Email and phone
Required of everyone. Without it you cannot list, bid or message.
How it works
Everything that happens between browsing and buying
Connust adds a few steps that a normal classifieds site skips. This page explains each one and why it is there.
Getting started
Making an account
Sign up with your email
You get a six digit code by email. It expires after fifteen minutes.
Confirm your phone number
An SMS code finishes the account. One phone number gets one account, which is what stops somebody rebuilding a reputation after being reported.
Now you can take part
Listing, bidding and messaging all unlock at this point, not before.
Add your ID if you want the badge
Optional, and only worth doing if you sell often. See below.
Trust score
What the number is made of
The score runs from 0 to 100. Nobody can set their own, and paying does not raise it. It is calculated from five parts.
| Part | Weight | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Verification | 30% | Email, phone and approved ID each add to it. |
| Completed sales | 25% | How many listings actually sold, against how many were posted. |
| Ratings | 25% | The average of the star ratings buyers left. |
| Account age | 10% | Rises over the first year. A day old account cannot look established. |
| Response rate | 10% | How often the seller replies when a buyer messages them. |
A low score is not an accusation. New sellers start low because they are new, and the colour tells you which it is: green for a strong record, amber for a mixed or thin one, red for an account with almost no history.
Badges
What each badge takes
National ID and selfie
Submitted in the app and reviewed by a person. Your documents are stored privately and are never visible to other users.
ID, five sales, 4.0 rating
Granted automatically once all three hold, and removed if they stop holding.
Bidding
How an auction listing runs
Opening it
The seller picks a starting bid and a closing date when they post. They can also set a reserve, which is the least they are willing to take.
While it is open
Buyers place bids and everyone sees the current highest. The seller is notified each time a bid comes in.
When it closes
At the deadline the listing stops taking bids on its own. The seller and every bidder get a notification.
Choosing a buyer
The seller decides who to sell to and can accept a bid at any point, including before the deadline. Accepting opens a chat between the two of you.
Reviews
Rating each other after a deal
After a sale the buyer can leave a star rating and a short review on the seller’s profile. Reviews stay on the profile permanently and feed into the trust score. You can review a given transaction once, so a single disagreement cannot turn into a pile of one star ratings.
Staying safe
Verification helps. It is not a guarantee.
Knowing who somebody is makes fraud harder and easier to trace. It does not make it impossible. These habits do most of the work.
Meet somewhere public
A busy place in daylight. Shopping centres, petrol stations and bank forecourts all have cameras and people.
See it before you pay
Check the item in person. For a phone or a laptop, turn it on. For a vehicle, look at the papers and match the numbers.
Do not send money in advance
Advance payment to somebody you have never met is the single most common way people are cheated here. A deposit for “booking” an item is the usual excuse.
Keep it in the app
If somebody wants to move to another app straight away, ask yourself why. In app messages can be reported. Messages elsewhere cannot.
Read the profile, not just the listing
Account age, sales, reviews and badge take ten seconds to check and tell you more than the photos do.
Report anything wrong
Every listing and profile has a report option for fraud, fake items, abuse and scams. Reports go to a real reviewer who can suspend an account.