Legal
Terms of Service
§ 01
1. Who we are & what these Terms cover
Women In Art ("WIA", "we", "us", "our") operates womeninart.com (the "Site"), together with any related services, software, mobile apps, tools and features (collectively the "Services"). The Services let identity-verified women artists list and sell original works of art directly to buyers ("Members" or "Users" — together you, the artist ("Artist"), and the buyer ("Buyer")). Payments are processed by Stripe Inc. and Stripe Payments UK Ltd. ("Stripe"). Identity verification is provided by Didit Inc. ("Didit"). These Terms of Service, together with our Privacy Policy and any policies linked here, constitute a binding legal agreement between you and WIA. By accessing or using the Services, or by registering, selling, buying, or posting content on the Services, you confirm you have read, understood and agreed to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Services.
§ 02
2. Eligibility
The Services are intended solely for persons aged 18 or older. By accessing or using the Services you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older. Artist accounts are additionally restricted to verified women artists; identity is confirmed via Didit (live selfie + government-issued ID match). Any access to or use of the Services by anyone under 18 is expressly prohibited.
§ 03
3. Account registration
To list a work or to make a purchase (other than via guest checkout), you must create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information during registration and to keep it accurate, current and complete — for example, by updating your address, VAT status, or bank details if they change. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account if any information proves to be inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete. You are responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activity under your account, authorised or not, and you must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use.
§ 04
4. Artist subscription
Artist accounts cost £10/month or £100/year, billed in advance via Stripe. Subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled. You may cancel any time from Studio → Subscription — your access continues until the end of the current paid period. We do not refund partial months. Prices may change with 30 days' notice; continued use after the change date constitutes acceptance of the new price.
§ 05
5. Zero platform commission
WIA takes zero commission on artwork sales. The full sale price (less standard Stripe processing fees, typically ~1.5% + 20p in the UK and varying by country, card type, and currency conversion) is paid out to the Artist. Subscription fees are how we fund the platform — not a cut of your sales.
§ 06
6. Listing works
As an Artist you may submit listings for original works of art you personally created and own. You may not submit listings for works created by anyone else, AI-generated content marketed as hand-made, prints sold as originals, or reproductions sold without explicit "reproduction" labelling. To be accepted, listings must be accurate, complete, in focus, and meet our Listings Content Guidelines. WIA reserves the right to edit any listing (for typos, formatting, image cropping, or category placement), to delay publication for review, to refuse any listing without giving reasons, and to remove any listing at any time. Listings may take up to 24 hours to appear in search and category results. Search ranking is determined by a combination of factors including title, keywords, recency, conversion rate, and curatorial decisions — WIA makes no guarantee of placement, traffic, or sales.
§ 07
7. Artist obligations, shipping window & shipping liability
By listing a work you confirm: (a) you are the sole creator and copyright owner of the work; (b) you have the full legal right to sell it (no outstanding consignments, no shared ownership, no infringement of any third-party copyright, trademark, moral right, or right of publicity); (c) all photographs, descriptions, dimensions, materials, edition information, and provenance are accurate; (d) you will ship sold works within your stated lead time or within fourteen (14) days of order confirmation, whichever is shorter (the "Shipping Window"), using fully insured tracked delivery purchased by you directly from your chosen carrier; (e) you will respond to Buyer messages within five (5) business days. If you fail to ship within the Shipping Window without notifying us, the order may be cancelled, the Buyer refunded in full, and your account flagged for review. You retain the copyright to your work — selling a physical piece transfers ownership of the physical object, not the underlying intellectual property. Shipping liability — express acknowledgement. The contract of carriage is between YOU (the Artist) and your chosen carrier. WIA is not a party to the contract of carriage, is not a freight forwarder, is not the shipper or consignor, does not handle, store, transport, label, customs-declare, insure, or take physical possession of any artwork at any time. Risk in the artwork passes from the Artist to the Buyer on delivery. All loss, damage, delay, customs hold, mis-delivery, undelivered-recipient and theft-in-transit risks rest with the Artist (covered by the Artist's carrier insurance) until risk passes. WIA's responsibility is limited to operating the marketplace, holding the Buyer's payment in escrow, and processing refunds in accordance with these Terms.
§ 08
8. Buyer terms
By placing an order you agree to pay the full listed price in the listed currency, plus any shipping the Artist has quoted and any applicable Taxes (defined in §16). Payment is taken in full at checkout. Title in the artwork passes to you on delivery, subject to clearance of payment. WIA and/or Stripe will collect your billing and shipping information and process payment. Certain works (oversized, sculpture, glass) may require additional shipping charges and special arrangements; these will be quoted before checkout completes.
