Sandbagging criteria?

I haven't played against humans for the last 6-7 months. But I HAVE been playing against bots. So if technically I get WAY better just by playing bots and then go back to playing humans on chess.com, will that be considered sandbagging by chess.com (and will they ban/lock my account)? Don't want to violate any policy and hence checking. If indeed this is sandbagging, what is the alternative to get back to playing humans?

I'm assuming the same applies to people who take a break from online chess but play OTB and get stronger and then suddenly return to online chess. 

See What is a Sandbagger? in the Help Center:

"Sandbagging falls under the broader category of rating manipulation, which includes activities such as:

• Arranging game results intentionally.
• Playing with multiple accounts.
• Choosing the wrong skill level on a new account.
• Losing intentionally to lower one's rating."

If I understand this correctly, gaining playing strength elsewhere is not sandbagging. But I admit I don't know the details of the detection system; you should read the entire help page.

See also Sandbagging detection system from November 2025.

#2 I presume choosing wrong skill level on your first account won't get flagged, as people who beat their family or something commonly will think they are intermediate when they're like 300 or something

GeckoSoloYT,

I didn't even know you could choose your skill level at registration; I created my account in July 2023, did nothing with it for more than two and a half years and started playing here just over a week ago.

I have no idea what skill levels the ratings on this site stand for. The first time I was a member of a chess club, thirty years ago, I was not aware of Elo ratings below 1300 and very few below 1400. The rating scale on this site is so different from what I was used to, that I wouldn't have known what skill level to choose. After playing here for one week, during which my rating climbed from the 500s (I have no idea where the initial rating came from) to just over 1100. I think I'll find out what my skill level is once the curve begins the flatten.