Marketplace Terms and Conditions of Sale

1. Agreement and eligibility

By creating an account, listing, bidding, buying, selling, serving as a custodian, or otherwise using a transactional Gavelum feature, you agree to the version of these Terms presented to you and any item-specific terms you separately accept.

Transactional accounts are for persons at least 18 years old who can enter binding contracts. You must provide accurate information, keep it current, and complete identity, payment, tax, sanctions, fraud, and other risk checks that Gavelum reasonably requires.

2. Gavelum's role

Gavelum operates an online marketplace for physical artwork. The identified seller, not Gavelum, sells the artwork. Gavelum may administer timed auctions, review evidence, maintain ownership and custody records, collect payment as a limited marketplace payment-collection agent, coordinate release, and administer transaction issues and reversals.

Gavelum is not an appraiser, insurer, escrow holder, trustee, bank, art-storage company, or guarantor of authenticity, title, condition, market value, future value, or appreciation. Marketplace verification is risk-based review and does not eliminate the possibility of error, fraud, competing claims, creditor disputes, or later-discovered facts.

3. Listings and seller representations

A seller must own the offered interest or have documented authority to sell it. Listing information must be accurate and must disclose material facts known to the seller about identity, authorship or attribution, medium, dimensions, edition status, provenance, condition, restoration, signatures, certificates, liens, competing claims, and material defects.

• The artwork may not be stolen, counterfeit, unlawfully reproduced, pledged, subject to an undisclosed lien, simultaneously consigned elsewhere, or subject to a conflicting sale or option.
• Editioned or reproducible works must be described accurately and may not be represented as unique when they are not.
• Images and documents may not be manipulated or presented in a way that materially misrepresents the work.
• Fraud, counterfeit goods, stolen property, undisclosed liens, intentional misrepresentation, and lack of sale authority remain the seller's responsibility after sale and payout.

4. Auctions, bids, and sale formation

A bid is an offer to buy under the listing and applicable transaction terms. Gavelum may reject or invalidate bids affected by fraud, error, account restrictions, prohibited self-dealing, related-party manipulation, payment failure, or violation of marketplace rules.

Auction close identifies the apparent winning bidder but does not by itself transfer ownership. Ownership transfers only after required payment and transaction checks are completed and Gavelum issues the applicable Bill of Sale and Ownership Transfer Record with a recorded transfer timestamp.

5. Price, fees, taxes, and payment

Checkout identifies the hammer price, applicable buyer charges, taxes, shipping or release charges, and other transaction amounts before payment. For a seller-retained-custody transaction under the current private-custody calibration, the buyer is charged a Custody Transaction Services Fee equal to 8% of hammer price unless a later version expressly states a different approved rate.

Gavelum may calculate, collect, report, and remit taxes when required. Tax treatment can depend on the artwork location, buyer location, custody arrangement, release destination, and applicable law. Sellers remain responsible for their own income, gain, loss, basis, inventory, business, and other tax obligations.

Seller appoints Gavelum as a limited payment-collection agent for marketplace transactions. Subject to failed payment, fraud, chargeback, or reversal, a buyer's payment obligation to the seller is satisfied when Gavelum's approved payment processor accepts the payment and Gavelum finalizes the transaction. This appointment does not create a wallet, stored-value account, escrow account, deposit account, or general money-transfer service.

6. Seller-retained custody

Some listings expressly provide that ownership transfers while physical possession remains with an approved seller-custodian. The listing and checkout will identify this arrangement. The buyer becomes the owner at the recorded transfer time but does not receive immediate possession.

• The custodian holds the artwork as bailee for the current owner and must follow the item-specific Seller Custody Agreement.
• Private custody is subject to value, identity, condition, location, verification, term, and other risk controls.
• Private seller custody is capped at $5,000. The initial term may not exceed 12 months, each approved renewal may not exceed 12 months, and cumulative private custody may not exceed 36 months.
• An approved custody-continuing resale requires current possession and condition verification. The original custodian remains the custodian, and the later seller does not become a new private custodian merely by selling the work.
• The buyer may request release under the applicable release process. Release may involve shipping, inspection, professional-custody, handling, tax, or other disclosed charges.
• Custody creates risks that immediate delivery does not, including loss, damage, disappearance, refusal, death, incapacity, insolvency, liens, creditor claims, bankruptcy, and legal seizure.

7. Seller proceeds and Conditional Custody Payable

Gavelum's seller commission is 20% of hammer price. On the original custody-continuing sale, the original seller-custodian receives 20% of hammer price after the transaction becomes market-final, and 60% is recorded as that custodian's Conditional Custody Payable. The item schedule controls the exact amounts for the transaction.

