Tools Seller Agreement

This Tools Seller Agreement is the contract between you — the person or registered entity listing a kitchen tool on ChefSphere — and ChefSphere OÜ ("ChefSphere", "we"). It is an addendum to the Platform Terms of Service, the Platform Privacy Policy, the Tools Marketplace Terms, the Fee Schedule, the Return & Refund Policy, the Chargeback Policy, the Shipping Policy, the In-Person Safety addendum, the Platform Disclaimer, the Tax Information, and the Rental Terms if you list rentals.

1. Two seller tiers — match your obligations to your selling method

Because the payment rail differs across selling methods (see Marketplace Terms section 3), your obligations differ too:

1.1 Full Seller — worldwide shipping

Required if any of your listings is set to WORLDWIDE or BOTH. Payments are processed by Stripe, so you must complete:

• Identity verification through Stripe Express / Stripe Connect (KYC). Stripe asks for a government ID and additional documents where its risk scoring requires them;
• Tax onboarding (tax ID, country of tax residence);
• Banking — IBAN + BIC (European) or bank account number + routing number (US). Sensitive banking fields are stored encrypted, and only the last 4 digits are shown back to you;
• Legal acceptance — you must accept and electronically sign the five required documents in section 2;
• Stripe Services Agreement + Stripe Connected Account Agreement — concluded directly with Stripe. Your payouts will flow through Stripe to the bank account you register there. ChefSphere is not a bank, an EMI, or a money-services business.

1.2 Lite Seller — in-person only and/or rent-only

Required if your listings are set to IN_PERSON or the tool is RENT_ONLY. Because the Buyer/Renter pays you directly in cash and no money flows through the platform, there is no Stripe onboarding and no platform-collected fee. A Lite Seller must still:

• be at least 18 (commercial-seller floor for in-person meet-ups — see the four-tier age policy in /legal/children) and legally able to contract;
• accept this Agreement, the Marketplace Terms, the In-Person Safety addendum, and the Rental Terms if listing rentals;
• provide a real name and a verifiable contact (phone) for the in-app communications and the meet-up;
• comply with listing rules in section 6, prohibited-item rules in section 7, content moderation, and Trust & Safety enforcement;
• handle their own tax obligations — ChefSphere does not issue a sale invoice for a cash transaction; you are responsible for any VAT, sales tax, or income tax you owe in your country.

A Lite Seller can upgrade to a Full Seller at any time by enabling worldwide shipping and completing Stripe Express onboarding.

Either tier may hold only one seller account per person or per legal entity.

2. The five required legal documents (Full Seller)

At onboarding, a Full Seller must expressly accept and electronically sign:

1. Seller Terms — this Agreement;
2. Seller Privacy Notice — the Platform Privacy Policy as it applies to sellers;
3. Return & Refund Policy — the Tools Return & Refund Policy;
4. Chargeback Policy — the Tools Chargeback Policy;
5. Platform Disclaimer — the Tools Platform Disclaimer.

We capture signatures as typed name, drawn signature, or an explicit checkbox acceptance, with IP address, timestamp, and, where available, coarse geolocation. The stored record meets EU eIDAS requirements for a simple electronic signature and is admissible as evidence.

A Lite Seller accepts this Agreement, the Marketplace Terms, the In-Person Safety addendum, and the Rental Terms (where applicable) in-app at onboarding — the same acceptance evidence is captured.

3. Onboarding walkthrough (Full Seller)

Onboarding is a single request in the app that collects:

• Request type (INDIVIDUAL_NEW, BUSINESS_NEW, INDIVIDUAL_TO_BUSINESS, etc.) and account type (INDIVIDUAL or BUSINESS);
• Identity fields — for individuals: first name, last name, date of birth, government ID; for businesses: business name, business type, address, phone, website (optional), business licence (where required), description;
• Banking (see 1.1);
• Tax — tax ID and country of tax residence (see Tax Information);
• Commercial profile — motivation, experience, expected volume, target markets, seller logo (optional), supporting documents (optional);
• Legal agreements — explicit acceptance and signatures for the five documents above;
• Stripe Express — you are redirected to Stripe Express to complete KYC, accept Stripe's own agreements, and submit any additional verification documents Stripe requests.

