How Encore Prevents Fraud

Encore's fraud prevention team takes a multi-layered approach to preventing scams and fraud on Encore, by both the buyer or seller.

1: Community Reports

On every listing, there is a report button that allows viewers to report a listing. If you see an item that you think is fake, or a seller whom you think is misleading shoppers, don't hesitate to submit a report.

2: Encore Team Listing Reviews

Encore category experts proactively watch listings posted to Encore to spot any fake items, misleading claims, or other suspicious or fraudulent activity.

3: Seller Identity Verification

All sellers submit valid U.S. identification (Drivers Licenses or Passports) upon signing up to Encore. We know every seller's identity, which deters seller fraud and prevents a seller from creating a new account in the event that they are banned.

4: Buyer Email and Phone Number Verification

All buyers must verify their email address and phone number. Both the email and phone number may never be used again to create another Encore account, preventing buyers from creating a new account in the event that they are banned.

5: Buyer & Seller Fraudulent History Checks by Stripe

Stripe is one of the largest financial infrastructure companies in the world, and therefore has a lot of data on users with fraudulent histories. All users on Encore are compared to Stripe's database to check if the buyer or seller has a history of disputed or fraudulent transactions. These users' purchases and sales on Encore are blocked.

6: Analyzing Data & Buyer/Seller History

Encore's fraud prevention team routinely analyzes buyers and sellers behaviors & histories to detect any fraudulent behavior. If we detect a pattern of abuse with convincing evidence, we quickly take action against the user in question. Here is a brief, hypothetical example:

Buyer 1 has purchased 5 items on Encore in the last year, and has requested 2 of the 5 items be returned, claiming the items are fake. One of these disputed items was from Seller 1, and one was from Seller 2. Seller 1 has sold 240 items on Encore and has never been reported for selling a fake item before. Seller 1 has also sold over 5,000 items on other marketplaces, with an average review of 4.9 stars. Seller 2 has sold over 2,000 items on Encore and has gotten 4 disputes total, all relating to items damaged while shipping. Now, based on the data, the probability that Buyer 1 is trying to commit buyer fraud by purchasing an expensive item and swapping it for a fake item is much higher than two top sellers with long track records each attempting to sell fake items to Buyer 1. This is a hypothetical example, but these are some of the data points we use to determine dispute solutions.

If you have any questions, or want to report any suspicious behavior on Encore, contact [e-mail].