Questions
How does payment work? You find an item, start a conversation, agree on price, handover and payment method on mr.bid, then pay the seller directly. Sellers can mark Cash, Bank Transfer, Mobile Money and optional Cryptocurrency as methods they accept. mr.bid does not collect, hold or convert those funds.
Does mr.bid accept cryptocurrency? mr.bid does not hold, convert or transfer cryptocurrency, and it does not run a crypto wallet. Some sellers mark Cryptocurrency as a method they are willing to accept. If a listing shows Crypto Accepted, you and the seller agree the asset, network and amount in the conversation, then you pay them directly. That is a seller preference, not a mr.bid payment or escrow.
What happens when I use Buy Now? Buy Now opens a conversation at the listed price. On the listing you pick how you would like to pay (Cash, Bank Transfer, Mobile Money, or Cryptocurrency if the seller accepts it). That records your preference — it does not take a unit or collect payment. When both sides agree, mr.bid records the agreement and holds one unit so two people cannot take the last one. If that deal is cancelled, the unit is put back. Start Transaction in Messages is the same Buy Now start. It does not show after the item is sold or on an auction-only listing — you can still message the seller about similar items.
How do offers work? Buyers can make an offer on negotiable Buy Now listings. Several buyers can offer at the same time; each buyer has one live chain. You take turns on that chain: the seller accepts, declines, or counters, then the buyer replies. Listing rules can auto-decline below a floor, auto-accept at a private price, or auto-counter (midpoint, fixed, percent, or step) up to three times. There is no cap on how many manual counters, but only one person replies at a time. A new amount on the same listing replaces your pending offer, or answers the seller's counter. Pending offers expire in 3 days unless the listing sets 12 hours to 7 days. When the last unit sells, other pending offers end. You can send 8 new offers every 15 minutes and 20 replies every 15 minutes. Accepting records the agreement on mr.bid. It is not a payment through mr.bid.
Can a seller set a minimum price or auto-counter? Yes, on Sell and Edit listing. Minimum offer percent and minimum acceptable price auto-decline low offers (buyers see the GH₵ floor). Auto-accept and auto-counter stay private. Auto-counter can meet in the middle, use a fixed amount, a percent of the listed price, or step down from the last counter, at most three automatic counters per chain. Accepting is still not a payment through mr.bid.
Can more than one person offer on the same listing? Yes. Each buyer has one pending chain. The seller sees all pending offers ranked by amount on the listing and on Offers → Competing. Accepting one deal that takes the last unit ends the other pending offers. Amounts from other buyers are not shown to you.
Can I take back an offer? Yes. Withdraw offer on Offers cancels your pending offer. The seller will not see it as open. Sending a new amount on the same listing also withdraws the old pending offer. Once they accept — or listing rules auto-accept — use the deal instead. You cannot withdraw an accepted offer.
What is the watchlist? Save a listing with the heart to follow price and auction time. Ending soon is a tab on Watchlist. Use folders to group saved items, and move an item between folders from the watchlist. Saving a listing is not a bid or a purchase. You also get a listing-sold alert if it sells while you are watching.
Can I know when a sold-out item is available again? Open a sold-out listing and choose Notify me when available. The alert is one subscription for that listing, appears in Notifications when a unit is restored, and can be stopped from the same button. It is not a reservation or a purchase; the first buyer can still take the available unit.
Can I compare listings? Yes. Use Compare on a search result card or the listing page to keep up to four items in this browser. Open compare loads live prices for those same four. That list is not saved to your account.
Where are recently viewed items? Open Recently viewed. The list of what you opened stays in this browser. The homepage rail, For You, and that page show the same live listing cards as the rest of mr.bid, eight at a time. They are not a watchlist and they are not saved to your account. For You can use those slugs for Similar to What You Viewed after this browser sends them on the URL.
How does For You pick listings? For You is not random newest posts. It uses categories from your watchlist, offers, bids, completed deals, and saved searches that name a category, plus listings you opened in this browser. Empty rails stay off the page. Continue Shopping uses open deals and pending offers. Based on Your Watchlist skips items you already saved. Popular Near You only shows when Shop Near Me or your profile city is set — it does not fall back to listings around Ghana. Similar to What You Viewed ranks from the last listing you opened, with the same score as the listing page (category, place, watchlist, recency). Recently viewed stays in this browser, not on your account. See all on those rails opens /for-you with a cursor, except Recently viewed (/recently-viewed) and Popular Near You (Search near you). We do not keep a buyer search log or a unique-viewer graph.
