Trust
Trust is not a feature. It is the thing that makes the market work.
Higher trust produces faster transactions, higher buyer confidence, narrower spreads, and fewer disputes. That makes protecting it a structural interest rather than a stated value — we are not asking to be taken at our word, we are pointing at the incentive.
How we treat it
Five commitments
- 01
Trust is earned, not assigned
Reputation comes from what someone has actually done — completed transactions, resolved disputes, verified identity. It is not a badge we sell, and it is not a score you can top up.
- 02
One reputation graph, never two
No product gets to invent its own parallel reputation system. A seller who has earned standing carries it everywhere, and a seller who has damaged it cannot walk into another surface and start clean.
- 03
Transparency about the mechanism
You should be able to understand why you are seeing what you are seeing. Where a number is an estimate, it says so; where confidence is low, that is shown rather than smoothed over.
- 04
Auditability by default
Orders, holds, and payouts leave a trail that can be reconstructed. This constrains us more than it constrains anyone else, which is the point — a system nobody can audit is one you have to take on faith.
- 05
Predictability
Rules that change without notice are indistinguishable from no rules. Changes that affect how people transact get announced before they take effect.
Your data
What we hold, and what we do not
We do not hold
- Retailer credentials. Scout runs on your own machine, in your own session.
- Payment card details. Payments run through a processor, not through us.
- A second copy of your identity. One account, one identity layer.
We do hold
- What you own, if you have told us — your inventory and lists.
- What you have transacted, because auditability requires it.
- What you have asked for, so we can go and find it.
Collection data is yours. Aggregate market signals derived from activity are how pricing gets better for everyone — but your holdings are not a product we sell, and a feature that made them one would fail the test in what we refuse.
Security
Reporting something
If you have found a vulnerability, tell us before you tell anyone else and we will work the problem with you. We will not threaten you for reporting in good faith.
We do not currently publish a bug bounty, a SOC 2 report, or a formal compliance posture. We would rather say that plainly than imply a programme that does not exist.