Market terms

1.What Market is

Scale Market ("Market") is the show floor where businesses on Scale Suite list services, products and templates, post needs, bid on jobs, run booths and raffles, and buy from each other. These terms are part of the Terms of service.

Market is in preview. Payments, plans and sponsorships in the preview are simulated, and no card is charged. While a seller's Pay balance is negative, its listings are paused, as the Pay terms explain. [Decision for Cameron and Mike: open Market at launch, or after January 1 with services and digital goods first, once seller verification, reports and sales tax are ready.]

2.Scale is not a party to your deals

Every deal in Market is between the businesses involved. Scale runs the venue. Scale is not the seller, the buyer or an agent for either, does not do the work, does not own or inspect what is sold, and does not guarantee any business, listing, price, delivery or result.

Payments go through Pay, straight to the seller's own Stripe account, under the Pay terms.

3.Who can sell, and seller verification

Nobody can list in Market until verification is complete. A seller must have a Scale Suite account, be 18 or older, give its business name, email and phone, and finish Pay setup, where Stripe collects and checks the payout bank account and tax ID. Scale sees only that they were provided, never the numbers.

Every seller confirms or updates its details at least once a year. We ask 30 days ahead, and listings are held if the confirmation is more than 10 days overdue. If a seller changes its details, Scale checks them again within 10 days, and listings are held if that is not done in time.

For businesses that sell new or unused consumer products, Scale also follows the INFORM Consumers Act. When a seller reaches 200 or more sales and $5,000 or more in sales through Market in any 12 months, Scale collects the seller's bank account details, tax ID, and a working email and phone number, plus a government ID for the person acting for a business or a government record showing the business name and address. Scale verifies them within 10 days, and asks the seller to confirm or update them at least once a year. Sellers with $20,000 or more a year in such sales must show buyers their full name, physical address and contact details on every listing; a business address can be used instead of a home address. If a seller does not provide what is needed within 10 days of our notice, we suspend their sales until they do. Scale is stricter than the law on purpose: every seller is verified before listing, high volume or not.

We use these details only to verify sellers, follow the law and keep Market safe, and we protect them under the Security overview.

4.Listings

Listings must be true and complete. Describe what you sell, what it costs, and anything a buyer must pay to get it. The price must include every mandatory fee. A "was" price must be the real price you charged for the 30 days before the show. Photos and text must be yours or licensed to you.

You must hold any license, permit or insurance your work needs, and only offer services where you are allowed to. Products must be safe, legal, not recalled, and not counterfeit or stolen.

You may not list anything the Acceptable use policy or the Pay terms forbid.

Lenders, escrow, title, insurance and real estate businesses: [Decision for Mike: until cleared under RESPA section 8 and California rules, these booths pay flat plan prices only, with no percentage fees on referred business and no paid placement.]

Taxes on your sales are yours. [Decision for Mike and Cameron: Scale may be a marketplace facilitator for products sold through Market in some states, and would then collect and remit sales tax on those sales. Track product sales by state from day one.]

5.Fees

Buyers pay the listed price. There are no buyer fees and no listing fees. Sales paid through Pay cost the seller the Pay price, 5% with a $1.50 minimum.

Template sales: Scale keeps 15% of each sale, which includes payment processing. Founding creators pay 10% for their first year after they join. [Decision for Mike: how template money flows. If buyers pay Scale and Scale pays creators, Scale needs an agent of payee clause or a different charge setup.]

Bids on the Needs board use bid credits, priced in Market by job size before you buy them. A bid credit is refunded if the buyer never opens your bid within 72 hours.

Optional paid extras: exhibitor plans (a free Table, or paid Booth, Corner and Island plans, today shown at $29 to $299 a month), add ons like Lead Pass, Booth Concierge and Gold Exhibitor, and sponsorships like stage slots and hall sponsors. They are in preview and not on sale yet [confirm prices before launch]. Every one of them that buys placement is labeled Sponsored, as section 8 says. Exhibitor plans, add ons and sponsorships are priced in Market before you buy. Plans and monthly add ons renew every month until you cancel, under the Cancellation and refund policy. Founders pricing does not apply to Market fees.

