Marketplace Seller Agreement

By submitting an application via /marketplace/sell, or by listing any product on the Marketplace, you confirm that you have read and agree to this Seller Agreement, the COT-Reports Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy and the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. If you do not agree, do not apply and do not list.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally permitted to enter into this Agreement in your jurisdiction. You represent that you own, or have a valid license to distribute, every product you list — including all source code, written content, screenshots, demo videos and third-party libraries embedded in them. You will not list pirated software, plagiarised content, or any material that infringes a third party's intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights. We may request proof of authorship at any time.

Buyer payments are collected by COT-Reports through Stripe and routed to your Stripe Connect Express account using Stripe's on_behalf_of and transfer_data settlement. Our commission is 20% of the gross sale price by default; the rate that applies to you is shown in your seller dashboard and may be changed in writing by mutual agreement. The remaining 80% is transferred to your Connect account NET of Stripe processing fees, which are deducted from your share — not from our commission. Example on a $100 sale: COT-Reports commission = $20, Stripe processing fee ≈ $3.20, your payout ≈ $76.80 (exact Stripe fee varies by card type and region). Payouts to your bank follow the Connect schedule you configure with Stripe; we do not control payout timing.

Because settlements use Stripe's on_behalf_of mechanism, your Connected account is the merchant of record for every Marketplace sale you make. This means: (a) any chargeback or payment dispute is debited from YOUR Stripe Connect balance, not from COT-Reports, (b) Stripe's standard dispute fee (varies by region, currently around $15) is your cost regardless of outcome, (c) you are responsible for providing dispute evidence within Stripe's deadline (typically 7-21 days) using the link in our admin alert email, (d) if your Connect balance is insufficient, Stripe may debit your linked bank account directly. COT-Reports will alert you to incoming disputes and, on request, provide order metadata (purchase timestamp, payment intent ID, buyer IP at time of purchase if available) to assist your dispute response, but we do not represent you to the cardholder's bank.

You agree to honor reasonable buyer refund requests within 30 days of purchase for any digital product that materially differs from its listing description, fails to deliver as advertised, or is materially defective. The buyer-facing rules are governed by our main Refund Policy at /refund-policy, which you accept as part of this Agreement. When a refund is issued, the original buyer-to-seller transfer is reversed: COT-Reports refunds the buyer through Stripe, and the corresponding amount is clawed back from your next payout via our refund-handling webhook. Note that Stripe does NOT refund its original processing fee on a refunded transaction — that fee remains a cost on your share of the original sale. You may not unilaterally refuse a refund that COT-Reports determines, in good faith, to be required under consumer protection law (including the EU Consumer Rights Directive Article 16(m) for non-immediate-delivery digital goods).

You retain full ownership of your products and all associated content. By listing on the Marketplace, you grant COT-Reports a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to (a) display your listing pages, screenshots, descriptions and metadata across COT-Reports.com, (b) deliver downloadable files to buyers who have paid, (c) use product names, thumbnails and short excerpts in promotional emails, social media posts and SEO metadata while your listing is active. This license terminates when your product is unpublished, except for cached search engine results and outbound emails already sent.

COT-Reports may suspend or terminate your seller account if you (a) violate this Agreement or the platform Terms of Service, (b) generate an abnormal volume of disputes or refund requests, (c) list infringing or fraudulent content, (d) attempt to circumvent the Marketplace by directing buyers off-platform, or (e) abandon the account (no activity for 12 months while products remain listed). For (e), we will email you at least 30 days before taking any abandonment-based action, giving you the opportunity to reactivate. On suspension we hide your listings, freeze incoming payouts, and may delete your Stripe Connect account; pending settled balances remain payable. Buyers who purchased before suspension retain perpetual access to the file version they downloaded; we will continue providing them re-download access for 12 months after your suspension, using the last version you delivered. You may close your account at any time by emailing support; we will unpublish your listings within 5 business days and process any final clean payouts.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless COT-Reports, its operator and affiliates from any third-party claim, damage, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your products or content infringing intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights of any third party, (b) your violation of any applicable law, including consumer protection, data protection or tax law in your jurisdiction, (c) any defect, security flaw, malware or harmful behavior of files you distribute through the Marketplace, (d) buyer claims that you fail to honor refund requests required by Section 5, (e) any misrepresentation or false statement in your listing or seller application. We will notify you promptly of any claim covered by this section and give you reasonable opportunity to assume the defense at your own expense.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, COT-Reports' aggregate liability to you under or in connection with this Agreement is capped at the total commission you have paid to us in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, loss of goodwill or anticipated savings, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Nothing in this section limits liability for fraud, gross negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

You are solely responsible for all taxes (including but not limited to income tax, VAT, sales tax, withholding tax, social security contributions) arising from your Marketplace earnings in your jurisdiction. COT-Reports does not withhold, collect or remit taxes on your behalf. We will provide a yearly earnings statement on request to support your tax filing. If your jurisdiction requires us to collect VAT or sales tax on transactions you make through the Marketplace, you must provide a valid tax registration number on request. If you fail to provide one within a reasonable time after our request, we may, at our discretion: (a) suspend further listings until the registration is provided, (b) hold payouts on existing sales pending resolution, or (c) terminate the seller account under §7. Suspension under this clause does not waive any commission due on completed sales that have already cleared the dispute window.

Buyer order data we share with you (email address, product purchased, order timestamp, payment metadata) is provided solely so you can deliver the purchased product and respond to support questions about that order. You may not use this data for unsolicited marketing, sale or sharing with third parties, or any purpose unrelated to the order. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and equivalent laws, you act as an independent data controller for your own customer relationship; you must publish your own privacy policy if you collect additional data from buyers, and you are responsible for handling buyer data subject requests (access, deletion, portability) for data you process beyond what we share.

We may update this Agreement from time to time. Material changes — including changes to commission rate, dispute or refund liability, indemnification scope, or governing law — will be notified to your registered seller email at least 30 days in advance, and will not apply retroactively to sales already settled. Non-material changes (clarifications, contact updates, formatting, additional examples) take effect on publication. Continuing to list products after the effective date of any change constitutes acceptance. The most recent version is always available at /seller-agreement with the date shown at the top of the page.

This Agreement is governed by the laws of Romania, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute that cannot be resolved by good-faith negotiation is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Bucharest, Romania. This Agreement is published in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Romanian); the English version controls in the event of a translation conflict.