Buying second-hand in Denmark: DBA, Marketplace and avoiding scams

Where do people buy second-hand in Denmark?

Three places cover most of it:

• Facebook Marketplace is the default for furniture, household goods, children’s things and anything bulky, because buyers are local and pick up themselves. Listings are tied to a Facebook profile, which helps you judge the seller. Search in Danish too: sofa, cykel (bike), barnevogn (pram), skrivebord (desk).
• DBA (dba.dk) is the big classifieds site. The name is short for Den Blå Avis (The Blue Newspaper), a printed classifieds paper started in 1981 that went online in 1995 DBA. DBA and Den Blå Avis are the same brand. It is strong for electronics, bikes, furniture, tools and anything with a model number you can compare. DBA also offers Fiks færdig: shipping plus a held payment, covered below.
• Vinted (vinted.dk) is where clothes, shoes and accessories go. Buying with the Køb nu (buy now) button is covered by Vinted’s buyer protection Vinted. Forbruger Europa warns that the protection only covers items significantly not as described, that counterfeits are hard to prove, and that some sellers delete their profile after a sale Forbruger Europa.

Charity and second-hand shops (genbrugsbutikker) are the low-risk alternative: you see everything before you buy and nobody asks for a transfer. For new goods and Danish webshops, see online shopping in Denmark.

How does a second-hand deal normally go?

Most sellers are ordinary people clearing out a flat, moving or upgrading. A typical deal:

1. Send a short, concrete message. “Hi, is the desk still available? I can pick it up Thursday after 17:00 in Nørrebro.” Writing in English is fine.
2. Agree a price. Offering a bit below the asking price is normal and expected, especially for furniture. Make a real offer, not “what’s your lowest?”
3. Agree a time and place, usually the seller’s address for furniture, or somewhere public for small, valuable things.
4. See and check the item.
5. Pay on the spot, by MobilePay or cash, and take the item with you.

Etiquette matters. Turn up when you said you would. If you are late or have changed your mind, write before, not after. Sellers often hold an item for the first person who commits to a time, so a no-show costs them other buyers. If you need a van or help to carry it, sort that before you agree a time.

What is a fair price? Search the same item on DBA and Marketplace and compare the asking prices, and check what it costs new. Asking prices are not sale prices, so treat them as the top of the range.

How do you avoid getting scammed?

Almost all second-hand scams in Denmark come down to one thing: getting you to send money before you have the item. According to police figures for 2024 quoted by Sikker Digital, the government’s digital safety site, trades between private people make up about 32% of reports of IT-related financial crime Sikker Digital. The rules:

1. Never pay before you have seen the item in person. If the seller has inventive reasons why you cannot come and see it, insist on meeting face to face, or walk away Sikker Digital. That includes “deposits” to reserve something. A private seller you have not met has no reason to need your money first.

2. If it is too good to be true, it is. An unusually cheap item is one of the classic signs Sikker Digital. Scammers prefer goods that lots of people are chasing, so they get paid quickly: concert tickets above all, and the latest phones, games consoles, e-bikes and e-scooters Sikker Digital.

3. Pay only when the item is in your hands. MobilePay is how most private sales are paid, and that is fine, but the direction and the timing matter. MobilePay’s terms are clear: you cannot revoke a payment once you have approved it Vipps MobilePay. Pay standing next to the seller, after checking the item, and watch the payment go through.

4. Ignore “the money is on its way”. When you are the seller, a buyer may send a screenshot as “proof” of payment. Wait until you can see the money in your own MobilePay or bank account before you hand anything over Sikker Digital.

5. Be wary of shipping outside the platform. “I live far away, I’ll send it with GLS, just pay first” is the typical out-of-area scam. The genuine exception is DBA’s own Fiks færdig: your card or MobilePay payment is held by DBA, and once you collect the item you have 24 hours to check it matches the description before the seller is paid DBA. On Vinted, use Køb nu. Shipping paid by transfer to a stranger has no such protection.

