Terms of Service | Meridian's

About these Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Meridian's Fine Art Marketplace ("Meridian's," "we," "us," or "our"), including our website and any related services. By creating an account or using our platform you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use Meridian's.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or make purchases on Meridian's. By registering you confirm that you meet this requirement. Meridian's reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at its sole discretion.

Seller responsibilities

List only artworks you own or have the legal right to sell.
Provide accurate and complete information about each work, including artist, medium, dimensions, condition, and provenance.
Not misrepresent the authenticity, attribution, or condition of any artwork.
Respond to buyer enquiries in a timely manner.
Complete sales made in good faith.
Set up a Stripe account to receive payment before your work can be bought. You receive the buyer's payment directly and are the merchant of record for the sale.
Arrange, fund, and carry out all shipping, packing, insurance, and delivery of works you sell. Meridian's does not provide, arrange, or manage delivery - fulfilment is entirely your responsibility.
Deliver sold works to the buyer's provided address within a reasonable time, and keep the buyer informed of dispatch and tracking.
Comply with all applicable laws regarding the sale, export, and import of artworks, including any customs duties and restrictions.

Buyer responsibilities

Conduct your own due diligence before making a purchase.
Complete purchases you initiate in good faith.
Understand that you are paying the seller directly through Stripe, not paying Meridian's, and that any refund is a matter between you and the seller.
Provide accurate delivery details at checkout so the seller can ship your purchase.
Understand that delivery is arranged solely by the seller; raise any delivery or condition concerns with the seller, and with Meridian's support where a dispute arises.

Listings and moderation

Meridian's reviews listings before they appear on the platform. We reserve the right to decline, remove, or feature any listing at our discretion. Approval of a listing does not constitute authentication, endorsement, or valuation of the artwork.

Prohibited content

You may not list or upload:

Counterfeit or fraudulently attributed artworks.
Works to which you do not have title or the right to sell.
Illegal, obscene, or otherwise prohibited material.
Content that infringes any third-party intellectual property rights.

No authentication or valuation

Meridian's does not authenticate artworks, verify attributions, or provide valuations. All information on the platform is provided for informational purposes only. Buyers and sellers should seek independent expert advice where appropriate.

Payments, and what Meridian's does not do with your money

Payments are processed by Stripe. When a buyer pays for a work, the payment is made directly to the seller's own Stripe account.
Meridian's does not receive, hold, control, or transmit the purchase price. The sale proceeds do not pass through any Meridian's account at any point, and we owe no obligation to forward, remit, or release them, because we never have them.
Meridian's is not a bank, payment institution, money transmitter, escrow agent, or trustee, does not offer any of those services, and gives no undertaking to safeguard, insure, or guarantee any payment.
Our commission is collected by Stripe as a platform fee at the moment the payment is taken. It is not an amount we invoice, collect from the seller, or hold on anyone's behalf.
The seller is the merchant of record for every sale. Refunds, chargebacks, and payment disputes are matters between the buyer, the seller, and Stripe, and are handled in the seller's Stripe account. Meridian's does not issue refunds and cannot reverse, recall, or redirect a payment.
To sell, a seller must complete Stripe's onboarding and is bound by Stripe's own agreements with them. Stripe collects and holds the seller's identity and bank details; Meridian's does not see or store them. Payout timing is set by Stripe, not by us.
Buyers' card details are handled by Stripe and are never transmitted to or stored by Meridian's.
Each party is responsible for its own taxes, duties, and reporting arising from a sale.

Fees

Meridian's charges sellers a commission of 5% of the sale price on completed sales, taken by Stripe as a platform fee at the time of payment. Commission is charged on the sale price only and never on shipping. Buyers pay no fee to Meridian's. Listing is free during our launch period. We reserve the right to change our fees in the future with reasonable advance notice to registered users.

The sale is between buyer and seller

Meridian's provides a venue where sellers list works and buyers find them. Any resulting contract of sale is formed directly between the buyer and the seller. Meridian's is not a party to that contract, is not an agent, broker, consignee, or auctioneer for either side, and makes no representation or warranty about any work, its authenticity, attribution, condition, provenance, or value, nor about either party's ability or willingness to complete a sale. Nothing in these Terms makes Meridian's responsible for the performance of a buyer or seller, for delivery, or for payment.

Shipping and delivery are entirely between buyer and seller

Meridian's does not ship, pack, insure, store, handle, collect, export, import, or deliver any artwork, and never takes possession or custody of a work at any point.
Delivery is arranged, funded, and carried out by the seller directly with the buyer. Meridian's has no role in that arrangement: we do not select the carrier, set the method, quote or charge for shipping, negotiate terms, or supervise fulfilment.
Meridian's does not quote, collect, or receive any shipping charge. Any amount paid for delivery is a matter between the buyer and the seller.
Any tracking information shown on Meridian's is supplied by the seller. We do not verify it, do not monitor shipments, and any carrier link is provided only for convenience. We make no representation that a work has been dispatched, is in transit, or will arrive.
Meridian's accepts no liability of any kind for shipping or delivery, including loss, theft, delay, non-delivery, misdelivery, damage in transit, inadequate packing, uninsured shipment, customs seizure, duties, taxes, or any export or import restriction.
Risk of loss and title pass from the seller to the buyer according to whatever the buyer and seller agree between themselves. Meridian's is not a party to that arrangement and bears no risk in it.
Any claim concerning shipping or delivery is between the buyer and the seller, and where applicable the carrier or the insurer. Meridian's is not a party to such a claim, is under no obligation to resolve or mediate it, and provides no refund, replacement, compensation, or guarantee in relation to it.
Compliance with all laws governing the transport, export, and import of artworks, including customs declarations, duties, and cultural property restrictions, is the responsibility of the seller and the buyer, not of Meridian's.

Intellectual property

Sellers retain all intellectual property rights in the artworks they list. By uploading images to Meridian's you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to display those images on the platform and in promotional materials for Meridian's. This licence ends when the listing is removed.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Meridian's is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform, including but not limited to losses arising from transactions between buyers and sellers. Meridian's acts as a marketplace facilitator only and is not a party to any transaction.

Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate any account that violates these Terms, at our sole discretion and without prior notice. You may close your account at any time by contacting us at andrew.kassatly@meridians.art.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email or in-app notification. Continued use of Meridian's after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at andrew.kassatly@meridians.art.