Bubble Tree's Terms of Use Agreement
By using the bubble-tree.com web site ("Bubble Tree"), a service of Bubble Tree Limited you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions (the “Terms of Use” or the "Agreement").
General Terms
- You must be 18 years and older to use this site or have permission from a legal guardian.
- You are responsible for any activity that occurs under your username.
- You are responsible for keeping your password secure.
- You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Bubble Tree users.
- You may not use the Bubble Tree service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. Users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.
- You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, screen names, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links (“Content”) that you submit, post and display on the Bubble Tree service.
- You must not modify, adapt or hack Bubble-Tree.com or modify another website so as to falsely imply that it is associated with Bubble Tree.
- You must not create or submit unwanted email to any Bubble Tree members ("Spam").
- You must not transmit any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature.
- You must not, in the use of Bubble Tree, violate any laws in your jurisdiction.
Violation of any of these agreements will result in the termination of your Bubble Tree account. While Bubble Tree prohibits such Content on its site, you understand and agree that Bubble Tree is a venue and as such is not responsible for the Content posted on its site and that you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials and that you use the Bubble Tree service at your own risk.
General Conditions
- Bubble Tree reserves the right to modify or terminate the Bubble Tree service for any reason, without notice at any time.
- Bubble Tree reserve the right to alter these Terms of Use at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Use, Bubble Tree will notify you via internet mail according to the preference expressed on your account. What constitutes a "material change" will be determined at Bubble Tree's sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment.
- Bubble Tree reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.
- Bubble Tree may, but has no obligation to, remove any Content and accounts containing Content that Bubble Tree determines in Bubble Tree's sole discretion are unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable or in violation of any party's intellectual property, the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, or other policy documents and community guidelines as posted on Bubble Tree.
- The Bubble Tree service makes it possible to post images hosted on Bubble Tree to outside websites. This use is accepted. However, pages on other websites which display images hosted on Bubble Tree must provide a link back to Bubble Tree from each photo to its photo page on Bubble Tree.
- Your account will be terminated, without prior notice, if your account is used for hosting graphic elements of web page designs, icons, smilies, buddy icons, forum avatars, badges and other non-photographic elements on external websites.
- You can remove your profile at any time by deleting your account. This will also remove any private images you have stored in the system. By uploading images and item description content to Bubble Tree, you agree to allow other Bubble Tree users to view them and you agree to allow Bubble Tree to display the images and content on Bubble Tree (for example on Bubble Tree's Homepage) and store the images, item description, profile and other content.
- Bubble Tree graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are trademarks Bubble Tree Limited in the U.K. and/or other countries. Bubble Tree's trademarks may not be used, including as part of trademarks and/or as part of domain names, in connection with any product or service in any manner that is likely to cause confusion.
You must agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained in these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and other policy documents and community guidelines as posted on Bubble Tree before you may become a member of Bubble Tree. These policy documents and community guidelines include those terms and conditions expressly set in this Agreement and those incorporated by reference.
Bubble Tree may amend the Terms of Use and any other policy documents and community guidelines, at any time by posting the amended terms on Bubble Tree. The Terms of Use is effective upon acceptance in registration for new registering users, and is otherwise effective on June 10, 2005 for all users.
Membership Eligibility
Bubble Tree's services are available only to, and may only be used by individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. Bubble Tree's services are not available to children (persons under the age of 18) or to temporarily or indefinitely suspended Bubble Tree members. If you are a under the age of 18, you can use this service only in conjunction with, and under the supervision of your parents or guardians. If you do not qualify, please do not use Bubble Tree. Further, your Bubble Tree user ID and password may not be transferred or sold to another party. If you are registering as a business entity, you personally guarantee that you have the authority to bind the entity to this Agreement.
Fees and Services
Joining and listing items for sale on Bubble Tree is free. Bubble Tree charges a minimal fee of 3% of the cost of the item(s) sold (inclusive of VAT) only when items are sold. The fees for Bubble Tree's services are subject to change. Changes to the fees for our services are effective after Bubble Tree provides you with at least seven (7) days' notice of the changes by posting the changes on Bubble Tree. However, Bubble Tree may choose to temporarily change the fees for Bubble Tree's services for promotional events and such changes are effective when Bubble Tree posts the temporary promotional event on Bubble Tree. Bubble Tree may, at Bubble Tree's sole discretion, change some or all of Bubble Tree's services at any time. In the event Bubble Tree introduces a new service, the fees for that service are effective at the launch of the service. Unless otherwise stated, all fees are quoted in U.K Sterling. You are responsible for paying all fees associated with using Bubble Tree's service and Bubble Tree and all applicable taxes.
