Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are#

The tese.io marketplace (the “Marketplace”) is operated by [Legal entity name], a company registered at [registered address] under company number [company number] (“tese.io”, “we”, “us”).

The Marketplace is a business-to-business platform for sourcing sustainable products and services. Independent sellers list what they offer; buyers discover listings, ask questions, request quotes and place orders. We run the platform. We are not the seller of the products and services listed on it unless a listing clearly says otherwise.

By creating an account, or by using the Marketplace to list, enquire, quote, buy or sell, you agree to these terms. If you use the Marketplace for a business, you confirm that you are authorised to bind that business, and “you” means that business as well as you.

2. Definitions#

Buyer

a business or person who uses the Marketplace to find, enquire about, request quotes for or order products or services.

Seller

an independent business that lists products or services on the Marketplace through the seller panel.

Listing

a product or service page published by a Seller, including its description, price, media, specifications and any sustainability information.

Order

a purchase from one Seller. A single checkout that includes items from several Sellers creates one Order per Seller, grouped together for your convenience.

Enquiry

a question or quote request sent to a Seller, either from a Listing or through AI Sourcing.

Quote

a Seller’s response to an Enquiry setting out a price and the terms that go with it, such as currency, lead time, minimum order quantity or payment terms.

AI Sourcing

the Marketplace’s AI-assisted sourcing features, which help Buyers describe needs, find matching Listings and contact suppliers.

Sustainability claim

any statement in a Listing that a product or service is designed to support a named standard, certification, label or environmental outcome, together with any supporting documents.

tese.io account

the single sign-on account issued by tese.io and used to sign in to the Marketplace and other tese.io services.

3. Accounts and sign-in#

You sign in to the Marketplace with your tese.io account. Keep your sign-in details secure and do not share them. You are responsible for what happens under your account, including actions by people in your organisation you allow to use it. Tell us promptly at [contact email] if you think your account has been misused.

The information you give us, including your business name, contact details and addresses, must be accurate and kept up to date. We may ask you to confirm details about you or your business before you can use some features.

The Marketplace is intended for business use. If you use it as a consumer, the mandatory rights you have under the law that applies to you are not affected by anything in these terms.

4. Our role and the sellers’ role#

tese.io operates the Marketplace: we provide the platform, the tools for listing, enquiries, messaging, checkout and returns, and we arrange payment processing through our payment provider.

Each contract of sale, or contract for services, is made directly between the Buyer and the Seller. tese.io is not a party to it. The Seller is responsible for the product or service, its description, its delivery or performance, its quality and its fitness for purpose, and for handling returns, refunds and after-sales support for its Orders.

Sellers are independent businesses. They are not our employees, agents or partners, and we do not control what they offer. A badge showing that a Seller is “verified” means only that we have reviewed the business registration information described in Seller obligations. It is not an endorsement of the Seller or of its products or services.

[Legal review: confirm whether tese.io acts as the Sellers’ limited payment collection agent or commercial agent, and state it here.]

5. Listings and sustainability claims#

Sellers write their own Listings and are solely responsible for them being accurate, complete, lawful and not misleading. That includes prices, specifications, availability, origin, lead times, images and any Sustainability claim.

Sustainability claims are supplied by Sellers. On the Marketplace, a Seller can say that a product or service is “designed to support” a named standard and attach the documents behind that statement. This is the Seller’s claim, not a certification by tese.io. A certificate can only come from the independent body that issues it.

• Sellers must hold evidence for every Sustainability claim they make, keep it current, and provide it to us or to a Buyer on reasonable request.
• Sellers must not present a claim as a certification, label or approval they do not hold, or describe a product as certified when only a component or a supplier is.
• Sellers must update or withdraw a claim promptly when a certificate expires, is suspended or no longer covers the product or service.

We may review documents that Sellers upload, ask for more evidence, and edit, hide or remove a claim or Listing that we reasonably believe is unsupported or misleading. Any review we do is limited. We do not test products, audit Sellers or verify outcomes, and we do not guarantee that any Sustainability claim is accurate. Buyers should carry out the checks their own purchasing, reporting or compliance needs require.

6. Enquiries, quotes and orders#

Enquiries. Buyers can send Enquiries to Sellers from a Listing or through AI Sourcing. An Enquiry is a request for information or for a Quote. It does not commit either side to a sale.

