[Resell]
Creating a Safer Marketplace Experience
Enhancing user trust through safety tools for buyers
Strengthening buyer–seller trust for 400+ users
[Project Overview]
Resell is a Cornell-community marketplace that allows students to buy and sell secondhand items. It aims to help students conserve their personal funds, shop more sustainably, and feel safe while exchanging items.
[Problem Statement]
How might we help students feel secure and in control when buying and selling through the Resell platform??
[My Role]
Product Designer
[Team]
2 developers
1 PM
2 designers
1 marketers
[Platforms]
iOS and Android
[Timeline]
September 2023- November 2023
[Context]
Why Resell?
Cornell students often need essentials like clothes, furniture, and school supplies, but they face two main challenges:
[Limited budget and space]
Most students are budgeting and don’t have much room to store extra items.
[Affordable, safe, and convenient options]
Existing second-hand platforms often feel unsafe and unreliable, and the added costs of shipping and storage make them even less accessible for Ithaca students.
Resell, a second-hand marketplace for the Cornell community, aims to solve these problems.
Our MVP designs laid a foundation to explore new spaces
Joining the team after MVP designs were concluded, I had a lot of space to explore what features were needed next.
[Research]
I conducted 10 user interviews post MVP to understand what problem spaces to address
Following the MVP phase, I conducted user interviews to fine-tune our feature roadmap. While our users generally expressed contentment with Resell’s MVP, a recurring concern surfaced during these discussions — a collective emphasis on safety.
This finding immediately caught my attention as shopping safely is what differentiates our app from other second-hand sites, such as Depop, Ebay, and Mercari.
[01] Quote from User Interviews
“I’ve met someone from Reddit to buy something. The interaction was scarier than I thought it would be”
[02] Quote from User Interviews
“I’ve been scammed by someone before and I hated not being able to do anything about it.”
[03] Quote from User Interviews
“When I’ve bought something from someone I don’t know, it was hard to determine how legit the person was.”
How might we maintain a safe and secure Resell environment?
[The Solution]
Blocking and Reporting
Users need to be able to have protection measures to add a blanket of comfort while using Resell.
[Comparative Analysis]
I looked at how other apps approached blocking and reporting
I reviewed the blocking and reporting flows on Depop, Instagram, and eBay to understand standard practices. This helped me decide which elements to incorporate into Resell’s blocking and reporting system.
[Depop]
[Instagram]
[Ebay]
From these flows I decided to include the following in Resell’s flow:
An option to block an account after reporting a post
An option for the user to elaborate on the details when reporting
A list of reasons for reporting
Hiding the post or account after reporting with the option to unhide it
[Updating MVP Designs]
I had to update MVP designs so blocking and reporting could fit in the app
Based on Resell’s current existing MVP, I knew blocking and reporting would primarily be done from either a post’s details page or a seller’s profile page.
No section on a seller’s page or an item’s details page accommodated for menu options. In response, I adjusted the information architecture to incorporate options for reporting and blocking on these pages.
[Profile page]
I first updated the profile page to have a more options menu where blocking and reporting a user could happen.
[Item details page]
For the item details page, I wanted to reorganize the information hierarchy by replacing the save and share buttons in the top-right corner with a more comprehensive options menu.
The existing save button was a small touchpoint and poorly positioned, making it less intuitive given how users typically hold their phones.
Usability testing showed that the starred buttons were the most intuitive representation of the comparison feature. It best aligned with users’ expectations and fit within Eatery’s existing design system.
[Visual Explorations]
Improving the save button's affordance and usability
I explored many different iterations of the new saved button.
My final saved button supported my goal of enhancing its affordance. The circular design increased its visibility, and the purple fill followed Resell’s design system for buttons.
Usability testing showed that the starred buttons were the most intuitive representation of the comparison feature. It best aligned with users’ expectations and fit within Eatery’s existing design system.
[Report Confirmation]
How might we give users the option to block users after reporting them?
Having a confirmation after reporting would give users reassurance that our team heard their concerns.
Additionally, this would be a space to give users an opportunity to block the user after a report.
Usability testing showed that the starred buttons were the most intuitive representation of the comparison feature. It best aligned with users’ expectations and fit within Eatery’s existing design system.
[Questions and thoughts guiding my final decision]
Would it be better to have an x or button to exit the screen?
Are profile pictures and names important for blocking?
Utilize color to indicate warning for the action of blocking is important, especially because it is separate from the report confirmation message
“Done” would be a better secondary CTA in this case over “Close”
These notes guided me to choose the following for my final screen.
If users did decide to block a user after reporting, I explored a confirmation overlay for that. I would also be using this confirmation for blocking accounts on their profile.
[Block confirmation explorations]
[Profile States]
How would a blocked user be visually communicated to users?
When a user chooses to report or block a post or account, it's highly likely that they no longer want to view that content.
However, it’s also important to give users the autonomy to undo the effects of blocking if they desire.
First, I explored what a blocked account would like.
Initially, I only hid the content on profiles, but I recognized that providing any access to a blocked profile appeared unnecessary, especially for users who were looking for complete disengagement with their blocked accounts. For this reason, I decided to go with the last screen.
[Post States]
How would a reported post be visually communicated to users?
Next, I explored what a reported item would look like on a seller's page.
The slashed eye icon provided clearer communication that it was a reported post.
To balance clarity and discretion, I applied a dark, blurred overlay that conceals reported content but still gives users a sense of what was hidden. This reduces distraction and helps users focus on remaining posts. The strong contrast between the dark background and white icon also enhances visibility and reinforces feedback for user actions.
After users report a post, it is automatically hidden. For this reason, I would need to give them an option to unhide the post. In the final flow, a modal comes up each time the user clicks on a hidden post,
[Final]
Blocking and reporting final flow
Blocking and reporting sellers
Reporting posts
A month after launch, the average time on the app went down by 30 seconds
I plan to continue monitoring time spent on the app, as well as analytics from the compare menus button and page to measure success and improve the feature.
[Success Metrics]
How might we measure the effectiveness of blocking and reporting?
After we ship blocking and reporting, I plan to conduct user testing to identify pain points and opportunities to streamline these flows.
To quantitatively measure the effectiveness of these safety features, I’ll track:
[01] Report engagement rate
How many users successfully submit a report after starting the process, indicating clarity and ease of use.
[02] Report frequency rate
The number of repeated reports on the same account or post (a lower number over time would signal that moderation is effective.)
[03] Time to resolution
How quickly reported content or accounts are addressed, reflecting system responsiveness.
[04] User trust sentiment (via surveys)
Whether users feel safer using the platform after these features are introduced.
Reflection 💡
Designing for trust and safety
Working on this feature helped me think more critically about how design choices can build — or break — user trust. I learned to balance visibility and privacy, making sure safety mechanisms feel protective without being intrusive.
Finding clarity through structure
I learned how hierarchy and spatial organization can guide users through sensitive interactions. I became more intentional about visual weight and spacing to help users process information.
Thinking through edge cases
I gained a deeper appreciation for the unseen parts of product design that focus on the states users shouldn’t encounter, but might. Anticipating those edge cases made me more thoughtful about accessibility, clarity, and recovery paths.
Growing confidence in design rationale
Presenting and defending my decisions strengthened my ability to connect design rationale to user outcomes. I learned to explain not just what I designed, but why it mattered for both usability and user trust.