Terms and Conditions for Sellers

Acceptance Of Terms

These provisions set out the terms and conditions (“Terms“) on which you (the “Seller“, “you” and “your“) may become a member of the thingcompare website (“Site“) to sell products which must not be Prohibited Products (as defined in Schedule 2) (“Products“) to customers of the Site (“Customers“).

Your use of the Site is governed by these Terms, thingcompare’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy together with any other documents referred to in these Terms. Please take the time to read these documents, as they include important terms which apply to you.

Any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, definition, phrase or term preceding those terms.

Overview Of Roles

thingcompare allows Sellers to list and sell their Products on the Site contracting on terms which include, as a minimum, the thingcompare Seller Terms. Please note that although thingcompare facilitates the transactions which are carried out through the Site, thingcompare is neither a buyer nor a seller of these Products and does not assume any responsibility nor make any representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied, as to these Products.

Where a Customer orders a Product through the Site, the contract is formed solely between the Seller and the Customer at the completion of the sale (“Contract”). A Contract will comprise the Seller’s terms, the email confirmation of the Customer’s order and the information on the Seller’s shop (“Seller’s Shop“). thingcompare is not a party to that Contract, is not liable for the Contract or any claim or dispute arising out of or in connection with it nor is thingcompare acting as the Seller’s agent.

The Terms (and the documents referred to in them) may be updated from time to time. thingcompare will give the Seller prior written notice of such changes but please check these Terms every time you wish to use our Site to ensure you understand the Terms that apply at that time.

Seller details are displayed on the Site on the Seller’s Shop page.

Process

The Seller’s country of registration must be featured among the list of supported countries offered by our payment service provider stripe.com (“Stripe“) and the Seller must be able to set up a business account in the chosen country.

Sellers selecting a country outside of the supported countries offered by Stripe will be warned “Country Warning” that they should only continue with registration if they have secured services with Stripe. Please note that if a Seller completes the application process, including payment for a Monthly Subscription Fee, and continues past the Country Warning, thingcompare will not be liable for a refund of the Monthly Subscription Fee.

Once the Seller has successfully completed the application process, the Seller will be given their own dedicated area of access called the Frontpage (“Frontpage Manager“). There the Seller can upload, update and review detailed Listing Information for its Products (photos, text, shipping methods etc). Orders will be logged into the Frontpage Manager. From here, the Seller will be able to manage Customer orders, view and manage Disputes, view and print sales history between the Seller and thingcompare, update and manage stock levels, view performance reports, manage their subscription and handle Customer feedback. All financials will be stored in the Frontpage Manager and all communication with the Customers and thingcompare team will be made through the Frontpage Manager.

The Seller will then be able to either create a new Listing or use an existing Listing to list their Products.

A Listing can only be added or amended with thingcompare accepting the changes.

thingcompare may restrict the Seller’s access to the Frontpage Manager in the following circumstances:

Non-payment;
on termination of the Seller’s membership of the Site;
if the Seller fails to dispatch orders and thingcompare, having made reasonable attempts to contact the Seller, believes that the Seller is inactive;
if thingcompare, having made reasonable attempts to contact the Seller, otherwise believes that the Seller is inactive;
if thingcompare has reasonable grounds to believe that the Seller is using the Site to sell counterfeit goods or is otherwise infringing the intellectual property or proprietary rights of any third party;
if the Seller has a high rate of cancellations or refunds or is failing to deal with Customers’ queries or complaints;
if there are other issues with the Seller’s listings which thingcompare believes could give rise to issues with Customers;

Commencement and Duration

The Seller’s membership will commence on the later of:

the Seller having confirmed their acceptance of these Terms; and
the date on which we have approved the Seller’s application and granted the Seller access to the Frontpage Manager.

(“Commencement Date”) and shall continue unless and until terminated.

Membership and Charges

There are different membership options for sellers, which may be amended from time to time by thingcompare.

Standard membership is free and applied to all Sellers upon approval. This allows the Seller to sell up to 50 items. To sell more than 50 items, Sellers need to upgrade to a membership subscription which requires them to pay a subscription fee for each calendar month during which they are a member of the Site.

