Troovo is ad-free for our users. That's not a marketing line — it's a policy. Swiss residents browsing listings, posting items, or messaging sellers will never see a banner, pop-up, or sponsored placement.
But not everyone who visits Troovo is a Swiss resident looking to buy a used bicycle.
The problem
Like any marketplace, we deal with unwanted traffic. Fake listings. Loan scams. Phishing attempts. Most of this traffic comes from datacenters, VPNs, and proxy services — not from someone's apartment in Zürich or house in Lausanne.
We could simply block this traffic and show an error page. Many platforms do.
We decided to do something slightly different.
The solution
Troovo restricts access to Swiss residential networks. When a connection arrives from a datacenter, VPN, or proxy service, it doesn't reach the marketplace. Instead, it reaches a verification page.
The verification runs for about a minute. It evaluates connection characteristics, geographic indicators, and network reputation. It does not grant access to non-residential traffic.
The page has advertisements.
The details
We don't show ads to our Swiss users. But blocked traffic helps support the platform. What visitors see and click on that page is between them and the algorithm.
The ad networks used on that page aren't particularly selective about advertisers. We aren't particularly concerned about that. The people seeing these ads were attempting to access a platform they're not eligible to use, often for purposes that violate our terms of service.
If they find the advertisements relevant to their interests, that's not really our business.
The policy
Swiss users: no ads, ever.
Everyone else: the full advertising experience.
We think that's fair.