How do I show a seller contact number? On a listing, Show contact number works if the seller allows it and you are signed in. mr.bid logs that reveal. Use messages when you can so there is a record. The number is the seller's, not a mr.bid phone.
How do I search messages? On Messages, search looks at names, listing titles, and message text across your conversations. Inside a conversation, use the search box to jump to matching lines. Enter sends the chat, including the conversation Buy Now opens. Shift+Enter starts a new line. Your own messages show ticks like WhatsApp: one tick is sent, two grey ticks is delivered, two blue ticks is read. Turn read receipts off in My Account if you do not want that; you then also cannot see when they have read yours. Start Transaction is Buy Now from the conversation; it stays off after the item is sold and on auction-only listings.
Do messages show when they were read? Yes, on your own messages. One tick means sent, two grey ticks means delivered to their mr.bid session, two blue ticks means they opened the conversation. Delivered still shows if they turn read receipts off. If you turn receipts off in My Account, you also cannot see when they have read yours. Staff opening a conversation case does not mark the thread read.
Does Agree & Continue take payment? No. It records that both of you accept the price, handover note, and payment method. You still pay the seller directly. mr.bid does not collect that money. After you pick how you will pay — including on Buy Now — the conversation shows that choice instead of asking again. The other person still taps Agree & Continue to lock the deal.
How does delivery work? After you agree the deal, either of you records how the item will move: buyer pickup, seller delivery, buyer-arranged delivery, a third party, or shipping. You can add a fee you will pay each other, an estimated time, a pickup place, and a tracking link. mr.bid stores that record. It does not run vans, collect the fee, or ping a carrier. Confirming delivery does not complete the deal or move money. mr.bid Delivery Partners is not live. Sellers save pickup places at /seller/pickup.
How do returns work? After you have received the item, the buyer can request a return from the deal within 14 days. The seller can approve or decline. If approved, you mark the item returned, inspect it, approve a refund record, then mark Refunded. That last step means you arranged the refund off-platform — mr.bid does not collect, hold, or send the item payment. A return is not a dispute. Opening a return does not put the deal in dispute. My returns is /returns.
Can I cancel a completed deal? No. Once a deal is completed or cancelled, Decline deal will not put stock back. You can still request a return within 14 days of receiving the item — that is not a dispute. Open a dispute while the deal is still open if something else went wrong.
What if something goes wrong? Open the deal conversation and use Open dispute or Cancel deal. A return is separate — request one from the deal after you received the item. The Dispute resolution page explains disputes and links to My transactions. Keep talking on mr.bid messages. mr.bid does not hold funds, so it cannot reverse a mobile-money or cash payment.
How do I find sellers? Open the Sellers directory for shops with live listings. Verified shops appear first. You can also open a shop from any listing. Cancellation rate shows after a shop has closed deals.
How does Nearby work? Shop Near Me in the header remembers a region, city/town, or area in this browser. Nearby and search follow that place. Search can sort Nearest to your Shop Near Me city using Ghana city centroids only — never a street address. You can use your current location, or pick a region or city without walking Ghana → region → city first.
