Buyer Protection Terms ("Escrow")

Effective date: 22 August 2026, version 0.1 (draft). These terms form part of the Trademeup Terms of Service (operator: TTA Technologies, {{COMPANY_ADDRESS}}, RCS {{RCS_NUMBER}}, VAT {{VAT_NUMBER}}).

1. What Buyer Protection Is, and What It Is Not

1.1 Buyer Protection (also referred to on the Platform as "escrow") is an optional programme the buyer can add at checkout. It consists of two elements: a) a delayed payout of the purchase price to the seller via the payment service provider Stripe, and b) the refund rules for disputes set out in these terms.

1.2 Buyer Protection is not an escrow account. Trademeup never takes custody of customer funds and does not provide payment or e-money services. Until payout, all funds are held by the payment service provider Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.; Trademeup merely controls the timing of the payout to the seller and the handling of refunds under these rules.

1.3 The buyer's statutory rights against the seller (in particular warranty rights and, for Pro Sellers, the right of withdrawal) exist independently of Buyer Protection and are neither limited nor replaced by it.

2. Selection and Cost

2.1 Buyer Protection is selected and paid for by the buyer at checkout. The fee is:

• +4% of the item value for purchases from Private Sellers,
• +2% of the item value for purchases from Pro Sellers (verified businesses).

2.2 The fee is displayed before the order is placed and becomes due upon completion of the order. If the order is fully cancelled or fully refunded, the Buyer Protection fee is also refunded; for partial refunds, pro rata.

2.3 Buyer Protection applies per order with a given seller. If Buyer Protection is not selected, Section 8 applies.

3. Requirement: Tracked Shipping

3.1 Buyer Protection orders may only be shipped using a shipping method with tracking. The seller must record the tracking number in the order workflow.

3.2 Trademeup retrieves the shipment status from the carriers or via tracking services (e.g. DHL, Mondial Relay, Hermes/Evri, Post Luxembourg, Colissimo, bpost). The delivery date reported by the carrier's tracking is decisive for the deadlines in these terms.

3.3 If the seller ships a Buyer Protection order without tracking or fails to record a valid tracking number, this is at the seller's risk: in a dispute, the decision may be made in favour of the buyer in the absence of proof of delivery.

4. Process with Buyer Protection

4.1 The buyer pays the total amount (item value, shipping costs, Buyer Protection fee) at checkout via the payment service provider.

4.2 The payout of the amount due to the seller is withheld until one of the following occurs: a) the buyer confirms receipt of the order in their account, or b) the automatic payout under Section 5 applies, or c) a dispute is decided in favour of the seller.

4.3 Once the buyer confirms receipt, the payout to the seller is initiated without undue delay.

5. Automatic Payout (Auto-Release)

5.1 If the buyer neither confirms receipt nor opens a dispute, the withheld amount is automatically paid out to the seller 14 days after the delivery date confirmed by tracking.

5.2 This deadline is fixed and non-negotiable. It is clearly displayed to the buyer in the order overview (including the expiry date).

5.3 Disputes must be opened before the deadline expires. After the deadline has passed and the payout has been made, opening a Buyer Protection dispute retroactively is excluded; statutory claims against the seller remain unaffected (Section 1.3), and support will still mediate on request without any money-back guarantee.

5.4 Opening a dispute in time suspends the automatic payout until the dispute is closed.

6. No Confirmed Delivery

6.1 If tracking does not report delivery, no automatic payout takes place.

6.2 If, 30 days after the dispatch date, no tracking-confirmed delivery exists and the case has not been resolved otherwise, the order is automatically escalated to support for review. (Note: this period is a platform rule and may be adjusted in future versions.)

6.3 If the shipment is demonstrably lost, the buyer is refunded from the withheld amount; the seller's claims against the carrier remain unaffected.

7. Disputes and Refunds

7.1 In case of problems (e.g. item not received, item significantly not as described, suspected counterfeit, damage), the buyer can open a dispute for the order or individual line items via the Platform; for Buyer Protection orders, this must be done before the deadline in Section 5 expires.

7.2 In a dispute, both parties may comment and upload evidence (photos, videos, receipts). The seller is given a reasonable response period, displayed in the dispute view. Trademeup then decides at its reasonable discretion on the basis of the evidence submitted and these terms.

7.3 If the decision is in favour of the buyer, the refund (in full or in part) is made from the withheld amount to the original payment method or balance. Trademeup may make the refund conditional on the return of the item to the seller where reasonable; confirmed counterfeits are not returned to the seller to the extent permitted by law (see prohibited-items.md and sanctions.md).

7.4 If the decision is in favour of the seller, the withheld amount is paid out.

7.5 The dispute decision only concerns settlement via the Platform. Recourse to the courts and the parties' statutory claims against each other remain unaffected.

8. Orders Without Buyer Protection

8.1 If the buyer does not select Buyer Protection, the amount due to the seller is released for immediate payout (direct settlement via the payment service provider).

8.2 In case of problems with an order without Buyer Protection, Trademeup only mediates between buyer and seller (support, dispute communication). There is no money-back guarantee, no withholding and no refund from withheld amounts. Statutory claims against the seller and any rights vis-a-vis the payment service provider or card issuer (e.g. chargeback) remain unaffected.

9. Abuse

9.1 Buyer Protection must not be used abusively (e.g. false statements in disputes, keeping the item despite a refund without legal basis). Abuse may lead to measures under the Sanctions Policy (sanctions.md); further claims remain reserved.

9.2 In case of a substantiated suspicion of fraud, counterfeiting or other serious violations, Trademeup may have payouts withheld until the matter is clarified (see sanctions.md).

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