The request moves through PENDING → UNDER_REVIEW → APPROVED (or REJECTED). Approved accounts can later be moved to SUSPENDED or DEACTIVATED. We communicate status changes in-app and by email.

4. Verification levels (Full Seller)

Each approved Full Seller carries a verification level — BASIC, VERIFIED, or PREMIUM — reflecting how much identity and documentation we have on file via Stripe Express KYC, business registration verification, and any enhanced diligence we perform for higher-risk categories. A higher verification level is required to unlock higher trust tiers (section 5) and some restricted categories.

5. Trust levels, reserves, holds (Full Seller only)

Every Full Seller carries a trust level that controls per-order and daily transaction caps, the reserve percentage held against chargebacks, and the hold period before earnings become withdrawable. These apply only to worldwide Stripe-processed orders because they all derive from the earnings ledger. The tiers:

Trust level	Typical eligibility	Reserve	Hold period
UNTRUSTED	Flagged accounts or new Sellers with issues	20 %	14 days
NEWCOMER	< 90 days old or < €5,000 cumulative sales	15 %	14 days
REGULAR	90+ days and €5,000+ sales, dispute rate < 1 %	10 %	7 days
TRUSTED	180+ days and either €10,000+ sales or 500+ orders, dispute rate < 0.5 %	5 %	2 days
EXPERT	365+ days and €50,000+ sales, dispute rate < 0.3 %	3 %	0 days (instant payout eligible)

Per-order and daily transaction limits for each tier (with and without a card on file) are set out in the Fee Schedule. Platform-wide daily ceilings of €10,000 in total sales and €5,000 in total payouts apply as a safety net.

Card on file. Enrolling a valid card unlocks 1.5–4× higher limits at the UNTRUSTED/NEWCOMER/REGULAR tiers. By enrolling, you authorise ChefSphere to charge the card for amounts you owe under the Chargeback Policy or for recoverable platform losses.

Lite Sellers (in-person / rent-only) are not subject to trust tiers, reserve percentages, hold periods, or per-order/daily Stripe caps — those limits only exist on the Stripe ledger. Lite Sellers are still subject to trust-and-safety review, listing moderation, and removal for breach.

6. Listing rules — what you publish

You are responsible for every listing you publish. Every listing must:

• describe a real tool that you own, have the legal right to sell or rent, and can deliver within the stated timeframe;
• disclose condition accurately (new, open-box, like-new, good, fair), all known defects, missing parts, repairs, and non-standard modifications;
• identify the brand, model, and — for regulated items — any CE / UKCA / FCC / UL markings, serial numbers, and expiry dates (for items with a defined life);
• use your own photos (3 free; additional photos billed per the Fee Schedule on the worldwide path) that show the real item, not stock or third-party imagery, except where the manufacturer licenses such use;
• specify the selling method (worldwide, in-person, both, rent-only), the shipping region prices (for worldwide), and any allowed countries list;
• state any variants (colour, size, power) clearly; extra variants and variant photos are billed per the Fee Schedule on the worldwide path;
• reflect real stock. Overselling a worldwide listing triggers Buyer refunds, chargeback-fee liability, and may downgrade your trust level. Overselling an in-person listing damages reputation and will lead to review-system penalties and removal if repeated.

Restricted categories

Certain categories need additional checks: alcohol production equipment, pressurised gas equipment, commercial kitchen electrical equipment, sharp blades above a size threshold, regulated pest-control items, and anything requiring age-gated sales. Write to [email protected] if a category is restricted in your dashboard.

Prohibited items

You may not list counterfeit, stolen, recalled, prohibited, or unsafe items; items that require a professional licence you do not hold; items subject to export controls you do not meet; or anything that violates the Acceptable Use Policy or law in the Seller's or Buyer's jurisdiction.

