Marketplace · status: pending Meta policy
Buying and selling WhatsApp usernames — opens 2026
WhatsApp has not yet announced an official username-transfer mechanism. The moment they do, wausernames opens listings, escrow, and disputes. Until then we run the waitlist + price index so you're first to act.
How escrow will work
- Buyer authorises payment. Funds are held by wausernames, not transferred to seller.
- Seller releases the handle from their WhatsApp account.
- Buyer claims the handle and posts a one-time verification nonce in their WhatsApp About field.
- wausernames verifies the nonce and captures payment, paying the seller minus fees.
- If the handle isn't transferred within 7 days, payment is refunded.
Pricing
Take rate, tiered by sale price:
- £0 – £10,00015%
- £10,000 – £100,00012%
- £100,000+10%
- Listing
- free
- Optional listing boost
- £9 – £29
- Insurance fund
- 1% of every sale
- Buyer KYC required above
- £1,000 cumulative / 90 days
- Seller KYC required above
- £5,000 cumulative / 90 days
- Payouts
- Stripe Connect, 1–3 business days
- Disputes
- 48-hour first response, refund-first on unverifiable transfers
Two-party guarantees
Both sides are protected by the same architecture: nothing moves until verification passes, and verifiable losses are absorbed by an insurance fund built from a 1% slice of every sale.
Seller takes payment, never releases
Buyer card is only authorised, never charged, until verification confirms the swap. On timeout, authorisation is released and the card is untouched.
Buyer claims handle, then disputes the charge
Mandatory KYC at £1,000 buy threshold, Stripe Radar fraud rules, velocity limits, and a 30-day seller-payout hold cover the seller.
Race: seller releases, then re-claims before the buyer can claim
30-minute claim window. If the seller reclaims, the buyer’s authorisation is released, the seller is permanently banned, and a £200 penalty is debited from any seller balance.
WhatsApp account-recovery clawback weeks after a sale
Seller payouts are held for 30 days while the platform polls the bought handle weekly. Clawback events trigger automatic seller-payout reversal and buyer make-whole from the insurance fund.
Stolen card buys handle, real cardholder disputes
KYC at £1,000 buy threshold, velocity limits, and Stripe Radar device-fingerprint signals reduce the surface. Confirmed friendly-fraud chargebacks are covered by the insurance fund.
Lookalike phishing site captures buyer credentials
Defensive registration of typosquats, brand monitoring, mandatory authenticator-app or passkey login above £1,000, and proactive takedown filings against confirmed phishing domains.
Get early access
Founding sellers get reduced fees for the first 90 days after launch.