Terms & Conditions

Welcome to the Epaal Marketplaces

1. Hi, we’re Epaal and welcome! We’re happy to have you here and we hope you enjoy your stay. When we say ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘Epaal’ it’s because that’s who we are and we own and run the Marketplaces.

2. Epaal’s ecosystem of digital Marketplaces helps millions of people around the world get creative and earn online. When you create an account and accept these terms you become a member of our community. You will have a Marketplaces account that will allow you to buy and sell items like the ones found on our Marketplaces.

3. Our Marketplaces are platforms that allow members to buy and sell licenses to use digital items like website themes, production music, motion graphics project files, software code, vectors, images and much, much more. Our Marketplaces facilitate transactions between buyers and authors via a payment method. Any buying and selling activities are logged on your member’s statement, which records the payments made by you to authors via Epaal (as a buyer) and by buyers via Epaal to you (as an author).

4. The items on our Marketplaces are owned by the authors, not by us. We provide a platform; we do not take ownership of the items or get any rights to use the items other than to make them available on and promote our Marketplaces.

5. During your time with us you agree to follow the ground rules outlined in these terms so please read and understand them. If you don’t accept the terms then we’ll be sad, but you will need to leave because your presence on and use of the Marketplaces is conditional on your acceptance to be bound by these terms and the Privacy Policy whether you become a member or not.

How browsing and membership works

6. Browsing: You need to be 13 years or over to browse the Marketplaces. We don’t knowingly collect any information from anyone aged 13 or under. When browsing the Marketplaces you agree to follow our guidelines or instructions and keep in mind that these terms apply to any use of our Marketplaces whether or not you’re a member.

Membership

7. Age: You need to be 18 years or over to become a member. If you’re under 18 you will need to be under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who is at least 18 years of age, and this adult will be responsible for all your activities.

8. Benefits: Membership is free. When you become a member you get a Marketplaces account that is accessible from any of our Marketplaces (and is also your Epaal account for other Epaal services). Your membership will allow you to ‘buy’ (license) items from authors, participate in our online forums, and generally contribute to our ecosystem of sites that help people get creative. Membership also gives you the opportunity to become an author.

9. Your responsibility: You promise that information you give us is true, accurate and complete and that you will keep your account information up-to-date (including a working email address). Your membership is not transferable. You are responsible for any use of the Marketplaces that occurs in conjunction with your username and password so keep your password secure and don’t let any other person use your username or password on your behalf. If you realise there’s any unauthorized use of your password or any breach of security you need to let us know immediately.

10. It is important that you understand your responsibilities as a member of our community so please take the time to review this section and the Marketplaces Terms carefully.

How buying items works

This section will help you understand what you are buying when you purchase an item and how that transaction takes place on our Marketplaces.

11. License: When you ‘buy’ an item, you’re paying a price for the right to use that item; you’re not actually buying the item itself. What you get is a license directly from the author to use that item. Items are subject to specific terms of use, and these terms are the ‘license’ that we set on behalf of authors. Different license types are available for you to choose when you have selected an item. You’ll need to think about the way you want to use the item so that you can pick the right license to allow that use. It’s your responsibility to choose the correct license for your requirements.

Transacting as a Buyer:

12. You can make payments for items using ‘buy it now’ from your Marketplaces account.

13. Currency conversion costs: You are responsible for all costs of currency conversion relating to your Marketplaces account. Your financial institution does the currency conversion and may charge you additional fees (we don’t control either the conversion rates or your financial institution’s fees).

This means that you may incur additional costs when purchasing items from our Marketplaces which we have no control over.

14. Terms of buying: When you buy a Marketplaces item you’re doing so on the following terms:

1. you promise to us and the author that you have carefully considered the suitability of your chosen license, and that you have chosen appropriately;
2. you cannot cancel a completed purchase of an item;
3. we and the authors do not promise that any particular item will continue to be available on our Marketplaces so you should download and save the item as soon as you buy it;
4. once you purchase an item and you pay the item price, you acquire a non- exclusive license to use the item under the terms set out in the license (non-exclusive means others might also license the same item);
5. the author retains ownership of the item;
6. we have the right to enforce against you the terms of the license that you have acquired from an author.