Limitation of Liability and Indemnity

Nothing in these Terms shall limit or exclude our liability:

for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; or
fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Subject to the above:

we shall not be liable to you whether in contract, tort (including negligence or breach of statutory duty), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise for any loss of profit, loss of business, depletion of goodwill and/or similar losses or loss or corruption of data or information, or pure economic loss, or contracts, or for any indirect or consequential loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses however arising under these Terms; and
our total aggregate liability to you arising under or in connection with the sale of the Products to the Customers and these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence or breach of statutory duty), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise, shall not exceed the total amount in Monthly Subscription Fees that you have paid to us in the 12 months immediately preceding the date on which the claim arose; and
we assume no liability in relation to the Products. It is your responsibility to take out the relevant insurance necessary to cover the cost of the Products you are supplying to Customers in the event that they are lost or damaged in transit.
except as set out in these Terms, all warranties, conditions and other terms implied by statute or common law are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, excluded.
the Seller shall indemnify and hold thingcompare harmless against all liabilities, claims, actions, proceedings, expenses, damages, losses and costs (including but not limited to any direct, indirect or consequential losses, and all interest, penalties, taxes, duties and legal costs and all other reasonable professional costs and expenses) arising out of or in connection with the Seller’s use of the Site.
from time to time, it will be necessary for thingcompare to perform Site updates and carry out maintenance of the Site. Although we will try to do this at times which are least likely to inconvenience our Sellers and Customers, and we will always try to notify Sellers of any planned maintenance, we shall have no liability to you for loss of profits or any other losses caused by maintenance carried out on the Site or downtime of the Site.

Termination

Without limiting each party’s other rights or remedies available to it, each party may terminate the Seller’s membership of the Site with immediate effect by giving written notice to the other party if:
the other party fails to pay any undisputed amount due under these Terms on the due date for payment and fails to remedy that breach within 30 days after receipt of a written notice giving full particulars of the breach and requiring it to be remedied;
the other party commits a material breach of any other terms of these Terms which breach is irremediable or (if such breach is remediable) fail to remedy that breach within 30 days after receipt of a written notice giving full particulars of the breach and requiring it to be remedied;
the other party repeatedly breaches any of the terms of these Terms in such a manner as to reasonably justify the opinion that its conduct is inconsistent with having the intention or ability to give effect to these Terms;
the other party’s financial position deteriorates so far as to reasonably justify the opinion that its ability to give effect to these Terms is in jeopardy;
the other party suspends, or threatens to suspend, payment of its debts or is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or admits its inability to pay its debts or is deemed unable to pay its debts within the meaning of section 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986, as if the words “it is proved to the satisfaction of the court” did not appear in sections 123(1)(e) or 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986;
the other party takes any step or action in connection with entering administration, provisional liquidation or any composition or arrangement with its creditors (other than in relation to a solvent restructuring in such manner that the company resulting from the restructuring effectively agrees to be bound by or to assume the obligations imposed on it under these Terms), obtaining a moratorium, being wound up (whether voluntarily or by order of the court, unless for the purpose of a solvent restructuring in such manner that the company resulting from the restructuring effectively agrees to be bound by or to assume the obligations imposed on it under these Terms), having a receiver or administrative receiver appointed to or a creditor or encumbrancer taking possession of any of its assets or, if the step or action is taken in another jurisdiction, in connection with any analogous procedure in the relevant jurisdiction;
the other party suspends or ceases, or threatens to suspend or cease, to carry all or a substantial part of its business.
without limiting our other rights or remedies, if the Seller fails to achieve the seller performance metrics across the Site in any month then we will provide you with written notice of such failure setting out full details of such failure and we will work with you to help you meet the seller metrics in subsequent months. If (subject to us providing you with such notice after the first month) you fail to meet the same seller performance metric(s) across the Site for two consecutive months, we shall have the right, at our absolute discretion, to:
(i) grant the Seller only Restricted Access to the Frontpage Manager; and/or
(ii) terminate your membership of the Site by giving you 30 days’ written notice.
Without limiting your other rights or remedies, you shall have the right to terminate your membership of the Site by giving us 30 days’ written notice through the Frontpage Manager.
Without limiting our other rights or remedies, we shall have the right to immediately suspend your access or grant you only Restricted Access to the Frontpage Manager if you commit a material breach of clause 7 or any other provision of these Terms and, in the case of a breach which is capable of remedy, fail to remedy the same within 30 days after receipt of a written notice giving full particulars of the breach and requiring it to be remedied.

