ArtisansVillage Terms of Service

1. Acceptance and eligibility

These Terms of Service, together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Community Guidelines, and any other policies we post and reference (together, the "Terms"), are a binding agreement between you and ArtisansVillage.com LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company ("ArtisansVillage," "we," "us," or "our"). They govern your use of artisansvillage.com, our apps, email communications, social media pages we operate, events we host or promote, and all related features and services (together, the "Platform").

You accept these Terms by creating an account, by checking a box or clicking a button indicating acceptance, or by using the Platform. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract. If you accept on behalf of a business or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind it, and "you" includes that entity. The Platform is not available to anyone we have previously removed.

2. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will notify you by email to your account address, by a notice on the Platform, or both, at least 15 days before the change takes effect, unless the change is required by law or addresses a security or safety issue sooner. Changes apply going forward only. Your continued use of the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept it. If you do not agree, stop using the Platform and close your account. Changes to Section 17 will not apply to any dispute you notified us of before the change.

3. What ArtisansVillage is, and what it is not

ArtisansVillage is an online venue that helps artisans showcase their work and helps art enthusiasts discover artisans, events, and community. Unless we expressly state otherwise in writing for a specific transaction:

• We are not the seller, buyer, maker, manufacturer, shipper, or agent of any artisan or user, and we are not a party to any transaction, commission, or agreement between users.
• Artisans are independent businesses. They are not our employees, agents, partners, or joint venturers, and they have no authority to bind us.
• We do not verify, inspect, test, or guarantee artisans' identities, qualifications, licenses, products, prices, descriptions, safety, authenticity, or legality, or any user's statements.
• Badges, features, rankings, "recommended" placements, and similar designations reflect our editorial or algorithmic choices and are not endorsements, certifications, or guarantees.

Any transaction or arrangement between users is solely between those users.

Becoming an artisan on ArtisansVillage. Anyone may apply to be featured as an artisan through our application process, which asks for information about you and your work, your village (category), details about your pieces, and images of your work, and may ask for a website or social media accounts. Submitting an application does not guarantee acceptance. Applications may be declined or placed on hold while we request additional information, and approved artisans must keep their profiles accurate and consistent with what they submitted.

How we review applications. Our team reviews each application by hand and may also use automated tools to evaluate the online presence you provide, such as your website, Instagram, and Facebook. We consider factors including the quality and craftsmanship of your work, how your portfolio is presented, and the strength of your brand identity, and we may weigh these factors differently for different villages and crafts. We may accept, decline, place on hold, or later revoke approval for any application at our sole discretion, and we may change our criteria or process over time. Approval is a curatorial decision only: it is not a certification, license, warranty, or endorsement of any artisan or their work, and it does not change our role or the limits on our responsibility described in this section.

4. Accounts and security

You must give accurate, current information and keep it updated. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for keeping your password confidential. Notify us immediately at info@artisansvillage.com of any unauthorized use. We are not liable for losses caused by unauthorized use of your account that results from your failure to protect your credentials. We may suspend or disable any account, username, or content at any time if we reasonably believe it violates these Terms, creates risk for us or others, or is required by law.

5. Your content and the license you give us

"User Content" means anything you post, upload, send, or make available through the Platform, including photos, gallery images, product descriptions, prices, profile and biographical information, event details, reviews, comments, messages, and AI-tool inputs.

You keep ownership. You retain all ownership rights you have in your User Content.

License to us. You grant ArtisansVillage and its affiliates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable (to our service providers and promotional partners acting for us), transferable (in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets) license to host, store, reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt (for example, resize, crop, or translate), and create excerpts of your User Content, and to use your name, business name, likeness as shown in your content, and profile information in connection with it, for the purposes of operating, providing, improving, and promoting the Platform and ArtisansVillage. This includes use on the Platform, in search and recommendation features, on our social media channels, in email newsletters and blog posts, at events, exhibitions, and pop-ups, in print and digital marketing, and in press, partnership, and co-marketing materials.

How long it lasts. The license ends when you delete the content or close your account, except that (a) we may keep using materials already printed, distributed, scheduled, or published before deletion, including social media posts, for their natural life, and we are not required to recall them; (b) copies may persist in backups for a limited time as described in our Privacy Policy; and (c) content you shared with others, such as messages or comments, may remain visible to them. We will make reasonable efforts to credit artisans when featuring their work outside the Platform, but failure to credit is not a breach of these Terms.

