Tools Buyer Terms

These Tools Buyer Terms describe the rights and obligations of every Buyer on the Tools Marketplace. They complement the Tools Marketplace Terms, the Return & Refund Policy, the Chargeback Policy, the Shipping Policy, the In-Person Safety addendum, the Rental Terms if you rent, and the Platform Terms of Service.

1. Who can buy

Age thresholds on this Marketplace follow the four-tier policy in the Children & Age Policy:

• Free ChefSphere account: at least 13 years.
• Online marketplace purchases (shipped orders, paid rental requests): at least 16 years — below that age you do not have the contractual capacity to conclude distance-contract purchases or rentals, and our Terms require a parent or legal guardian to conclude the purchase.
• In-person tool handovers (pickup, returns, rental hand-offs): every party must be at least 18 years; minors may attend only with a parent or legal guardian physically present and holding the account — see the In-Person Safety Guide.

Some categories (e.g. sharp blades, certain powered equipment) have additional age gates that checkout enforces at the item level. You must have an active ChefSphere account and accept these Terms and the Marketplace Terms.

2. Two payment paths — Stripe online vs cash in-person

The Marketplace supports two very different payment rails depending on the selling method chosen by the Seller:

• Worldwide-shipped sales → Stripe online. Payment is processed through Stripe (card, wallets, Apple Pay, Google Pay) or, for certain in-app purchases, through Apple App Store / Google Play. The price displayed at checkout is the price you pay, with VAT included for consumer Buyers in jurisdictions where ChefSphere collects VAT. Platform protections (trust-and-safety, 30-day return window, dispute flow, chargeback defence) all apply.
• In-person sales → cash between parties. You pay the Seller directly in cash at the meet-up; no money goes through ChefSphere. No platform fee, no 15 % cut, no online return flow, and no platform-backed refund. ChefSphere is a pure information-society intermediary for these orders. Any VAT or receipt is the Seller's direct obligation under their local law.

Do not pay the Seller off-platform for a worldwide listing — doing so removes all platform protections and may trigger account suspension. For in-person listings, only pay at the meet-up, in person, after inspecting the tool (see In-Person Safety). Never wire money, pay via cryptocurrency, gift cards, or foreign bank transfers; those are fraud indicators.

3. Checkout (worldwide-shipped orders only)

• The price shown on the listing is the price you will pay at checkout. VAT is included where ChefSphere is required to collect it; see Tax Information.
• Shipping price is calculated at checkout from the Seller's regional rates and your delivery address.
• Caps during the launch phase. The cart is capped at €3,000 total, at most 10 distinct items, and at most 5 units of any single product.
• High-value orders (≥ €500) require signature on delivery and additional buyer verification before the Seller is authorised to ship.
• Payment is processed by Stripe. ChefSphere does not store full card numbers.
• A contract is formed when payment is authorised and the order appears in your history. Failed attempts are not stored as purchase records.

4. In-person handoff (cash)

• Once the Seller confirms the listing is reserved for you, arrange the meet-up through in-app chat and follow the In-Person Safety rules: public, well-lit location, daylight, counterfeit-cash checks, and the optional ID-check prompt for high-value orders.
• Inspect the tool at the meet-up before you hand over the cash. Test any safety feature, verify the serial number, and compare against the listing photos.
• Hand over the cash only after both parties are satisfied. Both parties confirm hand-over in the app; the confirmation creates the audit record.
• If anything is wrong at the meet-up, do not pay and walk away. The order can be marked as "did not complete" in the app. No platform-side refund is needed because no money moved through the platform.

5. What you buy

• You buy the tool described in the listing, in the declared condition, variant, and quantity, through the delivery method you chose at checkout (worldwide delivery or in-person handoff).
• The Seller — not ChefSphere — is the counterparty to the sale. For worldwide orders, ChefSphere additionally acts as payment processor and carrier-label issuer. For in-person orders, ChefSphere is purely the listing host and messaging platform.
• For listings sold with a manufacturer's commercial warranty, that warranty is with the manufacturer (or the brand's authorised distributor). ChefSphere is not party to that warranty.

6. Delivery (worldwide orders)

• The Seller dispatches the parcel within the committed dispatch window and provides a tracking number. You receive push and email notifications for each tracking event.
• Delivery windows, carriers, customs / import duties, and what happens if a parcel is lost, stolen, or damaged in transit are described in the Shipping Policy.
• If a signature on delivery is required, the carrier will attempt delivery until a signature is obtained.

7. Inspection

• At delivery (worldwide): open the parcel in the presence of the carrier where practical. Take photos of any damage or missing parts. Report issues within 48 hours where possible — this does not shorten the 30-day return window but improves the outcome of any dispute.
• At the meet-up (in-person): inspect before you pay. Once you walk away with the tool and the cash is handed over, the transaction is closed — there is no platform refund path.

8. Your rights

8.1 Consumer-law rights

Your consumer-law rights in your country of residence apply on top of these Terms. For EU consumers, that includes the rights under Directive 2011/83/EU (consumer rights) and Directive (EU) 2019/771 (sale of goods) and local implementations. Those rights apply against the Seller — not against ChefSphere, which is a platform intermediary.

