Safety
Where to meet when you buy used
Police exchange spots we could verify in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Dallas, plus what to do in other cities.
CraneBoard Team · · Safety
Handing cash to a stranger for a couch or a bike is a normal classifieds errand. Doing it on a dark side street is the part to skip. Meet where other people are, and tell someone where you are going.
Las Vegas
On December 1, 2025, News 3 reported that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was telling residents to use designated Personal Property Exchange locations. The report says all LVMPD area command lots and LVMPD headquarters are available for those exchanges, that the lots are well lit and open to the public, and that they are monitored by video. It also says LVMPD advises people to bring a buddy, keep a phone handy, trust their instincts, not list a home address, and not invite strangers inside.
Read the report: Las Vegas police offer safe spots for holiday exchanges. Find a station on the department's own page: Find Your Station. Confirm the lot before you drive. A news report is not a promise that every stall is staffed.
The Las Vegas board is where local for-sale posts sit.
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Police Department newsroom published a page titled E-Commerce Exchange Zones. It describes exchange zones in station lobbies in Operations-South Bureau and Operations-West Bureau, lists station addresses, and says the hours on that page are 24/7, lobby only. It also says no firearms, no restricted items, and no illegal transactions, and that an officer is available on request.
Use the department's page, not a screenshot of it: E-Commerce Exchange Zones. Call the station if you want to be sure the lobby is still the meeting point. Shop the Los Angeles board after you know where you will meet.
Dallas
The Dallas Morning News reported on May 21, 2018 that Dallas police and OfferUp opened a safe exchange zone outside the South Central substation at 1999 E. Camp Wisdom Road. The same address is repeated in an NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth article about North Texas meetup zones. The Morning News report said the cameras there record video and are not watched around the clock.
Those are old reports. Call Dallas police before you rely on that stall. The articles are here: Dallas Morning News and NBC 5. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and Plano share the Dallas-Fort Worth board.
Cities where we did not find an official zone page
We did not verify a current police exchange page for Phoenix, the Inland Empire, San Diego, Houston, Salt Lake City, Denver, or Miami while writing this. Do not invent a station address from a map app. Call the local police department and ask whether they keep a safe exchange location. If they do not, pick a busy public counter inside a store you both can name, in daylight, and leave if the item does not match the ad.
Houston listings are on the Houston board. Look at the item before you pay. Keep the conversation on CraneBoard until you have agreed on a public place.