Buying second-hand on Wallapop: shipping, meeting in person and cross-border listings

Wallapop is a second-hand buying and selling app available in Spain, Italy and Portugal. It uses your location to show you listings nearby, but it also has a built-in shipping service. For buyers that means two routes with very different rules: shipping with Wallapop Protection, or meeting the seller in person. Here's how to handle both. The main rules below are the same in Spain and Italy; where they differ, we say so.

How Wallapop Shipping works

You can only have an item shipped if the seller has turned on shipping for that listing. Tap "Buy", then choose delivery, to an address or a pick-up point, and payment: your Wallapop wallet, a bank card, PayPal, Klarna, Google Pay or Apple Pay.

The seller has up to 24 hours to confirm and then 5 calendar days to hand the parcel over to the carrier. In Spain parcels travel with Correos, SEUR or InPost (and Method for bulky items), with delivery estimated at 3-9 business days; in Italy with Poste Italiane, InPost or BRT, estimated at 4-8 business days. If you choose a pick-up point, collect the parcel in time: 7 days in Italy, 8 to 15 days in Spain depending on the carrier. After that it goes back to the sender.

There are a few limits: the price must be between €1 and €2,500, a parcel sent within Spain or within Italy can weigh up to 30 kg, and categories such as cars, motorbikes, real estate, jobs and services can't be shipped (Can I send my product?).

Wallapop Protection and the 48 hours

Shipped purchases carry a charge for Wallapop Protection, shown in the summary before you pay. In return, Wallapop holds your money while you check the item, refunds you if it doesn't match the description or is faulty, and also if the parcel is lost or damaged in transit. If a return is needed, it's free. Items sold with a "Warranty" and refurbished products follow different rules.

The key point is the 48 hours: they start when the parcel shows as "Delivered". If you let them pass, or confirm that everything is OK, the seller is paid and you can no longer make a claim. So open the parcel straight away, ideally filming the unboxing.

If something is wrong, open a dispute from the tracking screen, just below the button that confirms everything is OK, or from the chat:

1. Attach photos or videos of the item, the fault, the packaging and the label.
2. Describe the problem in detail (at least 60 characters).
3. The seller can accept or escalate the case to Wallapop; if they don't reply within 72 hours, it's escalated automatically.

If the return is accepted, you have 10 calendar days to drop off the parcel. The refund arrives 3-10 business days after the seller receives the item back.

Meeting in person

Wallapop Protection doesn't cover in-person deals. Wallapop's safety tips are to agree the price and details in the chat, to meet in busy public places such as cafés, shopping centres or stations, not to share your address, phone number or bank details, and to inspect the item carefully before paying.

You can also pay in person through the app: you show the seller a QR code to scan. The code is valid for 5 minutes and shouldn't be shared before you meet, and the payment carries a processing fee. The advantage is that the transaction is recorded and you don't have to carry cash. But be aware: if the item is faulty or different from what was offered, Wallapop can't mediate and you can't make a claim. The same goes for paying in advance, which lets you reserve the item: Wallapop holds the money until the handover, but the checks are up to you, on the spot.

Profiles and reviews

After each transaction, buyer and seller rate each other with 1-5 stars and a short review that everyone can see. Deals completed outside the app can be reviewed too, when the seller marks the item as sold. On a profile you can filter reviews by role (seller or buyer), by delivery method (shipping or in person) and by rating.

Use those filters: if you're buying with shipping, look at the reviews the person received as a seller for shipped items. Read the negative ones too: they say a lot about how a seller handles a problem.

Offers and bundles

In the chat with the seller you can make an offer up to 30% below the price, and the seller can accept, decline or counter. If they accept, you have 24 hours to buy at the new price, but the item isn't reserved: another user can buy it before you. You can make up to 10 offers a day (several offers on the same item count as one). Offers aren't available for PRO users, refurbished products or the real estate, cars and jobs categories.

If the same seller has several items you like, "Create bundle" lets you buy them with one payment and one shipment, up to €2,500 and the maximum parcel weight. Bundles only work with shipping, and bulky items, bicycles and "Warranty" products are excluded.

Buying across borders: Spain, Italy and Portugal

Besides local deals, Wallapop lets you buy from another country: shipping works from Spain to Italy and back, and between Spain and Portugal in both directions, with a maximum weight of 20 kg instead of the 30 kg allowed within Spain or Italy.

A listing in another country can be a good deal, as long as you buy it with Wallapop Shipping rather than through a private arrangement. A few precautions:

• Check that shipping is turned on and that the parcel stays within 20 kg.
• Keep your messages simple: a translation app is enough to ask for photos and details.
• For electronics, ask about the keyboard layout (the Spanish one has an Ñ key) and the language settings.
• For clothes and shoes, ask for measurements, not just the size.

How Rovista helps

The same item can be on Wallapop at one price and on Subito, Vinted or eBay at another. With Rovista you search them all in one go and see only second-hand listings: for example, search for a Nintendo Switch. Searching is free; with the Base plan you can save the search and turn on an alert for Wallapop and the other marketplaces, which messages you as soon as a new listing appears. You complete the purchase on Wallapop, with its protection.

Information checked in September 2026: platform terms may change.