Community Guidelines and Acceptable Use

Want is a reverse marketplace: buyers post what they want, and sellers respond. These Community Guidelines describe how to use the Service in a way that keeps it useful and safe for everyone. They are part of the Terms of Service and are read together with the Prohibited Items policy.

1. Be truthful

1. Post Wants and offers you actually intend to fulfill.
2. Describe items accurately, including condition, defects, provenance, and any repairs.
3. Use your own reference photos or photos you have the right to use.
4. Do not fabricate reviews, testimonials, or credentials.

2. Be lawful

1. Do not post, offer, or arrange the exchange of any item on the Prohibited Items policy.
2. Do not solicit or fulfill an item using phrases such as “no questions asked” or “no serial numbers.”
3. Do not use Want to evade taxes, sanctions, or reporting obligations.

3. Be respectful

1. No harassment, threats, stalking, or doxxing.
2. No hate speech or slurs targeting people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or veteran status.
3. No sexual content, sexual advances, or requests for sexual content.
4. No content that promotes self-harm, eating disorders, or violence.

4. Be honest about who you are

1. One account per person. Do not impersonate any real person or business.
2. Do not use Want on behalf of another person unless you have authority to do so.
3. Do not evade a ban by creating a new account.

5. Keep it on-topic

1. Use Wants to describe items you want to acquire, not to advertise, solicit donations, promote a business, or recruit.
2. Do not spam users with the same message or offer repeatedly.
3. Do not send unsolicited commercial messages, referral links, or chain messages.

6. Keep it private

1. Share your own contact information only when you intend to.
2. Do not share another user’s personal information without consent.
3. Meet in a public place, in daylight, and let someone know where you are going. Consider a police-station “safe exchange zone.”

7. Meet safely and pay safely

1. Inspect the item in person before paying whenever possible.
2. Prefer cash or a same-bank instant transfer for in-person exchanges. Avoid wire transfers and gift-card payments — these are the two most common fraud vectors.
3. Never send money or codes to a user you have not met, and never share verification codes texted to your phone.
4. Walk away from any deal that feels wrong. There is no fee, penalty, or obligation for not completing a transaction.

8. Deal safely

Want is a bulletin board. We do not hold escrow, verify identities, inspect items, or process any part of the actual sale. Every payment and every hand-off is between you and the other person. Read the rules below and follow them. If a deal violates any of them, walk away.

1. Deal locally with people you can meet in person. Over 99% of scams involve someone far away who has a reason they can’t meet you today.
2. Meet in a public place — a busy coffee shop, a bank lobby, or a police-station “safe exchange zone” in daylight. Bring a friend. Tell someone where you are going.
3. Inspect the item before you pay. Test it. Confirm serial numbers. If the seller pressures you to pay first, walk away.
4. Cash, Zelle, or Venmo in person only — after you have the item in hand. For higher-value items, meet at a bank and use an instant same-bank transfer you can both watch clear.
5. Never wire funds (Western Union, MoneyGram, bank wire) to anyone you met on Want. Wires cannot be reversed. Wiring money is the single most common way people lose everything on classifieds sites.
6. Never accept cashier’s checks, money orders, or “overpayment” refunds. They clear at your bank and bounce weeks later. You are on the hook for every dollar you “refunded.”
7. Never buy gift cards, prepaid cards, or crypto at someone’s request. No legitimate buyer or seller asks for these. Ever.
8. Never share codes. Do not read back a code texted to your phone. Do not share bank logins, SSN, driver’s license, or a photo of your ID. A real buyer does not need any of these to buy a used stroller.
9. Watch for classic scam scripts: the “I’m out of town, my shipper will pick it up,” the “my check was cut for too much, send the difference back,” the “emergency, please move fast,” the sob story, the buyer/seller who only communicates by long broken-English email. Delete and block.
10. No shipping deals with strangers. If it can’t be handed to you in person, assume it’s a scam.
11. Trust your gut. There is no fee, penalty, or obligation for walking away from a deal that feels wrong. Report the user with the Report control and move on.

See our Safety Tips page for additional guidance and links to fraud-reporting resources.

9. Reporting and blocking

Every Want, offer, message, and profile has a Report control and a Block control. Reporting sends the content to our safety team for review. Blocking prevents a user from contacting you or seeing your activity. Blocking is silent to the blocked user. See our Trust and Safety page for what happens next.

10. Enforcement

1. We may remove content, restrict features, suspend accounts, or terminate accounts for violations.
2. We may act on a single serious violation or on a pattern of smaller ones.
3. We may act with or without prior notice.
4. Terminated users are not entitled to a refund of any Posting Fee.

11. Appeals

If you believe an enforcement action was made in error, reply to the notice or email appeals@wantie.app within thirty (30) days. Include your account handle, the content or action at issue, and the reason you believe the action was in error. We aim to respond within a reasonable time. Our decision is final.