Terms of service

Last updated: [EFFECTIVE DATE]

Draft — not yet reviewed. This page is a working outline for legal review. Highlighted items still need to be filled in, wording marked Proposed is a draft awaiting review, and none of it is final.

Agreement

These terms are an agreement between you and Purple Shock Studios LLC, a Maryland limited liability company that operates ScoutrTCG under that trade name ("ScoutrTCG", "we"). By creating an account you agree to them and to our privacy policy.

You must be 13 or older to have an account. Buying from or selling as a private seller, which means meeting someone in person, is only for people 18 or older. Shops are open to everyone with an account. ProposedIf you are under 18, a parent or legal guardian must read and agree to these terms with you, and is responsible for your use of ScoutrTCG, including any deposit placed on their card.

What ScoutrTCG is

ScoutrTCG helps collectors find trading cards at shops and private sellers nearby and reserve them for pickup. ScoutrTCG is not a party to any sale. The buyer and the seller agree the sale between themselves and pay each other directly at pickup; we don't handle, hold or refund that payment.

Sellers are responsible for describing what they list accurately and for having the right to sell it. Buyers are responsible for checking an item before they pay for it or let their pickup code be scanned. We don't inspect, authenticate or guarantee any item, including graded cards and their certification numbers.

ProposedThe owner of Purple Shock Studios LLC also sells cards on ScoutrTCG as Purple Shock TCG, a separate business. It appears in search by the same rules as every shop, pays for listing boosts like any shop, and never sees other shops' listings, stock or reservations. As the owner's own shop, it has Vendor Pro at no charge.

If an item turns out to be counterfeit or not as described, report it in the app. We review every report, but we can't recover money paid in person. [REVIEW: the proposed wording above, and any LIABILITY limits for the condition, authenticity and legality of items sold]

Accounts

Keep your login secure and your details accurate. You can delete your account at any time from the Account tab in the app; see how account deletion works.

Reservations and deposits

A reservation starts as a request. Nothing is charged and the item stays on sale until the seller accepts. A seller who doesn't answer within 24 hours is treated as having declined.

Once the seller accepts, the item is set aside for you and you have 30 minutes to place a deposit through Stripe. The deposit is $5 for each item unless the shop has set its own amount, between $3 and $50 an item; the amount is fixed when you send the request. Placing the deposit puts a hold on your card. It does not charge you. If you don't place it in time, the reservation ends and the item goes back on sale.

With the deposit placed, the seller keeps the item for you until the pickup deadline shown in the app, set by the seller and never more than five days away. You pay the seller for the item itself at pickup; the deposit is not part of that payment. When the seller scans your pickup code or marks the pickup done, the hold on your card is released and you are not charged.

You can cancel at any time before pickup, from the app, free of charge. The hold is released. After you cancel two reservations the seller had already accepted within 30 days, the app asks you for a reason for the next.

If you don't collect by the deadline, the seller may mark a no-show once 30 minutes have passed after it. That is the only way a deposit is charged, and the charged deposit is kept by ScoutrTCG, not the seller, as a fee for the missed pickup. If the seller does nothing within 24 hours of the deadline, the hold is released and you are not charged.

If you believe a no-show was marked wrongly, dispute it from the reservation in the app. We review every dispute ourselves and refund the deposit when the no-show was wrong. Disputes are never settled automatically. ProposedDispute within 30 days of the charge. We aim to finish our review within 10 business days and tell you the outcome by email.

Without Collector Pro, you can have one accepted reservation at a time.

Pro subscriptions

Collector Pro and Vendor Pro are subscriptions, paid monthly or yearly, bought on the web and billed through Stripe at the price shown at checkout, plus any tax. They renew automatically at the end of each month or year until cancelled; for a yearly plan, we email you a reminder about 7 days before it renews. To cancel, open the Account tab in the app and tap Manage subscription, which also lets you change your card, switch a monthly plan to yearly and see your invoices. A cancelled subscription stays active until the end of the month or year you've already paid for, then ends. Switching to yearly charges the yearly price straight away, less a credit for the unused part of your current month; switching back to monthly takes effect when the year ends. ProposedPayments aren't refundable, and we don't refund a partly used month or year, except where the law requires it. We tell you at least 30 days before a price change, in the app or by email; the new price starts at your first renewal after that, and you can cancel before then. If a renewal payment fails, your subscription stays active while Stripe tries your card again over about two weeks; we let you know in the app and by email so you can update it. If every attempt fails, the subscription ends. Deleting your account ends a subscription immediately, with no refund for the unused part of the period.

