Frequently asked questions

DealBaron is a marketplace for buying and selling groups, channels, and accounts on social networks; we have been operating since 2014. Deals go through an escrow service: the buyer's money is reserved in the service account, the seller transfers the community under our control, and only after the buyer confirms does the seller receive payment. Negotiating and conducting deals outside the site is prohibited: in that case we will not be able to protect either party.

1. Choose a listing and discuss the details with the seller in the built-in chat.
2. Open a deal: the buyer deposits the price and commission into the escrow account.
3. The seller transfers the community per the instructions. Each social network has its own secure procedure; it is shown in the deal and on the secure deal page.
4. The buyer confirms receipt of the rights.
5. The escrow agent sends the money to the seller, instantly across all payment systems.

For example, for VKontakte: payment, then the seller makes the buyer the owner, after confirmation a 14-day timer for the full transfer of rights starts, and the seller receives the payout.

The escrow agent is available daily from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight (Moscow time). Every deal has a «Call the escrow agent» button: they will join the chat and help. The working hours for the current day are shown in the deal itself.

Do not confirm the next steps and call the escrow agent from the deal; they will sort it out and conduct arbitration. Until the buyer confirms receipt, the money stays in the service account. If the deal is canceled, the buyer is refunded the full amount together with 100% of the commission.

Look at the rating, the deal counter, and the reviews in the seller's profile. A verification mark means the seller confirmed their identity with documents. Community ownership is checked automatically: when a listing is posted, a code is generated that the seller places in their group. And most importantly: the money is always held by the escrow agent, not the seller.

An option for legally formalizing the deal: a purchase-and-sale contract is drawn up and both parties sign it electronically (via DocuSign). The service costs 800 $ and requires both parties to pass identity verification. If the deal is canceled, the contract cost is returned to the buyer's balance.

The refund goes automatically to the card or wallet used for payment: instantly on our side, while the bank credit takes up to 5 business days (usually faster). If the automatic refund did not go through, we will process it manually within 24 hours. The commission is refunded in full.

Yes. A deal can be created manually from a link to the asset: provide the link, the amount, and the transfer method, the service will generate an invitation for the other party, and the deal will go through the escrow agent as usual.

Click «Sell» and paste a link to the community; the parser will pull in the name, subscriber count, and cover image. The minimum price is 300 $, the minimum is 100 subscribers. Listings for VKontakte, Telegram, Odnoklassniki, and X are moderated; other social networks are published automatically. Only one active listing can exist per asset.

Verification confirms that the community is really yours: the service generates a code that you need to temporarily place in the group's status or description. Without verification, the listing is not visible to visitors (Facebook is an exception). For YouTube, X, and Odnoklassniki you can also connect statistics via OAuth: a successful connection confirms ownership automatically.

The free «Bump» refreshes the listing's position and data; available once every 5 days (with PRO once every 3 days, with VIP once every 2 days). Paid tools: auto-bump for 150 $/week (the service bumps the listing on your schedule), pinning for 85 $/week (the listing stays above regular ones), premium pinning for 340 $/week, and 480 $/week for the priciest socials (the very top of the catalog with an orange highlight). The «Pin all» button applies regular pinning to all listings at a 50% discount. PRO gives a 10% discount on pinning, VIP 15%.

On the listing page, click «Discount» and set a price below the current one (but not below 300 $) and a term of up to 365 days, or indefinite. The old price is shown crossed out with a discount badge, and everyone who added the listing to favorites will get a notification about the price drop.

The archive is a reversible hide: the listing disappears from the catalog and search but stays in your «Archive» tab, from where you can restore it in one click. Paid pinning and auto-bump time is not lost: when restored from the archive, the terms shift by the idle time.

Right after the buyer confirms, the money arrives in your balance under «money from sales» or is sent directly to the specified details. Money from sales can be withdrawn by any available method.

The buyer pays the commission on top of the deal amount: the base rate is 6%, and discounts reduce it (see the next question), but it is never less than 100 $. The service does not take a commission for deposits and withdrawals; only the payment systems' fees remain, which are visible when choosing a payment method.

