Seller Marketplace Terms

Last updated: 13 September 2026

Important information

These terms apply when you use Sell My Car Essex Marketplace to offer a vehicle to approved motor dealers.

Please read them before creating a listing or accepting an offer. In particular:

• access to the marketplace is normally by invitation following a Sell My Car Essex valuation;
• using the marketplace is free for invited private sellers;
• your vehicle registration, listing information and photographs will be shown to approved dealers;
• your personal contact details will not be shown to dealers during the offer period;
• Dealer Offers (bids) come from independent motor dealers, not from Sell My Car Essex Marketplace;
• you are not required to accept an offer;
• once you accept an offer, you should intend to sell the vehicle to that dealer;
• an accepted price may only be changed where a material undisclosed discrepancy is identified and you agree to the change;
• the dealer pays you directly; and
• you must confirm that cleared funds have reached your bank account before releasing the vehicle, keys or documents.

1. About us

Sell My Car Essex is operated by Local Car Buyer.

Business and correspondence address: Suite 2 Regency House, Station Road, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0BP
Email: marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk
Telephone: 01245 922 095

2. Definitions

In these terms:

• Buy It Now Price means an optional price selected by you at which you are prepared to consider accepting an offer before the scheduled end of the Offer Period.
• Accepted Offer means a Dealer Offer you accept through the Marketplace.
• Automatic Bid means a Dealer Offer placed automatically by the Marketplace under a Dealer’s private maximum-bid instruction.
• Dealer means an approved motor dealer using the Marketplace to offer to purchase Vehicles.
• Dealer Offer means a conditional offer submitted by a Dealer through the Marketplace.
• Listing means the vehicle profile, information, photographs and other material submitted for Dealers to review.
• Listing Information means all information supplied by or on behalf of you about the Vehicle.
• Marketplace means the Sell My Car Essex Marketplace website, accounts, dashboards and related services.
• Offer Period means the period shown on the relevant Listing during which Dealers may submit offers.
• Seller means the person using the Marketplace to offer a Vehicle for sale.
• Vehicle means the vehicle identified in a Listing.

3. These terms and related documents

These terms should be read with our:

• Privacy Policy;
• Cookie Policy; and
• any important information displayed during the listing and offer process.

The Dealer is separately bound by the Dealer Terms and Conditions and Dealer Code of Conduct.

If you do not agree to these terms, you must not create a Listing or use the Marketplace.

4. Eligibility

To use the Marketplace as a Seller, you must:

• be at least 18 years old;
• live in the United Kingdom;
• be acting as a private individual unless we expressly approve otherwise;
• own the Vehicle or have the owner’s full authority to sell it;
• have the legal ability to enter into a vehicle-sale contract; and
• provide accurate, current and complete information.

If you act for another person, company, estate or registered keeper, we may require evidence of your authority.

Motor traders may not use a Seller account to dispose of trade stock unless we have expressly approved that use in writing.

5. Valuations and marketplace invitations

The selling journey normally begins with a valuation from Sell My Car Essex. We may make a direct purchase offer or invite you to use the Marketplace.

Any valuation, estimate, guide price or suggested Buy It Now Price is an indication only. It is not a guaranteed sale price or an offer from the Marketplace.

An invitation is personal to you and the identified Vehicle. It may not be transferred or used to list another vehicle without our permission.

We may decline, pause or withdraw a marketplace invitation where we reasonably believe that the Vehicle, Seller or Listing does not meet our eligibility, safety or verification requirements.

6. Creating your Listing

You must take reasonable care to ensure the Listing Information is honest, accurate, complete and up to date.

You must use the listing fields and comments section to disclose known faults, damage and any other material information that could affect a Dealer’s decision to purchase or the price offered. The comments section does not replace your obligation to complete the other listing fields accurately.

You must disclose all information likely to materially affect a Dealer’s assessment of the Vehicle, including where applicable:

• current mileage;
• known mechanical or electrical faults;
• warning lights;
• accident damage;
• bodywork damage or panels requiring paintwork;
• missing parts or keys;
• service history and the number of recorded service stamps;
• MOT status;
• modifications;
• insurance write-off status known to you;
• whether the Vehicle is imported;
• outstanding finance;
• ownership or authority to sell; and
• any material change occurring after the Listing is submitted.

You must not deliberately conceal a fault, alter a mileage reading or provide misleading photographs.

If information changes while the Listing is active, you must update it or tell us promptly. We may pause the Listing while a material change is reviewed.

7. Photographs and uploaded content

Do not include telephone numbers, email addresses or other personal contact information in your listing comments. We may remove personal contact information from listings while preserving material information about the Vehicle. This moderation does not amount to verification or approval of the Vehicle information. You remain responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information you supply.

Photographs must show the Vehicle honestly and must not be materially altered to conceal its condition.

You must not upload material that:

• you do not have the right to use;
• is unlawful, threatening, abusive, discriminatory or defamatory;
• contains malicious software;
• unnecessarily displays personal or confidential information; or
• is unrelated to the Vehicle.

You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, copy, resize, reprocess and display your Listing Information for the purpose of operating, promoting and administering the Listing and any resulting transaction. This licence lasts only for as long as reasonably required for those purposes and our lawful record-keeping obligations.

Our handling of image metadata and personal information is explained in our Privacy Policy.

8. Information shown to Dealers

Approved Dealers may be shown:

• the Vehicle registration;
• Vehicle specification and age;
• mileage;
• MOT and available vehicle-history information;
• service-history information;
• condition and disclosed faults;
• outstanding-finance information;
• photographs and description;
• approximate location or collection area; and
• other information reasonably required to assess the Vehicle.

Your full name, personal email address, telephone number and exact home address will not be displayed to Dealers during the Offer Period.

Before you accept an offer, Dealers see you only as Private Seller. After you accept, the successful Dealer must first propose collection dates through the Marketplace. Contact information is shared only after a collection day is agreed, as explained in section 13.

9. Offer Periods

Each Listing enters a scheduled auction round and shows the closing time for that round. The length and closing time may vary between Listings.

We may pause, cancel or extend an Offer Period where reasonably necessary because of a technical problem, suspected fraud, incorrect Listing Information or another material issue. Where practicable, we will notify affected users.

If a round ends without an offer, your Vehicle will normally move automatically into the next scheduled round. After three consecutive rounds without an offer, the Listing will normally take a ten-day break before entering another round. You may remove the Vehicle at any time through your dashboard.

If a round ends with offers, you will have 24 hours to accept or decline the highest valid offer. If you do not respond within 24 hours, the highest Dealer may withdraw the unanswered offer through their My Dealer Bids page. Until the Dealer withdraws it, the offer remains open and you may still accept it. After it has been withdrawn, you can no longer accept it unless the Dealer submits or renews an offer through the Marketplace.

Submitting a Listing does not oblige you to accept any Dealer Offer.

We do not guarantee that:

• any Dealer will submit an offer;
• a particular number of Dealers will view the Listing;
• an offer will equal a valuation, guide price or Buy It Now Price; or
• the Vehicle will sell.

10. Buy It Now Price

Where the feature is available, you may set a Buy It Now Price after completing your Listing.

While your Buy It Now Price is shown on your Listing, Dealers cannot place an ordinary offer or set an automatic maximum bid at or above that price. They will instead be offered the choice of using Buy It Now or offering one bid increment below your Buy It Now Price.

If a Dealer uses Buy It Now, bidding pauses for everyone for up to 24 hours while you decide. You must accept or decline through your dashboard. Buy It Now does not complete the sale by itself. If you accept, an Accepted Offer is created.

If you do not respond within 24 hours, bidding resumes and the auction round is extended by the length of the pause. If you decline, your Buy It Now Price is removed and bidding continues without that price ceiling. You may set a new Buy It Now Price.

You may change or remove the price before a Dealer uses Buy It Now, subject to any restrictions displayed in your dashboard.

11. Dealer Offers

Dealer Offers are made by independent Dealers and not by us.

Some Dealer Offers are Automatic Bids. This means that the Marketplace places bids on a Dealer’s instruction, only as needed and up to that Dealer’s confidential maximum. Each Automatic Bid is the Dealer’s own binding bid. We never place bids ourselves or on behalf of a Seller.

An offer is based on the Listing Information and is conditional upon:

• the Vehicle materially matching that information;
• the Seller owning or being authorised to sell the Vehicle;
• satisfactory ownership, finance, provenance and identity checks; and
• the Vehicle being available for lawful sale.

The Marketplace may show you the leading offer and may also show other offer information. The way offers are displayed does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation of a particular Dealer.

If two Dealers submit equal leading offers, the Marketplace may rank the offer received first as the leading offer.

Offers remain subject to the validity and withdrawal rules shown in the Marketplace. The unanswered highest offer at the end of a round remains open as explained in section 9 until the Dealer withdraws it. Any other expired or withdrawn offer cannot be accepted unless the Dealer submits or renews it through the Marketplace.

12. Accepting an offer

You are free to reject all offers. However, you should only press Accept if you genuinely intend to sell the Vehicle to that Dealer for the accepted price.

When you accept an offer:

• the Marketplace creates an Accepted Offer;
• the Dealer becomes committed under the Dealer Terms to proceed in good faith, subject only to the permitted inspection conditions;
• the Dealer must propose up to three collection dates through the Marketplace promptly, and in any event within two days of acceptance. We may remind the Dealer and may intervene where dates have not been offered;
• you may select a proposed date or choose Not sure yet;
• after a collection day is agreed, private messaging is opened and the Dealer’s trading name and chosen display telephone number are shown to you. We do not pass your name, telephone number or email address to the Dealer; you decide what collection details to share in the thread; and
• you and the Dealer must arrange the inspection, payment and handover.

The agreement for the sale and purchase of the Vehicle is between you and the Dealer. We do not buy the Vehicle, take ownership of it or become a party to that transaction.

If a Dealer later asks to return the Vehicle or receive a refund, this must be addressed between you and the Dealer under your sale agreement and applicable law. A request does not, by itself, mean you must accept a return or give a refund. We do not receive the Vehicle purchase money and are not responsible for accepting the Vehicle back, arranging its return or refunding the purchase price merely because the sale was arranged through the Marketplace. We may review a complaint or help with communications without becoming a party to your sale agreement. This does not exclude responsibility for our own breach, negligence or misrepresentation, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

The Dealer must provide you with a Vehicle purchase invoice or receipt in printed form or another format you can save. It should identify the parties, Vehicle, mileage, date, final purchase price, payment method, any outstanding-finance settlement, the balance paid directly to you, and the keys and documents transferred.

The Dealer must provide the business details you need to notify DVLA that the Vehicle has been sold or transferred to the motor trade. You remain responsible for completing your part of the DVLA notification promptly and keeping the confirmation.

13. Collection dates, contact and inspection

The successful Dealer must propose up to three reasonable collection dates through the Marketplace promptly, and in any event within two days of acceptance. We may remind the Dealer and may intervene where dates have not been offered. You may select one of those dates or choose Not sure yet if you need more time.

If you select Not sure yet, the message thread and contact details remain closed until a collection day is agreed. Once a collection day is agreed, you will see the Dealer’s trading name and chosen display telephone number, and a private message thread opens. We do not pass your name, telephone number or email address to the Dealer. You decide what collection details to share with the Dealer in that thread. Only share what is needed to hand over the Vehicle.

Use the Marketplace message thread only to agree the collection time and address. Do not send bank-account details, payment-card information, finance login details or other unnecessary personal information through it.

You and the Dealer are responsible for agreeing a reasonable inspection and collection time and location. You must give the Dealer a reasonable opportunity to inspect the Vehicle and relevant documents.

Before paying or collecting, the Dealer must check your identity and that you own the Vehicle or have authority from its owner to sell it. You must provide suitable identification, the V5C and any supporting ownership or authorisation documents reasonably required. The V5C records the registered keeper and does not, by itself, prove ownership. Any material discrepancies must be resolved before the purchase proceeds.

The inspection is intended to confirm that the Vehicle materially matches the Listing Information. Normal age-related wear or information already clearly disclosed should not, by itself, justify a price reduction.

Do not release the Vehicle to anyone who cannot reasonably demonstrate that they represent the successful Dealer.

14. Revised prices

The accepted price should remain unchanged where the Vehicle materially matches the Listing Information.

A Dealer may propose a revised price only where the inspection reveals a significant undisclosed fault, damage or material discrepancy that genuinely affects the Vehicle’s value.

The Dealer must explain the reason and calculate the proposed adjustment fairly. You are not required to accept a revised price.

If you agree, the revised amount must be recorded through the Marketplace before the transaction is marked as completed.

If you do not agree, do not release the Vehicle. The outcome should be recorded as No Deal, and you may be offered the opportunity to relist.

The Dealer must propose any revised price through the Marketplace, explain the reason and provide photographic evidence. Nothing changes unless you accept the revised price through your dashboard.

If you have not responded after one day, we will send you a reminder. If you have not responded after two days, we may review the Dealer’s evidence against your original Listing Information and record the transaction as Sold at revised price, Sold at accepted price where the Dealer has already taken the Vehicle, or No Deal, depending on what the evidence shows.