§ 09
9. Returns (Buyers)
Under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and equivalent EU consumer law, Buyers may cancel a purchase and return the work within fourteen (14) days of delivery for any reason. The artwork must be in original condition and original packaging, returned via insured tracked shipping at the Buyer's cost (unless damaged in transit — see §10). Refunds are issued to the original payment method within five (5) working days of the Artist confirming receipt and condition. Commissioned works that have been personalised to the Buyer's specification are excluded from this right of cancellation under CCR Reg 28(1)(b).
§ 10
10. Damage in transit
If artwork arrives damaged, the Buyer must notify the Artist and WIA within forty-eight (48) hours of delivery, with photographs of the damage and the packaging. WIA's role is mediation only — we hold the Buyer's funds in escrow and will release a refund from those funds where the claim is upheld. WIA does NOT carry separate transit insurance, does NOT take physical possession of the artwork, and does NOT arrange or fund any return leg. The Artist is required to ship insured for at least the artwork's sale value, and the Artist (as policy-holder) is responsible for filing and pursuing any carrier insurance claim. The Artist agrees with the Buyer directly on whether the damaged piece is returned, disposed of, or retained. Failure by the Artist to use insured tracked shipping makes the Artist liable for the full sale value of any in-transit damage, recoverable under §12.
§ 11
11. Payments, payouts & funds-holding period
Buyers pay WIA via Stripe. We hold the funds for a fourteen-day cooling-off period running from confirmed delivery to allow returns, damage claims, and dispute resolution. After fourteen (14) days, funds are transferred to the Artist's connected Stripe Express account. Stripe then pays out to the Artist's bank account on Stripe's standard schedule (typically 2-7 business days, depending on country). You may view your pending and cleared balances at any time in Studio → Sales and Studio → Payouts. On termination of these Terms or cancellation of your account, WIA will remit any remaining cleared balance within thirty (30) days, net of any outstanding chargeback, refund or claw-back obligations under §12.
§ 12
12. Chargebacks & dispute liability (Artists)
If a Buyer files a chargeback or payment dispute with their card issuer, WIA is the merchant of record and is initially liable to refund the Buyer if the dispute is upheld. By selling on WIA, the Artist agrees that: (a) Where the dispute relates to artwork the Artist shipped (e.g. "item not received", "item not as described", "damaged"), the Artist is financially responsible for the chargeback amount plus any Stripe dispute fee (typically £15 / $15 per dispute). (b) WIA will recover the chargeback by, in this order: (i) offsetting against any funds we are still holding for the Artist; (ii) deducting from the Artist's next payouts; (iii) if neither is sufficient, invoicing the Artist directly, payable within fourteen (14) days, with statutory interest accruing thereafter under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 where applicable. (c) The Artist agrees to provide WIA with evidence to fight ("represent") chargebacks — tracking numbers, delivery confirmation, buyer correspondence, photographs — within forty-eight (48) hours of our request. Failure to do so means we cannot defend the dispute and the Artist remains liable. (d) Where the chargeback relates solely to fraud on the Buyer's card (not the Artist's fault), WIA will absorb the loss, subject to (e). (e) Stripe Radar fraud-flagged transactions that the Artist chooses to ship against our written recommendation are at the Artist's risk. Under card-scheme rules, chargebacks can be filed by the Buyer up to 120 days after purchase, and in some "goods not received" cases up to 540 days. This clause expressly survives termination of these Terms.
§ 13
13. Transaction restrictions & circumvention
If you are introduced to a Buyer or Artist through the Services, you may not sell to or purchase from that person off-WIA — whether the original listed work, a similar work, or a commission — for a period of twelve (12) months from the introduction. Circumvention is a material breach and we may, at our discretion, invoice the offending Artist for a recovery fee equivalent to 12% of the sale price (plus VAT), suspend or terminate the account, and pursue injunctive relief. We may use technology (for example, monitoring messages on the platform for off-platform contact details) to detect circumvention.
§ 14
14. Identity verification & age
Every Artist must complete Didit identity verification — government ID + live selfie — before listing. We store only a verification status flag, the country of issue, and the verification date — not the underlying ID document itself. WIA reserves the right to re-verify any account at any time, and to require renewed verification on a triggering event (suspicious activity, large payout, change of declared identity). False, impersonated, or fraudulent identity verification is grounds for immediate termination, forfeiture of any pending payouts, and reporting to relevant authorities including Action Fraud, NCSC, and where applicable HMRC.
§ 15
15. Licence we ask of Artists (promotional use)
By listing a work on WIA you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, transferable licence to: (a) display the work, its images, the price, your artist name and bio, on the Services, in marketplace search and category pages, on individual product pages, and in social-media unfurl previews (Open Graph cards); (b) crop, resize, watermark, optimise, and re-encode the images solely for display performance; (c) include the work in WIA's promotional materials — the magazine, editorial articles, the weekly newsletter, paid advertising on Meta, Google, Pinterest and similar channels — for the purpose of promoting the Services and driving traffic to your listings. This licence ends ninety (90) days after you delist the work or close your account, except where we have a current advertising campaign in flight, in which case it ends on completion of that campaign (not exceeding a further six months). We do not claim any other rights in your work. You retain copyright at all times.
