Terms of Service

This is a working draft written for the launch of Mauer House. Have a lawyer in your state review it before you take real money from the public.

1. What Mauer House is

Mauer House is an online marketplace where independent artists sell original artwork they made themselves. We operate the website, review listings before they go live, process payments, and pass the money on to artists. We are not a party to the sale itself: the contract for each work is between you and the artist. We do describe, in our Seller Agreement and Guidelines, what artists must do, and we step in when they don't.

2. Accounts

You need an account to buy, save collections, message artists, or sell. You must be at least 18, give us accurate information, and keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what happens under your account. We can suspend or close accounts that break these terms, and we will tell you why unless the law says we can't.

3. Buying

• Price and payment. The price shown is the price. There are no hidden fees for buyers beyond shipping and any sales tax shown at checkout. You pay once, through our payment processor, even if your order contains work from several artists.
• One of one. Originals are unique. When you buy one, it is yours and it leaves the site as "Sold".
• Shipping. Each artist ships their own work with tracking. Estimated arrival dates are estimates.
• Returns. Each listing states the artist's return window (none, 14 days, or 30 days). Return shipping is at your cost unless the work arrived damaged or is not as described.
• Buyer protection. If your order does not arrive, arrives damaged, or is materially different from the listing, tell us from your order page within 14 days of the delivery date. We hold artists' money until 3 days after delivery so that we can refund you if the artist cannot resolve it.
• Certificates. Every original comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by Mauer House and the artist.

4. Selling

Selling is governed by the Seller Agreement, which is part of these terms. In short: you may only list original work you made yourself, every listing is reviewed by a person before it goes live, and we keep one fee of 9% of each sale. No listing fees, no advertising fees.

5. What you may not do

• List, sell, or attempt to sell work you did not make, drop-shipped goods, print-on-demand goods, unlicensed reproductions, or AI-generated images presented as artwork.
• Use the site to move a sale off-platform to avoid the fee.
• Harass, threaten, or deceive anyone, including through messages.
• Scrape, copy, or republish artists' images or text without their permission.
• Interfere with the site, its security, or other people's accounts.

6. Content and rights

Artists keep all rights to their work and images. By listing, an artist gives Mauer House a licence to show those images and words on the site and in our own editorial and email, and to let buyers save them to collections. Buyers of a physical work receive the object, not the copyright, unless the artist says otherwise in writing. If you believe something on the site infringes your rights, use the report link on the listing or write to us; we follow a notice-and-counter-notice process.

7. Reviews and messages

Only buyers who received an item can review it. Reviews must be honest and about the work and the experience. Messages between buyers and artists are private but may be read by our staff when handling a dispute or a report.

8. Payments

Payments are processed by Stripe. By paying or receiving money on the site you also agree to Stripe's terms. We are not a bank and do not hold your money outside of Stripe's systems.

9. Our role and limits

We review every listing before it goes live, but review is a check by a person against our guidelines, not a guarantee of authenticity, value, or condition. To the extent the law allows, Mauer House is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in fees for the transaction in question, or $100, whichever is greater.

10. Changes and ending

We may update these terms. If the change matters, we will email you at least 14 days before it takes effect. You can close your account at any time from your account page; open orders still have to be completed.

11. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, USA. Before either of us starts a formal claim, we agree to try to resolve the issue by email for 30 days.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@mauerhouse.art (replace with the real address before launch).