Why SmaKi?
Learn with an online flea market, digital wallet and academy 7 to 14-year-old children sustainable practices, conscious housekeeping and safe digital behavior.
Welcome to the information area for parents
Here you will find everything you need to know about SmaKi. Security and transparency are our top priorities!
SmaKi – Simply explained
What functions do children use on the online flea market?
Children can post, price and sell items independently on the online flea market.
They can decide whether the price is negotiable.
The SmaKis accompany them and explain that the items must be in good condition and what they should look out for in texts and pictures on the Internet.
Parents can decide whether they want to approve the publication of each individual item or give their general consent.
If the sale is successful, the proceeds are credited to the balance in the SmaKi exchange and the child receives SmaKi points as a reward for sustainable action.
Children can search, negotiate and buy age-appropriate items on the online flea market. Parents can set whether they want to approve each purchase and payment. If the purchase is successful, the amount spent is deducted from the balance in the SmaKi exchange.
It is possible to post items for shipping or collection or both.
In the settings, parents can specify what their children are allowed to use for purchases and sales.
For example, if children are only allowed to buy items for collection, they will only be shown items within the specified radius. Cash payments are not possible.
Children can use specially prepared text modules to clarify questions about shipping or the place and time of pickup with the buyer or seller child. Parents can choose how much they want to control communication in the settings. This means that parents define whether they want to approve incoming messages before they are displayed to the children. In principle, every communication can be checked and approved by the parents.
Children can add items to watch lists or wish lists, e.g. for their birthday, and send them to other children. They can also organize birthday presents for friends themselves in this way.
How does the digital wallet work?
SmaKi opens a secure payment account for you with a proven payment provider - the SmaKi wallet. All flea market transactions are processed between the children's SmaKi wallets and parents can make payins and payouts at any time. Parents can specify in the settings that they wish to approve each individual purchase or payment or give their general consent. This means that all purchase contracts and transactions are legally between the parents of the seller and buyer children.
The SmaKi wallet shows income and expenditure from flea market deals, pay ins and payouts, the currently available balance and the spending limit that the parents have set for them each week. Children learn to control their income and expenditure in a child-friendly way and at the same time develop an initial understanding of how to handle money. In order to be able to display a correct overview of earnings and spendings at all times, all payments must be made digitally. Cash payments are not possible at SmaKi.
Parents can pay pocket money or birthday money into their child's SmaKi wallet using the credit card on file, thereby increasing the balance. Payouts can be made in the same way if, for example, children want to spend part of their balance "offline".
As soon as a flea market deal has been successfully concluded, the sale price is deducted from the buyer child's credit balance and initially stored securely in a SmaKi payment account - until the buyer child has confirmed receipt of the item.
If the buyer child has forgotten to confirm receipt and has not reported a problem within 7 days, the amount is automatically paid out to the seller child after 7 days.
What content & formats does the Academy offer?
The SmaKi Academy publishes new learning content once a week in various attractive formats. They include entertaining articles, educational videos, interviews with children, SmaKis, parents and experts.
Sustainability education
We explain the environmental benefits of responsible consumption, emphasize the importance of waste separation and waste reduction and explain the impact of flying, train and car travel and personal carbon footprint. We create a basic understanding of diversity, inclusion and equality, and much more.
Financial education
We explain the meaning of saving and budgeting with your own pocket money. We enable children to assess the value of things and learn to appreciate them. We explain everything to do with (digital) money management, handling digital pocket money and much more.
Digital education
We teach the basics of using smartphones safely, surfing the net, apps, messengers, social media, personal data and data protection, cyber security, phishing emails and explain new developments such as artificial intelligence and much more.
Professional orientation
We explain educational paths and careers for after leaving school. Children develop an awareness of their own interests and tendencies at an early age. In terms of content, we focus on professions with a shortage of skilled workers, such as digital and social professions, engineering, skilled trades or gastronomy.