Confidentiality

thingcompare will take all precautions to securely store all of the Seller’s Product and business information and will not share this with any third party, unless specific permission is granted by the Seller.
Neither party will disclose any details of the other party’s correspondence or operations (including the operations of the Frontpage Manager and marketing plans) to any third parties, except its group companies and employees, workers, consultants, agents or representatives that have a genuine need to know that information in connection with the implementation of these Terms (“Permitted Recipients”) provided that the disclosing party informs those Permitted Recipients of the confidential nature of the information before it is disclosed and procures that those Permitted Recipients comply with the obligations in this clause 11 as if they were the disclosing party. The disclosing party shall be liable for the actions or omissions of the Permitted Recipients as if they were the actions or omissions of the disclosing party.
The obligations of confidentiality under these Terms shall remain in effect for 5 (five) years after the termination or expiry of these Terms.

Intellectual Property Rights

The copyright, design rights and all other intellectual property rights in the Site and in any materials and other documents or items that we prepare or produce in any form whatsoever in connection with the Site (“Documentation”) will belong to us absolutely.
You may not use the Documentation without thingcompare’s prior written consent.
You acknowledge and accept that the copyright, design rights and all other intellectual property rights in a Listing will belong to us absolutely or have been licensed to us. Listing a Product against a Listing does not grant you any intellectual property rights in that Listing.
We hereby grant you a royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable right to use each Listing for the sole purpose of advertising the Products which you sell through the Site.
Except as expressly stated above, these Terms do not grant the Seller any rights to, under or in, any copyright, designs, patents, database right, trade secrets, trade names, trade marks (whether registered or unregistered), or any other rights or licences in respect of the Site or any of our Documentation.
thingcompare represents, undertakes and warrants that it is the legal beneficial owner of all intellectual property on the Site (including without limitation the Frontpage Manager) or has an irrevocable licence to use such intellectual property for the purposes for which it is used. thingcompare shall indemnify the Seller and hold the Seller harmless against any and all damages, liabilities, costs, expenses and losses arising out of or relating to any non-compliance or breach of this clause. .
Your name, logo and all other intellectual property rights that relates to you (including those in any materials and other documents or items that we prepare or produce in connection with the Site) will belong to you absolutely.

Seller’s IPR Warranty And Indemnity

The Seller warrants to thingcompare that it is the legal beneficial owner of all the IPR and/or possesses a valid licence to use the materials which it provides or uploads to the Site including the data, information (for example Listing Information and Seller Information), photographs, logos and images and the use of any such materials by thingcompare pursuant to these Terms will not infringe the IPR of any third party.
The Seller shall indemnify thingcompare and hold thingcompare harmless against any and all claims, actions, proceedings, damages, liabilities, costs, expenses and losses (including without limitation court costs and reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to any non-compliance or breach of this clause 13.
For the purposes of these Terms, “IPR” shall mean patents, utility models, rights to inventions, copyright and neighbouring and related rights, trade marks and service marks, business names and domain names, rights in set-up, goodwill and the right to sue for passing off or unfair competition, rights in designs, database rights, rights in computer software, rights to use and protect the confidentiality of confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and all other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications and rights to apply for and be granted, renewals or extensions of, and rights to claim priority from, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or will subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.

Law And Jurisdiction

Contracts for the purchase of goods or services through our Site shall be governed by English law. Any dispute or claim arising from, or related to, such contracts (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

