Flathalt Listing Policy

For use of our Site and other services, you confirm and declare that you shall not list or post or provide information in relation to the sale or purchase or exchange of services, content or information that are illegal under the laws of the Republic of India and/or are not permitted as per the prohibited items policy listed below.

Prohibited Item Policy

A. We specifically prohibit any listing or posting of classifieds or information in relation to the following items:

Alcoholic Beverages, Liquor, tobacco products, drugs, psychotropic substances, narcotics, intoxicants of any description, medicines, palliative/curative substances nor shall you provide link directly or indirectly to or include descriptions of items, or services that are prohibited under any applicable law for the time being in force including but not limited to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, the Drugs And Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, Narcotic Drug and Prohibited Substances Act and the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Living, dead person and/or the whole or any part of any human which has been kept or preserved by any means whether artificial or natural including any blood, bodily fluids and/ or body parts
Prostitution or any other service in the nature there of that purports to violate the provisions of Immoral Act or Indecent representation of women which violates the contemporary standards of morality and decency in Indian society.
Religious items, including books, artifacts, etc. or any information, description of any such item that is likely to affect the religious sentiments of any person or group
Mature Audiences Policy includes films which do not have a certificate for public exhibition issued by the Central Board of Film Certification and or described and depict or otherwise deal with matters which are revolting or repulsive and or tend to deprave a person’s mind in such a way that they tend to offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults
Obscene Items includes items which contain an indecent representation of women within the meaning of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986; Any publication or film or item that describes or depicts a minor who is, or who appears to be, under 18 (whether the minor is engaged in sexual activity or not) and any computer games not suitable for minor that are unsuitable for a minor to see or play.
Offensive Material intended for use in a sexual setting (including "bondage" and "fetish" items,) displaying sexual activity or portraying human genitalia in a "life-like" or realistic fashion "Antiquities" and "Art Treasures" in violation of the provisions of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 ("the Act")
Information or items that are defamatory, libelous, threatening or abusive in nature
Information that is fraudulent, misrepresenting as to the nature and use of the or the services.
Counterfeit, Pirated and stolen or unauthorized illegal services (services for which you are not licensed or permitted to do or do not have the authority to undertake).
Items, and services that infringe or attempt to pass off any third parties intellectual property or rights of publicity or moral rights and or purport's to breach any persons right to privacy.
Electronically transmitting through any medium computer viruses of any type or any computer program that facilitates hacking of a computer system which the intent to damage a computer or computer network or intercept any personal data.
Your information shall not include any hate content, that is derogatory or slanderous in nature that may directed to any individual or group or advocate violence against any users individuals and or animals.
Hazardous chemicals and pesticides and/ or items in violation of Hazardous Chemicals Act, 1985.
Fireworks, Destructive Devices and Explosives including any material that enables the making of fireworks, explosive triggers and explosive devices.
Identity Documents, Personal Financial Records & Personal Information (in any form, including mailing lists)
Lottery Tickets, Sweepstakes Entries and Slot Machines
Items in violation of the Food Adulteration Act, 1954
Military or Police Badges, Uniforms, coats-of-arms and or any Government emblems, insignia, and/ or items in violation of Emblems and names (Prevention of improper use) Act, 1950 and/ or Flag Codes of India Act, 2002
Weapons and related items (such as firearms, firearm parts and magazines, ammunition, tear gas, stun guns, switchblade knives or any other item which is prohibited under the Indian Arms Act, 1959.
"Pyramid schemes" and "Multilevel Marketing" and/ or similar scams which are solely listed for the purpose of defrauding users.
Spam, abusive, duplicate, listing, fraud schemes (e.g. "Get rich quick" "work at homes" scams which are solely listed for the purpose of duping users)
Inappropriate, Wrong Category (e.g dining table listed as office furniture).
Incorrect City / Location of Listing (listing allowed only in the city you are based in, of listing)
International Listings.