§ 16
16. Taxes
Each Artist is responsible for declaring and paying any Taxes — income tax, capital gains, VAT, GST, sales tax, withholding tax — arising from their sales on WIA. "Taxes" means any sales, use, value-added (VAT), goods-and-services (GST), similar consumption tax, withholding tax, customs duty or tariff payable under any applicable law on a purchase, sale or licence transaction under these Terms. UK VAT-registered Artists are responsible for accounting for VAT on their sales — WIA does not act as a deemed reseller and does not collect or remit VAT on the Artist's behalf except where required by HMRC's Marketplace Rules (low-value imports under £135 to UK Buyers from non-UK Artists, in which case WIA may collect and remit UK VAT to HMRC). Stripe issues tax forms where legally required (e.g. 1099-K in the US for sellers over the federal threshold; equivalent reporting under DAC7 to EU tax authorities and the UK Digital Platform Reporting rules from 2025). The Artist is responsible for completing any tax forms requested by Stripe (W-9 for US persons, W-8BEN for non-US persons) before payouts can be made. You will cooperate with WIA and Stripe to provide any documentation we reasonably need to comply with our tax-reporting obligations.
§ 17
17. Colour & dimension accuracy
We use commercially reasonable efforts to display the colours and proportions of artworks accurately via the Services. However, individual monitors, browsers, operating systems, and display calibrations render colour differently. WIA is not responsible for, and disclaims all liability for, any difference between the artwork as displayed on the Services and the artwork as delivered. Dimensions and weights are as provided by the Artist; small variations (under 5%) are not a defect.
§ 18
18. Member content (forums, journals, reviews, comments)
In addition to listings, you may post text, images, audio or video on community areas of the Services ("Member Content"). You retain ownership of your Member Content. By posting it you grant WIA a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display, distribute, transmit and promote that Member Content on the Services, for the purpose of operating and promoting the Services. You confirm you own or have all necessary rights in any Member Content you post, and that it does not infringe any third party's rights or any law. WIA may screen, edit, redact or remove Member Content at any time, with or without notice. AI-assisted moderation is in use; borderline content may be held pending human review (see Community Guidelines).
§ 19
19. General prohibitions
You agree not to: • Post or transmit any content that (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party's intellectual property, publicity or privacy rights; (ii) violates any applicable law or regulation; (iii) is fraudulent, misleading, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar, hateful, harassing, threatening or sexually explicit; (iv) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment, or harm against any individual or group; (v) harms minors in any way; or (vi) promotes illegal or harmful activities, products or substances. • Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including impersonating another artist. • Create or maintain duplicate, fake, or "sock-puppet" accounts; manipulate reviews, ratings, follower counts or social proof. • Scrape, mirror, frame, deep-link, or hot-link the Services or any content on the Services, by automated means (including spiders, robots, crawlers, AI-training data extraction) or otherwise, without our prior written consent. • Probe, scan, test or breach the security or authentication of the Services; bypass technical measures (rate limits, paywalls, CAPTCHAs); upload malware, viruses, worms, or any harmful code. • Use the Services to send unsolicited messages, spam, chain letters, junk mail, or any unauthorised advertising or promotional materials. • Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble or attempt to discover the source code of any part of the Services. • Collect or store personal information from other Users without their express permission. • Encourage or enable any other individual or entity to do any of the foregoing. We reserve the right to investigate and prosecute violations of any of the above to the fullest extent of the law and to co-operate with law enforcement authorities. We may remove any content, suspend any account, and revoke access without prior notice for any violation.
§ 20
20. Termination
You may delete your account from Studio → Account → Delete account at any time (Buyers: Account → Settings → Delete account). We may suspend or terminate your account immediately, with or without prior notice, for: (a) material breach of these Terms; (b) identity fraud or impersonation; (c) repeated chargebacks (more than two upheld against you in any rolling six-month period); (d) suspected money-laundering, sanctions, or terrorist-financing risk; (e) behaviour that endangers, defrauds or harasses other Users. On termination: (i) you forfeit access to subscription benefits for the remainder of the paid period; (ii) we will pay out any cleared funds owing to you within thirty (30) days, less any outstanding chargeback, refund or recovery obligations under §12 or §13; (iii) your listings are delisted within twenty-four (24) hours; (iv) any pending orders will either be completed (if the artwork has shipped) or refunded to the Buyer; (v) the licence in §15 applies for the wind-down period; (vi) Stripe Express account closure is at your discretion via Stripe directly. The clauses that by their nature should survive termination (including §12, §13, §17, §22, §23, §24, §25) will survive.