Does the homepage hide listings after the first 40? No. Each merchandising rail (Hot Deals, Ending Soon, Premium Finds, Under GH₵500, Most Watched, Popular Auctions, Near You, Just Listed, Buy Now, Pre-Owned) is a live query of eight cards. Hot Deals also appears in the homepage sidebar with the same live cards. On a computer the homepage is three columns: a browse sidebar, the merchandising column, and an activity rail. The header sits in that same padded column as those cards — it does not run to the browser edges. Ending Soon sits in the main column. Popular Categories on the right is the same nine featured categories with live listing counts. Your Activities counts watching, live auctions you have bid on, open deals as buyer, and unread messages — 0 stays 0. Signed-out visitors see a sign-in prompt there instead of invented numbers. The signed-out hero is a swipeable gallery: first slide is the original woman portrait (phone in hand), second is the dark device cluster (iPhone, laptop, watch). Dots and the next control pick a slide. On a phone the dots sit under the picture so they are not under the tab bar. Under it, Safe & Secure opens Safety tips, Great Prices opens Hot Deals, Nationwide opens Search, and 24/7 Support opens Help. Professional Sellers shows six shops with an active subscription. Empty rails stay empty. Nearby uses your city or area cookie. Recommended For You uses categories from your watchlist, offers, bids, completed deals, and saved searches — not just-listed fill. Empty Recommended stays empty. See all opens /for-you. Featured categories show nine plus More, with live listing counts. On a phone the homepage strip hides those names and Collectibles, General, and More (star, tag, ellipsis), and shows Shoes, Phones, Kids, and Food instead, five across. More and View all open Categories. See all on merchandising rails opens Search, Auctions, Buy It Now, or Sellers with the same filter. Buy Now See all opens /buy. Premium Finds on the homepage is live Homepage Featured slots, not a quality grade. See all opens Search of listings currently marked featured. The Sponsored rail is paid display campaigns — paid placement, not a quality grade — and stays empty when none are live. Under GH₵500 uses the Buy Now price or the live bid. Pre-owned is used, like-new, refurbished, and parts — not new. When ENABLE_REWARDS is on, the homepage shows your live points balance and links to /rewards. The homepage itself is not cursor-paged so it can stay in the public index. The seller strip shows six shops. Signed-out visitors also see a join banner at the bottom. Sign Up Free opens /register. Explore Now opens Search. The headline says thousands only when live active users are at least 1,000.
What is the homepage left menu? On a computer, the header menu board is Categories, Buy Now, Auctions, Stores, Deals, and Help on a brand-red bar in the same padded column as the cards, with white outline icons. Categories opens a dropdown of live root categories. On a phone that icon opens /categories instead of the dropdown. Deals is Hot Deals see-all. Sell Your Item is the white button on the far right of that bar (plus icon, rounded-lg corners) and opens /sell. On a phone those labels and Sell Your Item are hidden; the board is icons only, and Sell is on the bottom tab bar. The upper header on a phone is charcoal (`bg-ink`), the same as the computer left browse rail, with the mr.bid wordmark on ink (no gavel mark, shopping tag) and GHANA in caps with the flag centered under it. Login and register on a phone use that charcoal header. The footer and the desktop login pitch keep the full lockup. Header Sign in and Register are the same text links, not filled buttons. On a computer the compact lockup (wordmark, shopping tag, GHANA) sits centered in the charcoal left browse rail on every marketplace page, not in the search row. That rail and the header stay put when you move between pages. At the top of a page they sit level, and both stay sticky while you scroll, including the search field. It lists Home, Categories, Auctions, Buy Now, Stores, Messages, Orders & Transactions, Watchlist, and Recently Viewed. The current item is a brand-red left bar, not a filled red pill. Deals opens Hot Deals (Search sorted by most watched). Boosted Items opens Premium Finds (listings with a live Homepage Featured slot). There is no separate Deals or Boosted stub page. Boost Now is on that left rail and opens Promote a listing — you pay mr.bid for a placement; buyer–seller payment stays off that flow. Upgrade Now on the rail opens Professional Seller. The homepage right rail Sell on mr.bid card says Sell an Item and opens /sell. Phones use the header menu board and the bottom tab bar instead of that sidebar.
What are the homepage collections? They are live filters, not paid ranking (except Premium Finds on the homepage, which is a Homepage Featured slot). Hot Deals uses the activity bar. The homepage left menu label Deals opens that same Hot Deals see-all. Ending Soon is live auctions by end time, with paid auction promotions first. Boosted Items in that menu is Premium Finds. Under GH₵500 is Buy Now or the current bid. Most Watched sorts by watchers. Popular Auctions is live auctions sorted by watchers. Near You uses your location cookie. Just Listed is newest. Buy Now is fixed-price and opens /buy. Pre-Owned is not new. Professional Sellers are shops with an active paid subscription. See all opens Search, Auctions, Buy It Now, or Sellers with that filter. For You is a separate personalization center at /for-you — it is not a merchandising fill of newest listings.
