Safety
Meeting safely
Most in-person sales go fine. The ones that don’t usually gave off a signal beforehand, and almost all of them are avoidable with a few habits.
Before you go
Meet somewhere public, in daylight
A supermarket car park, a busy café, a bank lobby. Many police stations have a designated exchange zone with cameras — those are the best option where they exist. Never a home address, yours or theirs, and never after dark for a first meeting.
Tell someone where you're going
Who you're meeting, where, when, and what for. Agree to message them when you're done. This costs you thirty seconds and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
Bring someone if you can
Especially for anything expensive. Two people is a meaningfully different proposition to anyone considering something opportunistic.
Keep it on the platform until you've agreed
If someone pushes to move to text or WhatsApp before terms are agreed, ask yourself why. The usual reason is that they don't want a record.
While you’re there
Test it before money changes hands
Every listing has an inspection checklist for its category — power it on, check the ports, verify the serial matches. A seller with nothing to hide will wait the two minutes.
Check it isn't locked or reported
Phones, tablets and consoles should be signed out of every account. An activation-locked device is worth nothing to you, and a device with a blacklisted IMEI may be stolen.
Count the cash in the open
Both of you, in view of each other. Cash is what most deals here use, and disputes about what was handed over are almost always avoidable.
Walk away if
- They want to meet somewhere isolated, or keep changing the location.
- They pressure you to decide fast, or say someone else is on the way with cash.
- The price is far below the market range and the reason keeps changing.
- They refuse to let you test the item, or won't let you see it before paying.
- They ask for payment before you meet, or want a deposit to hold it.
- Anything at all feels wrong. You do not owe a stranger an explanation.
No item is worth your safety. Leaving costs you a trip; the alternative can cost a lot more.
If something goes wrong
If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number first. Report the listing or the member to us afterwards — use the report control on the listing, or get in touch through the help page. We can suspend an account and take listings down, and we keep a record of every action we take.
We are a venue, not a party to your transaction, and we can’t recover money or goods for you — so the habits above matter more here than any policy we could write.