Questions people actually ask
If yours is not here, the how it works page walks the whole deal loop step by step.
- Do I need an invite to join?
- Yes. PhenoTrade is invite-only and there is no open registration. A current member spends one of their invites on you, and that vouch is recorded permanently — their name stays attached to yours. If you do not know a member yet, you can request an invite from the landing page and get vetted.
- What can I list?
- Cannabis genetics only: seeds, clones, pollen and tissue culture. Flower, edibles, vapes, cartridges, extracts and any consumable THC product are rejected at submission and removed on report, regardless of what is legal where you are. Repeat violations close the shop.
- Does PhenoTrade handle payment or shipping?
- No. We never touch money or genetics, take no cut of a deal, and hold no escrow. Every exchange happens directly between the two members, off-platform, on whatever terms they agree. The parties are responsible for the laws of their own jurisdictions, including shipping rules.
- How does reputation work?
- A deal counts only once both members mark it complete. Reviews are double-blind — neither person sees the other's until both are submitted — and then they lock. Reputation cannot be bought, edited or removed by paying us. A plan buys visibility and verification badges, never a better record.
- Can you read my messages?
- No. Messages and tracking numbers are encrypted in your browser before they reach us. We store ciphertext and hold no key, so a subpoena of our database returns unreadable blobs. What we can see is the deal graph — who dealt with whom and when — because that is what makes a reputation verifiable.
- What does it cost?
- Browsing, dealing and trading are free forever, including up to three trade-only listings and full reputation. Selling requires a plan: $5 a month for Breeder Basic, $10 a month for Pro. The reasoning is simple — anyone making money on the platform should be contributing to it.
- Will my shop show up in Google?
- No. Shops, listings and member profiles all require a session, are excluded in robots.txt, and are never listed in the sitemap. Logged out, there is no marketplace to browse. The only pages search engines can see are the front door, pricing, this FAQ and the legal pages.
- What happens to my data if I leave?
- Deleting your account removes your shop, listings, messages and shipping records. Reviews you wrote about other people survive with your name stripped, so the breeders you dealt with keep the reputation they earned. You can export your encryption key under a passphrase first if you want your deal history to follow you.
- Do I have to be 21?
- Yes — 21 or older, or the legal age where you are. You confirm it when you create an account and that attestation is recorded.