Terms of Service

HostelBucket is for students at the campuses we support. You can browse listings without an account. You need an account to post a listing, save items, or contact a seller.

You may hold one account, and the details on it should be your own and accurate. You are responsible for what happens under your account, so keep your password to yourself.

Your campus is worked out from the domain of your email address — if you sign up with a recognised college address, your account is matched to that campus. Verification affects what you can see and do: an unverified account browses listings from every campus rather than one.

Signing up does not require a college email. Verification happens afterwards, and only when something you are trying to do needs it.

Post things you actually own and are allowed to sell. Do not list:

• anything illegal to own or sell, including drugs, alcohol, tobacco and weapons
• counterfeit goods, stolen property, or anything you cannot prove is yours
• academic work for sale, exam material, or anything intended to help someone cheat
• live animals, prescription medicine, or hazardous material
• services, jobs, rentals of property, or anything that is not a physical item
• listings that are misleading about an item’s condition, ownership or price

We may remove a listing or suspend an account that breaks these rules, and we do not have to explain the decision in advance.

This is the most important thing on this page. HostelBucket introduces two students to each other and stops there. We do not take payment, hold money, take a commission, ship anything, inspect items, or guarantee that a listing is honest.

The agreement to buy or sell is between you and the other student. If the item is not what was described, if someone does not turn up, or if a payment goes wrong, that is between the two of you to resolve. Meet somewhere public on campus, look at the item before you pay for it, and use your judgement.

A seller decides whether their phone number is visible and whether they accept WhatsApp. Numbers are not shown on listings by default — a buyer has to ask to see them, and we record when that happens so a number cannot be harvested quietly. There is a limit on how many you can reveal in an hour.

Use contact details for the sale they relate to. Sending marketing, adding people to groups, or passing numbers on is a misuse of the service and will cost you your account.

Your photos and descriptions remain yours. By posting them you give us permission to store and display them within HostelBucket so that your listing works — nothing wider, and it ends when the listing does.

Only post photos you took or have the right to use.

We can suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, misuses contact details, or puts other students at risk. You can close your own account at any time from Settings; there is a grace period before it is permanently anonymised, which is described in the Privacy Policy.

HostelBucket is provided as it is. We work to keep it running and accurate, but we do not promise it will always be available, that every listing is genuine, or that every user is who they say they are.

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for losses arising from a transaction between two users, from a listing’s contents, or from the service being unavailable. Nothing here limits liability that cannot legally be limited.

If these terms change in a way that matters, we will say so in the product before the change takes effect. The date at the top always reflects the current version.

These terms are governed by the laws of India.

Questions about them can go to contact@hostelbucket.com.