Quotes. A Quote is made by the Seller, not by tese.io. It is valid for the period and on the terms the Seller states, or, if none are stated, for a reasonable time. A Quote may be withdrawn by the Seller until the Buyer accepts it. The Seller is responsible for honouring a Quote the Buyer accepts within its terms.

Orders. When you check out, you make an offer to buy from each Seller whose items are in your cart. The contract with each Seller is formed when that Seller accepts your Order, or when the Order is confirmed after payment, whichever comes first. A single checkout with items from several Sellers creates a separate Order, and a separate contract, with each Seller. Each Order is fulfilled, shipped, cancelled, returned and refunded on its own.

A Seller may decline or cancel an Order, for example if an item is unavailable or a price was clearly wrong. If an Order you paid for is cancelled, you will be refunded for that Order as described in Returns, refunds and disputes.

7. Prices, taxes and payments#

Prices are set by Sellers and shown in the currency displayed at checkout. Delivery charges, where they apply, are shown before you pay.

Taxes such as VAT or sales tax may be calculated at checkout from the information Sellers and Buyers provide. Sellers remain responsible for the correct tax treatment of their sales and for issuing any invoice the law requires. Buyers are responsible for any import duties, customs charges or taxes due in their country unless the Listing or Quote says otherwise.

Payments are processed by Stripe, our payment provider, and are subject to Stripe’s terms. We do not store full card details. Payment methods offered depend on your region and may include cards and local payment methods.

Payments for Orders are passed to Sellers through Stripe Connect after deduction of the Marketplace commission and any applicable fees, as set out in Seller obligations. Buyers must not pay Sellers outside the Marketplace for Orders placed on it.

8. Delivery and services#

Sellers ship their own Orders, or perform their own services, using the delivery options and lead times shown in the Listing, the Quote or at checkout. Delivery dates are estimates given by the Seller unless the Seller expressly agrees a fixed date.

Risk in goods passes to the Buyer on delivery, and ownership passes when the Seller has received payment in full, unless the Buyer and Seller agree different terms. Buyers should inspect deliveries promptly and report any damage, shortage or defect to the Seller through the Marketplace as soon as possible.

For services, the scope, schedule and acceptance criteria are those in the Listing or the Quote. Sellers must perform services with reasonable skill and care and hold any licence, permit or insurance the service requires.

9. Returns, refunds and disputes#

Returns are handled per Order, by the Seller who fulfilled it. From an Order in your account you can request a return by choosing the items, the quantities and a reason. The Seller reviews the request, tells you how to send the items back, and confirms the refund amount. Any refund estimate shown when you make the request is for guidance only.

Each Seller’s own return policy applies, as shown in its Listing or seller profile, together with any rights you have under the law that applies to the contract. Refunds are made to the original payment method through Stripe. How long a refund takes to appear depends on your bank or card issuer.

If something goes wrong with an Order, contact the Seller first through Marketplace messaging. If you cannot resolve it, tell us at [contact email]. We may look at the messages and Order records and suggest an outcome, but we are not obliged to resolve disputes between Buyers and Sellers, and any decision we make does not limit your rights against the other party. Chargebacks and payment disputes are also subject to Stripe’s rules.

10. Seller obligations#

If you sell on the Marketplace, in addition to the rest of these terms you agree to the following, and to any seller agreement we make with you.

• Business verification (KYB). You must give us your registered legal name, registration number and country of registration, and upload a registration document such as a certificate of incorporation, a registration extract, a trade licence or a tax registration. We review it and may check it against public registers. We may limit your account, Listings or payouts until verification is complete, or if it is declined.
• Accuracy. Listings, prices, stock, lead times and Sustainability claims must be accurate and kept up to date, and must comply with the law in every market you sell to, including product safety, labelling and consumer protection rules where they apply.
• Orders. You must handle Enquiries, Quotes, Orders, returns and refunds promptly and in good faith, and respond to Buyers through the Marketplace.
• Payouts. To receive payouts you must complete onboarding with Stripe Connect and meet Stripe’s requirements. Payouts are made on the schedule shown in the seller panel and may be held, delayed or adjusted for refunds, chargebacks, disputes or suspected breach of these terms.
• Commission and fees. We charge a commission on each Order, at the rate in [the seller agreement / the seller panel], deducted from the payout for that Order. [Legal review: add any listing, subscription or payment processing fees and whether commission is refunded when an Order is refunded.]
• Taxes and records. You are responsible for your own taxes, invoices and records, and for any information a tax authority requires us to report about your sales.

