Marketplace terms
Binding version. These terms govern the use of Brand My Bike by Riders and business Sponsors. They are accepted during account completion and again where a payment flow requires a transaction-specific confirmation.
1. Operator, scope and definitions
Brand My Bike is operated by Ilhan Pektas, trading as GI MGMT, Waidmannstraße 1, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (“Brand My Bike”, “we” or “us”). These terms apply to accounts, bike listings, auctions, advertising placements, payment coordination, Ride Proofs and the related public pages.
A “Rider” lists a specific bike and offers physical advertising placements. A “Sponsor” is a business or professional buying such a placement for commercial purposes. A “Listing” is the Rider's bike project; an “Auction” is the time-limited bidding phase; a “Placement” is one defined sticker area and its related advertising service.
2. Business-only service and eligibility
Sponsor services are offered exclusively to entrepreneurs, businesses and professionals acting in the course of their commercial or independent professional activity, not to consumers. Riders also offer the sponsorship service commercially. Every user must be at least 18, provide accurate information and have authority to act for any stated organisation.
3. Marketplace role and contract structure
We provide the technical marketplace, review workflows and payment coordination. The advertising contract for a Placement is concluded directly between the Rider and the successful Sponsor. The Rider is the provider and merchant of that advertising service and remains responsible for its performance, invoices, taxes and other business duties. We are not the Rider's employer, agent, reseller or insurer, and we do not operate an escrow or trust account.
Sponsorship is advertising. It is not a donation, investment, loan, equity interest or automatic personal endorsement by the Rider, Sponsor or Brand My Bike.
4. Auction-first creation and account registration
The create flow can be completed before registration. Until it is claimed, the draft is a private, temporary Auction Intent and does not create a public Listing or contract. After sign-in and account completion, the Intent is converted into a private Listing assigned to the Rider. An abandoned sign-in or Checkout does not delete a saved Listing. Unclaimed Auction Intents expire after seven days.
5. One-off Listing publication fee
Each new Listing requires one separate, one-off publication payment of 10 EUR or 10 USD in the Listing currency. It is the final price, is not a subscription and does not renew. GI MGMT applies the German small-business exemption under section 19 UStG; VAT is therefore not charged or shown. The price is selected and fixed by the server and is displayed again in Stripe Checkout before payment.
Editing the same Listing or resubmitting it after a request for changes does not trigger another fee. Payment does not guarantee approval. If Brand My Bike finally rejects a paid Listing before publication, the publication fee is refunded in full and the publication entitlement is revoked. A request for changes, a voluntary withdrawal or inactivity is not a final rejection and does not itself create a refund right, without limiting mandatory law.
6. Stripe Connect and review
Before a Listing can be submitted for review, the Rider must complete the required Stripe Connect onboarding and all mandatory project data. Brand My Bike may approve the Listing, request changes or reject it finally. Commercial details—including bike, geometry, currency, duration, minimum bids and prices—are locked once submitted, unless we expressly reopen the Listing for changes.
Publication and the Auction clock begin only after the fee is confirmed, Stripe Connect is ready and an administrator approves the Listing. A private preview is not a public offer.
7. Auction rules
- The Listing specifies the bike, positions, currency, minimum bids, bid increments and a duration of 7, 14, 21 or 30 days.
- A Sponsor's bid is a binding business offer for the identified Placement at the stated total price and becomes valid only after the required deposit succeeds and the applicable verification checks pass.
- A Sponsor may pay the displayed deposit before account registration. This creates a private, time-limited Bid Intent, not an anonymous public identity. The Sponsor must verify the same email, accept the current B2B terms and complete Sponsor onboarding before the bid is activated. Brand names and logos remain non-public until moderation.
- A valid bid placed in the last ten minutes extends the Auction by ten minutes, up to six times.
- At closing, the highest valid bid per Placement is the provisional winning offer, subject to the applicable ownership model, full payment and final content checks.
Placement ranking is determined by the highest valid paid bid. Public directories may additionally use verification status, active public sponsorships, recency and profile completeness. Payment for a Listing does not buy preferential directory ranking unless expressly disclosed.
8. Funding and already-owned bikes
Under Funding, the verified retail price of the exact bike is the all-or-nothing bike goal. Only current leading Placement bids count. If the paid winning principal does not reach the goal, the bike is not funded through the platform and the applicable Sponsor payments are refunded. The Rider cannot privately top up the gap through Brand My Bike.
Under Already owned, no bike-purchase goal is displayed. Each fully paid winning Placement can proceed independently once the required checks are complete.
9. Deposits, outbidding and remaining balances
- A bid charges a deposit equal to 20% of the bid, with a minimum of 25 units in the Auction currency and never more than the bid itself.
- Increasing your own leading bid charges only the additional deposit required. An outbid deposit is refunded in full.
- A winning deposit is credited against the Placement price. The provisional winner has 48 hours to pay the balance.
- If the winner does not pay, an eligible runner-up may receive a binding 24-hour offer. Failed or expired offers may be closed and refunded under the displayed transaction status.
The visible bid is the full price charged for the Placement; the deposit is part of that price, not a surcharge. Currency conversions shown for convenience are estimates. The binding currency is the one shown in the Auction and Stripe Checkout.
If a higher valid bid is active when a paid Bid Intent is claimed, or if the Auction has already closed, the late Intent is not made leading and its deposit is refunded in full through the original Stripe payment context. Abandoning registration does not make the Bid Intent public; statutory payment and refund records may still be retained.
