Kleinanzeigen

Is Kleinanzeigen safe?

The platform is, mostly. The deals people make on it often are not. Kleinanzeigen, Germany's biggest classifieds site with about 32.8 million monthly users in the EU, has no fines from data protection or consumer regulators that we could find, it offers two-factorTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary login, and its "Sicher bezahlen" escrow refunds buyers when an item never comes. But it is a classifieds site: many sales still run by bank transfer, PayPal or cash between strangers, with no protection at all. That is why German police use classified ad portals as their standard example of online fraud. We score it 53/100.

The fake "Sicher bezahlen" link

Scammers have turned Kleinanzeigen's own safety feature into bait. A "buyer" contacts a seller, agrees quickly and says they have already paid through "Sicher bezahlen". Then a link arrives by chat, email or WhatsApp to a page that looks like Kleinanzeigen and asks for card details or a bank login "to receive the money". Kleinanzeigen's safety page shows exactly this trick: a chat message that claims to come from Kleinanzeigen but was written by the other user.

The real feature never works like that. A buyer starts it with "Angebot machen" or "Direkt kaufen" inside the app, and the seller accepts it there. The money is held by a payment provider until the buyer confirms receipt, and the seller gets it automatically after 14 days if the buyer forgets. A seller never has to type card details to be paid.

Advance payment and triangle fraud

The two scams the police warn about most need no fake website at all.

Vorkassebetrug (advance-payment fraud): a seller offers something cheap, insists on an instant bank transfer, and never ships. The police prevention site describes exactly this on a classified ad portal and tells buyers to insist on a protected payment method.

Dreiecksbetrug (triangle fraud) is cleverer. In the police example, a seller of a games console on a classified portal asks you to pay by PayPal Friends and Family "because it is cheaper". He then orders the console from a large online shop on invoice, with your name and address. The parcel arrives, new and sealed. A few weeks later the shop sends you a payment reminder, and the money you sent is gone. A variant has you pay for a real item someone else is selling, which the fraudster collects. The police advice is short: never pay someone you do not know by bank transfer or Friends and Family, and be suspicious when a private sale arrives from a shop with an invoice in your name.

Kleinanzeigen's own rules match this. Its safety page says never to pay by Western Union, Paysafe, MoneyGram or cash in an envelope, and to use PayPal only with "Waren und Dienstleistungen". The company says it set up Initiative Sicher Handeln, a fraud prevention campaign, together with the police prevention service and others.

How "Sicher bezahlen" buyer protection works

Buyers pay a small fee that depends on the price. Protection applies if the item was not sent, is clearly different from the description, is fake or is incomplete. Payments can be made by credit card, Apple Pay, PayPal or bank transfer inside the app. Kleinanzeigen's pages name both Online Payment Platform (OPP) and Adyen as the payment provider.

There was a catch. In January 2026 Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg sued OPP, saying buyers learned only in the terms, shortly before paying, that they must not use or install an item if they wanted to keep the buyer protection. In April 2026 OPP accepted the injunction in a settlement before the Karlsruhe Regional Court and had until 30 April 2026 to change the process. Read the conditions before you use an item you might want to return.

What the app tracks

Kleinanzeigen's app is published by Marktplaats BV, a Dutch sister company. Apple's label lists search history, browsing history, identifiers and usage data as "used to track you" across other companies' apps and websites. Precise location and email are linked to you for third-party advertising. For app functions it also collects name, address, phone number, photos and messages. Among the second-hand apps we score, only Depop declares more tracking. Vinted tracks only advertising data, and eBay declares no tracking at all.

Listings need care too. A public ad with your street, phone number and photos of your home is useful to scammers and burglars. Kleinanzeigen deletes misused personal data on request, but it is better not to post it.

How to use Kleinanzeigen safely

1. Turn on two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary and use a password you do not use anywhere else.
2. For shipped items, use "Sicher bezahlen" started inside the app. Never follow a payment link from a chat, email or WhatsApp.
3. Pay strangers with PayPal only as "Waren und Dienstleistungen", never Friends and Family, and never by instant transfer.
4. For pick-ups, meet somewhere busy, bring someone along for expensive items, and pay in cash only when you have checked the item.
5. Trust emails only from @kleinanzeigen.de addresses and forward fakes to [email protected].

How we scored it

The regulatory record (88) is Kleinanzeigen's best factor, as we found no fine or order against the platform, which is one of Germany's largest online marketplaces. The 2026 consumer case was against its payment partner, not Kleinanzeigen. Scams and harmful content (40) is the weakest, because escrow is optional and police single out classified portals for payment fraud. Privacy (42) reflects the ad tracking declared on its App Store label.