11. Acceptable use#

You must not use the Marketplace to:

• list or buy anything illegal, unsafe, counterfeit, recalled or that infringes someone else’s rights;
• make false, misleading or unsupported claims, including Sustainability claims;
• move a transaction started on the Marketplace off the platform to avoid fees, or ask for payment details in messages;
• send spam, harass other users, or share content that is unlawful, abusive or discriminatory;
• scrape, copy or harvest data from the Marketplace without our written permission, or interfere with its security or operation;
• impersonate another person or business, or create accounts to get round a suspension.

Marketplace messaging runs on a secure messaging service operated for tese.io. Messages are stored so that Buyers and Sellers can refer back to them. We may review messages where needed to keep the Marketplace safe, investigate a report or help resolve a dispute, as described in our Privacy Policy.

12. AI features#

AI Sourcing uses artificial intelligence to suggest Listings, summarise information, draft messages and help you find suppliers. AI output can be incomplete, out of date or wrong. It is not professional, legal, technical or compliance advice, and it is not a statement by tese.io or by any Seller.

• Check important information, including prices, specifications and Sustainability claims, against the Listing, the Seller’s documents or the Quote before you rely on it.
• AI Sourcing may suggest suppliers that do not sell on the Marketplace and may send them a request on your behalf when you ask it to. Those suppliers have not been verified by us, and any dealings with them are outside these terms unless they join the Marketplace.
• What you enter into AI Sourcing is processed by us and by our AI service providers to provide the feature, as described in our Privacy Policy. Do not enter confidential information or personal data you do not need to share.

13. Intellectual property#

The Marketplace, its software, design and the tese.io name and logo belong to tese.io or our licensors. You may use the Marketplace only as these terms allow.

Sellers keep ownership of the content they upload, such as text, images and documents. By uploading it, a Seller gives tese.io a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display, reformat, translate and promote that content in connection with the Marketplace for as long as it is listed, and for a reasonable time afterwards for records and backups. Sellers confirm they have the rights needed to grant this licence.

If you believe content on the Marketplace infringes your rights, contact us at [contact email] with enough detail for us to find and assess it.

14. Liability#

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

Because contracts of sale are between Buyers and Sellers, tese.io is not liable for the products or services Sellers provide, for Sellers’ Listings or Sustainability claims, or for anything a Buyer or Seller does or fails to do.

We provide the Marketplace with reasonable care and skill, but we do not promise that it will always be available, uninterrupted or error-free. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts or data, or for indirect or consequential loss.

To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you in connection with the Marketplace in any 12-month period is limited to [liability cap, e.g. the greater of the fees you paid to tese.io in that period and a fixed amount].

15. Suspension and termination#

You can stop using the Marketplace at any time. Sellers can close their store by contacting us, once open Orders, returns and payouts are settled.

We may suspend or close an account, hide Listings or hold payouts if we reasonably believe you have broken these terms or the law, if verification is not completed or is declined, if there is a risk of fraud or harm to other users, or if we are required to by law or by our payment provider. Where it is appropriate and lawful, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond.

We may stop operating the Marketplace, or part of it, with [notice period] notice. Sections that by their nature should continue, such as liability, intellectual property and payment obligations for completed Orders, survive termination.

16. Privacy#

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal data when you use the Marketplace, including account details, Orders, messages and AI Sourcing. When a Buyer orders from a Seller, we share the information the Seller needs to fulfil the Order, such as names, delivery address and contact details. Sellers must use that information only for the Order and in line with data protection law.

17. Changes to these terms#

We may update these terms, for example to reflect changes to the Marketplace or the law. We will show the date of the latest version at the top of this page and, for material changes, tell you in advance by email or in the Marketplace. Changes do not affect Orders placed before they take effect. If you continue to use the Marketplace after a change takes effect, the updated terms apply.

18. Governing law#

These terms are governed by the laws of [jurisdiction], and the courts of [jurisdiction] have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them, except where mandatory law gives you the right to bring proceedings elsewhere.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.

19. Contact us#

Questions about these terms can be sent to [contact email] or by post to [Legal entity name], [registered address]. You can also reach us through the tese.io contact page.