Terms of Service

1. What Make an Offer is

[Placeholder] Make an Offer is a business-to-business marketplace connecting surplus goods with business demand. This section will describe, in binding legal terms once drafted, the service the platform provides and the relationship between the platform, sellers, and buyers.

2. Eligibility

[Placeholder] Use is intended for registered businesses acting in a business capacity, not individual consumers. Final eligibility criteria to be defined by legal review.

3. Listings and transactions

[Placeholder] Rules governing what may be listed, how offers and acceptance work, and when a transaction becomes binding, consistent with the Acceptable Use Policy, to be finalised by legal review.

4. Fees

The seller pays Make an Offer’s commission on every completed sale, as published on the Pricing page and shown to the seller before they accept an offer, it is never a surprise at payout. The buyer pays only the agreed price, never a separate platform fee.

The commission becomes due from the seller, as its own payment, the instant the buyer’s payment secures, the same moment identities are revealed. The seller pays it directly at that point, and doing so is what unlocks the ability to provide pickup or logistics details, goods information is not released to the buyer while the commission for facilitating the sale remains unpaid. It is not deducted from the seller’s eventual payout, by the time that payout happens it has already been paid.

Because it is due and paid at that moment, not at completion, the commission is non-refundable and stays payable regardless of anything that happens to the transaction afterward, including the seller missing the shipping or collection deadline, the transaction being cancelled, or a dispute being resolved by refunding the buyer (see sections 5 and 6). Refunding the buyer returns what they paid for the goods, it does not reverse or waive the platform’s commission for having facilitated the transaction. A Free-priced listing still incurs the published minimum fee, for the same reason.

Binding fee terms, beyond what is stated here and on the Pricing page, to be finalised by legal review.

5. Shipping, handover, and payment release

Make an Offer never books, arranges, prices, or pays for shipping, on either the outbound leg or a return, and the seller never does either. The buyer is always responsible for collecting the goods themselves or arranging and paying for their own courier.

The seller must ship, that is, hand the goods to the buyer’s chosen courier, or mark them ready for the buyer to collect in person, within a fixed number of business days of the buyer selecting a fulfilment method (shown on the transaction). If the seller misses that deadline, the transaction is cancelled automatically and the buyer is refunded in full. A seller who needs more time may request a short extension before the deadline passes, which only takes effect if the buyer approves it.

Where the buyer is collecting in person, they must also do so within a fixed number of business days of the seller marking the goods ready. If the buyer does not collect in time, the transaction resolves in the seller’s favour: the seller keeps both the goods and the payment. That is the buyer’s own risk to manage, not the platform’s or the seller’s to absorb.

Where a courier is involved, there are two separate checkpoints. First, the seller confirms handover, given at the point the goods are collected or dispatched, with a photo of the goods and the carrier’s tracking or consignment reference, this is proof the seller performed their side, not a payment trigger by itself. Second, either party, checking that same tracking reference, confirms the goods have actually been delivered, and it is that confirmation, by either of them, not a confirmation required specifically from the buyer, that starts the buyer’s window to confirm receipt or report a problem (below). If either party disagrees that delivery has genuinely happened, they report a problem instead of confirming it. For an in-person collection there is no tracking reference and no gap in between, so either party may confirm once the goods have actually changed hands, which does both at once.

Once handover to a carrier is proven, risk of loss or damage in transit passes to the buyer. If a carrier subsequently loses or damages the shipment, that is a claim the buyer pursues directly against their own carrier or its insurance. Make an Offer is not a party to that claim, does not investigate or adjudicate it, and it does not pause, reduce, or otherwise affect payment to the seller, who has already performed their side by proving handover. That risk-transfer only holds if the goods were adequately packaged for the journey in the first place, the seller is responsible for how their own goods are packaged (see the Packaging Guidelines), and damage that’s genuinely attributable to inadequate packaging rather than carrier handling is the seller’s responsibility, not a carrier claim.

