Wallapop requires Mangopay power of attorney to withdraw funds

Wallapop demands Mangopay authorization to process sales payouts

Why can't I withdraw my money from Wallapop without signing a power of attorney to a third party? This question has circulated among sellers for weeks who, when attempting to withdraw their balance, encounter a screen that does not request ID or identity data: it asks users to authorize Wallapop to act as their representative before Mangopay, the French payment gateway processing transactions. Without checking the four boxes, the button remains inactive. And without the button, the money cannot leave.

The case that started the conversation, dated July 2, 2026, details step by step: identity previously verified, a request to renew the authorization every 180 days, and a power of attorney that includes changing contact information, registering or modifying external accounts, executing payments, and accessing the balance and transactions of the Mangopay account. The platform's response was that the gateway "cannot see the registered information" without those boxes checked. In other words: identity verification was already done, but the access permission is still required.

What exactly does the Mangopay authorization include?

The detail matters because this is not a simple acceptance of terms. The permission enables modifying external accounts and viewing balances, revealing the underlying problem: a Mangopay account may also receive payments from other platforms, such as Todocolección (a Spanish collectibles marketplace). With the signed authorization, Wallapop would access data on operations unrelated to its service. The complaint describes this as untimely and mandatory, stating it was not included in the conditions accepted upon registration.

The platform justifies the requirement based on European anti-money laundering regulations and the gateway's fraud controls. KYC directives require identifying the seller before transferring funds to a bank account, and the process is reactivated when banking details change, documents expire, or updates are detected. The disputed nuance is not identification, but the power of attorney: they are two different things, and the screen conflates them.

Trapped money: from 15 euros to nearly 400

Blocked balances are not abstract. One seller reports selling three books for 15 euros and not receiving the funds; another speaks of nearly 400 euros retained, debating whether to complain or comply, withdraw, and close the account. A third confirms having had money in the wallet for months and finally withdrawing it. The most repeated figure is not the balance amount, but the time: months of waiting.

Some point to a practical reason to empty the wallet ASAP: if the account is blocked due to a report, the balance remains trapped inside. A tax warning looms over the entire conversation: exceeding 30 transactions or 2,000 euros per year triggers a report to Hacienda (Spanish Tax Agency).

In-person sales return as a refuge

The most widespread response is withdrawal. "Everything in person and cash," summarizes a stance gaining trinc among those selling textbooks, tagged clothing, or low-value items without profit motive. The argument is not nostalgic: between shipping, insurance, and management fees, low-value items cease to be economically viable. Constant haggling—the classic "Can you lower the price?" trinc by absurd offers—finishes the job.

The problem is that the refuge also has costs. Those proposing prepayment via transfer and sending via Correos (Spanish postal service) without mediation face buyer rejection, trained in distrust by the very value-added services the platform sold. Traceability and insurance have re-educated people: what was always done this way now seems like a scam.

ID card both sides and the gateway's name

Among sellers willing to operate with shipping, the brake comes earlier: the gateway requests the DNI (national ID card) on both sides, with the photo clearly visible. Several consider this sufficient reason not to activate the wallet. Coincidence with letters from Hacienda to private sellers does not help trust.

The gateway's name does not play in its favor either. The association with the verb "mangar" (to steal/pinch) appears repeatedly, recalling the precedent of the Mitsubishi Ensimismado, renamed Montero in Spain for obvious reasons. Mangopay is, in principle, a payment entity based in France and Luxembourg, and the two- or three-day delay in transfers is explained by this transit. Reliable or not, the surname does not invite confidence.

Second-hand price above new

The conversation shifts to the general market state. A used physics and chemistry textbook listed at 30 euros when new costs 19, printed on the cover. Ads asking five euros less than brand-new items. Sellers who remain, confirm, and cancel the day before citing family problems. The underlying suspicion: many list items to see how much they'll get, not to sell.

The result is a market where the seller's time is worth more than the margin. Donating to libraries, distributing clothes among acquaintances, or leaving a bag next to a bench appear as rational exits. Trash, some clarify, is not given away.

The Segundamano precedent and fiscal traceability

Nostalgia has a date: the print edition of Segundamano (Spain's first classifieds magazine) said goodbye to newsstands on November 17, 2008, thirty years after launch, trinc a 25% drop in advertising revenue. There, sales peine the old-fashioned way, without gateways or checkboxes.

The fiscal argument remains, the most uncomfortable one: a product passing through three distinct hands generates three traces and potentially three times the same burden. The traceability meant to protect buyers becomes the occasional seller's bill. With the Mangopay authorization involved, the question is no longer whether it's worth selling the physics book. It's whether it's worth signing to get paid.