A green check beside a seller's name on Everybarn means one specific thing: the seller's identity was verified through a hosted identity provider before any listing of theirs became visible. The documents on a listing mean something different: the seller uploaded them, and they are on file for your own checks. We do not verify documents with the clinic, lab, registry, or agency that issued them. This page walks through both, step by step, including what we keep and what we never collect.
1. An account with an email address, and nothing else
Every account starts with an email address. You sign in with a single-use link we send to it, so there is no password to steal and no phone number to give. Browsing, searching, and the research tools need no account at all; messaging a seller needs only this one.
2. A seller profile
To sell, a person adds a seller profile: a display name, an optional business name, the state they sell from, and the species they sell. There is no phone field in it, required or optional. A seller can start drafting a listing straight away, but publishing waits for the next step.
3. Identity, through a hosted provider
Identity verification runs through a hosted identity provider. The seller leaves Everybarn, completes the provider's own check, and comes back. We open one verification session per seller, only when they start selling, and never for a buyer. A seller who is already verified is never asked again.
From that check we keep two things: the provider's reference for the session, which is an opaque token, and its status, which is pending, verified, failed, or waiting for more input. We never receive, store, or display ID images, selfies, document numbers, dates of birth, or addresses. When the provider reports back, we save the reference and the status and discard everything else before anything is written. No upload anywhere in Everybarn accepts an identity document, and our operations console shows the provider and the status, never an image.
When the status turns verified, the seller's listings can publish, and their profile shows Verified seller with the month it happened. If a verification is ever revoked, every listing that seller has comes down at once.
4. Documents, on file for your own checks
Identity says who the seller is. Documents say what they are selling. A seller uploads one document for each test on the animal's recommended list, whether a vet exam, a vaccination, a registration, a genetic panel, or a license. Software reads each upload only to fill in the issuer's name and the date, and the seller checks both before saving. Every seller attests in our Terms that their documents are genuine and unaltered.
On the listing, each document reads on file, with the date it was uploaded and the issuer's name as the seller entered it or as read from the document. Signed-in buyers can open it from its View link, and any phone numbers and email addresses on it are blurred automatically. A test with nothing uploaded reads not on file. Nothing is stamped, and nobody at Everybarn contacts the issuer about a document. If one matters to your decision, check it with the clinic, lab, or registry yourself.
A Papers category counts toward a listing's score only when every test in it that applies to the animal has a document on file. The card shows the result as Papers n/5, and a seller's profile shows the average share of papers on file across their listings.
5. When a document is flagged
Two things can flag a document. The first is an automated document check, in which software looks at the file for internal consistency and signs of editing, and writes an advisory report. The second is a report from a buyer who thinks something is wrong with it.
Neither one confirms or clears a document. Flagged documents go to a queue in our operations console, where a member of our staff reviews them and removes any that are unreadable or are not a document at all. A removed document no longer counts toward the listing's Papers, and every removal is written to an audit log with who did it and when.
6. Licenses, where the law requires them
Some states license breeders or sellers of certain species. Where the species configuration says a license applies in a seller's state, the license is a document like any other: uploaded by the seller, kept on file, and shown on the seller's profile. Species that need a legality check are screened against the seller's state before a listing can publish.
When something goes wrong
Anyone can report a listing from the listing page. Reports go to a queue in our operations console, where a person reviews them; software can help sort the queue but never makes the final call. A listing that breaks the rules is removed, a document that is unreadable or not a document is taken off the listing, and a seller whose verification is revoked loses every listing at once.
What verification does not mean
Verification is a set of facts, and we are careful not to stretch it. A verified identity says the seller is who they say they are. It does not say they are a good breeder. A document on file says the seller uploaded it. It does not say the issuer stands behind it, or what it found, and a carrier result or a fair hip score counts toward Papers like any other document. Nobody at Everybarn inspects animals or ranks sellers on opinion. What a seller has earned shows up as figures you can check on their profile: how many sales they have closed on Everybarn, how quickly they reply to messages, and the average share of papers on file across their listings.
How to check a seller yourself
- On the seller profile, find Verified seller and the month it happened, and the month they joined.
- Check the reply time, the number of sales closed on the platform, and the average share of papers on file across their live listings.
- Where a license applies in their state, find it on the profile, and check it with the licensing agency yourself if it matters.
- On each listing, open the documents and check that names, dates, and microchip and registration numbers match the animal and each other.
No phone step, anywhere
None of this involves a phone. Sign-in is an email link. Identity runs through the provider's own flow. Sellers upload documents as files. Buyers and sellers talk in messages on the listing. There is no text-message code, no verification call, and no phone number field in any form. If someone calls or texts claiming to be Everybarn, it is not us, and our guide to common pet scams explains what they are usually after.