If you can browse Daangn (당근, also called Karrot) but cannot message the seller, check the phone and neighborhood requirements. The app requires both before you can chat or close a deal.
What is actually stopping you
To chat or buy, Daangn asks for 본인인증, and it has to be a Korean phone number in your own name. The official copy is blunt: “당근은 휴대폰 본인인증 절차를 통해 서비스를 이용할 수 있어요,” and “타인 명의의 휴대폰 번호는 사용할 수 없어요.” If the phone holder and the account holder differ, “계정이 제한될 수 있어요.”
On top of that there is a neighborhood lock. 동네 인증 checks whether “회원의 위치가 특정 구역 내지 행정동 단위에 속하는지,” about a 6km radius around where you actually are. You only see and reach sellers near you. There is no “whole of Korea” setting. And the whole app is Korean-only, so even looking around needs a translation app.
Daangn has no in-app payment or delivery: every deal is a direct chat plus an in-person handoff. So passing the check is not the finish line. You still have to bargain and meet in Korean.
Can you do it yourself?
If you are a resident, often yes. The official FAQ says “외국인도 추가 인증이 가능해요” using an 외국인등록증, 거소증, 영주증, or 여권 together with a Korean SIM. Once you pass the check and you are standing in your own neighborhood, you can chat, bargain, and meet. Use Papago or Google Translate to read the Korean-only screens.
But it fails in real cases: an expired ARC number, or a name mismatch between your Korean phone line and your ID. Borrowed numbers and VoIP do not work.
If you are a tourist or overseas buyer, watch out for one big myth. There is a separate global Karrot app for Canada, the US, and Japan, but it does not show Korean Daangn listings, and it still needs a local carrier SMS number (VoIP and Google Voice are not accepted, and there is no other way). It will not get you to a Seoul seller. Without a Korean number that can pass 본인인증, you can look around but you cannot reliably sign up, message, or close a deal.
When doing it yourself will not work
Get someone to do it for you (a trusted Korean friend, or Toyoni) when:
- you are a tourist or overseas buyer with no Korean number that can pass 본인인증;
- your check fails on an expired ARC or a name mismatch;
- the seller is in a different neighborhood or far-away city the 6km lock will not show you;
- you cannot read or bargain in the Korean-only chat and want the deal closed right;
- you are worried about scams (the top fear Chinese and Reddit buyers warn each other about, since you pay direct and off-platform).
How Toyoni helps
We search Daangn, message and negotiate with the seller in Korean from a verified local neighborhood account, review the listing for warning signs, and arrange a permitted pickup, delivery, and payment. We follow Daangn’s rules. If a listing or seller cannot be reached, we say so. You receive the relevant chat and handoff details as proof.
For a marketplace with a different flow, see the guide to Bunjang (번개장터).
WhatsApp 
KakaoTalk 
LINE 
Instagram 
Messenger