Bubble Tree is a Venue
Bubble Tree is not a retailer. Although Bubble Tree is commonly referred to as an online marketplace, it is important to realize that Bubble Tree is not a traditional "retailer." Instead, Bubble Tree acts as a venue to allow an individual who complies with the Terms of Use to offer, sell, and buy certain items of an art and design nature, within a fixed price format. Bubble Tree is not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. As a result, Bubble Tree has no control over the quality, safety or legality of the items advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings, the ability of sellers to sell items or the ability of buyers to pay for items. Bubble Tree cannot ensure that a buyer or seller will actually complete a transaction. Consequently, Bubble Tree does not transfer legal ownership of items from the seller to the buyer.
Release
Because Bubble Tree is a venue, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more users, you release Bubble Tree (and Bubble Tree's officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
Information Control
Bubble Tree does not control the information provided by other users that is made available through our system. You may find other users' information to be offensive, harmful, inaccurate, or deceptive. Please use caution, common sense, and practice safe trading when using Bubble Tree. Please note that there are also risks of dealing with underage persons or people acting under false pretence. Additionally, there may also be risks dealing with international trade and foreign nationals. By using Bubble Tree, you agree to accept such risks and that Bubble Tree (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) is not responsible for any and all acts or omissions of users on Bubble Tree.
Buying
A buyer is obligated to complete the transaction of a purchase of an item on Bubble Tree immediately using PayPal by clicking the "Buy Now" button during checkout.
A seller must abide by all of Bubble Tree's policies and the seller's own individual policies and sell and provide the item as described. Likewise, a seller must abide by the seller's own individual policies when dealing with other issues, for example, issues of damage and returns.
Billing
Each Bubble Tree seller is responsible for paying the Bubble Tree fees incurred. At the beginning of the month each seller is emailed an invoice detailing the amount due. A seller must pay the amount due in full within 15 days of the date of the invoice. If a seller's account is not paid in full within 15 days of the date of the invoice, the seller’s account with Bubble Tree will be suspended or terminated at the sole discretion of Bubble Tree. If you have a question, email Bubble Tree.
Listing and Selling
Listing Description: You must be legally able to sell the item(s) you list for sale on Bubble Tree. You must describe your item and all terms of sale on the listing page of Bubble Tree. Your listings may only include text descriptions, graphics, pictures and other content relevant to the sale of that item. All listed items must be listed in an appropriate category. Each listing must accurately and completely describe the item/items for sale in that listing. If the "in stock" quantity is more than one, all items in that listing must be identical. Each unique item must have its own listing.
Sellers Policies: All sellers are urged to outline their individual policies. These policies include, for example shipping, returns, payment and selling policies. Sellers must create these policies in good faith and must abide by such policies. Bubble Tree reserves the right to request that a seller modify an individual policy.
Binding Sale: All sales are binding. If you, as a seller, receive a purchase request (order) you are obligated to complete the transaction with the buyer in a prompt manner, unless there is an exceptional circumstance, such as: (a) the buyer fails to meet the terms of your listing (such as payment method), or (b) you cannot authenticate the buyer's identity.
Termination: Without limiting any other remedies, Bubble Tree, without notice, may suspend or terminate your account if Bubble Tree suspects, in its sole discretion, that you (by information, investigation, conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) have violated any of Bubble Tree's policies set out in this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, or any other policy documents or community guidelines, or you have engaged in an improper or fraudulent activity in connection with Bubble Tree.
Manipulation: The price stated in description of each item on Bubble Tree must be an accurate representation of the sale. Manipulation refers to activities whereby the price no longer accurately represents the monetary value of the transaction. For example manipulative activities include, but are not limited to, intentionally stating one price in the description of the item but charging a higher price to the buyer, altering the item's price prior to a sale for the purpose of avoiding Bubble Tree transaction fees, and hacking into another's account and altering prices. Neither buyer nor seller, may manipulate the price of any item for any reason. Further, neither buyer nor seller may interfere with any other member's listings or transactions.