Your promises. You represent and warrant that you own or have all rights, licenses, consents, and releases needed to post your User Content and grant this license, including permission from any person shown in it, and that your User Content and our use of it as permitted here will not infringe or violate any intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other right, or any law.

No obligation; our discretion. User Content is not confidential. We have no obligation to post, keep, monitor, or use any User Content, and we may edit for formatting, decline, or remove any User Content at any time in our discretion. You are solely responsible for your User Content and for backing it up.

6. Artisan responsibilities and transactions between users

If you list, display, sell, or offer goods, services, commissions, classes, or events ("Offerings"), you are solely responsible for them, including that:

• Your listings are accurate, complete, and not misleading, including materials, origin, whether an item is handmade, and any use of AI in creating it.
• Your Offerings are legal to sell where you and your buyers are located, meet all safety, labeling, and product-standard requirements (including for children's products, cosmetics, candles, food, and anything that contacts skin or food), and are not prohibited by our Community Guidelines.
• You hold any licenses, permits, and insurance your business requires.
• You collect, report, and pay all applicable taxes, unless we are required by law to collect them for a specific transaction and tell you so.
• You handle fulfillment, shipping, delivery, returns, refunds, warranties, and customer service for your Offerings, and you publish and honor your own policies.

Buyers deal directly with artisans and are responsible for evaluating Offerings before purchase. Disputes about Offerings must be resolved between the buyer and the artisan. We may, but are not obligated to, help communicate or mediate, and any help we give does not make us responsible for the outcome. Except where required by law, ArtisansVillage does not issue refunds for artisan Offerings.

7. Payments, fees, and subscriptions

Some features may require payment, such as artisan subscriptions, featured placement, event registration, AI tools, or purchases processed through the Platform. Payments are processed by our third-party payment processor under its own terms and privacy policy. We do not store full payment card numbers.

• Prices and fees are shown before you pay. We may change fees or introduce new fees with at least 30 days' notice; changes apply to the next billing period after notice.
• Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period at the then-current price until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in your account settings, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period. We will send any renewal reminders the law requires.
• Refunds. Except where required by law or stated at the time of purchase, fees are non-refundable, including for partial periods.
• Taxes are your responsibility unless we are required to collect them.
• Failed payments. If a payment fails, we may suspend paid features until it is resolved.
• Chargebacks. Do not file a chargeback without first contacting us. We may suspend accounts with unresolved chargebacks.

If you sell through any checkout we provide, additional seller terms shown at onboarding also apply.

8. AI tools

We may offer tools that use artificial intelligence to generate or edit text, images, descriptions, insights, or other output ("AI Tools"). When you use AI Tools:

• Output may be wrong. AI output can be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or similar to content generated for others. It is not professional, legal, financial, tax, or business advice. You are responsible for reviewing output and for any use you make of it.
• Your inputs and output. You are responsible for your inputs and must have the rights to them. As between you and us, and to the extent we hold any rights, you own the output you generate, subject to these Terms and our license in Section 5 if you post it. We do not guarantee that output is protectable by copyright or free of third-party rights.
• Third-party providers. AI Tools are powered in part by third-party providers. Your inputs are sent to them to generate output, as described in our Privacy Policy.
• Disclosure. If you use AI Tools to create or substantially alter images or descriptions of an Offering, you must follow the AI disclosure rules in our Community Guidelines.
• Restrictions. Do not use AI Tools to infringe others' rights, impersonate anyone, create deceptive listings or reviews, or produce content our Community Guidelines prohibit.
• We may limit, change, or discontinue AI Tools at any time.

9. Intellectual property and copyright complaints

Our property. The Platform, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and the ArtisansVillage name and marks, is owned by ArtisansVillage or its licensors and protected by intellectual property laws. Except for your User Content, you may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works of any part of the Platform without our written permission. You may not use our name or marks in a way that suggests sponsorship or endorsement. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them for any purpose without obligation to you.

Copyright complaints (DMCA). We respect intellectual property rights and respond to notices of alleged infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. To report content you believe infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our designated agent that includes: (a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work; (c) identification of the infringing material and its location on the Platform, such as a URL; (d) your contact information; (e) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

Designated Copyright Agent: ArtisansVillage.com LLC, info@artisansvillage.com.

If your content was removed and you believe it was a mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notice to the same agent as permitted by the DMCA. Knowingly false notices or counter-notices may create liability for damages.