• A deal from 70,000 $: minus 1 pp (5% commission).
• PRO status: minus 1.5 pp for the buyer or 1 pp for the seller.
• VIP status: minus 2 pp for the buyer or 1.5 pp for the seller.
• Repeat deals with the same user: a permanent minus 0.5 pp after 4 deals (for VKontakte with owner-rights transfer, one is enough).

The amount discount and the status discount do not stack: the larger of the two applies, and the repeat-deal discount is added to it. The seller's status discount applies only if the seller has passed identity verification.

By default the buyer; the commission is added to the price at payment. The seller can take the commission on themselves as a separate step in the deal; if the deal is canceled, this amount returns to their balance.

Deals, pinning and auto-bumping listings, PRO/VIP status. Money from sales is convenient to spend right away on new deals, without fees for back-and-forth transfers.

A security rule: money you topped up your balance with can be withdrawn only by the same method and to the same details it came from. Money received from sales can be withdrawn by any available method.

To withdraw you need to pass identity verification once (takes 1-3 minutes). The available payout methods, minimums, and limits are shown on the withdrawal page. The first payout to new details is additionally checked manually; such a request gets the «Awaiting review» status.

Usually instantly, in some cases up to 24 hours. A refund to the original card (for a failed payment or when withdrawing topped-up money) is credited by the bank within up to 5 business days, instantly on our side.

Yes. Active requests are visible on the «Balance history» page: until a request is sent to the payment system, you can cancel it with the «Cancel» button, and the money will return to your balance immediately.

• The rating is displayed multiplied by 2.
• Bumping listings once every 3 days instead of 5.
• A 10% discount on pinning.
• Reduced deal commission (minus 1.5 pp for the buyer, minus 1 pp for the seller).
• Audience analytics filters in the catalog and listing price-change history.
• Early access: new listings are visible in the catalog for the first 24 hours only to PRO and VIP (except pinned ones, which are visible to everyone right away).
• Expanded message limit: up to 60 new contacts per day.

Price 350 $/month, from 200 $/month when paid for a long term.

• Everything from PRO, but stronger: rating ×4, bumping once every 2 days, a 15% discount on pinning.
• Maximum discount on deal commission (minus 2 pp for the buyer, minus 1.5 pp for the seller).
• Additionally: the asset's sales history on the listing page.
• Additionally: listing folders — public sections on your profile and private folders in favorites.

Price 1,700 $/month, from 1,100 $/month when paid for a long term.

From 2 to 24 months, paid from the balance or by any payment method. The longer the term, the lower the monthly price. If the status is already active, the new term is added to the current one.

For completed deals: 1 point for every 100 $ of the deal amount. A positive review adds these points, a neutral one subtracts them, a negative one subtracts double. Identity verification gives +1000 to the rating. For users with PRO the displayed rating is multiplied by 2, with VIP by 4. Pinning listings gives additional points.

A participant in a completed deal: about the other party and separately about the service's work. A repeat review about the same user replaces the previous one. If the escrow agent deleted your review as false, you won't be able to leave a new one.

You can reply to any review (up to 1000 characters). A positive review about yourself can be deleted, for example at the buyer's request; the rating for it will be removed. The text of any review can be hidden if it contains sensitive information: visitors will see the note «Review text hidden by the seller», while the score will remain visible.

When logging in from a new device or IP address, we send a one-time code to your email; this protects your account from hacking. Familiar addresses are remembered, and the code is no longer requested.

Yes, to protect against spam: registered users can message up to 15 new contacts per day, guests up to 5. The limit expands to 60 with PRO/VIP status, passed identity verification, or a rating of 300 or more.

Notifications about messages, deals, new listings, and price drops of favorite listings arrive in the site header, by email, in the Telegram bot, and via push notifications. The channels are configured in the profile's notification settings.

The fastest way is through the escrow agent in the deal chat. For other questions, use the form on the contacts page or by email support@trade-groups.ru. The service's official documents can be found under «About us».