B. Without prejudice to the generality of the above, Flathalt does not permit posting or listing of classifieds in relation to the following:

"Securities" within the meaning of the Securities Contract Regulation Act, 1956, including shares, bonds, debentures, etc. and/or any other financial instruments/assets of any description
Living, dead creatures and/or the whole or any part of any animal which has been kept or preserved by any means whether artificial or natural including rugs, skins, specimens of animals, antlers, horns, hair, feathers, nails, teeth, musk, eggs, nests, other animal products of any description the sale and purchase of which is prevented or restricted in any manner by applicable laws (including those prohibited under The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and/ or The Environment Protection Act, 1986)

C. Your listing, information, Advertisement

Shall not be defamatory, trade libelous, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing. Further shall not be fraudulent, misrepresenting, misleading or pertain to the sale of any illegal, counterfeit, stolen or services which do not belong to you or you do not have the authority for. Further still shall not infringe any intellectual property, trade secret, or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy of any third party.
Shall not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel bots, easter eggs or other computer programming routines that may damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information.
Shall not be allowed to libel anyone or include hate, derogatory, slanderous speech directed at individuals or groups. You should not advocate violence against other users or individuals or groups.

2. In addition to the above and for the purposes of clarity all Users shall be expected to adhere to and comply with the following Policies while listing of items:

Restricted Item Policy: In addition to the above prohibited items policy users shall also adhere to and comply with the restricted items policy while listing, posting or providing information in relation to any or services.
Duplicate Ad listings are not allowed: Any ad posted more than once with the same content or Title in the same city and category would be considered as a Duplicate Ad. We advise you to post multiple ads only if you have different items or services for sale. All duplicate ads would be deleted and posters penalized if the problem persists.
Mature Audience/Sexually oriented material: Classifieds relating to items that includes items intended for use in sexual activity would not be permitted. (An example of such classifieds relating to an item not normally permitted would be a classified for the sale of a vibrator). Please also be aware that titles with graphic adult language are inappropriate, regardless of the item contained in the listing itself.

3. Consequences of Breach of Listing Policy

Users who violate the prohibited items policy and or the restricted items policy may be subject to the following actions

Suspension or termination of membership.
Permanent blocking of access to the site.
Reporting to Law Enforcement or Appropriate Authorities.

Representing Yourself, Your Services, and Your Listings Honestly

At Flathalt, we value transparency. Transparency means that you honestly and accurately represent yourself, your services.

By posting at on Flathalt, you agree that you will

Provide honest, accurate information in your section.
Honor our policies
Respect the intellectual property of others. If you feel someone has violated your intellectual propertyz rights, you can report it to Flathalt.
Not engage in fee avoidance.
Not coordinate pricing with other sellers.

4. Privacy and Communicating with Other Flathalt Members

Conversations

You can use Flathalt Conversations (“Convos”) to communicate directly with your buyers or other Flathalt members. Conversations are a great way for buyers to ask you questions about an item or an order. Conversations may not be used for the following activities:

Sending unsolicited advertising or promotions, requests for donations or spam;
Harassing or abusing another member or violating our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
Contacting someone after they have explicitly asked you not to; or
Interfering with a transaction or the business of another member.

Interference

Interference occurs when a member intentionally interferes with another member’s shop in order to drive away their business. Interference is strictly prohibited on Flathalt. Examples of interference include:

Contacting another member via Flathalt Conversations to warn them away from a particular member or services;
Posting in public areas to demonstrate or discuss a dispute with another member;
Purchasing from a seller for the sole purpose of leaving a negative review;
Maliciously clicking on a competitor's Promoted Listings ads in order to drain that member's advertising budget, also known as 'click fraud'

Harassment

Any use of Flathalt Conversations to harass other members is strictly prohibited. Similarly, Conversations may not be used to support or glorify hatred or otherwise violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy. If you receive a Convo that violates this policy, please let us know right away.

Privacy and Protecting Personal Information

You are responsible for protecting members’ personal information you receive or process. This means that, to the extent you use the Services outside of the Sites or Apps, or to the extent your local jurisdiction requires it, you must maintain a privacy policy for your shop that is consistent with the privacy terms set forth in Flathalt’s Terms of Use (including this Seller Policy) and Flathalt’s Privacy Policy. Such laws may require that you post, and comply with, your own privacy policy, which must be accessible to Flathalt members you interact with and compatible with this policy and Flathalt’s Terms of Use.