§ 21
21. Service availability & changes
We strive to keep the Services running 24/7 but make no warranty as to uptime. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services, change the URL, alter features, or remove content at any time, for any reason, with or without notice. We may correct typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions at any time, and may change or update information without prior notice. We are under no obligation to update the Services except where required by law.
§ 22
22. Disclaimers ("AS IS")
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES, ALL CONTENT, AND ALL ARTWORK LISTINGS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WIA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, COURSE OF DEALING, AND USAGE OF TRADE. WIA MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, ERROR-FREE OR FREE OF VIRUSES. WIA MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE QUALITY, AUTHENTICITY, OR CONDITION OF ANY ARTWORK SOLD OR PURCHASED THROUGH THE SERVICES BEYOND WHAT IS STATED ON THE LISTING — THE ARTIST IS THE SELLER AND PROVIDES ALL SUCH WARRANTIES DIRECTLY TO THE BUYER UNDER §7. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM WIA OR THROUGH THE SERVICES CREATES ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HERE. NOTHING IN THIS CLAUSE EXCLUDES OR LIMITS ANY STATUTORY RIGHTS YOU HAVE AS A CONSUMER THAT CANNOT LEGALLY BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED — INCLUDING UNDER THE CONSUMER RIGHTS ACT 2015 IN THE UK.
§ 23
23. Indemnity
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Women In Art, its officers, directors, employees, contractors and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, judgments, fines, awards, settlements, and reasonable legal fees and costs arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Services; (b) any artwork you list or sell on the Services; (c) your breach of these Terms, the Privacy Policy, or any applicable law; (d) your infringement of any third party's intellectual property, publicity or privacy rights; (e) any chargeback recovery under §12; (f) any tax obligation under §16 that should have been borne by you. WIA reserves the right to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will co-operate with us.
§ 24
24. Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (a) WIA, its affiliates, officers, employees and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, lost profits, lost revenue, lost business opportunity, loss of data, loss of goodwill, service interruption, computer damage or system failure, even if foreseeable, even if WIA has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and even if a limited remedy set out here is found to have failed of its essential purpose; (b) WIA's total aggregate liability to any User in any 12-month period, arising out of or in connection with these Terms, is capped at the greater of (i) £500, or (ii) the total subscription fees actually paid to WIA by that User in the prior twelve (12) months. Nothing in this clause excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any statutory consumer rights.
§ 25
25. Disputes & governing law
Informal resolution first. If you have a problem, please contact hello@womeninart.com — we will respond within five (5) business days and attempt to resolve the matter in good faith. To the extent permitted by law, this informal step is a precondition to pursuing any other process. If we cannot resolve the matter within thirty (30) days, you and WIA may pursue formal proceedings. Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Jurisdiction. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms. UK consumers retain the statutory right to bring proceedings in their country of residence; EU consumers retain the statutory right under Article 18 of EU Regulation 1215/2012 (Brussels Recast) to bring proceedings in their place of domicile. Time limit. Subject to any non-excludable statutory rights, you agree that any claim or cause of action arising from your use of the Services or these Terms must be brought within twelve (12) months after the claim arose, or it is permanently barred.
§ 26
26. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. Material changes (anything affecting fees, payouts, liability, chargeback exposure, or your obligations) will be notified by email at least thirty (30) days before they take effect. Continued use after that date constitutes acceptance. Non-material changes (typos, clarifications, structural reordering) take effect on posting. The "Last updated" date at the bottom of this page always reflects the current effective version. Past versions are archived at /legal/terms/archive on request.
§ 27
27. Notices
We will give you notices regarding these Terms and the Services by email to the address on your account, by in-app notification, or by posting to the Site. You may give us notice by email to hello@womeninart.com. Email notices are deemed received on the day of transmission.
§ 28
28. Assignment
You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights or obligations under them, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms freely, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. Any attempted assignment without consent is void.
§ 29
29. Severability, waiver & entire agreement
If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be enforced to the maximum permissible extent and the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. The failure of WIA to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of future enforcement; any waiver must be in writing signed by an authorised representative. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any policies linked from them, constitute the entire and exclusive agreement between you and WIA regarding the Services, and supersede any prior or contemporaneous oral or written understandings.
§ 30
30. Contact
Women In Art · hello@womeninart.com • General enquiries, account or order help: hello@womeninart.com • Data-protection / GDPR / DSAR requests: hello@womeninart.com (subject: DSAR — see Privacy Policy) • Chargeback documentation requests: hello@womeninart.com (subject: DISPUTE — we will respond within 24 hours) • Legal / formal notices: hello@womeninart.com (subject: LEGAL) We acknowledge all enquiries within two (2) business days.
Last updated: 21 February 2026.