6.Needs board and bids

A buyer can post a need. Sellers can bid. A bid is an offer. The buyer does not have to accept any bid. A deal is made only when the buyer accepts and both businesses agree on the terms.

AI can compare bids for a buyer. That comparison can be wrong or incomplete, so read the bids yourself. AI never accepts a bid or pays for you.

7.Badges

Badges come only from Scale records of paid jobs and time on Scale:

• Top rated: 50 or more reviews from paid jobs on Scale, averaging 4.7 or better, and a year or more on Scale.
• Reviewed: the business has reviews from paid jobs on Scale.
• New on Scale: reviews and time on Scale are still building.

Tap any badge to see exactly what Scale checked and when. A badge is not a guarantee of a business or its work. Badges never change where a business shows up.

Scale does not check licenses, insurance or ID for badges yet. That is coming later, and until then the badge sheet says so. Gold Exhibitor is a paid look for a booth. It is not a check of the business. Paying for anything in Market never guarantees a badge.

8.Ranking, sponsored and picked

Booths and listings are ordered by rating and then by number of reviews. Plans and payments do not change that order.

Paid placements, such as lobby rotation, sponsor spots and stage slots, always carry a Sponsored label, on screen and for screen readers. Picks made by the show without payment carry "Picked by the show", never Sponsored.

9.Reviews

Our review policy follows the FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR part 465):

• Only a buyer with a paid order through Market can review that business, once the job is done. One review per order.
• No fake reviews, and no reviews written by AI to look like a customer wrote them.
• No paying, rewarding or discounting for a review, and no reward that depends on what the review says.
• Owners, staff, contractors and their families may not review their own business. Anyone with a connection to a business must say so in the review.
• No review suppression. Do not threaten, pressure or bargain with anyone to change or remove a review, and do not ask only happy clients. Ask every client.
• Scale shows positive and negative reviews the same way. We remove a review only if it breaks the law or this policy: for example spam, hate or harassment, private information, content about something other than the order, or a review from someone who was not the buyer. We apply that standard to good and bad reviews alike.
• A business can reply to a review once, politely.

Report a review you think is fake from the review itself or to [abuse@scalembs.com, to be set up]. Ratings in the preview are sample data.

10.Leads and contact details

When a person chooses to share their details at a booth, a stage slot or a raffle, the business they chose gets them in Contacts. Use them only as that person agreed and as the Mail, messaging and calls policy allows. Buyer details from an order are only for that order.

AI features that talk to visitors for your booth, such as a booth concierge, must say they are AI. Automatic follow ups to leads are off until you turn them on, and must follow the messaging policy. [Being built: AI disclosure and consent checks for these features.]

11.Raffles

Booth raffles are free and follow the Official raffle rules and section 7 of the Terms of service.

12.Report suspicious activity

Every listing has "Report suspicious activity": a web form, plus a phone number [to be set] and an email [to be set]. Use it for counterfeit or stolen goods, scams, unsafe products, fake reviews, or anything else that breaks these terms. You do not need an account.

13.How takedowns work

When we get a report, a person reviews it. [Decision: target review time, for example 2 business days, faster for safety issues.] We may hold a listing while we look, and a listing with three open reports is held automatically until a reviewer looks. Every step is logged with who did it and when, and the seller gets a notice in the suite.

If a listing breaks these terms or the law, we remove it and tell the seller why, unless the law or safety stops us. Repeated or serious problems can lead to losing Market access or the account.

A seller can ask us to look again by replying to our notice within [14 days]. A different person reviews it.

Copyright complaints follow the Copyright and DMCA process instead.

14.Problems between businesses

Work it out with each other first. Card disputes go to the buyer's card issuer under the Pay terms. Scale may help you talk, but does not decide who is right. Scale Protect is not offered and is not an escrow service.

15.Seller promises and responsibility

As a seller, you promise that you can lawfully sell what you list, that it matches its listing, and that you will deliver it. You will defend Scale against, and pay for, claims that come from your listings, products, services, reviews you solicit, raffles or deals, as section 19 of the Terms describes.

16.Contact

Questions about this page: legal@scalembs.com, or by mail to Scale Modern Business Solutions LLC, 2415 San Ramon Valley Blvd, Suite 4, San Ramon, CA 94583.