How to warm up a Reddit account bought on G2G

Part of the warm-up series, with how to warm up a Reddit account and how to buy a Reddit account on G2G.

Reddit's User Agreement says you will not license, sell or transfer your account without Reddit's prior written approval. A G2G account was bought against that line, and nothing below changes it.

If you already have one, the job now is to make it yours, in how it is secured and how it writes, before it posts anything that matters.

Here is how I would do it, in 4 parts, with 4 things you can copy.

Save this. Start on the day the login arrives.

Short answer

On day one, change the password, switch the email to yours and verify it, turn on two-factor login, remove unknown apps, log out every other session, and check the inbox and the logged-out profile. Then warm the account up more slowly than a new one: a week of reading, two weeks of small comments, and a first text post around day 21. To Reddit, a new owner on a new device looks a lot like a hijack, so keep everything steady.

Key takeaways

• Secure the account before you write a word: password, email, two-factor login, apps and sessions.
• The seller's original email can still undo your email change, so watch for security emails in the first weeks.
• A sale looks like a compromised account from Reddit's side. Keep one browser and one connection.
• Run a 21-day warm-up, not 7 or 14, whatever karma the listing promised.
• Move on only after 10 comments are still up a day later and a week passes with no removal.

1. What should you check on day one?

Take control first, then look at what you bought. Change the password, switch the email to one you own and verify it, turn on two-factor authentication, remove apps you don't recognize, and log out of every other session. Then read the inbox for ban notices, view the profile while logged out, and read the full history.

Reddit's hacked account page lists the same steps for keeping any account secure: a strong unique password, two-factor login, a current verified email, no sharing, and the account activity page to log out of every session.

Here is the day-one table. Copy it and fill in the last column as you go.

If the visibility row fails, stop here and run the shadowban checks. A hidden account can't be warmed up, and G2G's coverage window is short. How to buy a Reddit account on G2G has the checks to run before you confirm delivery.

One warning on the email row. The same Reddit page says that when an email is changed, the original address gets a message explaining how to change it back. On a bought account that address is the seller's. Watch your new inbox for password or email change messages you didn't trigger.

2. Why does a new owner look like a hijacked account?

Because from Reddit's side, a sale and a hijack leave the same marks: a new password, a new email, a new device, a new place and a new writing voice, all in a day. Reddit's help pages list several of those as signs of a compromised account. Reddit says it may lock an account when it sees technical irregularities, so a bought account starts under a cloud.

Reddit's hacked account page tells owners to watch for emails about password or email changes they didn't make, apps they don't recognize, unusual IP history, and posts or votes they don't remember. Your first evening with the account produces most of that list.

Its locked account page says Reddit may lock an account when it detects technical irregularities. The unlock is a password reset sent to the account's email, and Reddit says it can't help if that email is out of date. That is why the email comes first in part 1.

I can't tell you what Reddit's checks look at. What I can do is keep the account from adding to the noise. Here are the rules I would keep. Copy them.

1. One browser profile for this account, and nothing else logged in there.
2. One connection you control. Don't hop between home, office, phone data and a VPN in the first weeks.
3. Never log in to your other Reddit accounts from the same profile.
4. Never vote on the same posts as your other accounts. Reddit's multiple accounts page calls that vote manipulation.
5. No links, no product and no posts in the first week.

Some G2G listings deliver an IP address with the login. I wouldn't use it. An address a stranger picked, and may still share with other buyers, isn't one you control.

3. How long should the warm-up be, and what happens each day?

Three weeks before a first post. Rankhog's own rule sets the length from karma, 7 days for an account with at least 50 total and 20 comment karma, up to 28 for a brand new one. On a bought account the karma tells you about the old owner, not you, so I would ignore the short end and run 21 days, with a full week of reading first.

The move-on rule still applies. An account moves on after 10 comments are still up 24 hours later and 7 days pass with no removal. That is the rule Rankhog uses, and it is the one that matters here, because it measures the new owner.

Here is the 21-day plan. It is the 14-day warm-up with a quiet week in front and a slower middle. Copy it into your calendar.

1. Days 1 to 3. Run the day-one table. Read only, like a lurker.
2. Days 4 to 7. Read, vote on posts you like, and join 5 small subreddits that fit your real interests.
3. Days 8 to 10. One comment a day in a small subreddit. Answer a question you know.
4. Days 11 to 14. One or two comments a day. Reply to anyone who replies to you.
5. Days 15 to 17. Two or three comments a day. One in a medium subreddit if you have something real to say.
6. Days 18 and 19. Check every comment while logged out. Rest one of the two days.
7. Days 20 and 21. Run the account through the Reddit karma checker to see which published minimums it clears, then make a first text post in a small subreddit.

Write in your own voice from the first comment. The old history may be in a different tone, language or hobby. You can't fix that, but you can stop the new history from looking borrowed.

If a comment gets removed, find the rule, slow down, and restart the count of quiet days. When I audited Rankhog's own warm-up accounts in October, about one in nine of their comments, replies and posts had been removed without a word, so checking logged out isn't optional.

That steady, slow order is what Rankhog is built around. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.

4. What should you do about the old owner's history?

Hide what doesn't fit, leave the rest, and never post where the old owner was banned. Profile curation can hide chosen subreddits from your profile, but the posts stay in those subreddits and in search, and mods can see your full history for 28 days after you post in their subreddit. Your first product mention should wait until the new history is longer than the gap before it.

Reddit's profile settings page explains curation and that 28-day rule. Hiding is for casual visitors. It is no disguise from a mod.

Subreddit bans stay with the account. If the inbox or chat shows a ban from a subreddit, that room is closed to this account. Posting there from your other accounts would be ban evasion.

Before the first product mention, run this check. Copy it.

1. At least 10 comments are still up when you are logged out.
2. No removal in the last 7 days.
3. The subreddit's rules allow what you are about to post.
4. You say plainly that you work on the product.
5. The post would still help someone who never clicks.

The Reddit rules that get marketers banned has a disclosure line you can copy for step 4.

What I don't know yet

• Reddit doesn't publish what it treats as a technical irregularity. The steady-use rules are my best guess at not adding to it.
• I don't know how often G2G sellers recover accounts after the coverage window. Nobody publishes it.
• The 21 days is my plan for bought accounts, not a Rankhog product rule and not a Reddit number.

Who this is not for

If you haven't bought an account yet, don't start here. Read how to buy a Reddit account and what can go wrong, then make your own.

If the profile is missing when you are logged out, warming up won't help. Check for a shadowban and, if you find one, ask G2G about your order while the coverage window is open.

What to do next

Today, in this order:

1. Run the day-one table and fill in every row.
2. Pick one browser profile and one connection for the account.
3. Put the 21-day plan in your calendar.
4. Read only for the first week.
5. Check every comment logged out, every few days.

Secure. Settle. Read. Comment. Wait.

Thanks for reading. If you would rather skip the seller next time, that is the job I built Rankhog for. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.