The Conditional Custody Payable is a general contractual obligation of Gavelum, not a deposit, wallet balance, trust asset, escrow balance, or ownership interest in specific buyer funds. It becomes payable only after verified physical release, custody termination, or another defined agreement termination event, subject to lawful setoff and transaction adjustments. Elapsed time alone does not make it payable while approved custody continues.

If the artwork is later resold while approved custody continues, the later seller receives the full net proceeds after the 20% commission once that resale becomes market-final. No new Conditional Custody Payable is created, and the original custodian's existing Conditional Custody Payable remains unchanged.

8. Release, delivery, condition, and inspection

For ship-after-sale transactions, the seller must complete the approved shipping and delivery process. For custody transactions, the custodian must respond to a valid release request and make the artwork available for approved handoff within the timing stated in the item-specific agreement, subject to documented cure or emergency procedures.

Gavelum may require identity, authority, condition, lien, dispute, payment, address, shipping, and handoff evidence before release. A material condition discrepancy or failure to deliver may open a transaction review.

9. Custody Transaction Resolution Service

For qualifying custody transactions, Gavelum administers a limited Custody Transaction Resolution Service. If a defined custody failure makes completion impracticable after applicable review and cure, Gavelum may administer a transaction reversal under the governing terms.

A full transaction reversal may return the affected buyer's hammer price, tax attributable to the reversed sale, Custody Transaction Services Fee, and unused transaction charges. It does not provide appreciation, replacement value, lost profits, emotional value, consequential damages, or a Gavelum-funded repair or diminution award. The service is a contractual marketplace service and is not insurance or an insurance policy.

10. Refunds, reversals, disputes, and chargebacks

Refunds and reversals are recorded against the affected transaction and may require return or assignment of title, possession, and recovery rights. A user may not obtain duplicate recovery through Gavelum, a payment dispute, another marketplace remedy, insurance, litigation, or another source for the same loss.

Payment disputes or chargebacks do not automatically determine ownership or the merits of a marketplace transaction issue. Gavelum may suspend payouts, transfers, release, resale, or other affected actions while a dispute is investigated.

11. Prohibited conduct

• Shill bidding, bidding on your own lot, coordinated artificial price formation, undisclosed related-party manipulation, or circular trading designed to create false market evidence.
• Fraud, identity misuse, sanctions evasion, money laundering, unauthorized payment activity, or use of the marketplace for unrelated money transfer.
• Selling or pledging artwork you do not own or control, hiding liens or competing claims, falsifying provenance or condition, or interfering with an owner's release rights.
• Scraping, attacks, credential abuse, malware, or interference with Gavelum systems, security, auctions, evidence, or other users.

12. Suspension and risk controls

Gavelum may pause or restrict listings, bids, payments, ownership transfer, custody, release, payout, resale, or account access when reasonably necessary to address fraud, sanctions, identity, title, lien, creditor, bankruptcy, condition, payment, tax, provider, security, legal, or operational risk. A pause does not by itself erase a valid ownership record or contractual obligation.

13. Intellectual property and user content

You retain rights you own in submitted images, descriptions, and other content. You grant Gavelum a nonexclusive, worldwide license to host, reproduce, resize, display, distribute, and use submitted content as reasonably necessary to operate, document, market, audit, and enforce the marketplace and the relevant transaction. You represent that you have the rights necessary to grant that license.

14. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gavelum provides the platform and marketplace services without warranties that are not expressly stated in the applicable transaction documents. Gavelum does not warrant uninterrupted operation or that review procedures will detect every fraud, authenticity, title, condition, creditor, or legal issue.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gavelum is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits or lost opportunity. This limitation does not reduce an expressly applicable transaction-reversal obligation, payment obligation, or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

15. Indemnity

You are responsible for losses, liabilities, costs, and reasonable expenses caused by your fraud, intentional misconduct, breach of these Terms, infringement, false listing information, lack of sale authority, undisclosed lien, unauthorized transfer, tax noncompliance, or violation of applicable law. Gavelum may seek recovery or setoff to the extent permitted by the applicable agreements and law.

16. Governing law and disputes

Unless mandatory law requires otherwise, these Terms and U.S. marketplace transactions are governed by Nevada law without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes not resolved through Gavelum's transaction-review process may be brought in a state or federal court with jurisdiction in Clark County, Nevada. Nothing in these Terms waives nonwaivable consumer rights or jurisdictional rights provided by applicable law.

17. Electronic records, notices, and changes

You consent to electronic contracting, signatures, records, notices, receipts, and disclosures. Gavelum may deliver notices through the site, account, or email address associated with your account. Material changes apply prospectively under a new version or effective date; a changed transaction document must be accepted when the applicable workflow requires reacceptance.

18. Privacy, severability, and survival

The Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain effective to the extent permitted by law. Provisions concerning ownership records, payment, taxes, custody, disputes, recovery, intellectual property, audit evidence, indemnity, limitations, and other provisions that by their nature should survive will survive account closure or transaction completion.