10. Sponsor payments, platform fee and Stripe
The Listing fee is processed on Brand My Bike's Stripe platform account. Sponsor deposits and balances are separate Direct Charges on the Rider's connected Stripe merchant account. Brand My Bike deducts a 10% platform fee from each successful Sponsor charge; Stripe deducts its own processing and Connect fees from the Rider under Stripe's terms. The Sponsor sees the total amount before payment.
Stripe may require identity, business, bank and tax information and may restrict, delay or refuse payments or payouts under its own rules. Brand My Bike receives transaction status and provider references needed for reconciliation, support, disputes and refunds, but never the full card number or card security code.
11. Invoices, taxes and reporting
Each party is responsible for its own tax registration, declarations and records. The Rider is responsible for a legally compliant invoice to the Sponsor for the advertising service. Brand My Bike invoices or documents its own fee where required. Users must provide accurate identity, tax-residence and reporting data requested for payment, accounting or platform-reporting obligations, including DAC7 where applicable.
12. Bike procurement and replacement
For a funded Listing, the approved bike is acquired only after the funding and payment conditions are met. If that bike becomes unavailable, an equal-or-higher-value replacement may be proposed. A material replacement requires the consent of all affected winning Sponsors; without unanimous consent, the affected payments are refunded. The Rider must not install paid Placements on a materially different bike without approval.
13. Logos, artwork and approval
The Sponsor warrants that it holds all rights necessary to upload and use its name, logo, link and artwork. It grants the Rider and Brand My Bike a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence for the duration needed to review, adapt to the agreed print area, produce, display and document the Placement.
Artwork follows a versioned workflow: Sponsor upload, Rider approval or change request, platform review and installation. Only content approved by both the Rider and Brand My Bike may appear publicly. We may reject or remove unlawful, infringing, deceptive, discriminatory, unsafe or otherwise unsuitable content. Reports and reasoned objections can be sent to hello@brandmybike.com and receive human review.
14. Production, installation and road safety
The Rider produces the approved stickers at the Rider's cost and in accordance with the dimensions, material and quality specification we supply. The Rider is responsible for correct production, installation, maintenance and timely replacement of damaged stickers. A Placement must not cover safety-critical parts, mandatory markings or interfere with safe operation. The Rider remains fully responsible for the bike, roadworthiness, insurance and compliance with traffic rules.
15. Campaign term and Ride Proofs
The physical Placement runs for exactly 365 days from approved installation. The Rider must provide the agreed installation and Ride Proof evidence. Public Ride Proofs may show moderated activity summaries and protected route sections only after the Rider's express release. No particular distance, reach, audience, impression, click, sale or return is guaranteed unless a Listing expressly states a separately verified commitment.
16. Public profiles, links and products
A Rider may publish profile text, Instagram and YouTube handles, an optional Strava connection and up to three named HTTPS links. Sponsors may publish approved product and website links. Users are responsible for the accuracy and legality of those destinations. Brand My Bike may measure first-party page, click and QR interactions for campaign reporting, but does not guarantee conversion or availability of an external site.
17. Accounts and security
Accounts are personal to the registered user. Users must protect email access, authentication links, connected accounts and security devices, and must promptly report suspected unauthorised use. Sharing access, bypassing verification, manipulating auctions, creating sham bids or interfering with security controls is prohibited.
18. Platform rights and user content
Brand My Bike, its interface, software and original content remain protected by intellectual-property law. Users retain their rights in submitted content and grant us only the licence reasonably required to host, moderate, display, secure and perform the relevant Listing and Placement. The licence ends when no longer required, subject to legal retention, evidence and existing campaign duties.
19. Suspension, termination and deletion
We may restrict a feature, Listing or account where needed to investigate fraud, security incidents, payment risk, unlawful content or a material breach. Except in urgent cases, we will explain the reason and provide a reasonable opportunity to respond. Account deletion remains subject to outstanding payments, refunds, disputes, campaign performance and legal retention duties; it does not cancel already concluded obligations.
20. Availability and liability
We do not promise uninterrupted availability and may perform maintenance or make proportionate security changes. We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, injury to life, body or health, guarantees expressly given, fraudulent concealment and liability under mandatory product-liability law. For slight negligence, we are liable only for breach of an essential contractual duty and only for the foreseeable damage typical for the contract. Mandatory liability and claims against the Rider or Sponsor remain unaffected.
21. Responsibility for third-party claims
A user must reimburse Brand My Bike for reasonable losses and defence costs caused by that user's culpable breach of these terms or third-party rights, provided the user is promptly informed and may participate in the defence. This does not apply where the user is not responsible for the infringement.
22. Changes to these terms
The version accepted for an Auction is stored with that transaction. Material changes apply prospectively and will be presented before they bind a user; they do not silently change a paid Placement. We may make immediately necessary changes required by law or security while preserving accrued rights.
23. Governing law, venue and contact
German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, without displacing mandatory rules. Where legally permitted for merchants, legal entities under public law or special funds under public law, exclusive venue is Frankfurt am Main. Otherwise the statutory venue applies. If one provision is invalid, the remaining provisions continue to apply.
Questions, complaints and content reports: hello@brandmybike.com. See also our Privacy Policy and Impressum. The German version is authoritative if translations differ, to the extent legally permissible.