1. Hi, we are Gutenberg Market Ltd, and if you are reading this, you probably are interested in becoming an author or potentially are one already. These terms are additional to our standard terms and specifically for authors of Gutenberg Market. You’ll need to agree to them before you can become an author. These terms govern the rights and obligations of authors to us and buyers. You agree to put your items on Gutenberg Market on the basis that you agree to the Gutenberg Market Terms and these additional Author Terms. Please review these Author Terms carefully.
2. When we say ‘you’ in these Author Terms, we are referring to you, the author or soon to be author. If there are any inconsistencies between these Author Terms and Gutenberg Market Terms, what we say in these Author Terms takes precedence.
3. Read on for more information about your responsibilities, the process of selling your items on Gutenberg Market and how you can earn money on our platform.
4. It is free to become an author: There are no costs to register as an author. However, there is an author fee for every sale, that is payable to us.
5. Process to become an author: It is very easy to become an author. All you need to do is register as an author and complete our setup and verification process. Once approved, you can start selling on Gutenberg Market.
6. Licence: When you ‘sell’ an item, you are not selling the actual product to the customer, you are selling them a licence to use that product, under certain conditions. Once the licence expires, the customer can no longer receive updates for that product. To resume receiving updates, the customer would need to purchase a new licence from Gutenberg Market.
7. Exclusivity: When you list your items on Gutenberg Market, you are free to list them elsewhere, however we have strict rules around linking off to external websites from Gutenberg Market. This includes your own website, third party marketplaces and anywhere your item is listed. If we find any evidence of this we will suspend your account immediately and you risk being permanently banned from Gutenberg Market.
8. Setting item prices: It is your decision how much you price your items. If we feel your price is too low or too high, we may suggest a different price. However, it is completely your decision whether you take our advice. It is prohibited to discuss pricing with other authors and evidence of this will result in immediate suspension of your account and you risk being permanently banned from Gutenberg Market.
9. Review: We have certain rules about what we accept onto our Marketplace. When we review your account, listing and product, we will be checking them against these rules. We like being as helpful as possible during the review process, however, we are not obliged to give any reasons for rejecting your account, listing or product. We always have the final say when accepting or rejecting an item.
10. Author fee: Our standard author fee is currently 20% of the sale price. We may change our standard author fee rate at any time but we will give you notice ahead of such changes. If on our standard author fee rate, you will earn 80% of the sale price, minus the withdrawal fee. For more information on the withdrawal fee, see below.
11. Withdrawal fee: There is a 2% withdrawal fee any time you withdraw money from your Gutenberg Market account. This covers the PayPal fee and administration time.
12. Discounts: If your author fee has been discounted for whatever reason, you will receive that rate for the period of time which it was offered to you, unless you breach our author terms. When your discount expires, you will be automatically moved onto our standard author fee rate, whatever that is at the time of expiry.
13. Thresholds: Withdrawals can be requested 14 days after a completed purchase. This ensures that our 14 day money back guarantee is respected and we are not having to request money back from you in the event of a refund.
14. Potential deductions: If you breach any of our terms, we reserve the right to offset any amount that we have to pay to anyone as a result of your breach, against any payments due to you or your current balance.
15. Payment errors: We will hold your earnings if we’re unable to pay you for whatever reason.
16. Holding earnings: If we believe you have breached any of our terms, we have the right to hold your earnings until the dispute is resolved in your favour. If not in your favour, we reserve the right to suspend or permanently remove your account. Your earnings will be either reimbursed back to the customer and/or used to pay for damages resulted from your breach.
17. As an author you warrant to us and your buyers that:
18. You give an indemnity to and are liable to each of your buyers. As an author you have responsibilities to Gutenberg Market and buyers of your items.
19. As an author you warrant to us that:
20. Buyers’ use of your item:
We are not liable for any losses suffered by you as a result of someone making use of your item in conflict to the Gutenberg Market Terms.
21. Our use of your item: We may feature your items on our website, social media or other Gutenberg Market owned media channels, to promote our platform. No compensation is payable for these uses.
22. Item removal: We reserve the right to remove your product listing for any reason, at our discretion. This could be based on numerous reasons, including but not limited to, quality, technical or industry standards, trends, errors, bugs and violations. We always want to resolve such issues with you in a constructive way with notice, but sometimes it is not possible or feasible to do so. We will not be responsible for any losses you suffer as a result of your listing being removed.
23. In order to facilitate a purchase on Gutenberg Market, we may provide you with necessary buyer information. You agree that you will keep buyer data confidential and only use their information in compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws.
24. If your item accesses or uses usernames, passwords, photo identification or other personal information, you must:
25. Relationship between us and you: Nothing in these terms is to be construed as constituting a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship between you and us. Neither you nor us can act on behalf of the other in any way. However, you appoint us as your limited agent only for these specific purposes:
26. Authors agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Gutenberg Market and their respective owners and employees from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, actions, demands, suits, obligations, fees, charges, proceedings, and any expenses filed by a third party. The terms of this section shall survive the expiration or termination of this Agreement.
Author: someone who makes products available for sale on Gutenberg Market.
Author fee: is what authors are charged by Gutenberg Market for use of our platform and services as an author.
Item price: is the price you see on an item page on Gutenberg Market.
Listing/item/product: the thing you market and sell to buyers on our platform.
Thank you for taking the time to read this important document. Head over to the documentation to read our getting started guide if you need more information on how to register as an author and configure your store.
Version 1.1 – Effective date: March 02, 2023.