What does each marketplace publish about a seller?
Less than the star rating suggests, and a different amount on each one. Facebook publishes a rating once enough of them exist, OfferUp publishes badges, and craigslist publishes nothing about the person behind the advert.
Facebook's help centre sets the threshold in its own words: ratings may become public once you receive 5 or more eligible ratings, and anyone who can see the Marketplace profile can see them. The same page adds that Facebook does not verify whether the people leaving them bought the product.
OfferUp publishes a short list of profile badges instead: confirmed phone, confirmed email, Facebook connect, a reply-rate badge and TruYou.
| Platform | What it publishes | What that is checked against |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook Marketplace | A rating, once five or more arrive | Nothing; the rater need not have bought |
| OfferUp | Phone, email, reply rate, TruYou | An ID and a selfie, by a third party |
| craigslist | A randomised address per posting | Nothing |
| Gumtree | A masked email address | Nothing |
Two of the four publish an identity signal. None of them publishes a name.
What does an OfferUp TruYou badge actually prove?
That somebody submitted a government ID and a selfie, and a third party found they matched. OfferUp is unusually straight about how far that goes.
Its own help page describes the submission — a mobile number, two photographs of a driving licence, state ID or passport, and a selfie taken on the spot — and says the ID and selfie are processed by Onfido, which checks the document for authenticity and checks that the face matches it.
The sentence worth reading twice. OfferUp writes that TruYou membership means a user has provided identification verified by its third-party service, and that it doesn't guarantee the user is who they say they are, or that they're trustworthy or safe to interact with. A verified document is not a verified intention.
Two more limits are in the same page. The programme is free and voluntary in most cases, so an unbadged seller has told you nothing, and the badge stays on the profile for the lifetime of the account and cannot be removed.
Why does craigslist publish almost nothing?
Because it was built that way, and the design is the answer rather than a gap in it. There is no seller profile to read, so the checks have to move to the listing and the meeting.
What craigslist does publish is a wall. Its mail relay creates a randomised custom email address for each posting, so the address you write to says nothing about who holds it. The same page warns that the “real name” field in your own mail client passes through unaltered, which is a leak running the other way.
In place of a profile it publishes a rule. Its advice on avoiding scams opens with one line — deal locally, face-to-face — and calls that the way to avoid the vast majority of scam attempts.
The rest of that page is a list of refusals: no payment before meeting in person, no wire transfers, no gift cards, no depositing a cashier's cheque, and escrow services treated as a scam in themselves.
The hand-over is where the listing turns back into an object. Everything you can check about the item happens here, in daylight, before anything is paid.
Which payment route can still be reversed?
The platform's own checkout, and nothing else. Every company named here publishes where its protection stops, and each one stops at the point a stranger hands you an object.
Facebook is explicit: purchases made through third-party sites, local pickups, Messenger transactions or other messaging services do not qualify for Purchase Protection. The local collection that makes marketplace buying attractive is the case the cover excludes.
Venmo draws the same line. Its eligibility page rules out payments made without the “Turn on for purchases” toggle, and items you collect in person unless the payment went through an in-person QR code.
Zelle removes the question altogether, which is the honest version. It says in writing that it does not offer purchase protection, and recommends against using it for items bought from an online sales site.
Cash, transfer, app and gift card, side by side
Each row below is the company's or the regulator's own position, not a ranking somebody invented. Read the middle column before you agree to a method, because after the handover it is the only column that matters.
| Method | What the policy says | Reversible? |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook checkout | Covered, unless local pickup or Messenger | Yes |
| Venmo, marked as a purchase | Not if you collect it in person | Sometimes |
| Zelle | Cancellable only before the recipient enrols | No |
| PayPal friends and family | Gumtree: not the same safeguards | No |
| Gift card, wire, crypto | FTC: never pay someone who insists | No |
| Cash, in person | Nothing to reverse; nothing to dispute | No |
Handles behave differently again, and what a Venmo username or a $Cashtag does and does not expose is set out in our guide to payment handles.
One route deserves naming separately. A seller who moves you off the marketplace to their own shop has changed the question entirely, and the checks that answer it start with the domain's registration date.
The photographs, the price and the second city
Test the pictures before you test anything else, because a copied advert is copied from somewhere and the photograph is what was taken.
The method is the one used on a profile picture, and it is set out step by step in our guide to reverse image searching a photo. What you are looking for is the same item under a second city, a second price or a second seller name.
Gumtree's safe trading advice names the pair together: watch for stock photographs and blinding deals, and study the market for what the price should be. It adds the request that usually follows them — a deposit to secure an item you have not seen.
A match is not proof of fraud on its own. Sellers relist, portals syndicate, and manufacturers' photographs are everywhere. The same picture under two different sellers is the version that settles it.
Where should you meet a stranger with an item?
Somewhere that was built for it, in daylight, with somebody who knows where you are. This part of the job is not a search at all, and police forces have already written it down.
