Terms of use

1. What Rathagaya is

Rathagaya is an online platform where people and businesses advertise vehicles for sale. Rathagaya is not a party to any sale. We don't own, inspect or guarantee the vehicles listed, and we don't verify vehicle ownership or documents. The optional Verified Seller and Verified Dealer badges mean our team reviewed that seller's or dealer's details and documents; they don't guarantee any vehicle, seller or sale.

2. Accounts

• You must give accurate information and keep your password secure.
• One person may hold one personal account. Dealer profiles must represent a real business.
• We may suspend accounts that break these terms or put other users at risk.

3. Listings

• You may only list a vehicle you are entitled to sell, with accurate information and your own photos.
• You must disclose known faults and answer accident questions honestly.
• Don't include personal documents (NIC, registration certificate, licences) in photos or descriptions.
• Listings are reviewed before publication and may be rejected or removed, with a reason given.
• A listing stays live for a set period (currently 60 days) and then expires. We email reminders before it expires, and you can renew it from My listings shortly before it ends or for a limited time after. Photos of listings that expired and weren't renewed are deleted after a retention period.
• AI-assisted descriptions are drafts. You are responsible for checking and correcting them before publishing.

3a. Your photos

• Only upload photos you took yourself or have the owner's permission to use. You keep the copyright in your photos.
• By uploading, you give Rathagaya a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to store, resize, compress and display the photos on Rathagaya and in links to your listing, for as long as the listing is on the site and for the retention period after. We don't sell your photos or license them to others.
• Public copies of photos may carry a small Rathagaya watermark. A watermark discourages copying; it can't stop it. We keep a clean copy privately so we can change how photos are shown.
• We remove location and camera information from photos when they are uploaded.

3b. Copyright complaints

If a listing uses your photos or text without permission, use “Report this listing” and choose the copyright reason, or contact us through the help page. Tell us which listing it is and where your original appears. We review each complaint, may hide the content while we do, and remove it if the complaint is upheld. Sellers who repeatedly post others' content may lose their account.

4. Prohibited conduct

• Fraud, requesting deposits for vehicles you can't deliver, or impersonating others.
• Posting other people's photos or listings, duplicate listings, or non-vehicle items.
• Harassing users, scraping the site, or interfering with its operation.
• Sending spam or scam messages, such as requests for advance payments, one-time codes or bank details, or links meant to mislead. We may hide such messages and restrict or suspend the sender's messaging.

4a. Messages and contact numbers

• You must only add phone numbers you are entitled to use. Sellers may be required to verify their primary mobile number by SMS before a listing is published.
• You can report a message or block a member. Reported conversations are reviewed by our safety team, as explained in the privacy notice.
• WhatsApp chats happen outside Rathagaya. Rathagaya can't see, moderate or help with them.

4b. Offers

• Buyers can offer a price on some listings. The lowest acceptable offer is set by Rathagaya as a share of the advertised price and is shown before you submit.
• An offer, and a seller's acceptance, is not a contract of sale, a reservation or a payment. Either side can still walk away. Offers expire if the seller doesn't answer in time, and pending offers end if the price changes out of range or the vehicle is no longer available.
• When a seller accepts, the buyer's name, phone number and email are shared with that seller, as the buyer agreed when making the offer. Use them only to arrange this sale.
• Don't use offers to harass sellers or to test prices in bulk. We may close offers and limit accounts that misuse them.

5. Seller information

Vehicle details and condition are supplied by sellers and have not been independently verified by Rathagaya. “Email confirmed”, “Phone confirmed” and “Verified by SMS” only mean the seller controlled that email address or phone number when it was checked. “Verified Seller” means our team reviewed the checks listed on the verification page (such as an identity document) for that seller; it doesn't guarantee any vehicle, claim or sale. “Registered” is the seller's own statement; we don't check registration documents. Buyers are responsible for inspecting vehicles and checking documents before paying. Rathagaya is not affiliated with the Government of Sri Lanka or the Department of Motor Traffic.

6. Fees and paid promotions

• Listing is currently free. We will give advance notice before introducing any other paid feature.
• Where offered, you can pay to promote an ad you own or manage: Bump Up (moves the ad up the newest-first order once per credit), Top Ad (a chance at labelled sponsored positions at the top of matching results), Featured Ads (a place in labelled Featured sections) and Urgent Sale (a label saying you want to sell soon). Each package lists everything it includes, its price, length and limits before you pay.
• Paid placements are always labelled. A promotion doesn't guarantee views, enquiries, a particular position at every moment or a sale. It never verifies a seller or a vehicle, and it doesn't change the ad's publication or expiry date. Paid ads still have to follow these terms and our listing rules, and may be reviewed or removed like any other ad.
• Urgent Sale only communicates your wish to sell soon. Don't use it for an ad that isn't genuinely for sale; it doesn't say anything about the price, condition or history of the vehicle.
• Payments are handled by PayHere; Rathagaya never sees your card details. A promotion starts only after PayHere confirms the payment to us. One bought while the ad is in review starts when the ad goes live; a scheduled one starts at the time you chose (Sri Lanka time).
• If the ad stops being live (for example a review after an edit, expiry or removal), unused promotion time is paused and continues when it is live again, unless the promotion page says otherwise. If you mark the ad as sold, running promotions end.
• A promotion that has started isn't normally refundable. You can cancel a scheduled one before it starts where the promotion page allows it; we then review a refund. If your ad is removed for breaking these terms, unused promotion time isn't refunded. If we can't deliver a promotion you paid for, contact us and we'll refund it through PayHere. This doesn't affect your rights under Sri Lankan law.

7. Liability

To the extent permitted by law, Rathagaya is not liable for losses arising from transactions between users. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Sri Lankan consumer protection law.

8. Changes and governing law

We may update these terms and will show the date of the latest version. These terms are governed by the laws of Sri Lanka.