Our Story

Kidora began with a familiar part of family life: children grow quickly, but the clothes, toys, books and baby equipment they leave behind can still have plenty of life left in them.

Founded by Karolina Gudes in Chester, Kidora started as a UK-only marketplace created to help parents and families buy and sell new and preloved baby and children’s items, find useful products locally or through nationwide delivery, and pass suitable items to another family rather than throwing them away.

Kidora has since grown into more than a marketplace. It is now becoming a wider UK family platform where parents can buy and sell children’s items, read practical family guidance through Kidora Parent Hub, and discover days out and activities near them through Kidora Family Places.

Kidora was built from real family experience—not from a boardroom idea.

Where the Idea for Kidora Began

When Karolina’s daughter Sofia was born in 2022, the family home quickly filled with everything that comes with preparing for a baby: tiny clothes, blankets, accessories, toys, books and everyday essentials.

Some items were carefully chosen before the birth. Others were gifts from family and friends. Many were useful for only a short stage, and some were barely worn before Sofia had already outgrown them.

Before long, there were boxes of baby clothes, shoes, toys and equipment that were still in very good condition but no longer needed.

Like many parents across the UK, Karolina tried using large general marketplaces and social-media selling groups to clear space and pass those items on.

The experience was often more complicated than it needed to be:

Long message conversations that did not lead to a purchase
Buyers who arranged collection and did not arrive
Listings surrounded by unrelated products
Difficulty finding items specifically for babies and children
Unclear payment and collection arrangements
Repeated questions that could have been answered through a better listing structure

At the same time, family budgets were under growing pressure. Parents still needed clothes, toys, books, pushchairs, nursery items and school essentials, even though children often use them for only a short period.

That combination created the idea behind Kidora: a dedicated UK marketplace designed around the way families actually buy, sell, collect, deliver and reuse children’s items.

Built Together as a Family Project

Karolina shared the idea with her partner Martin and their close friend John.

Together, they began the long process of turning the idea into a working platform. That involved planning the buyer and seller journeys, designing the experience, building the native mobile apps, creating the website and developing the features needed for listings, messages, payments, delivery and local collection.

The team did not want to build another broad marketplace containing everything from furniture and cars to electronics and household goods.

Kidora would focus on one clear purpose:

Helping UK families buy, sell and pass on baby and children’s items.

That purpose still sits at the centre of Kidora. But as the platform grew, the team saw the same pattern again and again: parents were not only looking for items. They were also looking for practical information, trusted links, ideas for affordable days out and easier ways to find places to go with their children.

That is why Kidora now includes Kidora Parent Hub and Kidora Family Places alongside the marketplace.

A Marketplace Designed Around Family Life

Children’s items create different questions from many ordinary marketplace products.

Parents may need to check:

Age, size and measurements
Whether every original part is included
The item’s genuine condition
Compatibility with another product
Whether an item is suitable for delivery or better collected locally
Product instructions and recall information
Whether the seller is a private individual or a business

Kidora was designed to make those details easier to organise and understand.

The marketplace includes categories for:

Baby and children’s clothing
Shoes and accessories
Toys, games and books
Pushchairs, baby carriers and travel equipment
Nursery furniture, sleep and storage products
Feeding, weaning, bathing and changing items
School uniform and school supplies
Pregnancy and maternity products
Other useful baby and children’s items

Families can browse nearby listings through location-based discovery or purchase suitable products for nationwide delivery.

Learn how buying and selling on Kidora works.

New, Preloved and FREE Items

Although Kidora was inspired by outgrown family belongings, the marketplace is not limited to second-hand products.

Sellers can list:

New items that are genuinely unused and accurately described
Preloved items with their true condition, wear and faults clearly shown
FREE items priced at £0 for another local family to collect

The FREE option is an important part of Kidora’s purpose.

Some family items are still usable but may not be worth packaging and posting. A seller may simply want the item collected quickly, avoid unnecessary waste and help another family.

When an item is listed at £0:

It appears to buyers as FREE
It is available for local collection only
The buyer secures it through Kidora checkout
No card payment is required for the item
No Kidora Fee is added

FREE does not mean that safety or honesty no longer matters. Recalled, broken, contaminated, incomplete or otherwise unsafe products must not be sold or given away.

Why Reuse Matters to Kidora

Babies and children move through clothes, toys, books and equipment quickly. An item may no longer suit one family while remaining useful to another.