It is important that you understand the terms on which you are making a purchase. Please take the time to review this section carefully.

19. What authors promise you about items: The author of an item you buy promises you that:

1. they own or have rights to use the intellectual property rights in that item and that item does not infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party;
2. the item is not false, inaccurate, misleading, fraudulent, unlawful or defamatory;
3. the item does not violate any applicable law or regulation (including those governing export control, consumer protection, unfair competition, criminal law, pornography, anti discrimination, trade practices or fair trading);
4. the item does not contain viruses or other computer codes, files or programs which are designed to limit or destroy the functionality of other computer software or hardware.

This is what authors are promising you when you buy an item.

20. Taxes, fees and charges: You are responsible for paying all fees and taxes associated with your use of our Marketplaces wherever levied (including withholding tax, if applicable).

22. Items with an incorrect price or incorrect information: Despite our reasonable efforts, items may occasionally be listed at an incorrect price or with incorrect information. If this happens, we may cancel or reverse a transaction, even after it is completed and a payment has been processed. If we do this, we’ll promptly arrange for any payment to be credited or refunded and you must not use the item.

Refunds

It is important that you understand how refunds work on our Marketplaces.

23. Given the nature of downloadable digital items, we do not generally offer a refund on a purchase unless required under Indian consumer law or other relevant consumer protection laws. If you would like to request a refund or credit on a purchase, you should contact us at support.

24. We will assess refund requests on their merits, considering the digital nature of Marketplaces items and the type of item preview that was available before purchase. There is no obligation to provide a refund or credit in situations like the following:

1. you have changed your mind about an item;
2. you bought an item by mistake;
3. you do not have sufficient expertise to use the item;
4. you ask for goodwill; or
5. you can no longer access the item because it has been removed by its author from our Marketplaces (we advise you to download items as soon as you buy them to avoid this situation).

25. If we decide to issue a refund, this will be done using the same manner used to make the purchase. So if the item was bought using a particular payment method you will be refunded using the same payment method in reverse. Any payment made to you (not Epaal) will be made in US Dollars, under the rules of the payment method about currency conversion back to your local currency).

26. Disputes lodged with payment agents: If, as a buyer, you lodge a dispute with a payment agent, this will result in a freezing of your Marketplaces account until the dispute raised with the payment agent has been closed. This makes it very complex to resolve any related issues, and means we cannot make payments or issue refunds out of your Marketplaces account, so we encourage buyers to contact us directly first to see if we can help resolve any concerns.

Becoming an Author

28. Imagine creating what you want, when you want, from the comfort of your own home, making passive income whether you’re working or not. Some of our authors sell stock items in their free time as a hobby, some do it to get their name out there, and some are able to make it their full time profession. Remember that if you become an author these terms will continue to apply, along with the Author Terms you’ll sign up to as an author.

Intellectual Property

29. What we own: We own all the Epaal Content that we have put on our Marketplaces (unless otherwise stated and excluding content owned by others). This includes the design, compilation, and look and feel of the Marketplaces, and copyright, trademarks, designs and other intellectual property on the Marketplaces. We own all the trademarks, logos, service marks and trade names on the Marketplaces (unless otherwise stated and excluding these things owned by others). You will not copy, distribute, modify or make derivative works of any of our Epaal Content or use any of our intellectual property in any way not expressly stated in these terms.

30. What we don’t own: We do not own the items on our Marketplaces; our authors do. So we cannot take responsibility for the quality, safety or legality of the items. We do not warrant that the items or any member content, code, data or materials available on or via the Marketplaces do not infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party. (Each author provides warranties to you directly when you purchase their item

31. Copyright, trademark and intellectual property claims: We respect the intellectual property rights of others and we require that authors do the same. If you believe that an item or member content infringes an intellectual property right (including copyright).

Our Content Policy is where you will find all the information relating to how we treat intellectual property on our Marketplaces including copyright and other rights.

Use of Information

32. Privacy: We respect your privacy. When you become a member you will be asked to provide some information about yourself. This information may be used by us and contractors in connection with providing the Marketplaces and their services, including marketing activities.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we deal with your information and it forms part of these terms.

