Acceptable Use Policy

1. Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy applies to all users of Cyclesite, including buyers, sellers, trade sellers, and visitors. It covers all interactions with our platform, including but not limited to:

• Creating and managing listings
• Messaging other users
• Submitting reviews and feedback
• Using our APIs or embedding our content
• Any other use of our services

This policy should be read alongside our Terms of Service, Content Moderation Policy, and Listing Terms.

2. Prohibited Activities

2.1 Illegal Activities

You must not use Cyclesite to:

2.2 Harmful Behaviour

You must not:

• Harass, bully, or threaten other users in messages, reviews, or any communication
• Discriminate against users based on race, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or any protected characteristic
• Impersonate another person, business, or Cyclesite staff
• Dox or share personal information of other users without consent
• Stalk or repeatedly contact users who have asked not to be contacted

2.3 Marketplace Manipulation

You must not:

• Shill bidding — Bidding on your own auctions or arranging for others to do so
• Price manipulation — Artificially inflating or deflating prices to distort the market
• Fake reviews — Posting false reviews or incentivising others to do so
• Multiple accounts — Operating more than one account to circumvent restrictions or manipulate the platform
• Non-genuine listings — Posting listings with no genuine intent to sell, or at misleading prices
• Contact harvesting — Collecting other users' contact details for unsolicited marketing

2.4 Platform Abuse & Prohibited Automated Access

You must not:

• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to accounts, systems, or data — This may constitute an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990
• Introduce malware — Viruses, trojans, or other malicious code
• Overwhelm our infrastructure — Denial-of-service attacks or excessive automated requests
• Circumvent security measures — Rate limits, CAPTCHAs, bot detection, verification requirements, API authentication, or access controls
• Reverse engineer our platform, algorithms, or proprietary systems
• Spam — Unsolicited messages, bulk posting, or repetitive content

2.5 Data Scraping & Automated Data Collection

Without our prior written consent, you must not:

• Scrape, crawl, spider, or harvest any part of our platform using any automated tool, script, bot, or software, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes
• Systematically download or cache listing data, pricing data, sold-price data, images, user information, or any other content from our platform
• Build competing products or databases using data obtained from our platform, including but not limited to price comparison sites, market analysis tools, competitor listing aggregators, or alternative marketplaces
• Train AI or machine learning models using data extracted from our platform, including large language models, pricing algorithms, image recognition systems, or recommendation engines
• Aggregate or monitor listing availability, pricing trends, seller activity, buyer demand, or market data from our platform for any purpose
• Access the platform via unofficial means — Including headless browsers, modified API clients, browser automation tools, or any interface not publicly provided by us
• Sell, distribute, or share any data obtained from our platform with third parties
• Harvest contact information — Collecting email addresses, phone numbers, or personal data of our users for any purpose, including marketing (in violation of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 and UK GDPR)

Note on robots.txt: Our robots.txt file is technical guidance for web crawlers. It does not constitute a licence or permission. Compliance with robots.txt does not exempt you from the restrictions in this policy or our Terms of Service. See Section 9 of our Terms of Service for our full data scraping policy, including enforcement rights, legal remedies, and damages provisions.

3. Seller Responsibilities

Sellers on Cyclesite must:

• Accurately describe the condition, specifications, and any defects of items listed
• Use genuine photographs — Stock photos or images from other listings are not permitted
• Respond promptly to buyer enquiries and complete transactions in a timely manner
• Honour agreed prices — Once a sale or auction is agreed, the price is binding
• Comply with consumer protection law — Trade sellers must comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, and all applicable trading standards legislation
• Declare trade status — If you sell bikes regularly or as a business, you must register as a trade seller

4. Communication Standards

All communication on Cyclesite — including messages, reviews, and listing descriptions — must be:

• Respectful — No abusive, threatening, or discriminatory language
• Honest — No misleading claims or false information
• Relevant — Stay on-topic and related to the transaction or listing
• Legal — No defamatory statements or content that infringes intellectual property rights

We reserve the right to remove any communication that violates these standards.

5. Reporting Violations

If you encounter any behaviour that violates this policy, please report it immediately:

• In-app reporting — Use the "Report" button on any listing, message, or user profile
• Email — safety@cyclesite.co.uk
• Contact form — cyclesite.co.uk/contact

We investigate all reports and aim to respond within 48 hours. For priority illegal content, we act within 1 hour. See our Content Moderation Policy for full details on response times.

6. Enforcement

Violations of this policy may result in one or more of the following actions, at our sole discretion:

Repeat offenders face escalating enforcement. We maintain records of all violations for 3 years.

7. Appeals

If you believe enforcement action was taken in error, you may appeal within 30 days by emailing support@cyclesite.co.uk with:

• Your account email address
• The enforcement action you are appealing
• Your reasons for appealing
• Any supporting evidence

Appeals are reviewed by a senior team member who was not involved in the original decision. We aim to resolve appeals within 10 working days.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified via email or a prominent notice on our platform. Continued use of Cyclesite after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact