Terms & Conditions

1. About us

RigSwap is an online marketplace operated from the United Kingdom that connects musicians who want to buy and sell instruments and studio equipment. You can reach us at any time at support@rigswapuk.com.

RigSwap is a venue for buyers and sellers. Unless we say otherwise, we are not the seller of items listed on the site, we do not take ownership of them, and the contract of sale is made directly between the buyer and the seller.

2. Using RigSwap

You must be at least 18 years old and resident in the United Kingdom to create an account, buy or sell on RigSwap. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in details confidential and for everything that happens through your account.

You must not use RigSwap to list stolen, counterfeit or prohibited items, to mislead other users, to take payments outside the platform, or to scrape, copy or interfere with the site. Messages sent through RigSwap are screened and contact or payment details may be hidden to keep transactions safe. We may suspend or close accounts that break these rules.

3. Buying

When you buy an item you pay through RigSwap's secure checkout, processed by Stripe. Paying through RigSwap is what keeps you covered by Buyer Protection — paying a seller directly by bank transfer, cash or a payment app is not covered and is against these terms.

Most sellers on RigSwap are private individuals. Where a seller is a private individual, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies in a more limited way than it does for shops, but items must still match their description. Where a seller is a trader (selling in the course of a business), buyers keep their full statutory rights, including the rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and, for distance sales, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

4. Selling

Listings must be accurate, honest and your own. You must describe the condition of the item truthfully, disclose faults, use your own photographs, and only list gear you legally own and have the right to sell.

If you sell items in the course of a business — even part-time — you must make that clear in your listings and comply with consumer protection law. We may remove listings or suspend sellers who repeatedly misdescribe items, sell prohibited goods, or attempt to move sales off-platform.

This applies to local collection sales too: even when the buyer collects in person, the sale must go through RigSwap's Buy button. Agreeing cash in hand, a bank transfer or another payment method in messages breaches these seller rules, means the sale is not covered by Buyer Protection for either of you, and may lead to listings being removed or the account being suspended — particularly for repeat offenders.

5. Fees and payouts

Listing an item on RigSwap is free. When an item sells, we charge the seller a platform commission of 5% of the total order value, deducted automatically at checkout.

The remaining 95% is paid to the seller's connected bank account via Stripe Connect. Sellers must complete Stripe's identity and bank verification before they can receive payouts. Payout timing is set by Stripe and typically takes a few working days after the first payout on a new account.

6. Cancellations, returns and refunds

All local collection sales are final once the item has been collected. Before paying for a collection order the buyer must confirm they understand this, and they confirm it again when marking the item as collected. Buyers should inspect and test gear fully at handover — once accepted, it cannot be returned and Buyer Protection no longer applies to that item.

For posted orders, buyers are covered by Buyer Protection if an item never arrives or is significantly not as described, as set out on our Buyer Protection page. Where the seller is a trader selling at a distance, buyers may also have a statutory 14-day right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013; this does not apply to private sellers.

7. Liability

RigSwap provides the marketplace, payment processing and messaging tools, but the items themselves are the responsibility of the seller. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for the condition, authenticity or legality of items listed, for losses arising from transactions between users, or for indirect or consequential loss.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded by law. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected.

8. Complaints and disputes

If something goes wrong, contact us first at support@rigswapuk.com and we will try to resolve it quickly. Disputes between buyers and sellers should be raised through the order's message thread so there is a clear record.

For payment disputes covered by Buyer Protection, follow the claims process on the Buyer Protection page. We may ask both parties for evidence before making a decision.

9. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, except that consumers resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland may bring proceedings in their local courts and under their local law.