Prohibited, Questionable and Infringing Items
Definitions:
"Your Information" is defined as any information you provide to Bubble Tree or other users in the registration, in the listing process (which includes photographs and descriptions), in any public message area or through any email feature. You are solely responsible for Your Information, and Bubble Tree acts as a passive conduit for your online distribution and publication of Your Information.
"Your Activities" include, for example, listing items and email.
“Restricted Activities” include Your Activities which result in Your Information (or any items listed) on Bubble Tree and shall not:
- be false, inaccurate or misleading;
- be fraudulent or involve the sale of illegal, counterfeit or stolen items;
- infringe upon any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary or intellectual property rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
- violate any applicable law, statute or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing export control, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
- be defamatory, trade libelous, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing;
- be obscene or contain child pornography;
- contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms or other computer programming routines that may damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information;
- create liability for Bubble Tree or cause Bubble Tree to lose (in whole or in part) the services of its ISPs or other suppliers; and
- link directly or indirectly to or include descriptions of goods or services that:
- are prohibited under this Agreement, the Privacy Policy or other policy documents and community guidelines as posted on Bubble Tree or;
- (bb) are identical to other items you have for sale but are priced lower;
- are concurrently listed for sale on a web site other than Bubble Tree's (this does not prevent linking to or advertising an Bubble Tree item from another web site); or
- you do not have a right to link to or include.
Furthermore, you may not list any item on Bubble Tree (or consummate any transaction that was initiated using our service) that, by paying to us the final value fee, could cause us to violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation, or that violates these Terms of Use.
License: Solely to enable Bubble Tree to use the information you supply us with, so that Bubble Tree is not violating any rights you might have in Your Information, you agree to grant Bubble Tree a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to access and interfere.
Bubble Tree may contain robot exclusion headers. Much of the information on Bubble Tree is updated on a real time basis and is proprietary or is licensed to Bubble Tree by Bubble Tree's users or third parties. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access Bubble Tree for any purpose without our prior express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not:
- take any action that imposes, or may impose, in our sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
- copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute or publicly display any content (except for Your Information) from the site without the prior expressed written permission of Bubble Tree and the appropriate third party, as applicable;
- interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the site or any activities conducted on the site; or
- bypass our robot exclusion headers or other measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to Bubble Tree.
Privacy
Bubble Tree does not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent and Bubble Tree only uses your information as described in the Privacy Policy. Bubble Tree views protection of users' privacy as a very important community principle. Bubble Tree understands clearly that you and Your Information is one of Bubble Tree's most important assets. Bubble Tree stores and processes Your Information on computers located in the United Kingdom that are protected by physical as well as technological security devices. If you object to Your Information being transferred or used in this way please do not use Bubble Tree's services.
Liability Limit
In no event shall Bubble Tree, and (as applicable) Bubble Tree’s subsidiaries, officers, directors, employees or Bubble Tree’s suppliers be liable for lost profits or any special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with our site, our services or this agreement (however arising, including negligence)
Bubble Tree’s liability and (as applicable) the liability of Bubble Tree’s subsidiaries, officers, directors, employees and suppliers, to you or any third parties in any circumstances is limited to the greater of (a) the amount of fees you pay to Bubble Tree in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to liability, and (b) £100.
Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold Bubble Tree and (as applicable) Bubble Tree’s parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party
Legal Compliance
You shall comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes and regulations regarding your use of our service and your listing, purchase, solicitation of offers to purchase, and sale of items.
Severability
If any provision of this Agreement is held unenforceable, then such provision will be modified to reflect the parties' intention. All remaining provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
No Agency
You and Bubble Tree are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.
Notices
Except as explicitly stated otherwise, any notices shall be given by email to [jason@bubble-tree.com] (in the case of Bubble Tree) or to the email address you provide to Bubble Tree during the registration process (in your case). Notice shall be deemed given 24 hours after email is sent, unless the sending party is notified that the email address is invalid. Alternatively, Bubble Tree may give you notice by registered mail, postage prepaid and return receipt requested, to the address provided to Bubble Tree during the registration process. In such case, notice shall be deemed given 2 days after the date of mailing.
Resolution of Disputes
In the event a dispute arises between you and Bubble Tree, please email Bubble Tree at [jason@bubble-tree.com] and we will work quickly towards a solution. We encourage you to report all user-to-user disputes to your local police department, the Office of Fair Trading or a certified mediation or arbitration entity.