Free trials. We sometimes offer a free trial of Pro, for example Vendor Pro for shops that join us at launch (“founding shops”), through a code we give you that works once. A trial needs no card and costs nothing. Before it ends we remind you by email and in the app, and you can add a card in Manage subscription to keep Pro: when the trial ends, it then becomes a paid subscription at the regular price and renews as above. If you haven't added a card, Pro simply ends with the trial and you're never charged. ProposedA trial code is personal to the shop or person we give it to and can't be sold or transferred. We may end a trial early if it was obtained by misusing a code. Founding shops keep the “Founding shop” mention on their storefront after the trial, whether or not they keep Pro, unless their account is closed or suspended under these terms.

Boosts and event fees

Shops can pay once, through Stripe on our website, to boost a listing (moved ahead of other nearby results for 7 days) or an event (moved ahead of other nearby events until it happens), and shops without Vendor Pro pay a fee to host an event. The price is shown before you pay. ProposedIf we remove a boosted listing or an event because it breaks these terms, the fee isn't refunded. If we remove one by mistake, we refund the fee in full. If you end a boost early or cancel your own event, the fee isn't refunded.

Grading tools

The grading tools on our website estimate whether grading a card, or cracking a graded card out of its slab and resubmitting it, is likely to pay. The results are estimates built from the prices, fees and chances you enter, and from other ScoutrTCG members' grading results where there are enough. They are not financial or investment advice, and they don't predict the grade any card will get or what it will sell for. Grading companies set their own grades, prices and turnaround times, and cracking a slab can damage the card. Decisions about your cards are yours. Accounts without Collector Pro or Vendor Pro get a limited number of calculations a day; the submission tracker is free. The disclaimers below cover the grading tools too. [REVIEW: the not-advice wording]

Your content and conduct

You are responsible for what you post: listings, shop details, events, messages, ratings and reports. Don't post anything abusive, misleading or illegal, or use ScoutrTCG to harass anyone. We screen some text automatically and review reports, and we may remove content or restrict accounts that break these rules.

You keep ownership of what you post. You give ScoutrTCG a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, copy, display and adapt it (for example, resizing a flyer image) for the purpose of running and promoting ScoutrTCG. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies other people still need, such as the listing on a past reservation, and backups kept for a limited time. [REVIEW: the licence wording]

ProposedIf we remove something you posted or restrict your account, we tell you why, in the app or by email, unless that would put someone at risk or the law prevents it. You can appeal within 30 days by emailing support@scoutrtcg.com. Where we can, someone other than the person who made the decision reviews it, and we answer within 14 days.

Copyright and takedowns

We respect copyright and expect you to. Don't post material you don't have the right to, such as someone else's photos or artwork in a listing or an event flyer.

If you believe something on ScoutrTCG infringes your copyright, including a card image, send a notice to our designated agent with:

Designated agent: [AGENT NAME, postal address and email, exactly as registered with the U.S. Copyright Office].

We remove or disable access to the material and tell the person who posted it. If you posted it and believe it was removed by mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same agent with: your name, address, phone number and signature; what was removed and where it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith it was removed by mistake or misidentification; and your consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for your address (or, outside the United States, any district where we can be found) and to accept service from the person who sent the notice. Unless they tell us within 10 to 14 business days that they've gone to court, we may restore the material.

We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe copyright. A notice that knowingly misrepresents infringement can make its sender liable for damages.

Trademarks

ScoutrTCG is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wizards of the Coast, The Pokémon Company, Disney, Ravensburger, Bandai, or Konami. All card names, images, and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Disclaimers and limits on liability

ProposedScoutrTCG is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We don't promise that ScoutrTCG will be uninterrupted or free of errors, that listings, prices, stock, card details or estimates from the grading tools are accurate, or that any item is genuine, as described, or legal to sell.

ProposedTo the fullest extent the law allows, ScoutrTCG and its operator are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data or goodwill. Nor are we liable for anything arising from a sale, a meetup or other dealings between users, including loss, injury, theft or fraud. Our total liability for any claim relating to ScoutrTCG is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or $100. Some places don't allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. [REVIEW: which courts disputes go to, and whether to use arbitration]

Changes and contact

We may update these terms. When we do, we change the date at the top, and for a change that matters to you we tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. Continuing to use ScoutrTCG after that means you accept the new terms. ProposedFor such a change, we give at least 30 days' notice. Questions: support@scoutrtcg.com.