Passing on suitable products can:

Help a family spend less than buying everything new
Give a seller more space at home
Recover some of the money originally spent
Extend the useful life of an item
Reduce unnecessary disposal
Help another child use something that might otherwise be stored or thrown away

Kidora does not claim that every used product should automatically be resold. Some products require detailed history, safety and hygiene checks, while recalled or unsafe products should never enter another reuse route.

The Kidora Parent Hub provides practical guides covering buying preloved, product safety, decluttering, local collection, donations, recycling and product-specific checks.

Making Family Essentials More Affordable

Children’s needs do not stop when household budgets become tighter.

Families still need clothes in the next size, shoes, books, toys, nursery products, school uniform and seasonal essentials. Buying suitable preloved products can make those costs more manageable, while selling outgrown items can return money to the family budget.

Kidora does not charge sellers a listing fee or seller commission on the item sale price. Sellers keep 100% of the price they set, subject to Kidora’s terms and any applicable payment-provider costs, refunds, reversals or chargebacks.

Buyers pay a mandatory Kidora Fee on eligible paid purchases. Buyer Protection is included as part of the Kidora Fee, with no separate Buyer Protection charge. The exact amount is displayed before checkout.

Supporting Local Collection and Nationwide Delivery

Kidora was built to support two different ways families often exchange children’s items.

Local Collection

Local collection can be practical for:

Bulky nursery furniture
Large toy bundles
Pushchairs and other equipment
Low-cost items that are not economical to post
FREE listings

Paid local-collection purchases must still be completed through Kidora before handover. Collection details should be arranged privately through Kidora messages rather than published in the listing.

Nationwide Delivery

Delivery allows families to find suitable products from sellers elsewhere in the UK. Sellers choose an appropriate carrier and should package items carefully, retain postage evidence and provide tracking where practical.

Kidora Fee, Buyer Protection and Marketplace Support

Kidora adds a mandatory Kidora Fee to eligible paid purchases. Buyer Protection is included as part of the Kidora Fee, with no separate Buyer Protection charge.

Subject to the applicable policy and evidence, an eligible issue may include an item that was not shipped, was lost, arrived damaged or was significantly not as described.

Buyer Protection does not mean that Kidora has physically inspected, tested or certified a product. Buyers and sellers remain responsible for checking descriptions, condition, instructions, completeness, compatibility and product recalls.

Read the Kidora Fee & Buyer Protection Policy.

A Marketplace for Private and Pro Sellers

Kidora supports parents privately selling belongings their families no longer need, as well as Pro Sellers operating as businesses.

Pro Sellers are identified through their Pro status and have additional responsibilities. Different return, cancellation, refund and consumer-rights rules may apply when buying from a business.

This distinction helps buyers understand who they are purchasing from before completing checkout.

More Than a Place to Buy and Sell

Kidora started with preloved baby and children’s items, but family life does not stop at the transaction.

Parents are often trying to solve several everyday problems at once: finding the next size of clothes, clearing space at home, saving money, checking whether something is safe to reuse, looking for trusted information, and finding somewhere to take the children at the weekend.

That is why Kidora now includes two important areas alongside the marketplace: Kidora Parent Hub and Kidora Family Places.

Kidora Parent Hub

Kidora Parent Hub has been created to give parents useful UK-focused information in one place.

It includes practical guides and resources across subjects including:

Things to do with children
Local family guides
Saving money
Buying and selling children’s items
Pregnancy and baby preparation
Toddlers, preschool and primary school
Family support and parenting resources

The guides are intended to help parents find official information, ask better questions and make practical decisions. Health, legal, financial, education and product-safety pages signpost appropriate NHS, GOV.UK, council and recognised specialist sources rather than replacing professional advice.

For Kidora, Parent Hub is part of the bigger mission: to make the platform useful even when a parent is not buying or selling that day.

Kidora Family Places

Kidora Family Places was built to help parents discover days out, activities and family-friendly places across the UK.

The database includes more than 6,500 family places across multiple categories, including parks, soft play centres, museums, castles, animal attractions, beaches, cinemas, swimming pools, gardens, historic places and family days out.

Parents can search by location and radius, view place details, check facilities where available, open directions, visit official websites and save favourite places to come back to later.

Family Places also includes a community photo feature. Parents can tap “Have you been here?” and submit their own photos for review after visiting a place.

Some listings use illustrative images while Kidora builds a real-photo library through Kidora photos, parent submissions and future venue contributions. The aim is to make Family Places more useful over time as real families help improve it.

