Acceptable Use Policy

This policy applies to all users of ZipLocal, including:

• Visitors browsing the ZipLocal website.
• Businesses and individuals who submit listings, offers or events.
• Anyone who contacts ZipLocal through our contact form or other channels.

You must not use ZipLocal to submit, publish, share or facilitate any content or conduct that:

Illegal or fraudulent activity

• Is illegal under the laws of England and Wales or any other applicable jurisdiction.
• Promotes, facilitates or constitutes fraud, money laundering, tax evasion or any other criminal activity.
• Involves the sale of counterfeit, stolen or prohibited goods or services.
• Violates consumer protection law, including the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

False identities and fake listings

• Creates a false identity or impersonates any person, business or organisation.
• Submits a listing for a business that does not exist or that you are not authorised to represent.
• Misrepresents the nature, location, qualifications, credentials or services of a business.
• Uses another business's name, logo, trademark or branding without authorisation.

Fake or manipulated reviews

• Submits, solicits or facilitates fake, misleading or incentivised reviews.
• Reviews your own business, or arranges for employees, family members or connected persons to do so.
• Attempts to manipulate ratings or review counts by any means.
• Submits negative reviews about a competitor that are false or misleading.

Misleading prices and offers

• Advertises prices, discounts or offers that are false, misleading or not genuinely available.
• Uses bait-and-switch tactics or hidden charges.
• Misrepresents the terms, conditions or expiry dates of any offer.

Intellectual property infringement

• Infringes the copyright, trademark, design rights or other intellectual property rights of any third party.
• Uses images, logos, text or other content without the necessary permissions or licences.

Harassment, threats and hate content

• Is threatening, abusive, harassing, intimidating or bullying towards any person or group.
• Constitutes hate speech or incites hatred or discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or any other protected characteristic.
• Encourages or glorifies violence or self-harm.

Adult, unsafe or inappropriate content

• Contains sexually explicit, pornographic or adult content.
• Is unsuitable for a general audience, including content that is gratuitously violent or disturbing.
• Promotes or facilitates the exploitation of children or vulnerable adults.

Privacy and personal data

• Publishes private personal information about any individual without their consent, including addresses, phone numbers, financial information or other sensitive data.
• Collects or harvests personal data from ZipLocal without authorisation.
• Violates the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 or any other applicable data protection law.

Technical misuse

• Contains or distributes malware, viruses, spyware, ransomware or any other harmful code.
• Attempts to gain unauthorised access to ZipLocal's systems, databases or accounts.
• Uses automated tools, bots, scrapers or scripts to access, copy or extract content from ZipLocal without our prior written consent.
• Interferes with or disrupts the operation of ZipLocal or its infrastructure.
• Sends unsolicited commercial communications (spam) to other users or businesses.

ZipLocal reserves the right to take any of the following actions if we believe you have breached this policy:

• Remove or edit any content that breaches this policy, without notice.
• Suspend or permanently terminate access to ZipLocal for any user or business.
• Remove or suspend a business listing, with or without notice.
• Report unlawful activity to the relevant authorities, including the police, Trading Standards, the Information Commissioner's Office or other regulatory bodies.
• Cooperate with lawful requests from law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities, including providing information about users where required by law.
• Take legal action to recover losses or enforce our rights.

We will endeavour to notify affected users of enforcement action where it is appropriate and lawful to do so, but we are not obliged to do so in all circumstances.

If you believe that content on ZipLocal breaches this policy, please contact us or use the "Report this listing" link on the relevant listing page. Please see our Complaints and Takedown Procedure for full details of how we handle reports.

We may update this policy from time to time. We will update the "last updated" date at the top of this page when we do. Continued use of ZipLocal after a change to this policy constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us.