Annex C — Reviews Policy

Introduction

This Annex forms an integral part of the Secondgear Terms and Conditions of Use (the "Terms") pursuant to Section 4.3 thereof and sets out the operational details of Section 16.

It also fulfils the information obligations under Article 21(3-bis) of the Consumer Code and points 23-bis and 23-ter of Annex I to that Code, introduced to implement Directive (EU) 2019/2161.

C.1 — How Secondgear ensures that reviews are genuine

Information provided pursuant to Article 21(3-bis) of the Consumer Code.

All reviews published on Secondgear come from verified buyers.

The system does not in any way allow a review to be published by someone who has not actually made a purchase. In particular:

a) the ability to leave a review is enabled only after an order paid through the Platform whose delivery has been recorded by the carrier;

b) the review is permanently linked to the specific order to which it refers and cannot be separated from it;

c) there is no function, public or restricted, that allows reviews not linked to a verified order to be entered;

d) Secondgear does not buy, commission or receive reviews from third parties.

Two days after delivery, the Buyer receives an invitation to leave a review by notification and email. The invitation is optional and not responding has no effect.

C.2 — Who can review whom

A review can be left only by the Buyer about the Seller.

The Seller cannot review the Buyer, Users who were not parties to the same transaction cannot review each other, and Secondgear cannot be reviewed through this system.

This choice is intended to prevent the fear of a retaliatory rating from discouraging the Buyer from giving a truthful assessment.

C.3 — Content of the review

The review consists of:

• a numerical rating from 1 to 5 stars, which is mandatory;

• an optional text comment, no longer than 2,000 characters.

The rating must relate to the purchase experience actually had: whether the Item matched the description, delivery conditions, quality of packaging, courtesy and timeliness of communications.

C.4 — Content not allowed

Reviews containing the following are not allowed:

C.4.1 — third parties' personal data, including full names, addresses, telephone numbers or email addresses;

C.4.2 — offensive, vulgar, threatening, defamatory or discriminatory expressions;

C.4.3 — unproven accusations of criminal conduct;

C.4.4 — references to matters unrelated to the transaction reviewed, including previous disputes or dealings outside the Platform;

C.4.5 — promotional content, links to third-party sites, contact details or invitations to contact the author outside the Platform;

C.4.6 — ratings relating to circumstances not attributable to the Seller, such as carrier delays, Platform malfunctions or choices made by the Buyer when ordering;

C.4.7 — content that infringes third parties' intellectual property rights.

C.5 — Prohibited conduct

The following constitute a serious breach of the Terms and an unfair commercial practice under points 23-bis and 23-ter of Annex I to the Consumer Code:

C.5.1 — publishing fake reviews or reviews relating to transactions that never took place;

C.5.2 — offering or accepting money, discounts, gifts or any other benefit in exchange for a review or for changing it;

C.5.3 — making performance, shipment or the settlement of a return conditional on a favourable review;

C.5.4 — putting pressure on, pestering or threatening the Buyer to change or remove a review;

C.5.5 — simulating transactions for the sole purpose of generating reviews;

C.5.6 — using third-party or secondary Accounts to leave or influence reviews;

C.5.7 — presenting as genuine reviews collected by methods other than those referred to in Section C.1.

C.6 — Moderation

C.6.1 — Principle of non-interference. Secondgear does not alter, select or filter reviews on the basis of their evaluative content. A negative rating is not removed merely because it is negative, nor at the Seller's request.

C.6.2 — Grounds for removal. A review is removed only where it contains elements referred to in Section C.4, is manifestly not genuine, or was obtained through the conduct referred to in Section C.5.

C.6.3 — Tools. Moderation is carried out following a notice or on Secondgear's own initiative, and is performed by Secondgear staff, without automated decisions.

C.6.4 — Effects of removal. A removed review is no longer visible to the public or to the Seller, does not count towards the average rating referred to in Section C.9 and cannot receive replies. It remains viewable only by its author in their personal area, together with the reasons for its removal. The removal may be revoked following review.

C.6.5 — Notification. The removal is notified to the author, by notification, with the statement of reasons referred to in Section 20.4 of the Terms, and is subject to the review referred to in Section 20.5.

C.6.6 — Seller's reply. The same rules apply to the reply referred to in Section C.7: a reply contrary to Section C.4 is removed and the removal is notified to the Seller with the reasons.

C.6.7 — Notices. A Seller who considers a review to be contrary to this Annex may report it by writing to [email protected], identifying the review and the reasons for the notice. The notice is examined under Section 20.2 of the Terms. Merely disputing the substance of the rating is not a ground for removal.

C.7 — Right of reply

The Seller may publish, below each review, a reply no longer than 1,000 characters.

The reply is subject to the same content rules referred to in Section C.4. Only one reply is allowed per review, which the Seller may edit at any time: the new version entirely replaces the previous one.

C.8 — Editing and deletion by the author

A review cannot be edited after publication, to ensure the reliability of the rating and to protect a Seller who has replied to it.

The author may ask for it to be deleted at any time by writing to [email protected] . Deletion entails recalculation of the Seller's average rating.

Deleting the Account entails the anonymisation of the reviews left, which remain published in anonymous form so as not to retroactively alter the Seller's overall rating, unless the data subject requests otherwise under data protection law.

C.9 — Average rating and its use

The Seller's average rating is calculated as the simple arithmetic mean of all valid reviews and is displayed together with the total number of reviews received.

The rating contributes to the search result ranking criteria under Section 21.1 of the Terms, with the limited weight described therein.

A persistently unsatisfactory average rating, together with converging notices, may be taken into account when deciding whether to adopt the measures referred to in Section 20.3 of the Terms. The average rating alone is never, in itself, a ground for suspending or closing the Account.

C.10 — Retention

Reviews remain published for the entire life of the Gear Depot to which they refer. Closure of the Gear Depot ends their public visibility under Section 26.5 of the Terms.