7. Seller warranties

By using the Marketplace you represent and warrant to ChefSphere and to every counterparty that:

1. you own the tool or have the legal right to sell or rent it;
2. the tool is not counterfeit, stolen, recalled, or prohibited in the Seller's or the Buyer's jurisdiction;
3. the listing, including photos and any claim about origin, condition, compatibility, or certifications, is accurate and not misleading;
4. you will honour the advertised stock, price, shipping price, delivery timeframe (worldwide), and return window (worldwide);
5. for in-person sales and rentals, you will conduct meet-ups in compliance with the In-Person Safety addendum and with any applicable local law; you will accept cash payment only at the meet-up, only after the Buyer has inspected the tool, and you will not pressure the Buyer into unusual payment methods;
6. for worldwide sales, the item is legal to export from your country and legal to import in each country you list it for; you will generate the carrier label from the Label Wallet and hand the parcel to the carrier within the stated dispatch window; you will comply with customs and labelling rules (see Shipping Policy);
7. you will not fraudulently trigger earnings events (e.g. fake "delivered" scans, fake self-purchases, collusion with Buyers on refunds);
8. IP. you own, or have the valid licence to upload and publish, every photo, description, logo, and video in each listing and in your seller profile; that content does not infringe any third-party copyright, trademark, design, personality right, or database right; you may use third-party brand names only to the extent needed to describe the tool accurately (nominative fair use);
9. Sanctions and export controls. you are not a person or entity on any list of sanctioned or restricted parties maintained by the European Union, the United Nations, the United States (OFAC), the United Kingdom, or the Republic of Estonia; you are not located in or a resident of a country or territory under a comprehensive EU embargo; you will not sell, ship, or rent a tool in a way that violates applicable export-control or sanctions law;
10. Professional vs private. you will accurately declare whether you are acting in a professional capacity (business) or as a private individual selling occasional personal items; this declaration controls whether mandatory consumer-law rights apply to Buyers on your sales and your obligations for VAT and income-tax registration in your country;
11. AML. for worldwide earnings processed through Stripe, you cooperate with Stripe's anti-money-laundering checks; you will not use the Marketplace to launder proceeds of crime or to finance terrorism;
12. Account security. you are responsible for the security of your ChefSphere credentials, your Stripe Express credentials, and the device you use to manage the account; you will notify us without undue delay at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised access;
13. General Product Safety Regulation — traceability and retention (Art. 9(2) and Art. 22 of Reg. (EU) 2023/988, "GPSR"). you keep the technical documentation, instructions, safety warnings, and any CE / declaration-of-conformity paperwork that accompany each tool you place on the EU market for at least 10 years from the date the product was placed on the market, and you release those records to the platform, a competent authority, or an affected Buyer within the deadline set in the lawful request; for products in scope of the EU New Legislative Framework you also maintain a responsible person in the Union within the meaning of Art. 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and disclose that person on the listing;
14. GPSR recall cooperation (Art. 33 GPSR). where a recall, voluntary corrective action, or safety-gate match affects an item you have sold through the Marketplace, you (i) notify ChefSphere at [email protected] within 72 hours of becoming aware, (ii) cooperate with the competent authority's recall instructions, (iii) offer affected Buyers the remedies in Art. 37 GPSR (repair, replacement, or adequate reimbursement) regardless of the Return & Refund Policy deadline, and (iv) bear the cost of implementing the recall;
15. GPSR accident reporting (Art. 20(2) GPSR). where an accident caused by one of your products results in a person's death or a serious, documented adverse effect on health or safety, you report the incident to the competent authority through the Safety Business Gateway and notify ChefSphere at [email protected] without undue delay, no later than 2 working days after becoming aware, and cooperate with any follow-up investigation.

8. Indemnity

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ChefSphere, its directors, employees, and agents from and against any third-party claim, demand, loss, cost, or damage (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of a breach of section 7, your listings, your conduct at a meet-up, your handling of buyer data, or any tax liability the tax authority of your country tries to recover from ChefSphere because of your income. We will notify you of a covered claim without undue delay and will cooperate reasonably in the defence at your cost.