Each article ends with a quiz with 3-5 questions on the respective content. For each correct answer, the children receive Smaki points for successful learning. Quizzes and rewards arouse the children's curiosity and motivate them to actively participate and learn.
Children can rate how helpful and interesting they find the learning content. We launch a feedback survey once a quarter. Here the children can name topics they would like to learn more about. You can ask questions that you would like to have answered in one of the next learning contributions.
How safe is SmaKi? How does parental control work?
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User registration identification procedure
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Robust security measures
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Parental control functions
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Reporting system
User registration is carried out by the parents. The first part includes email verification, the creation of the parent account and the child profile, which is anonymized for other users with an avatar and alias. This allows you to look around in visitor mode, but not to become active. The following requirements must be met in order to use SmaKi to its full extent: 1) Identification and verification of the parents via an online identification procedure as well as a check of the child's ID document. 2) Selection of membership and 3) registration of the payment methods.
We implement robust measures to ensure the highest possible level of security in all areas of the platform. Solid review mechanisms ensure an age-appropriate product range as well as age-appropriate communication and interaction. This is done through continuous moderation, automated platform processes and verification, supported by platform guidelines and parental controls. We enable secure payments via a proven payment provider and are therefore subject to supervision by the European financial authorities. We are committed to transparency and compliance with the highest standards for data protection and anti money laundering.
Limits & authorizations
Depending on the age and maturity level of the child, parents can set limits on spending and the number of sales & purchases per week as well as settings for collection and shipping, including the radius for collection.
For the online flea market and the academy, parents can limit the age group for which items and content should be displayed to their children.
Parents can also assign learning content from the academy.
Approvals
As parents, you can control your child's level of independence on the platform. Depending on your maturity level, you can decide whether you want to release every newly posted article before publication, all purchases & payments or incoming chat messages. In addition, your children can use predefined text modules for communication between the seller and buyer to coordinate the collection.
In the event of violations or behavior contrary to the platform, parents and children have the option at any time to inform the platform operator immediately via "report buttons" and activate them to take action. The SmaKi Support Team will investigate the violation and take appropriate action, which may range from removal, to warning, to blocking certain users. Examples are products that are not age-appropriate or interaction and communication that is not age-appropriate. We invite parents to actively provide feedback, express concerns and make suggestions for improvement at any time. Together, we can ensure an age-appropriate user experience.
How much does SmaKi cost?
You can currently browse for free in visitor mode.
To become active on the flea market and to be able to use all SmaKi functions to their full extent, you need a SmaKi adventure membership.
This costs 2.90 euros per month per child, plus a one-off fee of 5 euros for the initial identity check.
Alternatively, there is an annual membership for 31.90 euros including identity check in the first year, which saves you 7.90 euros.
The membership fees support the ongoing development and security of SmaKi.
SmaKi charges a small SmaKi protection fee for secure payment processing via the payment provider for every purchase. This is based on the amount of the selling price and is calculated automatically when the item is listed and is to be paid by the buyer-child.
When registering, SmaKi recommends paying a starting balance of at least 20 euros into the child's SmaKi wallet.
Parents decide whether they want to sponsor the starting balance or take direct responsibility for the children and finance the starting balance from their pocket money.
Parental control at a glance
Questions & Answers
The SmaKis guide the children through the online flea market step by step, especially when listing items. We assume that children will master this relatively quickly on their own thanks to their quick comprehension and digital affinity. Therefore, we would like to answer the question from our experience as follows: You as parents primarily invest time in approvals and feedback with change requests and initially in checking the condition of the items to be sold.
Basically we promise We have noticed an increased self-motivation among children to regularly tidy up and sort out their toys in order to sell them on SmaKi at the weekend and thus increase their pocket money. Thanks to this growing independence, the parents’ time investment in the entire family is reduced.heitliche organization of children’s things.
