Getting verified

The verified badge tells other members that we checked who you are — or who runs your business — this year. It comes with a yearly plan: US$15 a year for a personal profile, US$30 a year for a business. Canadian customers pay GST/HST on top. The plan is the only way to get the badge.

Which badge you get

Badge	For	What we check
Verified	your personal profile	one government photo ID, and your address
Verified Owner	your business or place	the owner’s identity, through your connected payout account, and your address
Verified Business	your business or place	everything for Verified Owner, plus your business licence or registration

A business buys one plan. It shows Verified Owner as soon as the owner is confirmed, and Verified Business once we approve your licence or registration.

No registered business? If you trade under your own name, a municipal business licence, a trade-name or sole-proprietorship registration, a tax registration that shows the business, or a professional licence that names your practice all work. Without any of these, your business stays Verified Owner: you are verified, and your business is you.

Where your badge shows

The checkmark appears next to your name wherever other members meet you:

Where	What they see
Your profile	the badge under your name
The profile switcher	the checkmark beside each of your verified profiles
Career portfolios	the checkmark on a verified person or business linked in a portfolio, and in the picker when you link one
The feed	the checkmark next to your name on every post, including posts written before you were verified
The forum	the checkmark next to your name on your questions and answers
Animal listings	the checkmark on your listing cards and listing pages; buyers can filter for Verified seller
Your store	the checkmark next to your store’s name on product pages, in the cart, on quote ads and when you are suggested as a lost-pet recovery provider
Apps you publish	the checkmark next to your name as the app’s publisher
The professional directory	the checkmark next to your name in search results

Verified and Verified Owner are blue; Verified Business is gold. When your badge starts, ends or changes, the feed, your listings and your store follow within a few minutes, the forum within an hour, and the professional directory by the next day.

A licence, credential or business check on its own does not show the badge any more. Those checks still count where they always did: they unlock professional privileges in the forum (a verified vet can add vet notes), they raise your listings’ trust score, and some listing types still require your identity to be checked.

What you need

For Verified (personal):

one government photo ID — a passport, driver’s licence, national ID card or permanent resident card. Upload the front, and the back unless it is a passport;
the ID number and its expiry date, which you type in;
your legal name exactly as the ID shows it.

For Verified Business:

the payout account for your business connected, with its identity confirmed (the same step that lets you take online bookings — see Verifying your business);
one licence or registration document (a photo or a PDF), its number, the name on it, and where it was issued.

Photos can be JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC, or a PDF, up to 10 MB each.

Get verified, step by step

You manage verification in your Account, one profile at a time, while you are acting as that profile.

Go to Profiles, open the profile, and find the Verification card. Choose Get verified.

If you are acting as a different profile, the page offers Switch to @yourhandle first: the plan is billed to the profile you are acting as, and only that profile can upload its documents.
The Verification page shows the badge you are working towards and the steps in order. Choose Get verified. A personal profile is offered Verified; a business or place is offered Verified Business.
Pick the plan and choose Purchase. Pay with a saved card, or choose Use a new card. For a new card, type the Billing postal code of the card: that is how your payment confirms your address. GST/HST is shown before you pay if you are in Canada.
When the payment goes through, Plan paid and, if your card’s postal code matched your profile’s address, Address confirmed are done. Under Photo ID approved, pick the type of ID, add the photos, type the number, your legal name, the issuing country and the expiry date, and choose Send for review. If we need a proof of address, its field appears here too.
The step shows In review until our team decides, usually within two business days.
Once approved, the page shows your badge in colour and the date it is valid until.

For a business: after paying, the Owner identity confirmed step points you to Set up payouts in the Dashboard if your payout account is not connected yet. Upload your licence or registration under Licence or registration approved: choose the type, add the document, type its number, the name on it, the country and, if it has one, the province, state or city, and its expiry date (or tick This document has no expiry date).

Your address

Your address is confirmed by your plan payment: when the postal code and country on your card match your profile’s primary address, you have nothing more to do. If they do not match, or your profile has no primary address, we ask for a proof of address — a utility bill or bank statement from the last 90 days — which you upload with your ID.

Your ID stays private

A member of our team reviews your ID. The photos are deleted as soon as the review is done.
We keep only what the badge needs: the result, your legal name, the issuing country, the type of ID and its number. The number is stored encrypted and our team sees only its last four digits.
Sometimes we ask you to finish the check with our identity partner, Stripe, who will ask for a photo of your ID and a selfie. When that happens, open your Verification page and choose Continue with Stripe. For your security the link is shown only there, never in an e-mail.
Business documents are kept for the year they cover, so we can check them again at renewal.

If we cannot accept your ID or document, we tell you why so you can upload a better one.

What we tell you

We let you know in your notifications and by e-mail, in your language:

When	What you hear
You send an ID or a document	we received it and usually decide within two business days
A step is approved	that it was approved, and which badge your profile shows now
A step is not approved	why, and to upload a new document
We ask Stripe to finish your ID check	to open your Verification page and continue with Stripe
30, 7 and 1 days before your plan renews	the renewal date, so you can make sure your card is up to date
A renewal payment fails	the date your badge stays until; update your card before then
Your plan ends	that the badge was removed, and that you can get verified again

Every notice links to your Verification page.

Renewing, missing a payment, cancelling

What happens	Your badge
Your plan renews each year	stays
A renewal payment fails	stays for 30 days with a reminder to renew, then is removed
You cancel	stays until the end of the year you paid for; there is no refund for the rest of the year
Your ID expires	stays 30 days while you upload a current one
Your business document expires	your business shows Verified Owner after 30 days, until a current document is approved

Each year, upload a current copy of your business document before renewal. A document that has no expiry date (most registrations) still needs a fresh copy, or a dated printout from the registry, every year.