General

Neither party shall be responsible if it is prevented from or delayed in performing any of our obligations hereunder, or from carrying on its business, by acts, events, omissions or accidents beyond our reasonable control, including strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes (whether involving our workforce or that of any other party), failure of a utility service or transport or telecommunications network, act of God, pandemic, epidemic, lockdown, COVID-19 related matters, the ending of the transition period for the UK’s departure from the EU, war, riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, compliance with any law or governmental order, rule, regulation or direction, accident, breakdown of plant or machinery, fire, flood, storm or default of suppliers or sub-contractors, provided that the Customer is notified of such an event and its expected duration.
No party shall assign, transfer, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with any of its rights or obligations under these Terms without the other party’s prior written consent, provided at all times that the Seller is permitted assign or subcontract its obligations under these Terms to its group companies.
Any notice or other communication required or permitted to be given to a party under these Terms shall be deemed to have been validly given if served personally on that party or if sent by First Class pre-paid post to that party’s registered office (if a company) or its principal place of business (in any other case) or if sent by email to that party’s email address as set notified to the other party in writing in accordance with this clause. Any notice or other communication shall be deemed to have been received: (a) if served personally, on signature of a delivery receipt; (b) if sent by First Class pre-paid post, 2 Working Days after the date of posting; and (c) if sent by email, at the time of transmission, or, if this time falls outside business hours in the place of receipt, when business hours resume. In this clause, business hours means 9.00am to 5.00pm on a Working Day.
No failure or delay by a party to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms or by law shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.
If any provision or part-provision of these Terms is or becomes void, voidable, illegal or otherwise unenforceable (or indications to that effect are received by us from any competent authority) then that provision shall be deemed deleted to the minimum extent necessary so these Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. If any provision or part-provision of these Terms is deemed deleted under this clause the parties shall negotiate in good faith to agree a replacement provision that, to the greatest extent possible, achieves the intended commercial result of the original provision.
Nothing in these Terms is intended or shall be deemed to create a partnership or joint venture of any kind between the parties, nor authorise either party to act as agent for the other, and you shall have no authority to act in our name or on our behalf or otherwise to bind us in any way (including the making of any representation or warranty, the assumption of any obligation or liability and the exercise of any right or power).
These Terms shall not be enforceable by a person who is not a party to them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise.
No variation of these Terms shall be binding unless made in writing and signed by you and us.
These Terms apply to the exclusion of any other terms that you seek to impose or incorporate, or which are implied by law, trade custom, practice or course of dealing.
These Terms, and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.
Each party irrevocably agrees that the English Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with these Terms or their subject matter or formation.
References in these Terms to “writing” includes email (provided the email is supported by a valid server delivery receipt).

Selling Fees

thingcompare charges a commission fee for each sale, plus a monthly subscription selling fee depending upon the number of products a Seller has for sale or the storage space required to fulfil a Seller’s order.

Our selling fees are detailed below:

Standard Seller Membership (up to 35 items):
No monthly subscription, 15% commission on each sale

Membership subscriptions (depending on number of items offered)
From £20 per month, 15% commission on each sale

Storage plans for Sellers
£20 – £380 per month, based on storage space requirements.

thingcompare may offer alternative or discounted Selling Fees for marketing purposes.

Prohibited Products

If a product is defined as a Prohibited Product by either thingcompare or Stripe, it must not be sold on the Site.

You may not sell any of the following:

Products that are illegal in any way or contravene local rules or legislation.
Explosives, weapons and related items.
Animal parts or products.
Counterfeit, unauthorised or unlicensed merchandise.
A toy not marked with the CE mark.
A medical device not marked with the CE mark.
An electronic good not marked with the CE mark, without a plug, or which has been subject to a product safety recall.
A Product which infringes the IPR of a third party.
Offensive and/or Controversial Materials, classified as Products that promote, incite or glorify hatred or violence towards any person.
Unauthorised or restricted chemicals including but not limited to biocides, pesticides, and detergents.

You may not sell any of the following in the United Kingdom (if you are selling in other parts of the world, you must comply with equivalent local regulations in respect of these and any similar matters):

An electronic good without a 3-pin UK plug (excluding shavers and similar electrical grooming Products).
Medicinal Products not authorised for sale in the UK, or in a format the MHRA defines as requiring a prescription or supervision by a licensed practitioner.
Veterinary medication not authorised for sale in the UK, or defined as requiring a prescription by the VMD.
Zero-powered cosmetic contact lenses can be supplied only under the supervision of a registered optometrist, dispensing optician or medical practitioner.

If you are unsure as to whether a Product is a Prohibited Product or not, please register now and we will let you know. Existing sellers can submit a ticket here.