There is a reporting system. Please use the button provided for this purpose. The SmaKi platform operator will take care of the rectification as quickly as possible.
One of the biggest challenges for all parents is to sensibly limit, control and adhere to their children’s screen time for app use, games, series and videos. We at SmaKi are aware of this and would like to tackle this challenge together with you – or rather, not make it any bigger.
That’s why we only open the SmaKi online flea market on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, giving children the opportunity to concentrate on school, learning and their other activities during the week.
At the same time, we are convinced that children use their screen time on SmaKi in a fun and enjoyable way. This is for the development of extracurricular skills such as sustainable action, safe digital behavior and responsible money management. In order to promote these important life skills holistically, we publish new, attractive learning content on these topics every Wednesday in the SmaKi Academy.
SmaKi can be canceled at any time. The remaining balance is paid out. The membership fee already paid will not be refunded.
The increased safety measures to promote the independence of 7 – 14 year old children in a protected space require increased investment compared to other platforms. The membership fees are used for the implementation and continuous further development of security measures and functionalities as well as the operation of the platform.
One of the aims of SmaKi is to provide financial education for children aged 7 – 14 and to develop a responsible approach to money at an early age.
The digital SmaKi wallet, which visualizes an overview of earnings and spendings from purchases and sales as well as the resulting balance, serves this purpose. All payments are processed digitally to ensure a correct overview of income and expenditure at all times. Cash payments are therefore not permitted on pickup. For you as parents, this also has the advantage that you do not have to organize the payment between seller and buyer child at the front door.
Minors from the age of seven have limited legal capacityin accordance with Section 106 BGB . They may be subject to § 107 BGB make declarations of intent, but according to § 108 BGB the consent of their legal representative in order to make an effective declaration of intent. Approval by the representative is required for the declaration to take effect.
Based on the legal situation, the actual legal transactions on the SmaKi online flea market take place between the parents. When registering and creating the child profile, the legal representatives give their consent. For the safety of parents SmaKi extended control functions. Parents can define their child’s level of independence in the settings and set appropriate control and approval mechanisms for buying and selling items.
Transactions take place via the children’s digital wallets via the secure payment gateway of a payment provider.
When listing items, the SmaKis help children to select the correct package size from DHL and add the corresponding shipping fee to the selling price. You can check these in the release process. We ask parents to support their children in packing, franking (buying & affixing the DHL shipping label) and sending if necessary and to empower them in the long term. In the further development of SmaKi, the integration of shipping processing via DHL plug-in is planned. This should enable the children to stamp independently and correctly.
We would like to give you a few tips for accompanying your children:
- To begin with, familiarize yourself with the objectives, functions, security and control mechanisms of SmaKi.
- Accompany, supervise and control your children according to their age, level of maturity and independence.
- Decide whether you want to approve all sales and purchases or give basic consent for your children to act without individual approvals.
- Determine whether your children are allowed to buy and sell items for shipping and/or pick-up and specify the desired radius for pick-up.
- Define whether you want to see and approve incoming messages to coordinate the dispatch or pick-up location and time.
- Define the age group and categories for which articles and content should be displayed to your children.
- Regularly checks that the settings made are appropriate.
- Encourage your children to muck out and sort things out in anticipation of the next SmaKi flea market weekend.
- Point out new interesting learning content to your children and remind them of the rewards.
- Help your children with packing, franking and mailing and enable them to do this independently.
- Check the condition of the items for sale for a certain period of time and help them to develop a good feel for it themselves.
- Give us feedback, let us know your concerns, send us your suggestions for improvement so that we can continuously improve the learning experience for your children together.
- Report violations of the guidelines and behavior that is not age-appropriate.
SmaKi sends a limited number of helpful notifications and reminders to the children in addition to the system notifications about the activities. Examples are: “Time to sort out, the SmaKi online flea market opens in two hours…”, “New interesting learning content for you…”, “You’re only 100 SmaKi points short of your next reward…”.