Before You Buy a Spot: The 7-Point Checklist
Two minutes of due diligence prevents most card-break losses. The information you need is public and free. This checklist applies to every break on every platform — Whatnot, eBay, TikTok Shop, Fanatics Live, or anywhere else. Run it every time.
Red Flags Warning signs to know before you pay
BreakCheck Trust Scores below 60 indicate meaningful risk signals: scam alerts, negative reviews, disputed refunds, or no certification. Scores below 40 are high-risk.
Certified sellers have passed a verified identity check, ethics quiz, and maintain clean scam alert records. Non-certified doesn't mean scammer — but certified means accountability.
A seller with no review history is an unknown. Even one or two suspicious-pattern reviews matter more than zero.
If BreakCheck shows a verified scam alert filed in the last 6 months, read it carefully before sending any money.
Our hit-rate tracker shows the percentage of confirmed hits from buyer-reported spots. Sellers with under 60% hit rates may be cherry-picking or running deceptive breaks.
Sellers who never respond to reviews — especially negative ones — have no accountability culture. Check how they handle criticism.
A seller who appeared 3 months ago and is now running 5 breaks a day is high-risk. Scammers build up volume quickly before executing exit scams.
Real example from the BreakCheck database
BreakCheck's certified seller leaderboard shows the correlation clearly: sellers with 70+ Trust Scores and BreakCheck Certified badges have a combined verified scam alert rate of under 2%. Sellers with scores below 40 account for over 60% of all verified scam alerts in the database.
Case details anonymized. Seller name and exact dollar amounts withheld.
Pre-purchase checklist
- Search the seller on BreakCheck and check their Trust Score
- Verify they hold a BreakCheck Certified badge (or note that they don't)
- Read the most recent 5 reviews — especially 1-star reviews
- Check for any verified scam alerts on their profile
- Look up their hit-rate in the BreakCheck hit-rate tracker
- Check how the seller responds to negative reviews
- Confirm payment through the platform — never off-platform
What to do if it happened to you
If something feels wrong after running this checklist, trust your instincts. There are hundreds of certified, high-score sellers on BreakCheck — it is not worth the risk to buy from someone with unresolved red flags. See the leaderboard at /best for top-rated sellers by platform.