Artist Terms & Conditions
1. Introduction
These terms and conditions (which we’ll refer to as the T&Cs) and the SOTA Marketplace Privacy Policy, located at sotamarketplace.co/pages/privacy-policy, and all policies posted on our website set out the terms on which SOTA offers you access to and use of our website, services, and associated and integrated applications and tools (such as the Artist Dashboard) (collectively, the Services). You agree to comply with all of the above when accessing or using our Services. For information regarding the processing of personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.
2. About SOTA
SOTA is a marketplace that allows users to offer, sell and buy affordable artworks. SOTA does not have or take ownership or possession of anything listed or sold through SOTA. The contract for the sale is directly between buyer and you as the seller. SOTA acts as an intermediary to handle the payment processing once an order is made and takes an 8% commission upon a sale. Shopify Payments are our payment provider and may charge additional credit card fees which are outside of our control. While we may provide guidance on pricing, postage, listing and other forms of guidance in our Services, such guidance is solely informational, and you may decide to follow it or not.
3. Using SOTA
3.1. In connection with using or accessing the Services you will not:
(a) post, list or upload objectively inappropriate content or items;
(b) breach or circumvent any laws, third-party rights or our systems or policies;
(c) sell any counterfeit items or any items that otherwise infringe the copyright, trademark or other rights of third parties;
(d) use our Services if you are not able to form legally binding contracts (for example if you are under 18), or are temporarily or indefinitely suspended from using our Services;
(e) fail to deliver items sold by you,
(f) manipulate the price of any item or interfere with any other user's listings;
(g) post false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, or libellous content;
(h) take any action that may undermine the feedback or ratings systems on the website;
(i) transfer your SOTA account (including Feedback) and user ID to another party without our consent;
(j) distribute or post spam, unsolicited or bulk electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
(k) use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access our Services for any purpose;
(l) bypass our robot exclusion headers, interfere with the working of our Services, or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
(m) harvest or otherwise collect information about users, such as email addresses, without their consent; or
(n) circumvent any technical measures we use to provide the Services.
4. Abusing SOTA
4.1. Without limiting other remedies, we may limit, suspend, or terminate your user account(s) and access to our Services, restrict or prohibit access to, and your activities on, our Services, remove or demote or otherwise restrict the visibility of listings, delay or remove hosted content, remove any special status associated with the account, reduce or eliminate any discounts, and take technical and legal steps to keep you from using our Services if:
(a) we think that you are creating problems or possible legal liabilities for us, our users, suppliers or other third parties;
(b) we think that such restrictions will improve the security of the SOTA community or reduce our or another SOTA user's exposure to financial liabilities;
(c) we think that you are infringing the rights of third parties;
(d) we think that you are acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these T&Cs or our policies or abuse our employees or users; or
(e) despite our reasonable endeavours, we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us.
5. Fees
5.1. SOTA charges 8% commission on a purchase.
5.2. We use the Shopify Payments system which may charge additional fees to credit card transactions. These will be typically 2% but please refer to the below table for all additional transaction fees. Shopify also charge for currency conversion on international transactions. As a seller, you are liable for transaction fees arising out of all sales made using some or all our Services. You are required to have a valid payment method on file when selling on SOTA. If your payment method fails or your account is overdue, we may collect fees owed by charging other payment methods on file and retaining collection agencies or legal counsel.
5.3. You authorise SOTA to automatically charge your chosen payment method in accordance with these T&Cs and the applicable billing agreement(s) you agree to when setting up or changing your payment method, for future charges and fees incurred in relation to the Services. We may display third party advertisements (including links and references thereto) or other content in any part of our Services, at our sole discretion.
5.4. If you are based outside of the United Kingdom, we will remit payment of fees to you via Wise or any other third party that we nominate. The fees remitted to you will be subject to any currency conversion fees charged by Wise or the relevant nominated third-party from time to time.
6. Listing conditions
6.1. When listing an item, you agree to comply with the following:
(a) you are responsible for the accuracy, content and legality of the item listed and agree to list in accordance with our values, these T&Cs and all other relevant policies;
(b) content that violates any of SOTA's policies may be modified, obfuscated or deleted at SOTA’s discretion; and
(c) in accordance with these T&Cs, we may revise item data associated with listings to supplement, remove, or correct information.
6.2. The appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
(a) buyers' location, search query, browsing site and history;
(b) item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
(c) seller's history, including listing practices, Detailed Seller Ratings, SOTA policy compliance, Feedback, and defect rate; and
(d) number of listings matching the buyer's query.
6.3. URL links that are included in a listing will be removed or altered so as to not affect third party search engine results.
6.4. We may provide you with optional recommendations to consider when creating your listings. Such recommendations may be based on the aggregated sales and performance history of similar sold and current listings; results will vary for individual listings. To drive the recommendations experience, you agree that we may display the sales and performance history of your listings to other sellers.
6.5. We may reject any images or content that does not meet the standards required by SOTA. We will endeavour to inform you of these standards and the changes required in order to render such images or content compliant with such standards.