Where are all the categories? Categories in the header, or Browse categories in the footer, opens /categories. That page lists every category and how many active listings it has. Those counts are live listings, not sales. A category with zero stays listed so you can still open it. Featured Categories on the homepage shows nine plus More; More and View all go to the same directory. On a phone that strip is icons only, five across: it hides Collectibles, General, and More, and shows Shoes, Phones, Kids, and Food instead. Popular Categories on the homepage right rail is that same nine with the live counts.
What do listing cards show? The same listing card is used on the homepage (including Recently viewed), search, Buy It Now, categories, shops, recommendations, For You, auctions, You May Also Like, and the listing page Similar / Related / seller's other rails. Those rails sit full width under the item. You May Also Like and the seller's other items group cards by subcategory (or category) when more than one of those names is on that rail; the heading is that name, so the line above the title stays off those grouped cards. Empty rails stay off the page. Search, category, shop, Buy It Now, and auction result grids use 240px tracks from sm so the shop or seller name fits on its own line with seller marks as icons beside the name and positive % under it — the name is not cut off. Homepage merchandising (Recently viewed, Recommended for You, Ending Soon, collection rows), For You, watchlist, recently viewed see-all, and the listing page Similar / Related / You May Also Like / seller's other rails show four cards across on a computer, sized to the row, and keep two cards on a phone. The homepage right Hot Deals card shows those same live listings one full-width card at a time. It answers what it is, how much, where, whether the shop is trusted, and whether it is an auction, without opening the listing. Buy Now shows the subcategory, or the parent category when there is no subcategory, above the title, with quantity left beside that category when more than one unit remains, then the title, then the amount with an eye and the live watchlist count after it (the listing page uses the same price line). When the listing is sold, the eye, watch count, and views stay off, the amount is struck through and faint, and Sold sits beside the amount. condition, Negotiable or Fixed Price, then “N views” at the end of that line, seller and positive %, then area and city or city and region (not a street address) under the shop name, “N sold” in bold when a live listing has sales, and posted time. Auction shows current bid, bid count, and time left first. Buy Now + Auction shows current bid and the Buy Now price. The homepage Ending Soon rail also puts Last bid, or Starting bid when nobody has bid yet, above Place Bid Now at the bottom-right of the card, with the live bid count in front of that button. That CTA is only on that homepage rail. Place Bid Now opens the listing bid form (`#bid`). The listing page form stays Place Bid. The photo always carries Buy Now, Auction, Buy Now + Auction, Starts soon, or Auctioned, plus the watchlist heart and a count when there is more than one image. Arrows on that photo step through the images without opening the listing. A live sale below the marked price can show a percent off next to the type badge — only when that listing has a real compare-at; 20% off is never invented. An auction that closed with a winner (SOLD or COMPLETED) shows Auctioned on the photo and Sold beside the struck-through amount — not a live Auction badge and not Buy Now. The listing page uses the same Auctioned mark in ink, not a live red Auction badge. Auctioned or sold listings do not keep Hot or Trending. Hot sits beside that type badge when a live listing passes the Hot Deals activity bar — a deep red fire outline and the word Hot. On the homepage, that mark sits at the bottom-right of the photo. The photo count always sits in the middle of the bottom of the photo when there is more than one image. New is only on listings published in the last 24 hours; it is not a staff or paid mark, and it clears itself after that. Relisting sets a new published time, so New can appear again. New sits in front of Featured or Sponsored on the photo when both apply; it does not replace it. Sponsored sits ahead of Featured when a live search or sponsored campaign is serving. Reserved or Promoted can sit behind New the same way. Cards do not show last-seen, response time, phone, cash, bank transfer, mobile money, Crypto Accepted, or the description. Search result cards also have Compare. Recommended cards may say Because you watch a category, From your activity on mr.bid, Similar to what you viewed, You started a deal or offer in a category, or Near you, when that is why they are on that rail. If a card has no Hot mark, sold count, or Verified mark, that listing does not have those events — nothing is invented.
