Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — posting an ad, replying to a buyer, opening a basic Digital Store, and browsing all listings are 100% free with no hidden fees. We pay for the platform via tasteful display advertising and an optional Verified-Business subscription for sellers who want advanced analytics, priority dispute resolution and a trust badge. We never take a percentage of any sale you make on Adukoo.

Three revenue streams, all of them clearly disclosed: (1) Google AdSense and our own affiliate partnerships — these are the small Sponsored cards you'll see in the home feed and at the top of search results; (2) Verified-Business subscriptions for sellers who want 360° analytics, multi-store dashboards and priority support; (3) Sponsored placements for select large advertisers who want top-of-rail visibility in specific categories — always labelled, never disguised as organic.

Tap 'Post an Ad' at the top of any page, fill in title and description, drop 1-3 photos (we auto-crop to the recommended 1600×1200 ratio if you tap the smart-fit button), choose a category and your location, then publish. The ad goes live instantly — no review queue. You can edit, pause, or republish it any time from the My Listings tab in your account.

Email verification is required before your first ad goes live (one-tap OTP, no documents needed). Phone verification is optional but strongly recommended — buyers trust verified sellers more, and you'll appear higher in search results. If you want the prominent green Verified Business badge, complete the optional business-document verification (GSTIN, VAT number, EIN, or your country's equivalent) under Account → Get Verified.

Open any listing and tap 'Chat with seller'. Adukoo's chat is real-time (WebSocket-based), works on web and the Android/iOS app, and supports text + photos + the listing's price + delivery negotiation. We never insert ourselves between buyer and seller — your messages go directly, encrypted in transit, and we don't read them.

Yes. Messages are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and stored encrypted at rest. Only you and the other party can see them. Adukoo customer support cannot read your messages even on request — if you need help with a dispute, you'll need to share screenshots. We retain messages for 90 days after a chat thread becomes inactive, then permanently delete them.

By default we show prices in your country's local currency, automatically detected from your IP and confirmable on the home page. Sellers can override the currency on each listing if they prefer to quote internationally. Conversion rates shown are indicative — always confirm the exact amount with the seller before paying.

No. Adukoo is a classifieds platform, not a payment processor. Buyers and sellers transact directly — UPI, bank transfer, cash on delivery, PayPal Goods & Services, credit card via the seller's own gateway, or whatever you mutually agree on. For online transactions with strangers, we strongly recommend using a payment method with buyer protection. Never wire money or send gift cards to a seller you haven't verified.

Three rules: meet in a public, well-lit place during the day; bring a friend if the item is high-value; and inspect the item thoroughly before paying. For vehicles or real estate, ask for ownership documents and verify them. If any seller pressures you to pay before meeting, that's a red flag — walk away. We have a one-tap 'Report Listing' button on every ad if you suspect a scam.

Sellers with the green Verified Business badge have submitted their official business registration (GSTIN for India, EIN for US, VAT for UK/EU, company-house equivalents elsewhere) and our team has manually confirmed it with the issuing authority. Verified businesses get priority dispute resolution, 360° analytics on their dashboard, multi-store support, and the trust badge visible to buyers everywhere their listings appear.

Email verification is instant. Phone verification is instant. Business verification (the green badge) is reviewed by a human and typically completes in 2-7 business days. If we need additional documents we'll email you within 24 hours. Your account works fully during the review — verification just adds the badge.

Yes. The first Digital Store is free for any seller. Multi-store sellers — say a jewellery boutique that also runs a separate vintage-watches store — can unlock unlimited stores by upgrading to the Verified Business tier. Each store has its own URL (adukoo.com/store/your-slug), banner, custom theme, inventory dashboard, and review feed.

Go to My Listings (top-right menu, first item), find the ad you want to change, and tap Edit. Changes go live instantly. To delete, tap the trash icon — your ad moves to a Trash bin where it stays restorable for as long as you want; you can permanently delete from there. We never silently delete listings; everything is recoverable until you choose to wipe it.

