Purchase Terms

These Purchase Terms govern your use of Cyclesite as a buyer. They apply alongside our Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, and our Refund Policy.

You must be 18 or over to buy a bike or use Buyer Protection on Cyclesite.

You can buy a bike listed on Cyclesite in two ways:

Sections 3 to 9 below apply to Buyer Protection only.

Buyer Protection works in five steps:

1. You pay at checkout. The full amount (bike price + any delivery selected + the Buyer Protection transaction fee) is taken by Stripe. All fees are shown before you confirm. No fees are added after confirmation.
2. Stripe holds the funds in escrow. The seller is notified that payment is secured. We never hold your money.
3. The seller dispatches the bike. The seller must hand over the bike (to you in person, or to an integrated carrier) within the dispatch window published for the listing (typically 3 working days from payment).
4. You receive and inspect. You have the inspection window shown at checkout (typically 72 hours from delivery) to confirm the bike matches its description or open a dispute. If you confirm, funds are released to the seller. If you do nothing by the end of the window, funds release automatically.
5. If there is a dispute, we hold the escrow while we follow the process in Section 6 below.

The bike price is set by the seller. The Buyer Protection transaction fee is the fee you pay to us for the escrow and dispute service; it is shown separately at checkout and is included in the total you confirm before paying. We comply with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibition on drip-pricing: no fees are added after the total is displayed.

No VAT is charged — TPSTORES LIMITED is not VAT-registered. If a trader-seller issues you a VAT invoice, that VAT is on the seller’s supply of the bike, not on our service.

Cyclesite does not take possession of any bike. Where the seller uses an integrated carrier we offer at checkout, the carrier is contracted on the seller’s behalf; the seller’s arrangement with the carrier governs transit. For full detail on carriers and transit risk, see Shipping & Delivery.

The quality, description and fitness of the bike are the seller’s responsibility. Where the seller is a trader, your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply to that trader. Where the seller is a private individual, your rights are the more limited rights available under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (primarily: the seller must have the right to sell the bike, and the bike must match its description).

If you discover after delivery that the bike is stolen, contact your local police force immediately and open a dispute on Cyclesite. Do not approach the seller. We will cooperate with any law-enforcement requests under the Data Protection Act 2018.

You can open a dispute at any time during your inspection window by selecting “Raise a dispute” on the order. Valid reasons include:

• The bike did not arrive
• The bike is materially not as described
• The bike arrived damaged in a way the listing did not disclose
• The frame number has been matched against a UK stolen-bike database

Once a dispute is open, escrow is held. You will need to submit evidence (photos of the bike, the packaging if relevant, and a short description). The seller has up to five working days to respond.

We decide the release of the escrow based on the evidence and the inspection window rules. In practice, where the evidence clearly favours one party, the escrow is released accordingly; where the evidence is mixed, we may propose a partial release or require return of the bike before the escrow is released to you.

6.1 Refund composition on a buyer-favour resolution

Where a dispute is resolved in your favour (a “Buyer-Favour Resolution”), the bike price, any delivery charges you paid and the Buyer Protection transaction fee are refunded to you from the escrow funds held by Stripe. Cyclesite does not refund from its own funds save where expressly stated in these Purchase Terms or required by law.

Stripe retains a payment processing fee on every card charge (typically 1.5% of the amount charged plus 20 pence for UK-issued cards; higher rates apply to non-UK cards). On a Buyer-Favour Resolution you are refunded the full amount you paid; we separately recover that Stripe processing fee from the seller under Listing Terms §7a. That recovery does not affect the amount refunded to you.

6.2 Return shipping

Where a Buyer-Favour Resolution requires the bike to be returned to the seller, the seller bears the reasonable cost of return shipping. Cyclesite will facilitate the booking of a return carrier where practicable. If you are asked to arrange return shipping yourself, you will be reimbursed the reasonable cost on provision of a receipt.