Fairfax County Police publish ten tips for online transactions: meet in a safe public location such as a coffee shop, shopping centre or police station car park, bring a friend or family member where you can, and complete the transaction during daylight hours.
Some forces go further and mark the ground. Montgomery County Police run an online exchange zone in the lobbies and car parks of its district stations, and craigslist's in-person advice tells you to insist on a public meeting place like a bank or a police department.
The zone is not a witness. Montgomery County states that its police employees will not participate in transactions or act as witnesses. A camera and a marked bay deter the robbery. Neither one adjudicates the deal, and neither gets your money back.
What does a phone number or an email address prove?
That the identifier has a history, or that it has none. Neither of those is a name, and a stranger's identifier is worth checking precisely because it is the only thing they have given you that they did not write themselves.
A number is a line rather than a person. What line type, carrier and reputation data actually settle — and the far shorter list of what they do not — is in our guides to judging a phone number and to an unknown caller.
An email address is dated by its breaches. An address that turns up in an old leak has existed at least since that leak, and an address with no history at all is consistent with a week-old account, which is the pattern a reverse email lookup reads for.
Name the limit in the same breath. Absence of history is weak evidence, because privacy-minded people also come back empty, and presence of history proves the identifier is old rather than that its holder is honest.
How to run the identifier checks on DetectiveCheck
After the platform checks and before the money, not instead of either. A lookup answers whether the person contacting you has any history; it does not answer whether the item exists.
- The address they messaged from, through the email lookup, read for breach dates rather than for a name — 71 sources.
- The number on the advert, through the phone lookup, read for line type. Eight sources, and that is the thin module.
- The handle they use elsewhere, through the username lookup, which checks 71 platforms for the same name.
Every finding carries its source, and the sources that came back empty are printed beside the ones that answered. The sample report shows the shape without an account, and the plans page prices it from $15 a month.
What no report here reaches is the seller's legal name, their address or their record, and a report that implied otherwise would be contradicted by the first one you ran.
Common questions
How do I check a marketplace seller before buying?
Read what the platform publishes about the account, reverse image search the listing photographs, and agree a payment route the provider will reverse. Facebook shows a seller rating once five arrive; OfferUp shows an identity badge; craigslist shows nothing. Then meet in a public place in daylight and inspect the item before any money moves.
What does a TruYou badge mean on OfferUp?
That the member submitted a mobile number, two photographs of a government ID and a selfie, and that Onfido found the document authentic and the face a match. OfferUp adds in the same help page that the badge does not guarantee the user is who they say they are, or that they are trustworthy or safe to interact with.
Do Facebook Marketplace seller ratings mean anything?
They mean somebody rated the seller. Facebook's help centre says ratings may become public once a seller receives five or more eligible ratings, and that it does not verify whether the people leaving them bought the product or used the service. A rating is evidence of activity on the account rather than evidence about the person holding it.
Does Facebook Purchase Protection cover local pickup?
No. Facebook's help page states that purchases made through third-party sites, local pickups, Messenger transactions or other messaging services do not qualify for Purchase Protection. Cover attaches to checkout on Facebook, so the collect-in-person deal that most Marketplace buyers actually do is the one case the policy leaves outside.
Is it safe to pay a marketplace seller with Zelle?
Zelle itself recommends against it. Its FAQ says it does not offer purchase protection, and advises against using it where you do not know the person or are unsure you will get what you paid for, naming items bought from online sales sites. A payment can only be cancelled while the recipient has not yet enrolled.
Can a Venmo payment for a marketplace item be refunded?
Only in narrow cases. Venmo's eligibility page excludes payments made without switching on the purchases toggle, and excludes items you collect in person unless the payment went through an in-person QR code. A person-to-person payment for goods handed over in a car park is outside Purchase Protection by design.
How do I tell whether a listing photograph is stolen?
Reverse image search it and look for the same item under a different city, price or seller name. Gumtree's safety advice tells buyers to watch for stock photographs alongside prices that are too good, and to be wary of any deposit requested to secure an item you have not seen in person.
Where is the safest place to meet a marketplace seller?
A public, populated place in daylight, and several police forces provide one. Fairfax County Police advise a coffee shop, shopping centre or police station car park, with a friend along. Montgomery County Police run marked exchange zones at district stations, while stating that officers will not take part or act as witnesses.
What can craigslist tell me about a seller?
Effectively nothing, by design. There is no profile and no rating. craigslist creates a randomised email address for each posting, so the address reveals nothing, and its own guidance replaces the missing profile with one rule: deal locally, face-to-face, which it says avoids the vast majority of scam attempts.
What does a seller's phone number prove?
That a line exists and has some history, or that it has none. Line type, carrier and reputation data are checkable; a legal name is not. DetectiveCheck reads eight sources for a number, against 71 for an email address, so treat a phone result as a supporting fact rather than an identification.