7. Faulty items
7.1. The items that you supply to consumers in the United Kingdom must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. The items you supply must also be in conformity with your contract with the consumer. These are statutory requirements that apply to you as the party to the contract with the consumer.
7.2. If any item you supply is faulty or misdescribed, consumers in the United Kingdom have up to 30 days from delivery to get an immediate refund. If the faulty item cannot be repaired or replaced, consumers in the United Kingdom may be entitled to a full refund in most cases up to 6 months from delivery.
7.3. If items are objectively or demonstrably faulty, we will comply with the legal requirements in all respects and issue refunds to customers on your behalf. You will indemnify us in full and on demand for all refunds we issue for faulty items in accordance with these statutory requirements.
7.4. The above requirements may also apply to international consumers; i.e. consumers that have placed an order from outside the United Kingdom. We will advise you if that is the case.
7.5. The items that you sell to business customers must, for a period of 3 months from the date of delivery, conform in all material respects to their product descriptions, be free from material defects in design, material and workmanship, and be of satisfactory quality within the meaning of the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
7.6. If any item you supply to a business customer does not comply with any of the above, you must repair, replace (where possible) or refund any such items, provided that:
(a) we or the business customer notify you within 3 months from delivery;
(b) we or the business customer provides you with sufficient information as to the nature and extent of the defects;
(c) we or the business customer gives you reasonable opportunity to examine the defective items; and
(d) the business customer returns the defective items to the independent artist at your expense.
7.7. You will indemnify us in full and on demand for any losses we suffer or incur as a result of any claim by any consumer or business customer for faulty items, or otherwise for any non-compliance with legal obligations relating to product safety, product compliance, or returns.
8. Seller policy
8.1. All artists must ship to all territories as found in the Artist Dashboard however, it remains optional to send to the EU & NI based on new GPSR regulation. It is compulsory for artists to state which territories they ship to in their Artist Seller Policy. Please see the below template for the seller policy:
8.2. All artworks are shipped from the ‘x’ and packaged in ‘x’. I ship to the UK, Europe, US and Canada and the rest of the world via an insured shipping service. Shipping fees are calculated at checkout and involve high quality handling. Customers are responsible for duties and taxes. Returns are accepted within 14 days of receiving the artwork. In this case, please email info@sotamarketplace.co to arrange. Please ensure the artwork is packaged and sent back in its original condition- if the artwork is damaged in transit, the return shipping fee will be covered (photo evidence must be sent to SOTA). If the artwork is not to a customer's liking, they are responsible for the return shipping fee and the return must be insured to the artwork's value. The SOTA customer service team will handle all communication regarding order queries, returns and refunds on behalf of their artists.
8.3. You will be responsible for complying with all legal, regulatory and any other obligations imposed on you by applicable law of the territories to which you will ship to, including all product laws of such territories such as the General Product Safety Regulations (the GPSR) in Europe. You will also be responsible for providing all relevant customs information to enable customers to pay the costs of any import duties, levies or taxes payable on international deliveries.
9. Content
When providing us with content (including causing content to be posted using our Services), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual (or for the duration of any copyright or other rights in such content), irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to use the content (including, without limitation, creating and using derivative works). We may in particular use your content, including any photographs you upload, for marketing and promotional purposes.
10. Sales and discounts
10.1. We may at any time launch a ‘flash sale’ on any artwork at our sole discretion. All discounts will be applied to the final selling price and SOTA commission will be taken from the discounted amount after the sale.
10.2. You may request bespoke discount codes to be created and applicable on any of your artwork, redeemable by customers. Please contact us if you wish to exercise your right to do so.
11. Data protection and privacy
11.1. Please read our privacy policy, located at sotamarketplace.co/pages/privacy-policy for details on how we process your personal information.
11.2. You will process the personal information of customers in accordance with all data protection law, including the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (also known as the UK GDPR) and the United Kingdom Data Protection Act 2018, and all other analogous legislation elsewhere in the world applicable to you.
11.3. You will not communicate directly or attempt to make contract with any customer outside of SOTA, nor will you add any customer details to any external mailing lists.
11.4. You will indemnify us in full and on demand for any losses we suffer or incur as a result of any claim by any individual and/or fine or penalty imposed by any regulator arising in connection with your breach of any applicable data protection law.
12. Returns and change of mind
12.1. You acknowledge that in respect of consumer sales, consumers in the United Kingdom will have, and consumers outside the United Kingdom may have, 14 days from the delivery date to change their mind and cancel their order. This does not apply to bespoke or personalised items. SOTA will inform you if a consumer exercises this right to cancel. You must comply with your legal requirements in respect of a consumer exercising their right to change their mind.
12.2. If the consumer has already received their order, they must return the items within 14 days of telling us that they want to cancel their order. The deadline is met if the consumer sends the item back before the 14-day period has expired.
12.3. Items must be returned in a new and unused condition and, to the extent possible, in their original packaging. SOTA/you may make a deduction from the refund amount if the item has been handled in a way that has diminished the value of the item, or if such handling was beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the items.
