From the person who built this — and what you should know
Because buying used stuff shouldn't feel like gambling. Every day, people buy bikes, laptops, phones, and tools from strangers online. Most sellers are honest. But some aren't — and the buyer is the one who pays the price. A quick serial number check takes 30 seconds and could save you hundreds of dollars and a visit from the police.
It can tell you if something has been reported stolen — which is an important distinction. If a bike was stolen and the owner reported it to Bike Index, we'll likely find it. If someone's laptop was stolen and they filed a police report that made it into a searchable database, we'll flag it. But if the theft was never reported? We can't find what doesn't exist in any database.
The biggest one: not all stolen items are reported. Many people don't file police reports for stolen property. Many reports don't make it into public databases. Serial numbers can be filed off or altered. And some categories (like power tools and musical instruments) have almost no centralized stolen property registries. StolenOrNOT is strongest for bikes (thanks to Bike Index) and vehicles (thanks to NICB). For everything else, think of it as a helpful first check, not a final answer.
Use StolenOrNOT as step one, not the only step. Also: meet in a public place (many police stations have designated "safe exchange zones"). Ask for proof of purchase or the original box. Check the seller's profile and history. If the price is way below market value, ask yourself why. And trust your gut — if something feels off, walk away.
We built this with zero servers. Your serial number searches go directly from your phone to Groq's AI and back. We literally cannot see what you're checking. No logs, no database, no user accounts. Just static code on Cloudflare's CDN.
— The Creator of StolenOrNOT