If the Dealer has already taken the Vehicle and the sale completed, contact us promptly and ask us to record the sale. If the Dealer marks the Vehicle as Bought while a revised-price proposal is pending, that proposal is withdrawn. Where the Dealer records that they paid you less than the accepted price, you will be told the amount and the Dealer’s reason and evidence, and you have 48 hours to confirm or dispute it through your dashboard. If you do not respond within 48 hours, the sale is recorded at the amount the Dealer entered. If you dispute it, we review the Dealer’s evidence against your Listing Information before the outcome is recorded.

15. Payment and handover

The Dealer pays you directly. We are not a party to the payment and do not receive, hold or transfer the Vehicle purchase price. We are not responsible for making the Dealer’s payment and cannot recover money on your behalf. We recommend payment by bank transfer. Any decision to accept cash is yours; we do not recommend it and do not handle or verify cash payments. We cannot authenticate notes or resolve a cash shortfall on your behalf. This does not exclude responsibility for our own breach, negligence or misrepresentation, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

You must personally check your bank account and confirm that the full cleared amount has arrived before releasing:

• the Vehicle;
• any keys;
• the V5C or other ownership documents;
• service records; or
• other Vehicle paperwork.

A screenshot, transfer receipt or statement from the Dealer is not proof that cleared funds have reached your account.

16. Outstanding finance

You must disclose outstanding finance and provide accurate settlement information when requested.

Where finance remains outstanding, the Dealer may pay the finance provider directly and pay any remaining balance to you. You and the Dealer should confirm the settlement arrangement before handover.

You should obtain evidence that the finance settlement has been made. You remain responsible for information and obligations that only you can provide or complete with the finance provider.

Undisclosed finance may result in the Accepted Offer being cancelled, the Listing being suspended and further action where fraud is suspected.

17. Withdrawing or cancelling

You may withdraw a Listing before accepting an offer by using the available account controls or contacting us.

If you withdraw after accepting an offer, you must notify the Dealer and us immediately. There is no Seller cancellation fee charged by the Marketplace, but acceptance may have created obligations between you and the Dealer. You should not accept an offer unless you intend to proceed.

A Dealer may cancel an Accepted Offer only for a reason permitted by the Dealer Terms, such as:

• a material undisclosed discrepancy;
• unresolved undisclosed finance;
• lack of ownership or authority to sell;
• suspected fraud or unlawful activity;
• the Seller refusing to proceed; or
• a serious legal or safety issue.

We may cancel or pause a transaction where reasonably necessary to protect users, investigate suspected fraud or correct a material platform error.

18. Relisting

The automatic movement into later auction rounds is explained in section 9. If an Accepted Offer results in No Deal, we may allow you to relist the Vehicle.

If you accepted an offer but the sale did not complete, you may ask us to approach the next-highest Dealer from that auction round at the amount they previously offered, including any Tie-Break increment the Dealer had authorised. For example, this may be available if the Dealer records No Deal, you decline a revised price, or you confirm that the Vehicle was not collected.

The next-highest Dealer does not have to proceed. They will have 24 hours to accept the opportunity, after which it will lapse. If they accept, the usual inspection, payment and collection process will apply.

This option is not available simply because you declined the highest offer when the auction ended. In that situation, your Vehicle may be relisted instead.

Before relisting, you must update the Listing to include any material information identified during an inspection or previous transaction.

Relisting does not guarantee new or higher offers. A Vehicle may be relisted up to three times. We may refuse further relisting where information remains incomplete, the Vehicle is no longer eligible or misuse is suspected.

19. Transaction outcomes

You and the Dealer must accurately record the outcome:

• Sold at accepted price where the original accepted amount was paid;
• Sold at revised price where you voluntarily agreed a different final amount; or
• No Deal where the sale did not proceed.

The dashboard actions Bought, Propose a revised price and No deal are used to record these outcomes. Where the Dealer records a lower amount paid when marking the Vehicle as Bought, the confirmation and dispute process in section 14 applies.

We may contact either party for evidence of the final price or outcome for support, commission, fraud-prevention and record-keeping purposes.

If a Dealer you met through the Marketplace buys your car outside it, please tell us. After a deal ends we may ask you whether the Dealer bought the car in the end. There is no cost to you either way.

Once a sale is recorded, the Dealer’s invoice paid and any 48-hour confirmation period has passed, the Listing and its photographs are permanently deleted from the live Marketplace, as described in our Privacy Policy.

