How do we make Thumbtack safe?

• Transparency Unlike anonymous classifieds boards, Thumbtack promotes transparency as much as possible. Danger tends to lurk in the anonymous alleys of the internet; at Thumbtack we seek to shine a bright light of transparency on all corners of our marketplace.
• Monitoring - Thumbtack reviews every profile for appropriateness, and checks service professionals against the DOJ Smart database. We also give service professionals the opportunity to list a professional license and other identifying credentials. We provide service professionals with more than a dozen tools to verify their identity, background, and professional credentials. Taken together, these dozen tools allow you to verify the identity, better understand the background, and assess the trustworthiness and professionalism of the service professionals in your community.

Personal safety tips

The overwhelming majority of people that use Thumbtack are trustworthy and well-intentioned. Nevertheless, it's very important to take common sense precautions online as you would offline. When meeting someone for the first time, please remember the following:

• Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe.
• Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home.
• If you're going somewhere to meet someone, tell a friend or family member where you're going and take your cell phone along if you have one.
• Consider having a friend accompany you.
• Trust your instincts.

You should also use your common sense in order to avoid scams. Most scams involve one or more of the following:

• An inquiry from someone far away, often in another country.
• Western Union, Moneygram, cashier's check, money order, shipping, escrow service, or a "guarantee".
• Inability or refusal to meet face-to-face before consummating transaction.

Here are some tips to avoid would-be scammers:

• Deal locally with people you can meet in person. The overwhelming majority of scammers will only deal with you remotely – by email or over the phone.
• Never wire funds via Western Union, Moneygram, or any other wire services Ð anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• Be careful with cashier checks and money orders. They could be fake, and banks will cash them and then hold you responsible when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• Thumbtack is not involved in any transaction, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification".
• Never give out financial information (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.).
• Avoid deals involving shipping or escrow services and know that only a scammer will "guarantee" your transaction.

While Thumbtack seeks to create the safest marketplace for local services on the Internet, Thumbtack does not insure against losses from work contracted through Thumbtack, does not mediate disputes between buyers and sellers on Thumbtack, and does not otherwise guarantee the work of the professionals listed on Thumbtack.

Identity credential verification

We help you verify that a service professional is who they say they are.

• Email - We verify service professionals' emails to ensure instant and reliable communication.
• Phone - We verify service professionals' phone numbers to ensure instant and reliable communication.
• Address - For only 25 cents, we cross-check service professionals' addresses against a credit card database to verify their identity.
• Social Security Number - For $1, we verify that the Social Security number is valid and matches the name of the service professional. This service is performed by Acxiom Information Security Services. This tool also verifies name and address simultaneously.
• Name - For $1, we verify that the provider's name is real. This service is performed by Acxiom Information Security Services.
• Physical Identity Verification - For $5, we physically check a service professional's driver's license or passport using the United States Postal Service's Restricted Delivery service. We mail a service professional a restricted letter and their local mail carrier checks their driver's license or passport upon delivery.
• Facebook - We allow users to login to Thumbtack through their Facebook account. This process allows users to share their Thumbtack activity with their social network if they choose. Additionally, we recommend reviewing your service professional's Facebook profile to further vet their background. (If you ask your service professional to send you a message on Facebook you will be able to view their profile but they will not be able to view yours.)
• LinkedIn - We allow users to verify their LinkedIn account using their login credentials. If you'd like to learn more about the service professional, we encourage you to ask to view their LinkedIn profile.
• Twitter - We allow users to verify their Twitter account using their login credentials. If you'd like to learn more about the service professional, we encourage you to ask for their Twitter handle.
• Website - We verify that the service professional has ownership of the website they link to on their Thumbtack profile. If you'd like to learn more about the service professional, we encourage you to visit their website.

Background vetting

We help you vet a service professional's background so that they can demonstrate their trustworthiness.

• Thumbtack Review - We personally review every profile on Thumbtack to ensure that it meets our strict community standards. This takes significant investment on our part, but it's important to us that we personally control and approve all content on Thumbtack.
• DOJ Smart Screen - We manually run every service professional through the sexual offender database provided by the Department of Justice's SMART Office (Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking). The service is called the Dru Sjodin National Sexual Offender database and contains sex offender registries for all 50 states. By using the DOJ Smart service we can ensure that a service professional's name and address is not in the sexual offender database, but it is your responsibility to confirm that they are who they say they are. We recommend asking your service professional to complete a background check or name and address verification to verify their identity; if you do not do this, it is important to check their driver's license.
• Professional License Check - Many professions require a professional license and service professionals in these fields should share their license number with you. But how do you know if the license is valid and not suspended or expired? We've done the hard work of navigating the maze of state license verification websites, and have created the most powerful professional license database available on the Internet. We have verified the licensing information as of the date listed on the profile for professionals with this icon. If the professional you're interested in has listed a license but doesn't have this icon, you should visit the government website associated with their license to verify that their license is current and valid.
• National Criminal Check (Electronic Search) - For $7, we screen a service professional through Acxiom Information Security Services' proprietary national criminal record database which contains more than 600 million criminal record files for all 50 states. Information in the national criminal record file is compiled from local law enforcement, statewide criminal record repositories, state department of correction records, state parole and probation records, and local public record sources. When we run a National Criminal Check Acxiom also verifies the service professional's name, address, and Social Security number.
• National Criminal Check (Electronic and Physical Search) - For $49, we screen a service professional through Acxiom's electronic database described above. In addition, Acxiom physically checks federal and county courthouses. Although Acxiom's proprietary national criminal record database contains more than 600 million criminal record files for all 50 states physically checking courthouses is the only way to get the most up-to-date information. When we run a National Criminal Check Acxiom also verifies the service professional's name, address, and Social Security number.

Professional assessment

Knowing that your service professional is trustworthy is only the beginning; you also want to know that they excel at what they do. We provide the tools to allow you to assess service professionals' professional skills.

• Ratings - After a service professional has completed a job the customer is prompted to leave a rating (positive, negative, or neutral) of their work. This allows you to find the best skilled and most trustworthy service professionals. And it also allows service professionals to acquire a reputation online that accurately represents their offline work.
• Reviews - In addition to a rating, customers are asked to leave a written message to describe anything they particularly liked or did not like about the service professional's work.
• Testimonials - When service professionals first join Thumbtack, we encourage them to invite previous customers to write testimonials about their work. For important jobs, we encourage you to speak directly with the service professional's references.