What does the listing page show besides the card? The buy column is price, payment choice, Buy Now, Make an Offer, Message, and WhatsApp. On a phone that column sits above the photos. Quantity, condition, location, listed time, item ID, and what the seller accepts sit under the gallery — not again under the title. Payment badges sit next to Buy Now, not a second copy on the seller card. An active fixed-price listing shows a compact price history after it has changed more than once; auctions use bid history instead. Sold by is the shop name next to the price on a phone; from a computer the seller card is the shop identity (Online / Active recently and response time live there, not on Sold by). Offer auto-decline and expiry copy live in the offer form, not on the Negotiable line. Seller feedback filters and reviews are one section in the sidebar. Safety tips in that sidebar is a preview of the /safety walkthrough; the link is Read the walkthrough. Similar, Related, You May Also Like, and the seller's other items sit full width under the listing, not in the sidebar. Those rails show four cards across on a computer and two on a phone. The phone sticky row is the same actions when you scroll; it does not replace the buy column.
What are Saved Searches & Alerts? Notify me of new matches keeps the current filters — keyword, category, city, price, and listing type. Sort order is not part of the saved search. The label is clipped to 80 characters of the keyword, category, city, or price line. Example: iPhone 15 Pro under GH₵10,000 in Accra. When a new matching listing goes live, the alert title is New iPhone 15 Pro listing matches your saved search, and email if mail is connected and you have not muted Other. An optional daily digest on My Account recaps shops and searches you follow. You can save up to 20 searches, including categories. Manage them on /saved-searches. Following still lists the same searches.
How do I follow a shop, category, or search? Follow seller on a shop page. Follow category on a category page. Notify me of new matches from Search, Auctions, Buy It Now, or a shop filter. Shops you follow ping you when they add a product, start an auction, or post a promotion. Categories and saved searches ping you when a new listing matches. Following is not a purchase and an alert is not a sale. Manage shops and categories on Following. Manage keyword alerts on Saved searches. Mute Other to stop those in-app and email alerts.
What is escrow? Request Escrow is optional. The button is marked Optional, and you can finish a deal without it. It asks mr.bid to provide manual escrow on that deal. It includes a mr.bid service fee of the item price (default 1.5%, set by staff on Admin → Settings or the escrow desk), paid to mr.bid — not taken from a wallet, and not the seller item payment. Staff review the conversation and stay involved until the buyer has received and inspected the item. When mr.bid is given the green light, the seller is paid by the method you already agreed. Payment secured stays locked until a licensed provider is connected.
Does mr.bid sell gift cards, airtime, or eSIM? Only when Super Admin turns ENABLE_DIGITAL_PRODUCTS on, plus the matching catalog flag (gift cards, airtime, eSIM). /digital lists staff SKUs. Requesting an item opens a staff queue. mr.bid does not charge a card and does not send a code until staff fulfill after off-platform confirmation. Instant delivery stays off until a payment provider is connected.
Why did Buy Now not message the seller again? If you already have an open deal on that listing, Buy Now reopens the same conversation. It does not ping the seller again unless you change how you want to pay.
Where is How mr.bid works? About is the company page — who mr.bid is, that it does not hold funds, and that App Store and Google Play apps are coming soon. It is not a second Buyer guide. The homepage strip is the Buyer-guide preview (#how-it-works); the strip heading is Buyer guide. Help → Buyer guide is the full walkthrough. Seller fees is fee honesty, not a second Seller guide. Privacy is cookie and data copy. Terms and Community guidelines keep their own copy. Safety tips on /safety is the Safety walkthrough; Help → Safety questions is /help/safety. Contact is the ticket form. Report a listing and Dispute resolution explain those flows and link to Safety tips.
Where are the buyer and seller guides? Help Center opens onto Buyer, Seller, Auction, Account, and Safety questions. The homepage help strip lists the same five. The homepage Buyer-guide preview is #how-it-works. Footer Safety tips goes to /safety (the walkthrough). Help → Safety questions is /help/safety — answers for that guide, with a link to the walkthrough. Search on Help finds member topics — how to buy, sell, bid, and use your account. Server setup (Redis, AUTH_SECRET, CI) is not in that search. Seller guide in the footer opens the selling walkthrough, not the full FAQ dump.
Is there an mr.bid app? The App Store and Google Play apps are coming soon. The footer Our apps marks say Coming soon and do not open a store listing. Use mr.bid in the browser. Some phones can add the site to the home screen. That is still the website, not a store app.