33. Confidential Information: We value your information and take reasonable precautions to protect it. While we take reasonable steps to preserve the security of your information, please be aware that we can’t promise that your use of our Marketplaces will be confidential, and we can’t promise that any information you provide to us is perfectly secure. While using our Marketplaces, you may also become aware of confidential information about us or another member. You promise to not disclose any confidential information made available to you through the Marketplaces to any other person.

Playing fair

34. Prohibited Conduct: Epaal is founded on the idea of community and like any functioning and healthy community, some things are not allowed and will not be tolerated. We aim to take a common sense approach to the general code of conduct on our Marketplaces but you promise that you will not:

1. use a false email address, impersonate others, or misrepresent your affiliation with others;
2. attempt to gain unauthorised access to computer systems or content through the Marketplaces;
3. attempt to contact other members through the Marketplaces or use any information gained from the Marketplaces with the intention to make a private arrangement that would otherwise be made using the Marketplaces;
4. enter any arrangements that are not consistent with these terms or the Author Terms;
5. use information gathered from or through the Marketplaces in a way that may confuse or mislead consumers (for example, automatically gathering information to set up a site that looks like one of our sites);
6. attempt to or actually interrupt, negatively impact or alter the Marketplaces’ operation in any way;
7. use the Marketplaces or any of the content in a way that violates applicable law, that violates the intellectual property or other rights of us or others, or that is fraudulent, obscene, unprofessional, offensive, misleading or defamatory;
8. modify, reproduce, display, publish, distribute, copy, transmit, perform, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell or re-sell any information, content, software, or item obtained from or through the Marketplaces, other than in accordance with these terms or the license for the item.

35. We strongly recommend that you don’t make your contact details public on the Marketplaces or in any communications via the Marketplaces. Contact details include your email address, street address, Skype name and phone number (but not social network handles). If you do, it must not be for any reason prohibited and you do so at your risk!

36. Content removal: We can look at or remove any of your content for any reason at our discretion. Reasons might include quality assurance, if we receive a valid copyright take-down notice, if we think that the use of your content is unauthorised, misleading, incorrect, offensive, or in breach of anyone else’s rights, or if we think that your use of the Marketplaces and any content might result in liability to us or anyone else.

37. Community participation: We take great pride in our global and thriving community—it’s part of what makes the Marketplaces such friendly places. We focus on transparency and mutual respect and invite you to participate, give feedback and have your say. Before participating on our Marketplaces, as you agree to follow them as part of these terms.

Linking; apps made by others

38. Linking to our Marketplaces: We’d be delighted if you decide to link to our Marketplaces from other sites but you have to link to a full version of a page as seen by someone navigating directly to our Marketplaces website and looks the way we’ve intended and not link directly to an image hosted on our Marketplaces. That includes no “in-line” linking methods resulting in images hosted on our Marketplaces being displayed on other sites. You must not “frame” any Marketplaces pages by surrounding those pages with someone else’s content, materials or branding. We reserve the right to insist that any link to our Marketplaces be discontinued, and to revoke your ability to link to our Marketplaces.

39. Links from our Marketplaces: Our Marketplaces may contain links to other non- Epaal sites. We have no control or responsibility over anything on those sites, and do not endorse or sponsor those sites, even if they are affiliated to us.

40. Third party developers: We welcome the contribution of our members and broader community, who offer applications that work with our Marketplaces. You will need to form your own view about these applications and their developers; we’re not able to warrant or endorse those applications and disclaim liability relating to these applications.

Legal Housekeeping

41. Eligibility, suspension or termination: Membership is not an automatic right, it is a benefit for community members who follow our reasonable rules and treat other community members well. We hope that you will be with us for a long time. But we do reserve the right, based on our reasonable discretion, to determine whether or not your use of the Marketplaces complies with these terms. We can suspend or terminate your Marketplaces account at any time for any reason (acting reasonably of course), including if you don’t comply with these terms. If we do decide to permanently terminate your Marketplaces account you must not apply for a new account as unfortunately you will no longer be welcome in our community.

