Terms of Service — tcgcollector.app
Version: 0.1-draft · Effective date: [TBD — on publication] Status: DRAFT — pending legal review. Not yet in force.
Operator: Zanibytes BV, Otegemstraat 296, 8550 Zwevegem, Belgium Company/VAT number: BE 0688.570.534 Email: info@tcgcollector.app ("tcgcollector.app", "the Platform", "we", "us")
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of tcgcollector.app, including its websites, APIs, and related services (the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms, the Marketplace Terms, the Returns & Refunds Policy, the Shipping Policy, the Prohibited Items Policy, and the Privacy Policy, all of which are incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
1. What the Platform is — and is not
1.1. tcgcollector.app is an online intermediation service: a venue where users list, discover, and transact graded trading-card slabs with each other.
1.2. We are not a party to any sale. Every purchase contract is concluded directly between the buyer and the seller identified on the listing. We do not own, buy, sell, or take title to listed items at any point, including while an item is physically in our custody for validation or inspection or while buyer payments are held in escrow pending release (the "Escrow Hold", §6.2).
1.3. We do not guarantee, and expressly disclaim any warranty regarding: (a) the authenticity, condition, grade, or value of any item; (b) the accuracy of third-party grading data (PSA, BGS/Beckett, or others) displayed via our certificate-lookup features, which is sourced from third parties and provided "as is"; (c) price indications, recent-sales panels, or market estimates, which are informational only and not valuations; (d) the truthfulness of any listing or user.
1.4. Ownership validation is not authentication. Our QR/printed-template validation process verifies only that the person listing an item had physical possession of a slab bearing the stated certificate serial at the moment of validation. It is not a guarantee of authenticity, legal ownership, or condition.
2. Eligibility and accounts
2.1. You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering binding contracts.
2.2. You must provide accurate registration information and keep it current. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for safeguarding your credentials. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.
2.3. One account per person unless we approve otherwise. Accounts are personal and non-transferable.
2.4. Trader status declaration. When registering as a seller you must declare whether you act as a private individual or as a trader (professional seller) within the meaning of EU consumer law. This declaration determines which statutory rights apply to your buyers and is displayed on your listings (Art. 6a of Directive 2011/83/EU). Declaring private status while in fact trading professionally is a material breach of these Terms and grounds for immediate termination; we may also re-classify an account as a trader where its selling activity objectively indicates professional trading (volume, frequency, profit orientation — cf. CJEU C-105/17 Kamenova). Traders must additionally provide traceability information (identity, address, registration and VAT numbers, contact details — cf. Article 30 of the Digital Services Act) before listings are published.
3. User content and listings
3.1. You retain ownership of content you submit (photos, descriptions, messages). You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt, and display that content for operating, promoting, and improving the Service, including after a listing ends (e.g. sold-price history).
3.2. You warrant that your content is accurate, lawful, your own (or duly licensed), and does not infringe third-party rights.
3.3. We may (but are not obliged to) review, validate, moderate, refuse, or remove any listing or content. Our validation steps (certificate lookup, QR ownership validation, image checks) are fraud-mitigation measures for the Platform's benefit and create no warranty toward any user.
3.4. Illegal-content notices (DSA). Anyone may report allegedly illegal content or listings to info@tcgcollector.app with: the location (URL), the reason it is considered illegal, your name and email, and a statement of good-faith accuracy. We process notices diligently and inform you of the outcome. Where we restrict content or accounts, affected users receive a statement of reasons and may contest the decision via the complaint procedure in §13.
4. Marketplace transactions
All listings, offers, reservations, payments, payment holds, shipping, returns, and disputes are governed by the Marketplace Terms, Shipping Policy, and Returns & Refunds Policy. In case of conflict regarding a transaction, the Marketplace Terms prevail over these Terms.
5. Fees
5.1. Platform fees (currently a commission on completed sales, with a minimum fee) are displayed before you commit to a transaction and in the fee schedule published on the Service. We may change fees prospectively with notice per §14.
5.2. Except where mandatory law provides otherwise, platform fees on completed services are non-refundable, including when a transaction is later refunded due to a party's breach or fraud.
6. Payments
6.1. Payments on the Platform are processed by Online Payment Platform ("OPP", Online Payment Platform B.V.), a licensed payment institution supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank that provides collection, escrow, and payout services. The Platform operator (Zanibytes BV) acts as OPP's partner and arranges the payment flow; it is not itself a payment provider. Buyers: your payment is collected and held in escrow by OPP and is governed by these Terms and the Marketplace Terms. Sellers: you are the merchant of record for your sales. To receive payouts you must complete OPP's onboarding and accept the Online Payment Platform terms (https://onlinepaymentplatform.com/en/terms); payouts are subject to OPP's identity verification (KYC), and we may decline or suspend selling privileges if OPP cannot verify you.
6.2. Escrow Hold. When you pay through the Platform, the buyer's payment is held in escrow by OPP and the seller payout is released only once delivery is confirmed per the Marketplace Terms (the "Escrow Hold"). tcgcollector.app is not a bank, payment institution, insurer, or escrow agent, and never itself holds buyer funds. Funds are held by OPP, the licensed escrow provider; we instruct the release of the seller payout. The Escrow Hold does not make us the seller of any item.
6.3. Payment-transaction responsibility. For payments made through the Platform, the escrow transaction is operated by OPP; the seller is the merchant of record and recipient of the payout. Refunds due under the Marketplace Terms and the Returns & Refunds Policy are executed from escrow via OPP while the Escrow Hold is in place. Arranging the payment flow does not make the Platform a party to the sale of the item (§1.2).
