1. What Bysmillah does
Bysmillah operates an online platform that introduces people who wish to sell a vehicle on deferred-payment terms to people who wish to buy one, and supplies standard contract forms designed to be consistent with Islamic commercial principles and California law.
2. What Bysmillah is not
Bysmillah is not, and does not act as:
- A seller or buyer of vehicles. Bysmillah never takes title to, owns, possesses, or inspects any vehicle listed.
- A lender, creditor, or finance company. Bysmillah advances no funds and extends no credit.
- A money transmitter or payment processor. Bysmillah does not receive, hold, escrow, or forward payments between users. Buyers pay sellers directly.
- A guarantor, surety, or insurer. Bysmillah does not guarantee that any buyer will pay or that any seller will perform, and will not compensate any user for loss.
- An agent or fiduciary of either party. Bysmillah does not represent either side.
- A provider of legal, tax, financial, investment, or religious advice.
The contract forms supplied are templates for the parties’ use. Bysmillah is not a party to any transaction formed between users, and any dispute arising from a transaction is between the users themselves.
3. Fees during the launch period
During the launch period, Bysmillah charges no fee to any buyer or seller for any transaction. No listing fee, no matching fee, no commission, no subscription, and no percentage of any transaction is payable.
Bysmillah may introduce fees in the future. If it does, it will publish revised terms and give existing users advance written notice, and no fee will apply to a transaction agreed before the change takes effect.
4. Eligibility and verification
- Users must be at least eighteen years old and legally able to enter into contracts in California.
- Sellers must own the vehicle they list, hold clear title in their own name, and sign the Seller Eligibility, Representations and Volume Acknowledgment.
- Bysmillah may verify identity, title, and vehicle history, but is not obliged to and does not warrant the accuracy of anything a user provides.
- Bysmillah may refuse, suspend, or remove any listing or user at its discretion.
5. Seller transaction limits
Bysmillah records the number of completed sales by each seller. Where a seller approaches the threshold at which California requires a dealer licence, Bysmillah will warn the seller, and on reaching the threshold will block further listings until the seller supplies a valid dealer licence.
This control exists to prevent unlicensed dealing on the platform. It does not transfer responsibility to Bysmillah. Each seller remains responsible for their own licensing, including sales made away from the platform, which Bysmillah cannot see.
6. User obligations
- Provide accurate information and not misrepresent a vehicle, an identity, or a financial position.
- Comply with all applicable law, including licensing, disclosure, tax, and anti-discrimination requirements.
- Not charge interest, not increase an agreed total price for delay, and not retain late charges owed to charity.
- Not use the platform to disguise a lease, rental, or return-and-forfeit arrangement as a sale.
- Not harass, threaten, or intimidate another user, and not attempt self-help recovery in breach of law.
- Not use the platform for any unlawful purpose including fraud, money laundering, or title washing.
7. No guarantee and no credit decision
Bysmillah does not approve, decline, underwrite, or score any buyer, and does not decide who may transact with whom. Sellers make their own decision about whom to sell to, on their own criteria, and are responsible for complying with fair-lending and anti-discrimination law in doing so.
Where Bysmillah makes any informational tool available, it is informational only, is not a recommendation, and must not be relied on as a credit decision.
7.1 Forms only — no legal advice
Bysmillah supplies standard contract forms as a self-help resource. Bysmillah is not a law firm, employs no attorney acting for any user, and no attorney-client relationship is created by use of the platform.
- Bysmillah does not advise any user on whether a form is suitable for their situation.
- Bysmillah does not select terms, fill in blanks, or exercise judgment on a user’s behalf.
- Bysmillah does not review a completed document for legal sufficiency.
- Users are told, at the point of signing, to obtain independent legal advice.
7.2 Non-discrimination
Bysmillah is open to buyers and sellers of any faith or none. Sellers choose their own buyers on ordinary commercial grounds and may not discriminate on the basis of any characteristic protected by federal or California law, including religion. Bysmillah does not collect or display information for the purpose of enabling such screening, and will remove any user who engages in it.
7.3 Anti-circumvention
Users may not evade the seller transaction limit by transacting under another person’s name or entity, by moving a matched transaction off the platform to avoid a control, or by splitting a single sale into multiple listings. Bysmillah may investigate suspected circumvention and remove any user involved.
8. Disputes between users
Bysmillah is not a party to user transactions and does not adjudicate disputes. Bysmillah may, at its discretion and without obligation, provide copies of documents generated on the platform, or signpost mediation. Users are encouraged to attempt good-faith resolution and mediation before litigation.
9. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Bysmillah is not liable for any loss arising from a transaction between users, including non-payment, vehicle defects, misrepresentation by a user, failure to perfect a lien, repossession, or any consequential loss. The platform is provided on an as-is and as-available basis without warranty.
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for fraud.
10. Indemnity
Each user agrees to indemnify Bysmillah against claims arising from that user’s breach of these terms, breach of law, or misrepresentation to another user.
11. Privacy and records
- Bysmillah collects only the information needed to operate the platform and generate documents.
- Bysmillah retains copies of documents generated through the platform and may produce them if legally required.
- Bysmillah does not sell user personal information.
- Bysmillah practises data minimisation: it collects the least information necessary, stores full driver licence and identification numbers only where legally required, and masks them in generated documents.
- California residents have rights to know, delete, correct, and limit the use of their personal information, and Bysmillah will honour verified requests as required by California privacy law.
- A full privacy policy is published separately and forms part of these terms.
12. Religious compliance
Bysmillah designs its contract forms with reference to recognised Islamic finance standards, as described in the Shariah Compliance Notice. Bysmillah does not certify any transaction as religiously valid, and users seeking assurance should consult a qualified scholar. Nothing on the platform is a religious ruling.
13. Changes, termination, governing law
- Bysmillah may amend these terms on notice. Continued use after notice constitutes acceptance.
- Bysmillah may suspend or terminate access at any time. Termination does not affect any transaction already agreed between users.
- These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California.
14. Acceptance
By creating an account or using the platform, the user confirms they have read, understood, and accepted these terms.