How We Stop Bad Actors

  • Trust is always on in the background

    Most of the work that keeps Whatnot trustworthy happens before anyone notices. Every action on the platform – signups, logins, listings, bids, payments – runs through systems built to spot bad actors and stop them before they ever reach a buyer or seller. The goal is for you to never have to think about it.

  • What our systems check

    Our automated systems look at signals across the Whatnot experience – from the moment an account is created to everything that happens after. That includes:

    • Account creation and login: Two-factor authentication, device and network signals, and identity verification for sellers

    • Listings and content: Whether what's being sold and done follows our Community Guidelines

    • Transactions: Payment patterns, return-related behavior, and signals from payment providers and financial institutions

    • Account behavior over time: How accounts interact across shows, DMs, and orders. 

  • Built for prevention

    Sales on Whatnot happen live, which means trust has to work in real time, too. Our goal is to catch issues as they show up – which is why most bad actors are stopped before they can complete a single transaction on the platform. That means fewer bad listings, fewer order issues to deal with, and more confidence that your orders will go as planned. 

  • Built for fairness, too

    Acting fast isn't the only thing that matters. Accuracy does, too. We hold our enforcement systems to a high bar for precision. And when sellers think we got it wrong, they can appeal in the app, and we review it.

  • Trust is everyone's job here

    Detection isn't only the work of our Trust and Safety teams. Earlier this year, we ran a company-wide hackathon and invited any Whatnot employee – engineers, ops, support, designers – to propose new ways to spot bad behavior on the platform. Employees submitted more than 50 new ideas, and several are already making their way into the app.

    At Whatnot, keeping the marketplace trustworthy isn't one team's job. It's part of how the whole company operates – and that work never stops.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We combine identity verification, automated detection, and human review to stop bad actors before they can affect buyers or sellers. From account creation through every transaction, our systems look for patterns we know are tied to bad behavior. Most of the accounts we remove are caught before any user reports them.

  • Yes. We use machine learning and rules-based systems to evaluate signals across the platform in real time. These systems handle clear violations automatically and route more complex cases to our Trust and Safety teams for review.

  • What happens depends on the situation. Clear violations result in immediate action, including removal. Other cases get additional review or require extra verification before the account can keep going. Either way, the goal is the right outcome – not just the fastest one.

  • It's rare, but it can happen. Sellers can appeal any decision in the app, and most appeals are resolved within a day. If we get it wrong, we make it right.

  • Report it from where you see it – in a show, in DMs, on a listing, or on a profile. Your reports go directly to our Trust and Safety team and the same systems that catch bad behavior across the platform. Every report sharpens our detection over time. Learn more about reporting.