Our indemnity to you

42. We provide the Marketplaces, not the items on the Marketplaces. We are liable and responsible for:

1. our use of the Marketplaces;
2. the services, message, Epaal Content, software or other information we send through the Marketplaces;
3. Epaal Content breaching of any intellectual property rights belonging to others;
4. our breach of these terms;
5. our breach of any industry code, regulation or law that applies.

43. You have no responsibility to us for, and we agree to indemnify you from, all liabilities, costs, expenses (including legal fees) and loss arising from third party claims due to any of the matters set out as mentioned earlier.

Your indemnity to us

44. You are liable and responsible for:

1. your use of the Marketplaces;
2. the items, message, content, information, software or other materials you send through the Marketplaces;
3. your content breaching any intellectual property rights belonging to others;
4. your breach of these Marketplaces Terms;
5. your breach of any license of an item;
6. your breach of any industry code, regulation or law that applies.

45. We have no responsibility to you or to any another person for all liabilities, costs, expenses (including legal fees) and loss arising from third party claims due to any of the matters set out in the previous and you agree to indemnify us, our directors, officers, employees and agents from all losses.

This means that you protect us from costs and claims that happen because of your actions on the Marketplaces.

46. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and in such case, you agree to cooperate with our defence of such claim.

47. Availability: We strive to have our Marketplaces available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week but you know how the internet works: occasionally you might not be able to access the Marketplaces, and this might happen for any reason, at any time, with or without notice, or at our absolute discretion. We might also change aspects of how the Marketplaces work. We will not be liable to you for any loss you suffer as a result of these things.

48. Third party: If you’re agreeing to these terms on behalf of someone else (like your employer), then you’re promising to us that you have full legal authority to bind that third party.

49. Disclaimer: In some places there may be consumer or fair trading laws that apply and that may give you rights that we cannot exclude, restrict or modify (‘non-excludable law’). We do not exclude or modify any non-excludable law. Except as provided in a non-excludable law, we are bound only by the express promises made in these terms and we are not bound by implied terms. Except as provided in a non-excludable law, our and each author’s liability for breach of any implied warranty or condition which cannot be excluded is limited, at our or the author’s option, to either replacement or paying the cost of replacement.

50. Relationship between the parties: Nothing in these terms is to be construed as constituting a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship between you and us, or between you and any other member. Neither you nor us can bind each other in any way. We are, however, an agent of the authors only for the limited purposes of the authors’ providing warranties to buyers and the disclaimer of authors’ liability to buyers.

51. Notices: Any notice you send us must be submitted via at support. Any notice we send to you will be emailed to your Marketplaces account email address.

52. Changes to Marketplaces Terms: Although we can change any of our terms at any time we will take reasonable steps to let you know when we do so.

53. Interpretation: Words like ‘include’ and ‘including’ are not words of limitation and where anything is within our discretion we mean our sole discretion.

54. Applicable Laws: We control and operate the Marketplaces from our offices in India. The laws of Victoria, India govern these user terms, and you submit to the jurisdiction of the courts there.

Definitions

Author

a Member who makes items available for sale on the Marketplaces.

Buyer

a Member who ‘buys’ items on the Marketplaces.

Epaal Content

is all the content that we have put on our Marketplaces and includes the design, compilation, and look and feel of the Marketplaces, and copyright, trademarks, designs and other intellectual property on the Marketplaces (unless otherwise stated and excluding content owned by others like Author content).

Items

digital goods found on our Marketplaces like WordPress themes, background music, After Effects project files, photography and much, much more.

Marketplaces

When we refer to the ‘Marketplaces’ we’re talking about the Epaal digital marketplaces

Marketplaces account

what you receive when you become a Member which gives you access to any of the Marketplaces.

Member

a person who signs up by creating an account and accepting these terms.

Member’s statement

the record of payments by you to Epaal (as a Buyer) and by Epaal to you (as an Author).

Payment method

any payment agent or method we make available on the Marketplaces.

Your content

everything that you post on the Marketplaces, or send via the Marketplaces to other members and to us including items, files, communications and materials.