
How to buy or sell a Facebook account
Many mobile games use Facebook as a way to save the user's progress. Accounts for these games are basically part of your Facebook account and selling the account means that you have to sell your whole FB account.
Account locks
FB accounts are very fragile when being accessed from a different location and account locks are possible. When an account gets locked, only the original owner would be able to unlock it. Facebook enforces a strict policy of single account per user and requires that everyone uses their real name on the account, which makes the process of selling much harder.
In this guide I am going to show you one of multiple possible ways of securing a purchased facebook accounts, as well as what sellers need to do to prepare their account for sale.
Keep in mind that regardless of the method used, there's still a small chance of a lock to occur. The method that I'm about to show you minimizes the risk of lock but does not eliminate it entirely.
What causes locks?
Locks are caused when the account is accessed from an unrecognized location in a different country than the original owner. Using a VPN to match the owner's country doesn't help, since FB can detect VPN usage and would treat you the same.Changing important information on the account such as the email, phone number or password is almost guaranteed to cause a lock. Simply logging in or doing non-important changes usually doesn't cause one.
The chance of lock increases if the account is aged, has posts/photos, detailed profile info or has friends. That's why securing an account which someone used as their personal facebook is almost impossible, while securing a dummy account that someone made just for playing a game usually goes without issues.
I do not have a big sample size, but so far I'd estimate locks to occur between 5-10% of the time on dummy accounts, and almost 50% on aged "main" accounts.
What is a lock and what happens then?
When a lock occurs, the account cannot be accessed until an identity check is done. After typing in the email and password, FB will take you to a page where you are offered options to confirm identity. It will offer you one or more of the following:- Log in on a trusted device and confirm that nothing is wrong with the account
- Enter your date of birth
- Have one of your friends confirm your identity
- Submit a photo of your ID
The first option is usually the one that's always offered. That means that you would need to return the account to the seller so that they could log in on a device that has previously accessed the account for some time.
How to prevent locks?
When buying a Facebook account, you should make the seller do most of the changes to the account in order to minimize the risk of locks. This includes changing the email and phone number to yours and enabling 2 factor authentication using your info.
How to secure a Facebook account
To secure an account, you need to make sure that you have control of the info that can be used to log in to the account. This includes having access to the linked email address or phone number.
Step 1:
Have the seller change the email of the account to yours OR get access to the current email account.- If the seller is able to provide access to the email account that is currently linked on facebook, you should take and secure that email account instead of changing. Changing should only be done in case the seller cannot provide the current email.
If changing, you need to tell the seller to add your email to the account. After adding, you'll receive a verification message with a link and a code. I recommend not to click on the link. Instead, provide the code to the seller so that he could verify the email.
Once that's done, the seller should set the new email as "Primary" and remove all other emails on the account, so that the newly set email is the only one on the account.
Step 2:
Remove phone numbers from the account.If there are any phone numbers set, they should be removed before you log in to the account. Tell the seller to remove all phone number off the account
Step 3:
Activate 2 step verificationChance of lock is reduced if the account has 2 step verification enabled. You should tell the seller to activate it prior to giving you the account. It could be activated either by using a phone number (provide them your number) or using the Google authenticator application. The seller should take a screenshot of the QR code for google authenticator and send it to you along with the other information.
Step 4:
Log in to the accountGet the email and password and log in to the account on your side. There's a small chance that it would ask for login approval, what I like to call a "soft lock". The seller would need to open FB on a trusted device, one that has previously accessed the account and they'll see a notification asking them to confirm the new login. Once this is done, you'll be brought back to the login screen. Trying to log in now should work without issues. If it asks you whether you want to "save this browser", say yes.
I highly recommend that you log in to the game and load the account on your phone before trying to make any changes to the account.
Step 5:
Change the passwordThe final step is to change the password. You can do this from account settings, but you could also do it by logging out of the account and using the "forgot password" option. I believe that the latter method has less chance of causing a lock.
Once this is done, you've successfully secured the account.
I would strongly recommend that you do not try to change anything else at this point. This includes changing the email, setting a phone number or changing/removing 2 factor authentication settings. These actions are likely to cause a lock.
Instead, you should wait 7 days for your device/browser to start being considered as trusted, after which you'd be free to make any changes to the account.
How to sell a Facebook account (Seller's guide)
To prepare an account for sale in order to minimize the risk of lock, do the following. The steps below assume that you're doing this on a PC. It should be similar on a mobile device.
1. Remove all friends from the account if you have any. Open your profile and click on the friends tab. Click on the 3 dots next to each person and click on "Unfriend". Unfortunately, there is no way to select multiple people. You have to do them one by one regardless of how many you have.
2. Remove all information from your profile. This is the information under the "About" tab on your profile and includes things like your birth date and location.
3. Remove all phone number off the account. You can do it on this page: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=mobile
After removing, refresh the page and make sure that no number is showing anywhere. Sometimes numbers linger even after being removed and you need to remove them again from this page.
Once the page is clean and only shows a green "add a phone" button, you're set.


4. Change the email to your buyer's.
Go to General settings and find the Contact option which shows your email. Click on the edit button.
If you are providing the email account that is currently set along with the FB account, just make sure that it is the only email there and you are done and can move on to the next step.
If you can't provide the current email account, then you need to change the email to the buyer's. Click on the "+ Add another email..." link and type in the buyer's address.
Warning: By changing the email to the buyer's, you're effectively giving them access to the account, even if you do not complete the following steps. Do this only after you've received the payment OR if you trust the buyer.

After adding, the email will show as a pending address. To confirm it, you need to click on the "Confirm" button and enter a code that was sent to it. Tell the buyer to check their email and provide you with this code.


After confirming, refresh the page. You'll now have 2 emails attached to your FB account. Make the buyer's email the primary one by clicking on the "Make Primary" link next to it. After making it primary, remove the other one so that the buyer's email is the only one on the account.

5. Enable Two Factor Authentication
Open the security tab in settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=security
Find the option "Use two-factor authentication" or use this direct link: https://www.facebook.com/security/2fac/setup/intro
Click on the option "Use Authentication App".

A dialog with a QR code will appear. Take a screenshot it and save it somewhere. You'll need to give it to the buyer later.
Download the "Google Authenticator" app on your phone and scan the code. It will start generating 6 digit numbers. Click on continue and type in the number.

You have now activated 2 factor authentication and the account is ready to be transferred to the buyer.
6. Provide the password and the image of the QR code to the buyer so that they can do the first log in.
FB might request login verification so check your notifications and approve the login if it appears.
Done! The buyer should now have full access to the account.