Repeat infringers. We terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe intellectual property rights.

Trademark and other complaints. Send other rights complaints to info@artisansvillage.com. We may share a complaint, including the complainant's contact information, with the user who posted the content.

10. Acceptable use

You agree to follow our Community Guidelines and not to use the Platform to:

• Violate any law or anyone's rights, including intellectual property, privacy, and publicity rights.
• Post content that is false, deceptive, defamatory, obscene, harassing, threatening, hateful, or discriminatory.
• Impersonate any person, artisan, or ArtisansVillage representative, or misrepresent your affiliation.
• Sell or promote items or services prohibited by our Community Guidelines.
• Send spam, unsolicited advertising, chain letters, or pyramid schemes, or solicit users to transact off-Platform to avoid fees or protections.
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data or content, including to train AI models, except through tools we expressly permit.
• Access accounts, systems, or data without authorization, probe or test our security, or interfere with the Platform, including through viruses, bots, or excessive requests.
• Reverse engineer the Platform except as the law expressly permits.
• Collect or use other users' personal information except as needed to complete a transaction they initiated with you.

11. Social media and communications

These Terms apply when you interact with ArtisansVillage on social media, including comments, messages, tags, and submissions to our pages on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, or other services. By tagging ArtisansVillage or using our branded hashtags, you grant us permission to repost or feature that content, with credit where practical, under the license in Section 5. We may hide or delete comments on our pages and block accounts at our discretion.

Posts on our social channels, blog, and newsletters are for general information and inspiration only. They are not professional advice, endorsements of any third party, or guarantees. Third-party social media platforms are governed by their own terms, and we are not responsible for their operation, outages, policies, or data practices. Sponsored or paid content will be labeled as required by law.

You agree that we may send you communications electronically, by email or through the Platform, and that these satisfy any legal requirement that a communication be in writing. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time; we may still send account, security, and transactional messages.

12. Events

We may host, organize, sponsor, or promote in-person or online events, including markets, pop-ups, exhibitions, workshops, and gatherings ("Events"). Events listed by third parties are run by those third parties, not us.

Assumption of risk. Attending or participating in any Event involves risks, including crowds, tools, materials, heat, sharp objects, uneven surfaces, weather, and travel. You voluntarily assume all such risks. You are responsible for your own safety and property, and for supervising any minors you bring.

Release. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release ArtisansVillage and its Personnel (defined in Section 13) from claims for personal injury, illness, property damage, theft, or loss arising from your attendance at or participation in any Event, except to the extent caused by our gross negligence or willful misconduct.

Vendors. Artisans exhibiting at Events are solely responsible for their booths, products, displays, sales, taxes, permits, and insurance, and must follow any vendor agreement, venue rules, and fire and safety codes. We may require a signed vendor agreement and proof of insurance.

Photos and recordings. Events may be photographed, filmed, or streamed. By attending, you consent to our capturing and using your image, voice, and likeness, and images of your booth and work, in recordings of the Event and in our promotional materials, without compensation. Tell Event staff if you prefer not to be featured, and we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate you.

Changes. We may change, reschedule, or cancel Events at any time. Refunds for paid Events follow the policy stated at registration; otherwise our liability is limited to a refund of fees paid to us for that Event.

13. Our personnel

"Personnel" means ArtisansVillage's members, managers, officers, employees, contractors, volunteers, ambassadors, and agents. Personnel act solely on behalf of ArtisansVillage and are not individually responsible to you for any obligation of ArtisansVillage. Statements by Personnel, whether on the Platform, on social media, by email, or at Events, are informational only and do not modify these Terms, create a warranty, or bind ArtisansVillage unless made in a written agreement signed by an authorized manager of ArtisansVillage. Personnel are not authorized to give legal, tax, financial, or professional advice. Personnel are intended beneficiaries of the disclaimers, limitations, releases, and dispute-resolution provisions in these Terms.

You agree not to harass, threaten, or abuse Personnel, and not to use their personal information for any purpose unrelated to the Platform.

14. Third-party services and links

The Platform may link to or integrate third-party websites, services, payment processors, shipping carriers, embedded content, and tools. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, products, security, availability, or practices. Your use of them is at your own risk and governed by their terms.

