through policy changes and educational content.
The Preloved Pet Pledge
From the very beginning, Preloved pledged to make welfare a priority. We were one of the first online sites to introduce:
- a total ban of ‘free’ pets to prevent impulsive or unscrupulous buying
- minimum age for rehoming animals
- control of illegal breed sales, with a site-wide ban on illegally docked or cropped dogs
- minimum photos on pet ads, and mandatory inclusion of Mum photos on pup and kitten ads
We continue to tighten policies to ensure animals are rehomed safely. For example, we:
- maintain complete records of every seller and buyer’s activity
- require copies of local authority issued breeding licence for members posting 3 or more litters in a 12 month period
- can trace and prevent sellers from opening multiple accounts
- provide members with as much information as possible. Our Pet Buying Checklist has been downloaded by over 183,000 people in just 12 months!
Why Not Just Ban Online Sales?
Good question. But a total ban of rehoming pets online isn’t the answer.
- Modern Technology: people live most of their lives online, and expect to be able to find things at the click of a button. Selling sites need to meet the modern demand, but do so responsibly by setting procedures in place.
- Traceability: Online rehoming can actually help protect the animals. Sellers leave an online footprint which helps monitor, review and report. Authorities rely on this information for investigations.
- Regulate Selling Sites: in order to make selling sites safer, Preloved fully supports government regulation. Pet shops must have a licence. We feel that selling sites that advertise sentient beings should face even harsher restrictions. Selling sites should meet strict guidelines in order to allow animal listings.
Who We Work With To Improve Animal Welfare
Preloved actively works with a number of organisations to make sure our policies are informed by the experts. We speak with the people at PAAG (the Pet Advertising Advisory Group), along with their individual members such as BVA, Dogs Trust, Cats Protection, and RWAF
We also liaise with Defra on welfare campaigns such as PetFishing, as well as meeting regularly with campaign and welfare groups such as Justice For Reggie to discuss concerns or changes they’d like us to make.
Protecting Our Members
We’ve made so many changes over the years to help improve the welfare of the animals on site. But we also work hard to improve the safety for our members, too.
Last year we introduced ID verification to Preloved. You’ve probably noticed lots of sellers with a blue tick next to their profile name. This means they’ve securely provided their passport or driving licence to be verified by Yoti, the same company used by Royal Mail and some local authorities. Buyers are 6 times more likely to respond to an ad with a verified seller.
We’ve also launched safer payment transactions through our friends at Trustap, which helps protect both Buyers and Sellers!
Preloved’s Journey To Improve Animal Welfare
