Safe meetup guidelines

Where you meet matters more than anything else on this page. For most items, a public spot beats a home visit.

• Police station safe-exchange zones are the safest option. Many departments have a marked, camera-covered parking bay reserved for online sales, available 24/7 and free to use.
• Busy, well-lit retail parking lots — a supermarket, a hardware store, a mall entrance — are the next best choice.
• Coffee shops and bank lobbies work well for small, valuable items like phones, jewellery and game consoles.
• Meet in daylight whenever you can. If it has to be after dark, pick somewhere with lighting, cameras and staff.
• Never meet in an empty lot, a parking garage stairwell, a park after hours, or anywhere with no other people around.

When a seller turns on Safe public meetup, that item shows a badge on the listing and GD Agent will schedule the handover at a public spot instead of the seller's home.

Large furniture and appliances often have to be collected from the seller's address. GD DEAL only shares that address once a pickup is actually booked.

• Bring someone with you — or at least tell a friend where you are going and when you expect to be back.
• Share your live location with someone you trust for the duration of the pickup.
• Sellers: have another adult in the house during the appointment, and keep the handover to the driveway, garage or doorway.
• Don't go inside a stranger's home, and don't let a stranger wander through yours.
• Measure doorways and stairs in advance so nobody is stuck improvising with a heavy item.

Once a pickup is booked, both sides get a Live pickup map button in the deal chat and under Upcoming pickups.

• Tap “On my way” to start sharing your location. The other person sees you approaching the meeting point, so neither of you is waiting around wondering.
• Only the other participant in that specific deal can see your position — never other buyers, never the public.
• Sharing stops the moment you tap stop or close the map, and it expires automatically a few hours later.
• For home pickups, only the buyer travels, so only the buyer shares. For public meetups, either or both of you can share.

GD Agent negotiates the price, but the final decision is always yours, in person, with the item in front of you.

• Test electronics before handing over money: power it on, check the screen, charge port, battery and any accessories that were promised.
• Check furniture for damage, stains and missing hardware in daylight.
• For anything with a serial number, confirm it isn't reported stolen and ask for the original receipt where that makes sense.
• If the item does not match the listing, you are free to walk away. No deal is ever binding until you hand over payment.

GD DEAL does not process payments. Money changes hands directly between the buyer and the seller at the pickup.

• Cash or an instant bank transfer completed in front of you are the safest options.
• Count cash before the item leaves your hands, and check that a transfer has actually landed in your account — not just that a screenshot exists.
• Never accept a payment for more than the agreed price with a request to refund the difference. That is the most common scam in secondhand sales.
• Refuse cheques, gift cards, cryptocurrency, and any payment method the other person insists on at the last minute.
• No legitimate GD DEAL buyer needs a deposit before a pickup, and no legitimate seller needs one either.

• Pressure to move off GD DEAL and into a private text thread before anything has been agreed.
• A request to meet somewhere isolated, or a last-minute change to a worse location.
• Refusal to let you inspect or test the item before payment.
• An offer that is far above or far below a sensible price, paired with urgency.
• Any request for your bank login, card number, verification code or identity documents.

Trust your instincts. Cancelling a pickup costs you nothing.

Plans change — that's fine. Open the deal and tap Cancel deal. Cancel more than 24 hours before the booked pickup and there's no penalty at all. Cancel inside those last 24 hours and it lowers your own pickup reliability score, which other members can see. The other person is never penalised for your cancellation.

If the other person doesn't turn up at all, tap No-show. That closes the deal, records who was absent and notifies them. Either way the item stays listed, so the seller can carry on with other buyers straight away.

If someone behaves badly, is abusive, or lists something that shouldn't be on the marketplace, contact GD DEAL support with the deal and we'll review the full conversation. Serious incidents should go to your local police first — always.