15. Disclaimers

THE PLATFORM, ALL CONTENT, AI TOOLS, EVENTS, AND ANY OFFERINGS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, AND QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DATA WILL NOT BE LOST, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE PLATFORM IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY ABOUT ANY ARTISAN, USER, OFFERING, EVENT, OR THIRD PARTY. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THESE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

16. Limitation of liability and indemnification

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ARTISANSVILLAGE AND ITS AFFILIATES, PERSONNEL, LICENSORS, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, BUSINESS, GOODWILL, DATA, OR USE, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, THE PLATFORM, USER CONTENT, AI TOOLS, OFFERINGS, TRANSACTIONS OR DISPUTES BETWEEN USERS, OUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS, EVENTS, SPONSORSHIPS, OR THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE PLATFORM WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100) OR (B) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO ARTISANSVILLAGE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

These limitations are an essential part of the bargain between you and us and apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. They do not limit liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, such as liability for fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct where such limits are prohibited.

Indemnification. You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ArtisansVillage and its affiliates and Personnel from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, penalties, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your User Content, your Offerings and transactions, your participation in Events, your use of AI Tools or the Platform, your violation of these Terms or any law, or your violation of any third party's rights. We may assume control of the defense of any claim at your expense, and you will cooperate. You may not settle any claim affecting us without our written consent.

17. Dispute resolution: arbitration and class-action waiver

Informal resolution first. Before starting arbitration or a court action, you and we each agree to send the other a written notice describing the dispute and the relief sought, and to try in good faith to resolve it informally for at least 60 days. Send notices to us at info@artisansvillage.com. Any limitations period is paused during this process.

Binding arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform, including its formation, scope, or enforceability, will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or its Commercial Arbitration Rules for disputes with users acting in a business capacity, including artisans). The Federal Arbitration Act governs this Section. The arbitrator may award the same individual relief a court could. Arbitration may be conducted by video, by phone, or on written submissions, and any in-person hearing will be held in the county where you live or in Chester County, Pennsylvania, at your choice. Payment of AAA fees will follow AAA rules.

Exceptions. Either party may (a) bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies, and (b) seek an injunction in court for infringement or misuse of intellectual property or for unauthorized access to the Platform.

Class-action and jury waiver. YOU AND ARTISANSVILLAGE EACH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR ARBITRATION. Claims may be brought only individually. If this waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim will proceed in court, not arbitration, and will be stayed pending completion of any individual arbitration.

Mass filings. If 25 or more similar demands are filed by or with the help of the same law firm or coordinated group, they will be administered in batches under the AAA's Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules.

30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing info@artisansvillage.com within 30 days after you first accept these Terms (or, for existing users, within 30 days after this version is posted) with your name, account email, and a clear statement that you opt out. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

Time limit. To the extent permitted by law, any claim must be brought within one (1) year after it arises, or it is permanently barred.

18. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and applicable US federal law, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. For any matter not subject to arbitration, you and we consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts located in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and the federal courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

19. Suspension, termination, and account closure

We may suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Platform at any time, with or without notice, if we believe you violated these Terms or the Community Guidelines, to protect users, Personnel, or the Platform, or as required by law. We may also discontinue the Platform or any feature. You may close your account at any time in your profile settings or by contacting us.

When an account is closed, your profile, gallery, listings, events, messages, follows, and other account data are removed from public view and deleted from our active systems within 30 days, as described in our Privacy Policy. Deletion cannot be reversed, and we cannot restore closed accounts. We may keep limited information where needed to comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or repeat abuse, enforce these Terms, or maintain financial records, and residual copies may remain in backups until they are overwritten. Content already shared with others or published as described in Section 5 may remain.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including Sections 5 (license terms for published materials), 9, and 13 through 20.

20. General terms

• Entire agreement. These Terms, including the policies they reference, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Platform and supersede prior agreements on the subject. Any separate written agreement you sign with us, such as a vendor agreement, controls for its subject.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the rest of these Terms will remain in effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including outages of hosting or third-party providers, cyberattacks, natural disasters, pandemics, labor disputes, government action, or weather.
• No third-party beneficiaries, except Personnel and affiliates as stated in these Terms.
• Relationship. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and us.
• Export and sanctions. You may not use the Platform if you are located in, or are a resident of, a country or region subject to comprehensive US sanctions, or are on a US government restricted-party list.
• Headings are for convenience only. "Including" means "including without limitation."

21. Contact

ArtisansVillage.com LLC. For questions, legal notices, and all other matters, email info@artisansvillage.com or contact us through the Platform.