6. Stay on the platform, and never click a payment link. Københavns Politi has warned about fake buyers on DBA who move the chat to WhatsApp, offer to arrange a PostNord courier, then send a link asking the seller to enter their card number and confirm with CPR and MitID “to receive the money”. The details are then used to empty the seller’s account. The police advice: keep the conversation on the trading platform, and be especially sceptical when someone wants to move it elsewhere Politi. You never need to enter card details or MitID to receive money.

7. Check the profile. A different name or photo across Facebook, DBA and MobilePay is a warning sign Sikker Digital. So is a brand-new profile with one very cheap item.

8. Meet safely. For expensive items, meet in daylight in a public place, or bring someone along.

How do you check a used phone, laptop or bike?

Phones and laptops. Insist on switching it on and using it in front of you. For an iPhone, Apple’s advice is blunt: if it shows iPhone Locked to Owner (Activation Lock), do not buy it; ask the seller to enter their password to remove it, or to erase the phone so you can test it Apple. For Android phones and laptops, ask the seller to sign out of their accounts and reset the device while you watch. Compare the IMEI (dial *#06#) or serial number with the box and the original receipt; a seller who has neither for a nearly new phone is a red flag. We could not find a public Danish register for checking whether a phone is reported stolen, so the receipt and the seller’s identity are your best evidence.

Bikes. Check the stelnummer (frame number) in the police register before you pay Politi, and get a written receipt. A stolen bike goes back to its owner and you lose your money. The full checklist is in bike rules and buying a used bike.

What rights do you have when you buy from a private person?

Far fewer than in a shop. This is the most important thing to understand before you buy second-hand.

When you buy from a private person at a flea market, on a website or on social media, the consumer protection rules do not apply. They only apply when you buy from a business Forbrug.dk. In practice:

• No 14-day right of withdrawal. You can only cancel if you and the seller agreed it in advance Forbrug.dk. The EU rule is the same: goods bought from a private individual are not covered Your Europe.
• No mandatory complaint right against the seller. The special consumer protections in købeloven (the Sale of Goods Act) do not apply between two private people. You and the seller set the terms, and in private sales it is very common to sell “som beset” (as seen) and without reklamationsret (the right to complain about faults). The two-year complaint right you would get from a shop is simply not there Forbrug.dk.
• One thing can follow the item, not the seller. If the used item is under two years old and was first sold by a Danish business to a consumer, the two-year reklamationsret can follow the item. With the original receipt you may be able to complain to the shop it first came from - not to the private seller Forbrug.dk.
• No consumer complaints board. If a private seller refuses to fix a fault they are responsible for, you cannot go to Mæglingsteamet for Forbrugerklager; you would have to go to court Forbrug.dk.

The exception: if the seller is really a business, or the platform takes an active part in the sale (taking a fee per sale, running the payment), consumer rules can apply. Read how the platform describes its own role Forbrug.dk. Buying used from a shop, by contrast, always gives you the two-year complaint right Forbrug.dk.

So your protection is the checking you do before you pay. Agree any conditions in writing in the chat (“works as described, can return within 2 days if not”), and keep the messages.

What should you do if you have been scammed?

1. Stop paying. Scammers often come back with a “fee” or “insurance” to release the item.
2. If you entered card details, CPR or MitID on a link, call your bank and block the card now. For advice, Sikker Digital lists the Cyberhotline for digital sikkerhed on 33 37 00 37 Sikker Digital.
3. Report it to the police online with MitID; fraud with buying or selling goods online is one of the listed categories Politi. Have ready: what you bought, the seller’s profile, phone number or user ID, a screenshot of the MobilePay receipt or bank transfer, and screenshots of the messages Sikker Digital.
4. Report the profile and ad to the platform so others are not caught.

Be realistic about the money. A MobilePay transfer you approved cannot be revoked Vipps MobilePay, and the same terms say the refund right for distance purchases does not apply when both buyer and seller are private individuals (section 19.8) Vipps MobilePay. Money sent to a scammer by MobilePay or bank transfer is rarely recovered. Report it anyway: it is the only route that might lead somewhere.

Common mistakes

• Paying a “small deposit” to hold an item. That is the scam.
• Moving to WhatsApp or SMS because the other person asked.
• Buying a phone you could not switch on and test.
• Assuming you can return it because it would be possible in a shop.
• Skipping the frame-number check on a bike.