6.3 Partial resolutions

Where the dispute is resolved partially in your favour (for example, where the bike is substantially as described but with a minor defect not disclosed), the refund to you is calculated as a proportionate reduction of the bike price, released from escrow. The balance is released to the seller. The Buyer Protection transaction fee is retained by Cyclesite in respect of the dispute service provided.

6.4 Our decision

Our decision on escrow release is final as between you and Cyclesite. We do not decide whether the seller has breached the underlying sale contract — that is a question between you and the seller. Where the seller is a trader, you retain the statutory rights available to you against that trader under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (those rights are against the seller, notCyclesite). Nothing in this section removes your statutory right to dispute a card payment with your card issuer — see Section 8.

We aim to resolve disputes within 10 working days of receiving all evidence. Complex cases can take longer.

7.1 Right to cancel before dispatch

You may cancel a Buyer Protection purchase at any time before the seller marks the bike as dispatched, by selecting “Cancel order” on the transaction in your account. Upon valid cancellation before dispatch:

1. the bike price and the Buyer Protection transaction fee are refunded to you from the escrow funds held by Stripe;
2. Stripe retains a payment processing fee on the original charge (typically 1.5% of the amount charged plus 20 pence for UK-issued cards, higher rates applying to non-UK cards). Stripe does not return this fee on refund;
3. accordingly, the amount refunded to you is the amount you were originally charged less the Stripe processing fee retained. The exact deduction applicable to your card is disclosed to you at checkout before you confirm payment.

7.2 Statutory cooling-off period

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (“CCR 2013”), you have a statutory right to cancel the Buyer Protection service within 14 days of payment. By confirming payment at checkout you expressly request that the Buyer Protection service begin immediately, and you acknowledge that where the seller has dispatched the bike in reliance on the escrow you lose the right to cancel the service under the CCR 2013. You retain the dispute rights set out in Section 6. Where you cancel within the cooling-off period and before dispatch, clause 7.1 above governs the amount refunded.

7.3 Post-delivery and post-inspection

Once the bike has been delivered and the inspection window has closed (or you have confirmed delivery), the transaction is complete and escrow is released to the seller. Subsequent refunds are a matter between you and the seller, save where addressed through a dispute under Section 6. Full detail of the refund position is set out in the Refund Policy.

Nothing in these terms restricts your right to dispute a card payment with your card issuer. If you raise a chargeback, we will respond to the issuer and share the evidence from the dispute process with them. Where a chargeback is raised for something the Buyer Protection dispute process would have resolved, we ask that you use that process first; we always defend chargebacks that are contradicted by our dispute findings.

Buyer Protection payments are processed by Stripe Payments UK Ltd, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We accept UK-issued debit and credit cards, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay where offered. We do not accept cash, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or any third-party money-transfer service for Buyer Protection transactions.

Because Cyclesite is a marketplace and not the seller, we are not responsible for:

• The condition, authenticity, description or value of any bike
• The performance of the seller or the buyer of their respective obligations under the sale contract
• Losses caused by third-party carriers, Stripe, or any other service provider beyond our reasonable control
• Decisions you take on the basis of information we display (bike valuations, BikeCheck results, descriptions); these are informational, not warranties

Our total liability to you arising from or in connection with these Purchase Terms is limited to the greater of £100 or the Buyer Protection transaction fees you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for any other matter that cannot be excluded or limited by UK law.

These Purchase Terms are governed by English law. The courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may bring proceedings in your local courts, and nothing in these terms reduces any non-excludable consumer-court right you have under UK law.

If you have a complaint, please email us at support@cyclesite.co.uk. We follow the procedure set out in our Complaints Procedure.

We are not required to participate in alternative dispute resolution under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes Regulations 2015 and we do not currently do so. If we cannot resolve your complaint directly, you are free to take the matter to your local Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, or the small-claims track of the County Court (up to £10,000 in England and Wales).

TPSTORES LIMITED (trading as Cyclesite)

Company Registration: 13238473

Registered office: 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom

Not VAT-registered.

Email: support@cyclesite.co.uk