When you sell on Flathalt, you may communicate with other members or have transactions with buyers. This means you may process personal information (for example, buyer name, email address, and shipping address) and may be considered an independent and separate “data controller” under EU law or other local regulations. If you disclose personal information like a buyer’s name and email address without the buyer’s consent, you are responsible for that unauthorised disclosure.

For example, you may receive a buyer’s email address or other information as a result of entering into a transaction with that buyer. This information may only be used for Flathalt-related communications or for Flathalt-facilitated transactions. You may not use this information for unsolicited commercial messages or unauthorised transactions. Without the buyer’s consent, and subject to other applicable Flathalt policies and laws, you may not add any Flathalt member to your email or physical mailing list, use that buyer’s identity for marketing, or obtain or retain any payment information. Please bear in mind that you're responsible for knowing the standard of consent required in any given instance.

If Flathalt and you are found to be joint data controllers of personal information, and if Flathalt is sued, fined, or otherwise incurs expenses because of something that you did as a joint data controller of buyer personal information, you agree to indemnify Flathalt for the expenses it occurs in connection with your processing of buyer personal information.

For more information, please see our Privacy Policy.

5. Creating and Uploading Content

As a member of Flathalt, you have the opportunity to create and upload a variety of content, like listings, Convos, text, photos, and videos. In order to keep our community safe and respectful, you agree that you will not upload content that is:

Abusive, threatening, defamatory, harassing, or otherwise in violation of our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
Obscene or vulgar;
In violation of someone else’s privacy or intellectual property rights; or
False, deceptive, or misleading.

6. Building a Positive Reputation through our Reviews System

Reviews are a great way for you to build a reputation on Flathalt. Buyers can leave a review, including a one to five star rating only on the rare occasion you receive an unfavourable review, you can reach out to the buyer or, if the review is less than 3 stars, leave a response.

Reviews and your response to reviews may not:

Contain private information;
Contain obscene, racist, or harassing language or imagery;
Violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
Contain prohibited medical drug claims;
Contain advertising or spam;
Be about things outside the seller’s control, such as a shipping carrier, Flathalt or a third party; or
Undermine the integrity of the Reviews system.

Extortion

Extortion is not allowed on Flathalt. Any attempt to manipulate reviews through threats, intimidation, or bribery is considered extortion and is strictly prohibited on Flathalt. Extortion includes when a seller offers a buyer additional goods, services, or compensation in exchange for a positive review. For more information, please see this Help article.

Shilling

Shilling is strictly prohibited on Flathalt. Shilling is the fraudulent inflation of a shop’s reputation by use of an alternate account. The intent of shilling is to make a seller look more desirable by increasing the shop’s number of sales and overall review score. Not only does it violate our core value of transparency, but it is considered to be a deceptive business practice by the US Federal Trade Commission. Reviews must reflect the honest, unbiased opinions, findings, beliefs or experience of the buyer. For more information on shilling, including examples, please see this Help article.

7. Providing Great Customer Service

We expect our sellers to provide a high level of customer service. By selling on Flathalt, you agree to:

Honor your shipping and processing times. Sellers are obligated to ship an item or otherwise complete a transaction with a buyer in a prompt manner, unless there is an exceptional circumstance. Please be aware that legal requirements for shipping times vary by country. These requirements are detailed in our Shipping Policy.
Respond to Conversations in a timely manner.
Honor the commitments you make in your shop policies.
Resolve disagreements or disputes directly with the buyer. In the unlikely event that you can’t reach a resolution, our Dispute Resolution team can help through our case system. Read about your rights and responsibilities regarding cases here.
If you are unable to complete an order, you must notify the buyer and cancel the order. Read about how to cancel an order in this Help article.

Flathalt will help you provide great customer service and maintain trust with your buyers through our Seller Service Level Standards (“SLS.”) Read more about SLS here.

Flathalt also provides limited protection to sellers who meet the requirements of our Seller Protection Program. Read more about Flathalt’s Seller Protection Programme here.