In August I had to decide whether a Nerf gun is a weapon.
ClearList uses AI to read your photos and write the listing, and part of that job is refusing things nobody should be selling to a stranger in their driveway. Our check could read a foam dart gun as a firearm. And once it says no, nobody can talk it out of it: not the seller, and not an AI assistant running the sale for them. That is a permanent "no" on a toy.
So I made a rule: if Amazon and eBay both openly sell it, we allow it. Nerf guns came off the list. Real guns stayed on, and so did realistic replicas meant to pass as real ones.
Then I went and read what the big local marketplaces ban. My rule turned out to be looser than three of them in at least one place. I also found out OfferUp will not let you sell the Roku in your junk drawer.
Here is the side-by-side, checked against each company's own policy pages on September 15, 2026.
The law comes first
Before any app's rules, there is a federal one that applies to everybody, including a card table on your lawn.
Selling a recalled product is unlawful. That is the Consumer Product Safety Commission's word, in its FAQ for people buying and selling online. The one exception is a product that has had the recall remedy applied, like a repair kit or a replacement part.
Two baby products deserve their own mention, because they sit in a lot of garages:
- Cribs that do not meet the current federal standard, which took effect June 28, 2011. CPSC's guidance is that a consumer should not resell, donate, or give away one. For a crib made before that date, CPSC tells resellers to destroy it unless they have written proof that it complies, and most older cribs do not.
- Inclined infant sleepers and padded crib bumpers. The Safe Sleep for Babies Act banned their sale starting November 12, 2022.
The easiest habit is to search cpsc.gov/Recalls before listing anything a child used. It takes a minute.
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. It is what the regulator publishes.
The side-by-side
"Banned" means the platform's own policy names it. "Not named" means the policy pages I read do not mention it, which is not the same as allowed.
| Item | Facebook Marketplace | OfferUp | Craigslist | Nextdoor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firearms and ammunition | Banned | Banned | Banned | Banned |
| Airsoft and BB guns | Not named, but the weapons ban is broad | Banned | BB and pellet guns banned | Banned |
| Alcohol | Banned | Banned | Banned | Banned, including homebrew |
| Tobacco and vapes | Banned, including nicotine-free vapes | Banned, though vape batteries are allowed | Banned | Tobacco banned |
| Prescription drugs | Banned | Banned | Banned | Banned |
| Medical devices | Banned, along with ingestible supplements | Banned | Banned | Banned |
| Live animals | Banned | Banned | Pet sales banned, rehoming with a small fee OK | Sales banned, rehoming with a small fee OK |
| Recalled products | Banned | Banned | Banned | Banned |
| Gift cards | Approved sellers only | Banned | Banned if they restrict transfer | Banned |
| Used cosmetics | Banned | Banned | Banned if unpackaged | Not named |
| Items from government assistance, like SNAP or WIC | Not named | Banned | Banned | Banned |
Sources: Meta's Commerce Policies and its Restricted Goods and Services policy, OfferUp's Prohibited Items Guidelines, Craigslist's prohibited list, and Nextdoor's list of prohibited goods and services.
Most of that table is what you would expect. Guns, drugs, alcohol, animals. Nobody reading this was planning to list a crate of homebrew.
The surprises are in the long versions of these lists.
The ones that surprise people
Most of these are from OfferUp, because its guidelines are by far the most detailed of the four.
Streaming sticks. OfferUp bans TV streaming devices, and names Amazon Fire Stick and Roku specifically. They are grouped with devices used to get around copyright protection. Your old Roku probably is not a piracy box, but the rule does not ask.
Orbeez and water beads. Banned on OfferUp, along with toys that use them, because a child can swallow them.
Paint stripper. OfferUp bans products containing methylene chloride, and names Formby's Furniture Refinisher as an example. Also on the list: pesticides, Freon and similar refrigerants, and canisters of pressurized gas like CO2. If it is in the garage and has a warning label, check before listing.
Used makeup and contact lenses. Banned on OfferUp. Craigslist bans unpackaged cosmetics and unsanitized bedding and clothing.
Vitamins and supplements. Banned on OfferUp. The rule makes no exception for sealed bottles.
The knife drawer. Kitchen knives and pocket knives are fine on OfferUp. Switchblades, butterfly knives, and spring-assisted knives are not. Nextdoor bans non-culinary knives. A decorative sword is generally fine on OfferUp, as long as it is not sharpened.
Car parts. OfferUp bans catalytic converters, airbags sold on their own, current license plates, and cars without titles.
A locked phone. If an old iPhone is still tied to someone's iCloud account, OfferUp bans it. Sign it out of the account, then wipe it.
Being a business. Nextdoor only allows personal items. Resellers and commercial estate sellers are explicitly not allowed. Its code of conduct also asks you not to sell something a neighbor gave you for free.
Where ClearList stands
I build ClearList, so here is our list too, gaps included.
Our AI flags these as prohibited: firearms, ammunition, explosives, switchblades, butterfly knives, brass knuckles, tasers, pepper spray, nunchucks, adult content, live animals, drugs and drug paraphernalia, and hazardous materials. Kitchen knives, pocket knives, and yard tools are allowed, and so are toys like Nerf guns.
Two differences from the table above:
- We allow airsoft and BB guns. That is the Amazon-and-eBay rule from the top of this post. OfferUp, Craigslist, and Nextdoor all ban them. It was a deliberate call, and I would rather you hear that from me.
- Our list is shorter than theirs. It does not name alcohol, tobacco, gift cards, or recalled products, and our AI does not check a product against the recall database. The federal rule on recalls applies to you regardless of what any app catches. Search cpsc.gov/Recalls yourself for anything a baby or child used.
Writing this post is how I noticed that second gap. That is going on the list of things to fix, which is a sentence I seem to end up writing in most of these posts.
What to do with the things you cannot sell
- Hazardous stuff (paint stripper, pesticides, pool chemicals, old fuel): most cities and counties run a household hazardous waste drop-off. Search your county's name plus "household hazardous waste."
- Recalled items: read the recall notice. It usually offers a repair, a replacement, or a refund, and CPSC says a product with the remedy applied can be sold.
- Old cribs, inclined sleepers, crib bumpers: do not sell or donate them unless you can show the crib meets the current standard. Take a crib apart before it goes to the curb, so nobody picks it up and puts a baby in it.
- Everything else that will not sell, for less dramatic reasons: I wrote a whole guide on what to do with stuff that won't sell.
These policies change, and the pages I linked are the source of truth, not this post. I checked all four on September 15, 2026. If something here has gone stale, tell me and I will fix it.
As for the Nerf gun… it turns out that is not settled either. OfferUp's list bans fake, plastic, and model firearms, with the words "no exceptions" attached. I wrote a whole rule to decide a foam dart gun was fine, and under at least one marketplace's rules it could still come down.
Related reading: how to outsmart online marketplace scammers and what is worth selling and what to donate.