6.4. Off-platform payments are peer-to-peer and outside the Platform. Where a seller records or arranges payment outside the Platform payment flow, we never receive, hold, or control those funds, provide no buyer protection, no Escrow Hold, and no refund capability for them, and accept no liability whatsoever for such payments. Use the Platform payment flow if you want protection.
6.5. Circumventing the Platform (completing off-platform a sale initiated on the Platform to avoid fees) is prohibited and grounds for termination.
7. Prohibited conduct
You must not: (a) list prohibited items (see Prohibited Items Policy); (b) misrepresent items, identity, or trader status; (c) tamper with slabs, certificates, labels, or our validation materials (including reusing, transferring, or forging validation QR templates); (d) manipulate prices, engage in shill bidding or fake offers; (e) scrape, reverse engineer, overload, or interfere with the Service or its security; (f) use the Service for money laundering or any unlawful purpose; (g) abuse chargebacks or the dispute process; (h) harass other users.
8. Intellectual property
The Service, its software, design, databases, and trademarks are owned by Zanibytes BV or its licensors. Card game names, card artwork, and grading- company marks belong to their respective owners; their appearance on the Service is nominative/descriptive only and implies no affiliation or endorsement. You receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive licence to use the Service per these Terms; no other rights are granted.
9. Third-party services and data
Certificate data, market data, carriers, payment providers, and linked external sites are third-party services. We do not control them and are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, or conduct.
10. Disclaimer of warranties
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement. We do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation, nor that defects will be corrected. Nothing in this section limits rights that consumers have under mandatory law.
11. Limitation of liability
11.1. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Zanibytes BV, its directors, employees, and agents shall not be liable for: (a) indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages; (b) loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity; (c) the conduct of any user, the quality, authenticity, safety, or legality of any item, or the truth of any listing; (d) loss or damage occurring while items are in the custody of carriers or of users; (e) failures of third-party services (payment providers, carriers, grading companies, hosting).
11.2. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service in any 12-month period shall not exceed the greater of (a) €100 and (b) the total platform fees you paid us in that period.
11.3. For items physically in our custody (validation or return inspection), our liability for loss or damage is limited to the item's sale price on the Platform (or, absent a sale, the seller's listed price), and only where the loss or damage results from our failure to exercise reasonable care.
11.4. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for: fraud or intentional misconduct; gross negligence; death or personal injury caused by negligence; or any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. Consumers retain all rights granted by mandatory law.
12. Indemnification
You will indemnify and hold harmless Zanibytes BV from third-party claims, damages, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising from: your content or listings; items you sell or ship; your breach of these Terms or of law; or your infringement of third-party rights. We may assume the defense of any matter subject to indemnification, at your expense.
13. Enforcement, suspension, termination
13.1. We may warn, restrict features, suspend, or terminate accounts, and remove or demote listings, where we reasonably believe a user has breached these Terms or the incorporated policies, presents fraud or legal risk, or where required by law. In urgent cases (suspected fraud, slab tampering, counterfeit goods, legal orders) we may act immediately and without prior notice.
13.2. When we restrict an account or content we will provide a statement of reasons, except where prohibited by law or where doing so would compromise fraud prevention or investigations.
13.3. You may contest enforcement decisions by writing to info@tcgcollector.app within 6 months. Complaints are handled free of charge, diligently, and not solely by automated means.
13.4. Business users (trader sellers). Except in the cases Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 allows (repeated infringements, legal or regulatory obligation, imperative fraud/security reasons), full termination of a trader seller's account is preceded by a statement of reasons on a durable medium at least 30 days in advance (Art. 4(2)); restrictions or suspensions of individual listings receive a statement of reasons at or before the time they take effect (Art. 4(1)).
13.5. Held payments at termination are handled per the Marketplace Terms: pending orders are completed or refunded; where fraud is suspected, amounts may be held pending investigation, but every held payment is refunded or released no later than 90 days after the original payment (Marketplace Terms §4.6), after which lawful balances are released.
13.6. You may close your account at any time; obligations from pending transactions, indemnities, and accrued fees survive.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may amend these Terms and incorporated policies. For material changes we will give at least 30 days' notice via the Service or email before the changes take effect (longer where mandatory law requires; this satisfies the minimum 15-day notice of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 Art. 3(2) for business users — changes made without required notice are void as against business users). Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance; if you do not agree, close your account before that date. Changes do not apply retroactively to orders already placed.
15. Governing law and disputes
15.1. These Terms are governed by Belgian law, without prejudice to mandatory consumer protections of your country of habitual residence if you are a consumer in the EU/EEA.
15.2. Disputes shall be submitted to the courts competent for the registered office of Zanibytes BV (Kortrijk division — lawyer to confirm venue), Belgium, except that consumers may also sue or be sued in the courts of their domicile where mandatory jurisdiction rules so provide.
15.3. Belgian consumers may also contact the Belgian Consumer Mediation Service (Consumentenombudsdienst / Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur, consumerombudsman.be) for out-of-court resolution. We are not obliged to participate in alternative dispute resolution unless required by law.
16. Miscellaneous
Severability: invalid provisions are replaced by valid ones closest in effect; the remainder stands. No waiver by non-enforcement. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them to an affiliate or in a business transfer with notice. These Terms plus incorporated policies are the entire agreement regarding the Service. Contact: info@tcgcollector.app.