For Kidora, Family Places is part of the same mission as the marketplace: helping families save time, save money and make everyday family life a little easier.

Built in Chester, Growing Across the UK

Kidora was founded in Chester, close to the communities of Wrexham, Flintshire and North Wales where the marketplace first began developing local activity.

Its purpose, however, has always been UK-wide.

Kidora supports parents and families throughout the United Kingdom through:

Native iOS and Android apps
A web marketplace
Nationwide delivery
Local collection
English and Polish language support
Family-focused categories and discovery
Practical Parent Hub resources
Family Places search across the UK

Kidora’s approach is to build genuine activity in communities, learn from parents and grow location by location rather than pretending every area is already equally active.

Meet Karolina, Founder of Kidora

Karolina Gudes is the founder and public face of Kidora.

She is a mum of two who understands how quickly family life becomes filled with clothing, toys, equipment, appointments, work and everyday responsibilities.

Kidora was created because she wanted a marketplace that felt more relevant to parents: a place where baby and children’s items were not an afterthought, where local collection and delivery could both work, and where a suitable item could be sold, bought or offered FREE instead of forgotten in a box.

As Kidora grew, Karolina’s vision became wider. She wanted Kidora to help parents beyond buying and selling: to give them practical information through Parent Hub and make it easier to discover family places nearby.

Her founding belief remains at the centre of Kidora:

“Every item carries a story. Every sale helps another family.”

— Karolina Gudes, Founder of Kidora

What Kidora Stands For

Families First

Kidora focuses on the products, questions and everyday challenges that matter to parents and carers.

Clear and Honest Listings

Buyers should be able to understand what they are purchasing. Sellers are expected to describe condition, contents and faults accurately.

Reuse Where It Is Appropriate

Suitable items should have the opportunity to help another family. Unsafe products should not be passed on.

Fairer Selling

Kidora charges no seller listing fee or commission on the item sale price.

Local Communities with UK-Wide Reach

Parents can discover nearby items while still having access to nationwide delivery.

Practical Support

The marketplace, Help Centre and Parent Hub are intended to make family buying, selling and everyday decision-making easier to understand.

Useful Family Discovery

Family Places helps parents discover places to go with children, from local parks and soft play to museums, animal attractions, beaches and family days out.

The Next Chapter

Kidora is still growing.

Every new listing, purchase, FREE collection, saved place, parent photo and recommendation helps create a more useful platform for the next family who arrives.

The long-term mission is to make Kidora a trusted UK destination for buying, selling and passing on baby and children’s items—while continuing to build practical resources and family discovery features that support parents beyond the transaction itself.

Childhood moves quickly. A useful item can continue its story with another family. A helpful guide can point a parent in the right direction. A saved place can become the next family day out.

Discover Kidora

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Kidora?

Kidora was founded by Karolina Gudes, a mum of two based near Chester. She built the platform with her partner Martin Kvasnica and their close friend John Prydderch.

When did Kidora launch?

The native Kidora app launched in May 2025.

Where was Kidora founded?

Kidora was founded in Chester, United Kingdom, with early community activity across Chester, Wrexham, Flintshire and North Wales.

Is Kidora available outside the United Kingdom?

No. Kidora is a UK-only marketplace and family platform for buyers and sellers across the United Kingdom.

Does Kidora support new products as well as preloved items?

Yes. Sellers can list genuinely new items and accurately described preloved baby and children’s products.

Does Kidora charge seller commission?

No. Kidora does not charge a listing fee or seller commission on the item sale price, subject to its terms concerning payment-provider costs, refunds, reversals and chargebacks.

What is a FREE listing?

A suitable item can be listed at £0. It appears as FREE, is secured through Kidora checkout and is available for local collection only. No Kidora Fee is added.

Does Kidora inspect products before they are listed?

No. Kidora is a marketplace and does not physically inspect, test or certify user-listed products. Buyers and sellers must carry out appropriate condition, instruction, suitability and recall checks.

What is the Kidora Parent Hub?

Kidora Parent Hub is Kidora’s collection of UK-focused family guides covering local activities, saving money, buying and selling, pregnancy, babies, children and parenting resources.

What is Kidora Family Places?

Kidora Family Places helps parents discover family-friendly places across the UK. Parents can search by location and radius, browse categories, view useful details, open directions, visit official websites, save favourite places and add their own photos for review after visiting.