Terms

nobbly reads mountain bike and kids’ bike listings on eBay and tells you what it makes of them. It is built around secondhand bikes, where judging a price and a risk is hardest, but it will rate a new listing just the same. Every verdict is free and needs no account. There is also a paid deep check, and buying one creates an account against the email address you pay with. It is all meant to make you a better-informed buyer. Here is what it is and is not.

A verdict is guidance, not an inspection

Every verdict is written by an AI model reading the seller’s own words and photos. It has never seen the bike. It cannot tell you whether the frame is cracked, the bearings are shot or the seller is honest. Treat it the way you would treat a knowledgeable friend glancing at the advert over your shoulder: useful for what to ask and what to look at, no substitute for seeing the bike, riding it, and checking it yourself.

The valuation is the AI’s estimate

The fair market value is the AI’s estimate from the bike’s original price, age, condition and parts, the way a mechanic would judge it. It has no record of what bikes actually sold for, so it is an informed estimate of the going rate, not a market price and not an appraisal. Don’t take it to a negotiation as a fact, and don’t price your own bike by it.

Scores move a little

Ask the same question twice and an AI model will not answer identically, so the same listing can come back with a slightly different score. Treat it as a rough band rather than a precise mark, which is why we show the working: read the red flags and the questions, not the number on its own.

Listing details come from sellers

Titles, specifications, prices and photos are the seller’s. They can be wrong, out of date, or deliberately misleading, and a listing can change or end after we last read it. We pass on what eBay gives us, and flag what looks off, but we cannot verify any of it.

What we’re not

nobbly is not endorsed by or acting for eBay. We don’t sell bikes and we take no part in a sale: buying a bike is between you and the seller, under eBay’s own terms and protections. We never handle the money for a bike. The only thing you can pay us for is a deep check, and that money goes through Stripe. Nothing here is financial, legal or safety advice, and a decision to buy a bike is yours.

We are in the eBay Partner Network. If you buy a bike after following one of our links to eBay, eBay may pay us a commission. Commission never changes a score, and the AI writing a verdict is never told about it.

Deep checks

A deep check is a closer look at one listing by a stronger AI model than the free verdict uses: up to 15 of its photos, the condition of each main component, and the points worth negotiating on. It does not suggest what to pay. Everything above still applies. It is still an AI reading an advert, and it has still never seen the bike.

One bike is 99p, three bikes are £2.49, and a 14 day pass is £4.99. You pay through Stripe, and your card details go to Stripe, never to us.

Once you have run a deep check on a bike it is yours: re-read it whenever you like, at no cost, including after the bike has sold. Once a listing has been gone for more than 60 days we stop showing eBay’s photo and details for it, but your deep check stays. Deep checks you have bought but not used yet do not expire.

The 14 day pass, and fair use

A pass lets you run deep checks for 14 days from the moment you buy it. It is not unlimited. Fair use is up to 50 deep checks across the 14 days, and up to 15 in any 24 hours. The 24 hours is rolling: it counts back from each check, so it is not a calendar day and does not reset at midnight.

The limits are there to stop a pass being run by bots or used to resell our work. Ordinary bike hunting should not come near them. If you genuinely need more, email us.

While you have a live pass, a deep check is spent from the pass, not a separately bought credit. Credits are kept for later: used once the pass reaches its fair use limit, or after the pass expires.

Your account

Buying a deep check creates an account against the email address you pay with. There is no password. To sign in on another device, or after clearing your browser, ask for a sign-in link by email. Keep access to that address: it is how you get back to what you bought. You can ask us to close your account at any time, and the privacy page says what that removes.

Changing your mind, and refunds

A deep check starts as soon as you run it. When you pay, you agree to that, and you accept that once you have started a deep check you can no longer cancel it. Anything you have not started, you can still change your mind about:

• Within 14 days of buying, we will refund any deep checks you have not used. From a three-bike purchase, each unused one is worth 83p.
• Within 14 days of buying, a pass you have not used at all is refunded in full.

If a deep check does not run, or what comes back is plainly broken, tell us and we will put it right or refund it. For a refund of any kind, email support [at] nobbly.uk from the address you paid with. Money goes back to the card you paid with. None of this affects your rights as a consumer.

Using the site

Use it for your own bike hunting. Don’t scrape it, hammer it automatically, or resell what it produces: there are rate limits, and they exist because every analysis costs us real money. We may change or withdraw the free parts at any time, and we can’t promise it will always be up or always be right. Deep checks you have already run stay yours.

The law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring a claim in your own courts. Nothing here takes away rights you have by law.

Who we are, and questions

nobbly is run by Duncan Smith. Questions about these terms, a refund, or a verdict you think got it wrong: support [at] nobbly.uk. How we handle data is on the privacy page.

Last updated 28 September 2026.