EU 14-day right of withdrawal (worldwide-shipped only). Where you buy from a professional Seller, EU Directive 2011/83/EU gives you 14 days from delivery to withdraw from the contract without giving a reason. You exercise the right by sending a clear statement (email, in-app message, or postal letter) to the Seller, or by using the model withdrawal form included in the order confirmation email. After you notify withdrawal you have 14 days to send the tool back; return shipping is your cost unless the Seller agreed to cover it. The Seller must refund within 14 days of receiving the item or of evidence that you dispatched it. This right does not apply where the item was made to your specification, was sealed for hygiene reasons and unsealed after delivery, or falls under another exclusion in Article 16 of the Directive.

Legal guarantee of conformity (B2C only). Where the Seller is a professional, Directive (EU) 2019/771 gives you a 2-year legal guarantee against defects existing at delivery, in addition to any commercial warranty. The legal guarantee is enforced against the Seller.

8.2 Worldwide-shipped: 30-day platform return window

For physical-good worldwide orders, you have 30 days from delivery to request a return through the Return & Refund Policy. That window is independent of, and more generous than, the 14-day EU withdrawal right; where both apply, the Buyer gets the more favourable outcome.

8.3 Worldwide-shipped: cancellation before dispatch

You can cancel a worldwide order that has not yet been shipped through the order page. Cancellation reverses the authorisation and releases the Seller's reserved stock.

8.4 Worldwide-shipped: refund and dispute flow

• The primary path for a dispute is the in-app Return & Refund flow.
• Initiating a bank-level chargeback before using the refund flow is treated as abuse; see the Chargeback Policy.
• The platform-wide refund ceiling of €1,000 per Buyer per day applies as a safety net.

8.5 In-person sales: no platform return or chargeback

Because no payment flows through the platform for an in-person sale, there is no platform-run refund flow and no chargeback defence for these orders. Any dispute about a cash-settled in-person sale is resolved directly between Buyer and Seller, subject to mandatory consumer-law rights that the Buyer can enforce against the Seller (e.g. under Directive (EU) 2019/771 where the Seller is a professional). ChefSphere can provide its records (chat, timestamps, photos, reviews) in support of either party but does not adjudicate cash disputes.

8.6 Product-safety information and recall (GPSR)

Under Regulation (EU) 2023/988 ("GPSR"):

• Safety information before purchase (Art. 19 and Art. 35 GPSR). Every listing displays the Seller's identity, the tool's technical characteristics, any safety warning and instructions for use, and — for items in scope of the EU New Legislative Framework — CE marking and the identity of the EU responsible person. If any of this information is missing, you can refuse the purchase and ask the Seller to complete the listing, or you can report the gap to [email protected].
• Your right to be informed of a recall. If a tool you purchased through the Marketplace becomes subject to a recall or corrective action under Art. 33 GPSR, ChefSphere will use the Buyer identity we hold to notify you directly (email and in-app) and will publish the recall on the affected listing. Recalls are also listed at /legal/safety-recalls.
• Your remedies on a recall (Art. 37 GPSR). You may choose — free of charge — between repair, replacement, or adequate reimbursement of the recalled product, regardless of the Return & Refund Policy deadlines.
• Reporting an accident. If a product purchased through the Marketplace causes an injury, a near-miss, or a documented safety incident, you can report it through the in-app "Report an accident" action or by writing to [email protected]. ChefSphere preserves the evidence, escalates to the Seller, and cooperates with the competent authority under Art. 20(2) GPSR where the incident meets the statutory threshold. Reporting does not replace emergency services — call local emergency numbers first for any injury that requires medical attention.

9. Your responsibilities

You agree to:

• provide accurate shipping, billing, and verification information;
• pay the full price shown at checkout plus any customs or import duties the carrier collects on delivery (worldwide — see Shipping Policy);
• only pay a Seller for an in-person listing in person, at the meet-up, in cash, after inspection;
• not use the Marketplace to purchase items for resale in a way that breaks the Acceptable Use Policy or the law of your country;
• not defraud a Seller (e.g. claiming non-receipt when the carrier has delivered, retaining the item while demanding a refund, filing a baseless chargeback, using counterfeit cash at a meet-up);
• not pressure, harass, or threaten a Seller during a return, a meet-up, or a rental;
• comply with the In-Person Safety addendum when you meet a Seller in person;
• keep your ChefSphere credentials and the device you use to log in secure, use a unique strong password, enable two-factor authentication where offered, and tell us promptly at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised access to your account;
• comply with sanctions and export-control law — you warrant that you are not on any sanctioned-parties list and that you do not purchase for re-export to an embargoed destination.

10. Rentals

If you rent, the Rental Terms apply on top of these Buyer Terms. Rentals on ChefSphere are paid in cash at pickup (price + refundable deposit) — there is no online Stripe flow for rentals. The Rental Terms cover deposits, damage, extensions, late returns, and tool condition.

11. Taxes

• For worldwide-shipped consumer prices, VAT is included where ChefSphere is required to collect it.
• For cross-border shipments, customs duties and import VAT are the Buyer's responsibility unless delivery-duty-paid (DDP) is explicitly offered; see Shipping Policy.
• For in-person or rental cash payments, tax treatment is a direct matter between Buyer and Seller; ChefSphere does not issue an invoice for those transactions.

12. Changes

We will post a new version when checkout flows, verification rules, or applicable law change materially. Material changes take effect no sooner than 30 days after notice in-app or by email and apply only to orders placed after the effective date.

13. Contact

• Buyer support: [email protected]
• Billing / refunds (worldwide orders): [email protected]
• Trust & safety: [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]