Help and FAQ

The estimate is our guide to what a plate is worth. We compare the plate with similar plates in the same emirate: the same number of digits, with digits that repeat in the same way.

It is based on asking prices plus a small set of reference values (Dubai and Abu Dhabi). So it is not a sale price, and it is not an official valuation.

Most estimates come with a usual range. When there are too few similar plates, we say so instead. Estimates for Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah are rougher for now.

Price labels compare a seller's price with the estimate. Paying for Boost or Featured never changes them.

More detail: How estimates work.

No. The prices on listings are asking prices: what sellers ask. What a plate finally sells for is rarely made public.

When a seller marks a plate as sold on Plate Watch, they can tell us what it sold for. That price is kept private and never shown.

The one place you'll see sale prices is Auction results: what plates sold for at official auctions, each with a link to its source.

Besides plates listed on Plate Watch, we collect listings from UAE plate sites and Instagram dealers, so you can see more of the market in one place. They come after Plate Watch's own listings, under “Also on the market”.

“View listing” (or “View post”) opens the original listing on its own site, in a new tab. To buy one of these plates, you contact the seller there: we don't show other sites' sellers' contact details.

A listing we can no longer find on its site stops showing here. Which sites we read, and when: Data and coverage.

Listing is free. Sign in with your email or UAE mobile number (we send you a 6-digit code; there's no password), choose a public name and @handle, then open Sell: choose the emirate, type the plate, set a price or choose price on request, and add a note if you like.

A free account can have 5 plates for sale at a time; the dealer plan allows 200.

Boost and Featured are optional paid extras that show your plate higher in matching searches, or in the Featured spot: Plans and promotions.

For a plate listed on Plate Watch, open its page and choose “Make an offer” or “Ask a question”. You need to be signed in. Your conversations and offers are in Messages.

Your email and phone number are never shown to the other person. Keep the conversation on Plate Watch, so what you agreed stays in one place.

For a plate from another site, use “View listing” and contact the seller on that site.

In My plates, find the listing and choose “Mark as sold”. You can say who bought it and what it sold for. Both are optional and private: the sale price is never shown to anyone.

The plate leaves Browse, search and its plate page at once. Your seller page shows it as sold, with the month only.

Yes. In My plates, under Sold, choose “Hide from my sold history”. Choose “Show” to bring it back.

In My plates, find the listing. “Edit price or note” changes them; people who saved the plate get an alert when you lower the price.

“Remove” takes the listing off Browse, its plate page and your seller page at once.

If you need to sell fast, open Sell urgently and tell us the plate and how to reach you. Plate Watch will contact you, and may offer to buy the plate itself, usually for less than its estimate. You don't need an account.

Your number is used only to contact you about that request. Requests that come to nothing are deleted after 90 days.

On Wanted, buyers can post the plate, or the kind of plate, they're looking for, with a budget and a note.

A public request shows the plate or the search, the budget and the note. It never shows who asked.

No. Plate Watch doesn't take payment for plates and doesn't transfer them. The buyer and the seller agree the deal, and the plate's ownership is transferred by the emirate's authority.

See How to transfer a plate and Buying a plate safely.

Don't pay anyone you're unsure about. Use “Report this seller” on their seller page: reports go to the Plate Watch team.

English for now. An Arabic version is being prepared, and some pages are already translated.

Plate numbers and prices are written in Latin digits in both languages, as on the plates.