Terms of Use

1. Who we are

gem10trade is run by [Owner's full name — to be added], trading as gem10trade, a sole trader based in the UK (“we”, “us”). Our postal address is [Postal address — to be added] and you can email us at support@gem10trade.com. More ways to reach us are on our Contact page.

We may update these terms, for example when we add features or the law changes. We'll show the date of the latest version at the top, and tell you by email or on the site before a significant change affects you. If you keep using gem10trade after a change takes effect, the new terms apply; if you don't agree, you can close your account.

2. Your account

• You must be 18 or over to have an account.
• Give accurate details and keep them up to date. One account per person, unless we agree otherwise.
• Keep your password private. You're responsible for what happens on your account, so tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it.
• You need a verified email address to buy, sell, make offers or trade.

3. How gem10trade works

gem10trade is a marketplace. Members list cards, and other members buy them, make offers on them or offer trades for them. When you buy a card, your contract for the card is with the seller, not with us. We provide the website, collect payment on the seller's behalf through our payment provider, pass it to the seller less our fees, and run the problem-report process described below.

We don't own, inspect or store the cards listed, except when our optional card verification service is used for an order, and then only to check the card against its listing. Card names and set information come from public catalogue data and are used to describe items for sale. gem10trade isn't affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Nintendo, Creatures, Game Freak or The Pokémon Company.

4. Buying

• Prices. Before you pay, checkout shows the card price, postage, any discount and any fee you pay. That's the total you're charged. Prices are worked out by our system, not your browser.
• Paying. You pay on our payment provider's secure page; we never see your card details. The card is reserved for you for 30 minutes while you pay. An order is confirmed only when the payment provider confirms your payment.
• Private and business sellers. Every listing and checkout says whether the seller is a private individual or a business. When you buy from a business, you have your full consumer rights against that business, including, for most purchases, the right to cancel within 14 days of delivery: contact the seller to use it. When you buy from a private seller, those rights don't apply, but the card must still be as described, and you can use our problem-report process.
• Delivery. Sellers should post within 3 days of payment. If a card hasn't been posted 2 days after that, you can cancel the order from its page for a full refund.
• Confirming. When your card arrives, please check it and confirm receipt on the order page. If you don't report a problem within 14 days of the seller posting, the order completes automatically and the seller is paid.
• Secure Payment. On orders with Secure Payment (required above the amount shown on our Fees page), the seller is paid only after you confirm delivery or the confirmation period ends without a problem being reported. Secure Payment is a payment process, not insurance or a guarantee of a refund.
• Card verification. Where offered, you can have our team check a card against its listing before it's posted on to you, for the charge shown at checkout. It isn't a professional grade or a valuation.

5. Selling

• Describe cards honestly. Use your own, current photos of the actual card. State the condition, language, edition and any damage accurately. For graded cards, give the grading company, grade and certificate number exactly as on the slab.
• Only genuine cards. Never list counterfeit, proxy, altered or stolen cards as genuine. You must own the card and be free to sell it.
• Posting. Post within 3 days of payment, packed to protect the card, using a service you offered. Add tracking when you post; it's required for Secure Payment orders and for trades with Secure Payment.
• Getting paid. Payouts are made through our payment provider, Stripe. To receive them you'll need to set up a Stripe account and accept Stripe's terms; Stripe collects your identity and bank details, not us. We release your payout, less our fees, when the buyer confirms delivery or the confirmation period ends (Secure Payment orders), or when you post the card (other orders).
• Held or reduced payouts. We hold a payout while a problem report or a card chargeback on the order is open. If a buyer is refunded in full or in part, the payout is cancelled or reduced to match. If we have already paid you for an order that is later refunded or charged back, you must repay that amount, and we may deduct it from later payouts.
• Cancelling. You can cancel an order before you post it; the buyer is refunded in full. Please don't do this regularly: it lets buyers down.
• Listings stay up for 90 days, and you can end one at any time unless it's reserved or sold.
• Tax. You're responsible for any tax on your sales. UK law requires marketplaces like us to report some sellers' details and sales to HMRC each year; if you're one of them, we'll ask you for the information we need.

6. Business sellers

If you sell as a business (for example, you buy cards to resell, run a shop, or sell regularly to make a profit), you must set your seller status to business and give the details we ask for. They're shown to buyers on your profile, your listings and at checkout, as UK law requires.