Adukoo listings expire 30 days after creation by default. A few days before expiry we send you an email + in-app alert with a one-tap Republish button — that resets the 30-day clock without changing the URL or losing your view count. Expired listings stay in your account (greyed out) for 90 days, then move to Trash automatically.

Every listing has a 'Report' link at the bottom. Pick the reason (scam, prohibited item, miscategorized, offensive content, fake-seller impersonation, etc.), add an optional note, and submit. We review every report within 24 business hours; serious violations (weapons, drugs, child-safety) get reviewed within 4 hours and the listing is taken down immediately while we investigate. Reporters' identities are confidential.

Yes. Adukoo serves sellers and buyers in 195+ countries. The interface auto-detects your country and shows prices, distances, and category subtypes localized for it. Cross-border sales (you in India, buyer in UAE) are supported — make sure both of you have a workable shipping + payment plan before agreeing to a price.

Yes. Every listing gets its own URL with proper SEO meta tags, OpenGraph cards for social-share previews, structured JSON-LD data (Product/JobPosting/RealEstateListing schema depending on category), and is included in our auto-generated XML sitemap. Google typically indexes new listings within 2-5 days.

Every listing has a Share button that copies a clean link and, on supported platforms, opens the native share sheet. Social platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram) will fetch the listing's title, description, price and lead photo as a rich preview card.

Yes — see section 3 of our Terms of Service for the full list. The headline categories are: weapons & ammunition, illegal drugs, counterfeit goods, wildlife/endangered species, adult content, stolen goods, and regulated financial products without a license. Our automated moderation removes obvious violations before they go live; human review catches the rest.

First, message the other party directly — most disputes resolve in one or two exchanges. If you can't reach an agreement, write to reachus@adukoo.com within 7 days of the transaction with the listing URL, chat screenshots, and a brief description of the issue. For transactions involving Verified-Business sellers we offer free mediation. We cannot reverse payments since we don't process them, but we can help facilitate a refund.

An affiliate listing is a deal from a partner site (Amazon, Flipkart, AJIO, etc.) that we surface in a clearly-labelled Sponsored Ads rail on the home page. Tapping it takes you to the partner site where they handle the transaction; Adukoo may earn a small referral fee, which helps keep the rest of the platform free. We always disclose affiliate links with the Sponsored badge — there is no hidden tagging anywhere.

Profile → Account settings → Delete account. We confirm via a second email click, then irreversibly delete your account, all your listings (active and trashed), your chat history, and your Digital Stores. This cannot be undone. If you only want to take a break, you can pause your listings instead — same effect on visibility but recoverable later.

We collect the minimum needed to operate the marketplace: your email, hashed password, listings you post, chat messages, sales records, and basic technical data (IP, browser type) for security. We never sell your data. See our full Privacy Policy for details on retention, deletion, GDPR/CCPA rights, and the third-party services we use (Google AdSense for ads, SendGrid for transactional email, Gemini AI for optional title polishing — and that's it).

Yes. The Adukoo Android app is on Google Play. iOS is in private beta — write to reachus@adukoo.com if you want a TestFlight invite. Both apps are thin Capacitor wrappers around the same web platform you see at adukoo.com, so feature parity is 100% and updates ship simultaneously.

Yes. We support two formats: (1) self-serve Sponsored Boost — pin one of your own listings to the top of its category for a week or a month, set your own budget, instant launch from any listing's Boost button; (2) display ads via Google AdSense and direct buys — write to reachus@adukoo.com with your media kit. We're picky about what we accept; ads must be on-brand and relevant.

Not at this time. The platform is built and operated by Adukoo Tech. We may open-source individual components (e.g. our content-moderation pipeline, our SEO renderer) in future, but the marketplace itself is a managed service.

Write to reachus@adukoo.com with a clear subject line (e.g. 'Press inquiry — TechCrunch' or 'Partnership — Razorpay'). We typically respond within 2 business days. Our founder reads every press email personally.

We genuinely love feature requests. Email reachus@adukoo.com with the subject 'Feature request' and as much detail as you can — what problem it solves, who else would benefit, and a rough mockup if you have one. We ship 2-5 features a month based on user feedback.