How It Works

Sellers create listings for rods, reels, lines, waders, flies, and any other fly fishing gear. Each listing captures condition, brand, product-specific details (rod weight, reel size, fly type and hook sizes), price, and a shipping size preset (small, medium, or large) used later for label generation.

Fly listings support per-hook-size inventory — a seller can offer a size 14 Adams in a quantity of 6 and a size 16 in a quantity of 12 within the same listing. Buyers pick the exact size they want at checkout.

To sell on Caddis Shack, sellers must complete a one-time Stripe Connect onboarding so payouts can be deposited directly to their bank account.

Buyers browse the shop and add gear to their cart. The cart is stored locally in their browser — no account required to shop. When ready, they proceed to checkout.

At checkout, Caddis Shack groups items by seller, looks up each seller's Stripe Connect account, and creates a single Stripe Checkout session for the full cart. The buyer pays once and Stripe routes the funds correctly behind the scenes.

No orders are created until payment clears. If a checkout session expires without payment, nothing is charged and no inventory is reserved.

When Stripe confirms payment, the platform:

• Creates one order per seller in the cart (a single checkout can span multiple sellers)
• Reserves or deducts inventory for each item purchased
• Starts a 3-day countdown for each seller to generate a shipping label
• Sends the buyer a confirmation email with order details

Funds are held in escrow — they are not released to the seller until the full delivery cycle completes. This protects the buyer while giving sellers confidence that payment is guaranteed.

The seller has 3 days to generate a prepaid shipping label through the platform. They provide their from-address and package dimensions; Caddis Shack fetches rates from EasyPost and automatically purchases the cheapest available USPS rate.

The seller prints the label, drops the package, and the buyer receives a tracking number. Both parties get an email with the tracking link the moment the label is generated.

Missed the deadline? If a seller does not generate a label within 3 days, the order is automatically cancelled and the buyer receives a full refund. No action required from the buyer.

Once the carrier scans the package, the order enters the delivery window. EasyPost sends real-time tracking updates to the platform. When the package is marked delivered, the escrow clock stops.

Buyers can also manually confirm delivery at any time from their orders page — for example, if USPS tracking is slow to update. Either way, the 10-day delivery window serves as a hard backstop: if neither event occurs within 10 days of shipment, funds are automatically released.

During this window, buyers and sellers can message each other directly through the platform. If something is wrong with the order, contact us at support@caddisshack.com before confirming delivery.

Once delivery is confirmed, Caddis Shack automatically transfers the seller's payout via Stripe Connect. The transfer amount is:

In plain terms: Caddis Shack takes a 5% cut. If the actual label cost exceeds what the buyer paid in shipping, the seller absorbs the difference. If the label costs less than the shipping fee collected, the seller keeps the surplus. Sellers are in full control of their shipping size preset and therefore their label costs.

Payouts land in the seller's connected bank account on Stripe's standard payout schedule (typically 2–7 business days depending on the seller's bank).