12.4. You will be responsible for the cost of any returns if the items are faulty or misdescribed. Otherwise, unless you state you will cover the cost of returns in any other scenario in your seller policy, the consumer is responsible for the cost of returning the items.
12.5. A full refund (including basic delivery charges) must be refunded as soon as possible. SOTA will handle the refund on your behalf.
12.6. For non-statutory returns and returns for non-consumer customers, you are able to create rules to automate returns and refunds under certain circumstances. You may remove or customise your returns preferences in their account settings within their artist dashboard. When an item is returned, to refund the buyer, (and provided the transaction was not processed via managed payments), you authorise SOTA to request to Shopify to reverse the refund amount (in the same or other currency). You will usually be responsible for return postage costs. The cost of return shipping for an item that is not as described is the seller's responsibility.
12.7. When a transaction is cancelled, you authorise SOTA to request Shopify to reverse the refund amount (in the same or other currency) from your bank account to the buyer. Where you are found at fault, we will notify you and charge the reimbursement amount to your chosen payment method, or invoice you for the reimbursement amount. You must have a payment method on file with SOTA. You may change this payment method by via the Artist Dashboard.
13. Correcting mistakes in payments
We reserve the right to fix any processing errors we discover.
14. Delivery options
Delivery is carried out by you. Delivery and tracking information can be sent to the customer via the Artist Dashboard once an order has been accepted. As a SOTA seller, you agree to send the artwork in the displayed condition, with safety packaging and as quickly as possible.
15. Liability
15.1. We try to keep SOTA and its Services safe, secure, and functioning properly, but we cannot guarantee the continuous operation of or access to our Services.
15.2. We will not be liable to you in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any indirect losses, or any of the following losses (whether direct or indirect): loss of data, loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of business or business opportunity, goodwill, reputation or business interruption or for any losses which are not reasonably foreseeable by us arising, directly or indirectly from:
(a) your use of or your inability to use our Services;
(b) pricing, postage
(c) delays or disruptions in our Services;
(d) viruses or other malicious software obtained by accessing, or linking to, our Services;
(e) glitches, bugs, errors, or inaccuracies of any kind in our Services;
(f) damage to your hardware device from the use of any SOTA Service;
(g) the content, actions, or inactions of third parties, including items listed using our Services or the destruction of allegedly fake items;
(h) a suspension or other action taken with respect to your account or breach of our values
(i) the duration or manner in which your listings appear in search results
(j) your need to modify practices, content, or behaviour or your loss of or inability to do business, as a result of changes to these T&Cs or our policies.
15.3. You accept sole responsibility for the legality of your actions under laws applying to you and the legality of any items you list on any of our sites.
15.4. Although we use techniques that aim to verify the accuracy and truth of the information provided by our users, user verification on the internet is difficult. SOTA cannot and does not confirm, and is not responsible for ensuring, the accuracy or truthfulness of users' purported identities or the validity of the information which they provide to us or post on our sites.
15.5. Nothing in these T&Cs will limit or exclude our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation, for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or the negligence of our agents or employees, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.
16. Indemnity
You will indemnify us in full and on demand for any losses or costs, including reasonable legal fees, we incur arising out of any breach by you of these T&Cs, your improper use of SOTA’s Services or your breach of any law or the rights of a third party.
17. General
17.1. If any provision of these T&Cs is held to be invalid, void or for any reason unenforceable, such provision shall be struck out and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.
17.2. You agree that we may at any time and without notice set-off any of the amounts held in SOTA user accounts held or controlled by you with any fees, charges or other amounts you owe us and (unless prevented by insolvency law). Our right to set-off means that we may deduct such fees, charges or other amounts mentioned in this paragraph from a SOTA credit balance held or controlled by you.
17.3. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. We do not guarantee we will take action against all breaches of these T&Cs.
17.4. If you have a dispute with one or more users, you release us (and our affiliates and subsidiaries, and our and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
17.5. We may amend these T&Cs at any time by email. All amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted. Your continued use of our Services after the effective date of these amended terms constitutes your acceptance of them. These T&Cs may not be otherwise amended except through mutual agreement by you and a SOTA representative authorised to do so. The policies posted on our sites may be changed from time to time.
17.6. No agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by these T&Cs. A person who is not a party to these T&Cs has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of these T&Cs, but this does not affect any right or remedy of a third party specified in these T&Cs or which exists or is available apart from that Act.
17.7. These T&Cs and all policies posted on our website are the entire agreement between you and SOTA and supersede all prior understandings and agreements of the parties.
18. Exhibitions
SOTA will take out public liability insurance for any exhibitions it holds in the UK. All works will be subject to our sales commission of 10% exclusive of transaction fees (subject to change if a third-party gallery has involvement with the exhibition, such commission to be agreed with you in advance). There will be no submission fees and artists are responsible for the delivery and pick-up of unsold work to and from an agreed address as set out by SOTA.