9. Payments, reserves, payouts (Full Seller only)

• Payouts on worldwide orders are paid to the bank account you register through Stripe Express. Stripe is the regulated provider; ChefSphere is neither a bank nor an EMI.
• Earnings flow through the lifecycle described in the Fee Schedule: pending → hold period → available + reserve → withdrawal.
• Instant payouts are possible at the EXPERT tier and carry a 1.5 % fee. Instant payout amount is capped at €200 per request during the launch phase.
• There is a 24-hour cooldown between payouts, a minimum payout threshold of €50, and a daily payout cap of €500 per Seller; new Sellers (< 90 days) are capped at €300 per payout.
• Refunds, chargebacks, and negative adjustments are deducted in order: available → reserve → pending → card on file. A negative balance of €500 or more pauses new sales automatically until resolved.

Cash settled in-person and cash-settled rentals do not appear in the Stripe ledger because the money never flowed through ChefSphere. They do not affect reserves, holds, or payouts.

10. Labels, shipping, and the Label Wallet (worldwide only)

• For worldwide orders, labels are purchased through Shippo and funded by your pre-paid Label Wallet: minimum top-up €20, maximum top-up €1,000, daily top-up limit €2,500. The wallet holds €15 for domestic (France), €25 for Europe, and €50 for international shipments before a label is issued.
• You are responsible for accurate weight/dimensions, correct customs paperwork, and handover to the carrier within the committed dispatch window. See the Shipping Policy for the full set of rules.

11. In-person handoff, rentals, returns

• In-person sales and rentals follow the In-Person Safety addendum. The meet-up is between you and the counterparty; ChefSphere gives tools to document the handoff but does not attend and is not liable for its outcome beyond its role as intermediary.
• Rental-specific obligations are in the Rental Terms: cash payment of price + deposit at pickup, damage assessment, extension, late return, and tool condition.
• Platform returns under the Return & Refund Policy apply to worldwide-shipped orders only. For in-person sales and for rentals, disputes are resolved directly between the parties; the platform keeps the evidence (chat, photos, timestamps) and may assist by providing records but does not issue refunds because no money is held.

12. Moderation, suspension, and termination

• Every listing and profile change is screened before it goes live. Automated decisions that restrict your listing or account are subject to human review on request; write to [email protected] with the reference ID from the notice.
• We may place a Seller account in SUSPENDED status, pause payouts, increase the reserve percentage, extend the hold period, or prevent new listings if we reasonably suspect fraud, abuse, safety risk, chargeback abuse, listing integrity failures, or legal non-compliance.
• We may DEACTIVATE or terminate a Seller account for repeated violations of this Agreement, the Acceptable Use Policy, or a rule imposed by Stripe or a card network.
• On termination of a Full Seller account we hold your earnings through the standard reserve/hold period to cover any remaining refunds or chargebacks, and pay out what remains, subject to Stripe's final settlement. A Lite Seller account has no balance to hold; termination simply ends the listings.

13. Deletion of the Seller account

You can initiate deletion in the dashboard. The system performs a strict pre-deletion check (open orders, open rentals, open returns, open chargebacks, balances, DAC7 reporting obligations). Deletion proceeds only when the check passes. Deletion retires the Seller account, preserves anonymised records required by law, and does not delete your general ChefSphere user account.

14. Communications

We use your contact email and phone for transactional messages (confirmations, shipping events, refund decisions, payout events, safety alerts), legal notices, and important service updates. You cannot opt out of these; they are not marketing.

15. Governing law and forum

This Agreement is governed by the law of Estonia. Disputes are referred to the Harju County Court (Harju Maakohus), Tallinn. If you are acting as a consumer, mandatory consumer-protection rules of your country of residence are not excluded by this Agreement.

16. Changes

We will post a new version when the Marketplace, fees, payment flow, shipping partners, or applicable law change materially. Material changes take effect 30 days after notice in-app and by email.

17. Contact

• Seller support: [email protected]
• Billing, payouts, taxes (Full Seller): [email protected]
• Trust & safety / reports: [email protected]
• Privacy / data-protection requests: [email protected]
• Data Protection Officer: [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]