Questions
Will mr.bid email me? Outbid, auction won or lost or sold, ending soon, unpaid, listing sold, featured, approved, rejected or expired, Q&A questions and answers, new messages, offers (new, accepted, rejected, counter, cancelled, expired), transaction updates and cancellations, leave-review, review received or reply, disputes, verification results, new followers and shop follows, price drop and saved-search alerts go to Notifications. Shop, category, and search follows use those shop-follow and saved-search types. If mail is connected on the server, those also go to the email on your account unless you turn that topic off on the Communication Preference Center (Notifications → Preferences or My Account → Communications). Email Security stays on. Listing sold (watchers) mutes with Seller, not Other.
Will mr.bid text me? Security warnings can text you when Twilio is connected and your phone is verified. You cannot turn those off. Marketplace SMS is later. Marketing texts stay off unless you opt in on the Communication Preference Center, and they are not sent until SMS is live.
How do I choose email, push, and SMS? The Communication Preference Center is on Notifications → Preferences and My Account → Communications. Email covers security, auctions, messages, and promotions. Push covers auctions, messages, and offers. SMS marketing is off unless you opt in; marketplace texts are later. Security email and SMS stay on. WhatsApp is later and is not sent.
Why does mr.bid ask me to confirm my email? A banner stays up until you confirm from My Account. It is hidden on My Account, login, and the verify page. Confirming keeps password reset and alerts going to the right inbox. Changing the email sends a confirm link to the new inbox and a notice to the old one; once you confirm, you also get a security alert that does not repeat the new address.
How do I verify my phone? From My Account, send an SMS code to the number on your account. If Twilio is connected, enter the code to mark the number verified. Changing or removing the number needs your password; the new number is not verified until you confirm a code. That is not a Ghana Card check and does not unlock payments. Without SMS keys, mr.bid will not mark a number verified.
How do ID and seller checks work? From My Account you can send a Ghana Card plus selfie, or up to three business documents. Attach more than three and the request is refused. Staff on mr.bid review the files. A third-party identity check is not connected. This is not a government ID check and does not unlock payments. Ordinary support agents cannot open the files. Approvals last one year. You can send new documents in the last 30 days of an approval, or after it expires or is declined. The decline reason is shown on My Account. Documents are removed 14 days after a decision. Public badges are Phone Verified (SMS), ID Verified (staff Ghana Card desk), Business Verified (staff business documents), Professional Seller (active paid subscription), Trusted Seller (at least 10 completed deals, 10 reviews, 90% positive), and Top Seller (at least 25 completed deals, 20 reviews, 95% positive). None are cosmetic. Trusted and Top are reputation, not staff stamps. Business verification is not the paid Professional Seller plan. My Account lists your verification history, ten at a time, with Older for earlier requests.
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 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.
Where do I see last login? My Account shows your last sign-in. Admins also see last login on the user list and the user page, and in the users CSV.
Can I download my data? Yes. My Account has Download my data. It is a JSON file of your profile, listings, messages, bids, offers, reward ledger, referrals and similar records — newest 5,000 rows per list, including messages inside each conversation, the same cap as CSV dumps. It does not include passwords or other people's private account details. If you cannot sign in, Contact → Privacy / my data opens a ticket so staff can export that same pack from the account case.
Can I sign out of other devices? Yes. My Account lists each signed-in browser. You can sign out one device, sign out every other device and keep this one, or sign out everywhere.
How do I close my account? My Account has Close account. It unpublishes your listings, signs you out, and suspends login. Records stay for safety and the other people in your deals. An admin has to restore login if you want the account back. Download your data first if you need a copy. If close is refused, Contact → Privacy / my data opens a ticket — staff do not wipe history the other party still needs.
Can I sign in with Google or Apple? Yes. Log in and Register have Continue with Google. The same Google account registers you or logs you in. After Google, you accept Terms and Privacy on mr.bid before you use the marketplace. If that email already has a password account that is not confirmed, Google will not open it. Confirm the email from the link we sent, or log in with the password first. Continue with Apple is off for now. If Google is not connected on this server, that button says so instead of opening a session.
Can I sign in with a passkey? No. mr.bid does not use passkeys. Use Continue with Google on Log in and Register, or email and password. Continue with Apple is off for now. An optional authenticator app is a second step after sign-in, not a passkey.
How do I turn on an authenticator? My Account has an optional Authenticator section. Scan the QR in Google Authenticator, 1Password, or Authy, or enter the secret, then confirm the 6-digit code. After your password or Google/Apple, mr.bid asks for a code from an authenticator app, or a backup code shown once. That is not a phone OTP. Password reset does not turn the authenticator off. Turning it off yourself sends a security alert. Staff can reset a member authenticator from the user case (users.write plus a fresh staff code). Staff authenticators stay on Staff.
Can people see when I am online? Only if you allow it. Default is people you already message. They see Online or Active recently — never a clock time. If you set Everyone, it also shows on your shop and listing pages (the seller card, not Sold by). Search cards never show online status. If you hide your status, you also cannot see other people's. Read receipts are a separate Messages setting.
Why is last seen a privacy setting? Rippers use “I see you are online” to rush Mobile Money, and exact last-seen times can show when you are usually around. mr.bid does not show clock times to other members. Appear offline if you need space; your usual response time on the shop still comes from how fast you actually reply.
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.
What is the difference between a help ticket and a safety report? Contact support creates a ticket for staff under Support. The Contact page is the Account walkthrough plus that form. Report listing or Report seller goes to Safety. Those are different queues with different permissions.
Is Contact different from Help tickets? Yes. /contact is the form that opens a support ticket for account, listing, privacy, or general help. Privacy / my data is an export, correction, or close request — not a wipe. It is not a second Account walkthrough and not a payment, delivery, or refund desk — mr.bid does not hold funds. Report listing still goes to Safety, not this form.
Is mr.bid hiring? When We're hiring is on next to the logo, write through Contact and say you are asking about a role. Staff turn that mark on or off, and choose beside or below the logo, on Settings. There is no public jobs board.
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.
What does the Privacy page cover? Privacy is cookie and data copy, not a second Account walkthrough. The live page is the published Privacy version. We store the account details you give us so the marketplace can run. We do not collect card numbers or mobile-money wallets. Payment happens between you and the other party. A location cookie (mrbid-location) remembers Shop Near Me. Sign-in uses a session cookie the page cannot read. Online and last-active stay off the public marketplace by default. You can download a copy of your account data from My Account, including which legal versions you accepted. For You uses that account activity plus listings opened in this browser; we do not keep a buyer search log.
How much of a message shows in a notification? A new-message ping shows the first 80 characters (same as the last-line preview on the conversation queue). Review replies, help tickets, and listing questions excerpt 120 characters. The full text stays in Messages, Help, or the listing.
What are mr.bid Rewards? When staff turn ENABLE_REWARDS on, /rewards shows a points ledger from real events (first completed deal, later deals, feedback, auction win, verified shop, first live listing). The homepage then shows your live points balance if you are signed in. Points are not cash and cannot be withdrawn. Signup does not pay. You can spend points on a listing bump or featured slot. Referrals use /r/CODE; the referrer is paid only after the new member completes a deal. Same-phone referrals are rejected; same-IP and volume farms stay in an admin review queue.
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.