Marketplace Terms

1. Scope and role of Fiction Addicts Anonymous

These Marketplace Terms govern every direct ePub sale made through Fiction Addicts Anonymous (“FAA”, “we”, “us”). They apply in addition to our general Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy; where the two conflict on a marketplace matter, these terms prevail.

FAA is a technology provider only. We supply the listing page, the checkout button, the file storage and the delivery link. We are not the seller, not the merchant of record, not a payment processor, and not a party to the contract of sale between an author and a reader. We take no commission and we never hold, route or control sale funds.

Direct ePub selling is available to authors on the Alchemist plan only, and only while that plan is active and their connected payment account is in good standing.

2. Stripe Connect and the flow of money

Selling authors connect their own Stripe account to the platform using Stripe Connect (Standard accounts). Payment is created on and settled into the author's own Stripe account. Payouts are made by Stripe to the author on the author's own payout schedule. FAA does not receive, hold, split or delay any part of the purchase price.

By connecting an account the author enters into, and agrees to remain bound by, the Stripe Services Agreement and the Stripe Connected Account Agreement directly with Stripe. Stripe's own risk, verification, reserve, and account-closure decisions are Stripe's alone; FAA cannot reverse, appeal or override them.

Stripe processing fees, currency conversion costs, chargeback fees and any Stripe reserves are borne by the author. Prices displayed to readers are set by the author, in the currency the author selects, and are inclusive of any tax the author is obliged to include.

If an author's connected account loses charges or payouts capability, their listings stop accepting purchases until the account is restored. Purchases already completed are unaffected.

FAA receives only limited status and event data from Stripe (charge status, refunds, payout success or failure, account requirements) so that buyer libraries, receipts and seller dashboards stay accurate. FAA never receives card details or full banking details.

3. Author eligibility and warranties

By listing a file for sale the author warrants, for each and every file, that: they own or control all rights necessary to sell that edition worldwide in digital form; the file does not infringe copyright, trade mark, moral, privacy or publicity rights; the file contains no malware, tracking, or executable content; the listing metadata (title, author, blurb, cover, series and price) is accurate and not misleading; and the sale does not breach any exclusivity arrangement the author has entered into elsewhere, including retailer exclusivity programmes.

The author is solely responsible for their own tax position, including registration, collection and remittance of GST, VAT, sales tax or any equivalent, and for issuing any tax invoice a buyer is entitled to.

The author must keep the sale contact channel on their public profile monitored, and must respond to reader questions about a purchase within a reasonable time.

4. Listings, pricing and withdrawal

A book only becomes purchasable when the author has a connected account with charges enabled, a price set, and an uploaded ePub. Until then the listing shows as “Not for sale yet”.

Authors may change price, currency, or remove a listing at any time. Price changes apply to future sales only. Removing a listing or a file does not cancel completed sales: buyers keep their licence and their access, and the author must not remove a file in order to defeat a buyer's access.

FAA may hide, suspend or remove any listing or file, with or without notice, where it appears to breach these terms, infringe a third party's rights, be unlawful, be fraudulent, or where Stripe or a rights holder requires it.

5. Delivery and the reader's licence

On successful payment the buyer immediately receives access in their FAA purchases library: an in-browser reader, a personal download link, and optional delivery of that link to a saved e-reader address. Download and reading links are personal to the buyer and expire 24 hours after issue; the buyer can reissue a fresh link at any time from their purchases page while their account remains open.

E-reader delivery is a convenience, not a guarantee. It depends on the buyer's device provider accepting mail from us; Kindle owners may need to use Amazon's Send to Kindle instead.

The buyer receives a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to read the file on devices they control. The buyer must not resell, sub-licence, share, upload, publish, translate, strip protections from, or use the file to train any model. Breach ends the licence immediately.

FAA will keep purchased files available for at least 24 months from purchase, subject to the author's rights or a lawful takedown. Buyers are encouraged to download and keep their own copy.

6. Refund rules

Refunds are the author's responsibility, not FAA's. FAA does not hold the funds and cannot issue, force or fund a refund on an author's behalf. The reader's refund contract is with the author.

Because ePubs are delivered instantly, an author may decline a change-of-mind refund. An author must issue a refund where the law requires it, including where the Australian Consumer Law applies and the file is faulty, corrupted, undeliverable, materially misdescribed, incomplete, or not the edition sold, and where any equivalent mandatory consumer right in the buyer's jurisdiction applies.

Process: the reader contacts the author first, using the contact route on the author's profile or the reply thread on their purchase. The author should respond within 5 business days and, where a refund is owed, issue it through Stripe within a further 5 business days. FAA can pass a message on and can show both sides the sale record, but does not adjudicate refund disputes.

When a refund is processed in Stripe, the purchase in the buyer's library is marked refunded and access to the file is withdrawn. The buyer must delete any copies they hold. Repeated refunds arising from faulty or misdescribed files may result in a seller's marketplace access being suspended.

Chargebacks and payment disputes are handled between the reader, the author and Stripe. The author bears the chargeback and its fee. FAA will supply the transaction and delivery records it holds if asked by either party.

7. Author liability and indemnity

The author is liable for everything arising from their own sales: the accuracy of the listing, the fitness of the file, the fulfilment of consumer rights, refunds, chargebacks, taxes, and any claim by a third party over the content sold.

The author indemnifies FAA, and holds FAA harmless, against any claim, demand, loss, fine, penalty, or reasonable cost (including legal costs) arising from: the content or sale of their files; an infringement of a third party's rights; a breach of these terms or of Stripe's agreements; a failure to honour a refund the law required; or any tax the author failed to remit.

To the extent permitted by law, FAA is not liable for any loss arising from a marketplace transaction, including lost sales, lost funds, payout delays, Stripe account decisions, refund disputes, or a buyer's inability to open a file on a particular device. Where liability cannot be excluded, FAA's total liability for marketplace matters is limited to the fees the affected party paid FAA in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing here excludes rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8. Data and records

For each sale FAA records the buyer, book, amount, currency, payment status, receipt link and delivery activity, so that buyers keep access and sellers can reconcile. Authors can see the sale record, amount and buyer display name for their own sales; they do not receive card data or full buyer contact details from us beyond what Stripe provides to them as merchant of record.

Both parties must handle any personal information they receive through a sale in line with applicable privacy law and must not use it for unsolicited marketing.

9. Suspension, changes and contact

FAA may suspend marketplace access for an author who breaches these terms, whose plan lapses, whose connected account is disabled, or where suspension is needed to protect readers.

We may update these Marketplace Terms; material changes are announced in-app and take effect for sales made after the change. Continued selling or buying after a change means the change is accepted.

Questions, or a message you want passed to the other party: hello@fiction-addicts.com.