20. Reviews

You may report a problem with a Dealer through your dashboard. Reports are stored with the transaction record and reviewed by us; the Dealer is not told who made the report.

After the sale has been recorded and the Dealer’s Marketplace invoice has been issued, you may be invited to review the Dealer.

Reviews must reflect your honest experience. You must not submit a fake review, accept an undisclosed incentive for a review or include unlawful, abusive or unnecessary personal information.

We may verify, moderate or remove reviews in accordance with our review standards. We will not remove a genuine negative review merely because a Dealer disagrees with it.

21. Fraud, prohibited Vehicles and misuse

You must not knowingly list or attempt to sell:

• a stolen or cloned Vehicle;
• a clocked Vehicle;
• a Vehicle you do not own or have authority to sell;
• a Vehicle with deliberately concealed finance;
• a Vehicle containing materially falsified information; or
• a Vehicle whose sale would be unlawful.

We may suspend an account, Listing or transaction and request additional evidence where we reasonably suspect fraud, criminality, misuse or a safety concern. We may report suspected unlawful activity to relevant authorities.

22. Your consumer rights

Nothing in these terms limits any rights you have under applicable consumer law.

Where the Consumer Contracts Regulations apply to your Marketplace service, you may have a 14-day right to cancel that service. The Marketplace is free for invited Sellers, and you may withdraw your Listing at any time through your dashboard without a Marketplace cancellation fee.

Withdrawing from the Marketplace service is separate from any Vehicle purchase contract already formed with a Dealer. If you have accepted an offer, you should contact us and the Dealer promptly before taking any further action.

23. Third-party services and links

The Marketplace may contain information supplied by vehicle-data providers or links to independent websites. Third parties are responsible for their own services, information and privacy practices.

Vehicle-history, MOT, valuation and similar data may contain errors or delays. It should not be treated as a substitute for official records or appropriate checks.

24. Marketplace availability

We aim to keep the Marketplace secure and available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access.

We may suspend access for maintenance, security, technical or legal reasons. We will take reasonable steps to minimise disruption and communicate material interruptions where practicable.

25. Our responsibility

We are responsible for providing the Marketplace service with reasonable care and skill.

We are not responsible for the independent Dealer’s acts or omissions, the Dealer’s inspection, the Dealer’s payment obligations or the quality of the Vehicle purchase transaction itself. This does not affect any responsibility that the law does not allow us to exclude.

We do not guarantee the accuracy of a valuation, guide price, third-party vehicle data or Dealer Offer, or that the Vehicle will sell.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
• any liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited.

26. Suspension and closure

We may pause a Listing, restrict an account or prevent further use where we reasonably believe that:

• these terms have been breached;
• information is false, misleading or incomplete;
• fraud, unlawful conduct or a safety issue may be involved;
• another user is being harmed or harassed; or
• restriction is necessary to protect the Marketplace.

You may request deletion of your account through your dashboard. Your account profile and personal contact details will be wiped from the live account immediately, and the account will be fully purged after 180 days. Copies may remain in secure backups for up to 30 days after that and will be deleted through the usual backup-rotation process. We may retain the limited transaction, tax, fraud-prevention, dispute and legal records described in our Privacy Policy where we still have a lawful reason to do so.

27. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have a complaint:

Email: marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk
Telephone: 01245 922 095
Address: Suite 2 Regency House, Station Road, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0BP

We aim to acknowledge complaints within five working days and provide a substantive response within 28 days. Complex matters may take longer, in which case we will provide an update.

28. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms when our services, processes or legal obligations change.

The latest version will be published with the updated date shown at the top. If you have an active Listing when a material change is made, the version accepted when that Listing began will normally continue to apply to it unless a change is required by law or is necessary for security or fraud prevention.

We may also notify registered users of material changes by email or through their account.

29. General

If we delay enforcing a right, that does not mean we have waived it.

If part of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply.

No person other than you and us has a right to enforce these terms. This does not affect any separate Vehicle purchase contract between you and a Dealer.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live elsewhere in the United Kingdom, you retain any mandatory protections provided by the law and courts of the country in which you live.

30. Contact us

Questions about these terms should be sent to:

Local Car Buyer, trading as Sell My Car Essex and Sell My Car Essex Marketplace
Suite 2 Regency House, Station Road, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0BP
Email: marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk
Telephone: 01245 922 095