First steps as a seller

Selling on Haubot is closer to listing on a structured exchange than posting on a classified board. The platform expects real photos, real parameters, real documents — and in return your listing gets seen by qualified international buyers, your transactions are covered by escrow, and the deal documentation is portable, auditable and defensible.

This article is the 30-second seller orientation. For each step there's a deeper guide linked at the end.

Before you start

You'll need:

• A verified business profile. Bids and inquiries from unverified sellers get less response.
• Decent photos of the asset — multiple angles, well-lit, current condition. Stock photos and OEM marketing shots are flagged in moderation.
• The paperwork you'd hand to a serious buyer at the gate: title or registration, recent inspection if any, service records, export documents if cross-border. Some of these are public on the listing, some are gated behind an access request — you decide.

Step 1 — Create the listing

Go to Dashboard → My Listings → New listing and pick the right type:

• Sale — straightforward sale at an asking price (negotiation possible via Messenger).
• Rent — short-term or long-term rental; specify period and rate.
• Auction — competitive bidding with a defined end time. You can run it yourself or have Haubot manage it. See Auction modes.
• Wanted — you're looking for something. Treated as an inquiry in TradeHub.

Fill in:

• Category, brand, model, year — picks the right parameter set automatically.
• Parameters — hours, condition, certifications, the things buyers in your category actually filter on.
• Description — plain language, what's good and what's not. Honest descriptions outperform marketing language with serious buyers.
• Photos and videos — the first thing every buyer looks at. The platform will show a primary photo in search results, so make the first one count.
• Location — where the asset physically is. Cross-border buyers need this to plan logistics.
• Price and currency — asking price; can be hidden, fixed or "negotiable".

Step 2 — Attach documents to UnitVault

Each listing has an attached document store — UnitVault. Upload:

• Public documents — anyone can view (brochure, public spec sheet).
• Restricted documents — buyers must request access; you approve or deny case-by-case. Use this for inspection reports, titles, service records — the documents that matter.
• Snapshot when ready — a snapshot seals the current document set into a hash-verified record. The hash proves what was shared with which buyer on which date. Useful if a dispute ever arises later.

See How sellers prepare listing documents for the full workflow.

Step 3 — Set visibility

By default a listing is PUBLIC — anyone can browse and find it. You can also set it to:

• TradeCircle — only members of specific TradeCircles you control can see it. Useful for confidential sales, off-market deals, or selling within trusted circles before going public.
• PRIVATE — only sent via direct link.

Step 4 — Submit for moderation

When you publish, the listing goes through moderation. The Haubot team checks for obvious issues — stock photos, suspicious pricing, misclassified categories, sanctioned destinations. Most listings are approved within a few hours during business hours. You'll get a notification when the status changes.

Step 5 — Respond to buyer interest

Once the listing is live:

• Messenger threads — buyers will ask questions. Reply fast and honestly. The platform tracks response time, and it shows on your business profile.
• Document access requests — buyers may request the gated UnitVault documents. Approve when you're comfortable; deny if the request looks unserious (no business profile, no questions asked, etc.).
• Bids (if auction) — see Bidding rules for how bids and reserves work.
• SecureTrade requests — serious buyers will want to pay through escrow. Accepting SecureTrade signals you're serious about the transaction too. Sellers who refuse escrow get noticeably fewer cross-border closes.

Step 6 — Close, ship, get reviewed

When a deal closes:

• Documents (title, export paperwork) are handed over inside the platform — they stay with the listing record.
• Logistics can coordinate the shipment or you can use your own forwarder.
• Once delivery completes, both parties can leave a public review. Reviews stack on your business profile and drive future buyer trust more than any other single signal.

For the full seller workflow including auctions and trade-circle distribution, see the For sellers section.