BidletsTerms of Service
The short version, in plain English
This summary is part of the Terms. The full text below has the details.
- Bidlets is a tool, not a party to your auction. You run the auction, describe the items, and deal with your bidders and winners.
- We never take, hold or process payment for auction items. Winners pay you directly using the methods you choose (for example Venmo, PayPal or your own Square account). Refunds, delivery, pickup, disputes and taxes are between you and the winner.
- Bidlets is free to use. On the payment page, winners can add an optional tip for Bidlets. The tip is included in what the winner pays you, and you agree to pass it on to us.
- You're responsible for your auction following the law, including any rules about charitable receipts, sales tax and raffles, and for describing items honestly.
- Use bidders' email addresses only for your auction and related follow-up. Don't sell them, and don't add them to marketing lists without their consent.
- We may suspend accounts that send spam, run fraudulent auctions, don't pass on tips, or misuse the service.
How tips work, step by step
- The winner chooses a tip (or no tip) on the Bidlets payment page. Any tip is added to the total the winner pays you.
- One day after your auction closes, we email the account owners an invoice for the tips on items you've marked paid. For each item we only count the tip you actually received: never more than what you recorded receiving above the winning bid.
- Payment is due when you receive the invoice. The invoice includes a link to pay us.
- Two days after the invoice, if it's still unpaid, we send a reminder.
- Three days after the invoice, if it's still unpaid, we email each winner who added a tip to let them know it wasn't passed on to Bidlets, and suggest they ask you for a refund of the tip. We include the contact address from your auction. We may also pause your account until the invoice is settled.
- Items paid later (after the first invoice) appear on a later invoice, on the same schedule.
If something on an invoice is wrong (for example an item was refunded), reply to the invoice email before it's due and we'll correct it.
1. Agreement
These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Wild Nisse Ventures ("we", "us") about your use of Bidlets (the "Service"). If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you confirm you're authorized to accept these Terms for it, and "you" includes that organization. You accept these Terms by checking the box when you create an account or when we ask you to review them. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.
2. The Service
The Service lets organizers ("you") run online silent auctions on their own websites: it records bids, shows the current bid, sends notifications and results by email, and gives winners a payment page with the payment methods you configure. We may change, add or remove features over time.
3. Your account
Accounts use email sign-in links. Keep access to your email secure; anyone who can read your email can sign in to your account. You're responsible for activity in your account, including by team members you invite. Tell us promptly at notifications@bidlets.com if you suspect unauthorized access.
4. Your auctions and your responsibilities
- You are the seller (or act for the seller) of every item in your auctions. We are not the seller, auctioneer, agent, broker or escrow for any item.
- You're responsible for item descriptions, auction rules, closing times, reserve or starting prices, fulfilment, delivery or pickup, refunds, and disputes with bidders and winners.
- You're responsible for complying with laws that apply to you and your auctions, including consumer protection, charitable solicitation and gaming laws (raffles and games of chance are not auctions), sales and use taxes, and charitable contribution disclosures and receipts (for example, U.S. "quid pro quo" disclosures and fair-market-value statements).
- You'll give bidders accurate information, including how winners pay and how items are delivered.
5. Payments between you and winners
We do not receive, hold, transfer or process payments for auction items. Payment methods you configure (such as Venmo, PayPal, Square or a custom link) are provided by third parties under their own terms, and money paid through them goes directly to you. Payment status shown in the Service (for example "Paid" or "Winner says paid") is a record-keeping aid. It's based on what you record, what winners report, or, for Square, confirmation from Square, and it may be incomplete. We are not responsible for payments, chargebacks, fraud or disputes between you and winners.
6. Fees and tips
6.1 Free plan
The Service is currently offered free of charge, supported by optional tips from winners. We may introduce paid plans in the future; we'll tell you before anything you use starts to cost money, and you'll be able to decide before you're charged.
6.2 Tips belong to Bidlets
When a winner adds a tip on the payment page, the tip is a gift to Bidlets that the winner pays through you. You receive it on our behalf and agree to pay it to us as described in "How tips work" above. Tips are not donations to your organization, and you should not issue charitable receipts for them.
6.3 Invoices
Invoices are emailed to your account's owners and are due on receipt. The amount for each item is the lesser of the tip the winner chose and the amount you recorded receiving above the winning bid; items not marked paid aren't invoiced until they are. You can raise a billing question by replying to the invoice email before it's due.
6.4 Unpaid invoices
If an invoice is unpaid three days after we send it, you authorize us to tell each winner who tipped on that invoice that their tip was not passed on to Bidlets, to suggest that they ask you for a refund of the tip, and to share the contact address from your auction with them for that purpose. We may also limit or suspend your account until the invoice is paid. Unpaid amounts remain owed.
6.5 Taxes
You're responsible for any taxes on amounts you collect from winners.
7. Bidders and winners
Bidders don't need a Bidlets account. By placing a bid, a bidder makes an offer to the organizer to buy the item at the bid amount under the organizer's auction terms, and agrees that we may process their email address and bid as described in our Privacy Policy. A bid can't be withdrawn through the Service; bidders should contact the organizer. The organizer, not Bidlets, decides whether to honor a bid and completes the sale.
8. Acceptable use
You won't use the Service to:
- send spam or unsolicited messages, or enter other people's email addresses without their permission;
- run raffles, lotteries or other games of chance, or auctions of items you aren't allowed to sell;
- mislead or defraud bidders, place bids on your own items to raise prices (shill bidding), or manipulate results;
- impersonate others, or collect payment details through the Service;
- probe, overload or interfere with the Service, or access it other than through the interfaces we provide.
9. Your content and data
You keep ownership of the content you provide (such as item titles and descriptions) and the bidder data collected for your auctions. You give us permission to host, display and process it to provide the Service. We handle personal information as described in the Privacy Policy. You're responsible for having a lawful basis to collect bidders' information on your website and for any privacy notices your website requires.
10. Third-party services
The Service relies on third parties, including Google Cloud (hosting and email) and payment providers you choose to connect. Their services are governed by their own terms, and we're not responsible for them.
11. Suspension and termination
You can stop using the Service at any time and ask us to close your account. We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, don't pay invoices, put other users or the Service at risk, or if we stop offering the Service. When we can, we'll give notice. Sections that by their nature should survive (including fees owed, disclaimers, limits of liability and indemnity) survive termination.
12. Disclaimers
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don't guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that emails will be delivered, or that bids will be received at a particular time (for example near closing).
13. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, donations or data. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the tips you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and US $100.
14. Indemnity
You'll defend and indemnify us against claims arising from your auctions, your items, your dealings with bidders and winners, or your breach of these Terms or the law.
15. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. If a change is material, we'll ask you to review and accept the new version the next time you sign in, and you won't be able to continue using the account features until you do. Changes don't apply retroactively to tips from auctions that closed before the change.
16. General
These Terms are governed by the laws of the state in which Wild Nisse Ventures is organized, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Not enforcing a provision isn't a waiver. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent; we may transfer them with our business. These Terms are the entire agreement about the Service.
17. Contact
Questions about these Terms: notifications@bidlets.com.