As a business seller you're responsible for complying with consumer law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. That includes giving buyers the information the law requires and honouring their right to cancel most purchases within 14 days of delivery and be refunded. Our site doesn't run returns for you: buyers will contact you, and you agree to deal with cancellations and returns promptly and lawfully.

Choosing “private” when you're really selling as a business is against these terms and may also break the law.

7. Offers, trades, deals and promotions

• Offers are binding once accepted: the buyer must then pay within 1 day. Offers and counteroffers lapse after 2 days if nobody responds.
• Trades (cards plus cash) complete only when both people have confirmed the parcel they received. Card values entered in a trade are what the person offering them declares. They're not a valuation by us, so judge them yourself.
• Seller deals and vouchers are offered by sellers, who set their terms.
• Promoted listings. A seller who promotes a listing pays the promotion fee they chose only if the card sells to a buyer who reached it through a sponsored placement shortly before buying. Sponsored placements are always labelled “Sponsored”.
• Pro is a monthly subscription for sellers, billed by Stripe until you cancel. Cancelling stops it at the end of the month you've paid for. If we raise the price, we'll tell you in advance and existing subscribers keep their price for the notice period shown on the Pro page.

8. Fees

Listing is free. Our fees are set out on our Fees page and shown before you commit to a sale or purchase. Fee changes apply only to sales and purchases made after the change. Our payment provider's costs are covered by our fees unless the Fees page says otherwise.

9. Problems with an order or trade

• If something goes wrong (a card doesn't arrive, is significantly different from its listing, is the wrong card, has undisclosed damage or may be counterfeit), report it from the order or trade page while it's on its way and before it completes. Please talk to the other person first where you can.
• The other person has 3 days to respond. Our team then reviews the evidence from both sides and decides: a full refund, a partial refund, or no refund. We explain every decision in writing. Decisions are made by people, not automatically.
• Our process is a quick, free way to sort things out, but it doesn't replace your legal rights. You can still take the matter further, for example through the courts.
• If you dispute a payment with your card issuer (a chargeback), the card issuer's decision applies to the payment, and we may hold the related payout until it's resolved.

10. Things you mustn't do

• List counterfeit, proxy, altered or stolen items, or anything illegal, or anything that isn't a trading card or closely related collectable.
• Mislead buyers: false descriptions, photos of a different card, hiding damage, or fake grades or certificate numbers.
• Arrange to pay or be paid outside gem10trade for something found here, to avoid fees or our protections.
• Leave fake reviews, manipulate ratings, or bid or offer on your own listings.
• Harass, threaten or abuse anyone, or post hateful, sexual, violent or otherwise illegal or harmful content in listings, messages, reviews or photos.
• Use someone else's account, create accounts to get around a suspension, or interfere with the site (scraping it, overloading it or attempting to break its security).

11. What you post

You keep ownership of the photos, videos and text you post. You give us permission to host, show, resize and copy them for running and promoting gem10trade, for as long as they're on the site and for a reasonable period after, as described in our Privacy Policy. Only post content you have the right to use. Reviews can't be edited or deleted once posted, so ratings stay honest.

12. Reporting and moderation

Anyone can report a listing, member, message or review that breaks these terms or the law, using the Report buttons on the site. Our team reviews reports and may remove content, limit features, or suspend or close accounts, depending on how serious the problem is. We'll tell you what we did and why, unless the law or someone's safety prevents it. If you think we got a decision wrong, email support@gem10trade.com and a person will look at it again.

13. Our responsibility to you

• We work hard to keep gem10trade running smoothly and safely, but we can't promise it will always be available or error-free, and we don't check every listing before it goes live.
• Because the contract for a card is between buyer and seller, we aren't responsible for a seller's card or a buyer's payment obligations, beyond what we've said in these terms about payments and problem reports.
• We aren't responsible for losses that weren't foreseeable, or for business losses (such as lost profits) if you sell as a business.
• Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow us to limit. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

14. Closing your account

You can close your account at any time by emailing support@gem10trade.com. Open orders, trades and problem reports must finish first. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, or that we must close by law; where it's fair to, we'll warn you first and give you a chance to put things right. Money owed to you for completed sales will still be paid, unless it's connected to fraud or a refund.

15. The law that applies

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. You can bring a claim in the courts of England and Wales, or, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in the courts there. If you have a complaint, please contact us first at support@gem10trade.com: most problems can be sorted out quickly.