Once handover is proven, the buyer has a fixed window (shown on the transaction) to confirm receipt or report a problem through Report a Problem. If the buyer does nothing, payment releases to the seller automatically once that window closes.

6. Disputes

Make an Offer does not adjudicate commercial disputes between a buyer and seller; it only executes predetermined payment-release rules. A dispute may only be raised for a genuine, objective problem: materially not as described, incorrect quantity, damage that wasn’t disclosed in the listing, the wrong item entirely, or a genuine disagreement that the goods were actually delivered despite what the tracking confirmation says. A change of mind, finding it cheaper elsewhere, or simply no longer wanting the item is never an eligible reason. Loss or damage caused by a carrier after a proven handover is not a dispute either, see section 5, the seller is still paid and it is not adjudicated here.

Opening a dispute pauses payment release for a fixed number of days (shown on the transaction). During that time, the buyer and seller are expected to resolve it directly between themselves and each tell the platform what they’ve agreed, release the payment to the seller, or refund the buyer. The moment both sides tell the platform the same outcome, it is carried out immediately, with no review of the underlying merits.

If the buyer and seller have not agreed within that window, payment automatically releases to the seller. Opening a dispute does not, by itself, entitle the buyer to a refund, and failing to reach agreement does not either, that default is what keeps a disagreement from holding a seller’s payment indefinitely. It is a payment mechanic, not a finding that the goods were as described or that the claim lacked merit, the underlying dispute is not resolved by the platform and is not settled by the default release. A seller who has received payment this way can still be liable to the buyer for a genuine, unresolved claim, pursued directly between the parties, under the ordinary rules that would apply to that commercial relationship.

In rare, exceptional circumstances only, suspected fraud, or a genuine error on the platform’s part, Make an Offer may make a manual determination outside this process. This is not the ordinary path and is not available simply because one party disagrees with the outcome above.

Because both buyer and seller here are businesses, not consumers, no statutory 14-day cooling-off/right-of-withdrawal period applies to transactions on Make an Offer, unlike a consumer marketplace. This section and section 5 are what govern returns, refunds, and cancellations here.

7. Liability and disclaimers

[Placeholder] Subject to the pilot programme notice above during the pilot phase, under which the operator accepts no liability for losses arising from use of the pilot at all. Once live, and subject to final legal review, the intent is for the operator’s total liability arising from use of the platform to be capped, and for the operator to exclude liability for indirect or consequential losses (such as lost profits or business interruption) arising from a transaction, supply chain issue, or dispute between buyer and seller, since Make an Offer facilitates the connection but is not a party to the underlying sale. Nothing here is intended to exclude liability that can’t lawfully be excluded (e.g. for fraud). Full liability terms, including the specific cap, to be finalised by legal review before any live use.

8. Suspension, removal, and delisting

If Make an Offer suspends a seller’s account or removes (delists) a listing, we will provide a statement of reasons, in reasonable detail, explaining the specific grounds for that decision. Except where the reason is repeated violation of these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, or suspected fraud, illegal content, or a risk to the safety of other users (in which case action may be taken immediately), affected sellers will be given at least 30 days’ notice of the statement of reasons before the suspension or removal takes effect, so there is a real opportunity to respond or correct the issue first.

One specific example of immediate action: anonymity before payment is a core feature of this platform, both for the seller and for the counterparty they haven’t paid or been paid by yet. Posting a photo or document with a listing that discloses your organisation’s identity, such as a visible logo, signage, letterhead, or staff face, defeats that for everyone still relying on it, not just for you. Doing so suspends the account immediately, without the 30 days’ notice above. Reinstating a suspended account this way requires paying the reinstatement fee published on the Pricing page, which reactivates the account immediately once paid. That fee is non-refundable once paid, and paying it does not waive the platform’s right to take further action for a repeated or more serious violation.

9. Appeals and mediation

This is separate from section 6, buyer/seller commercial disputes are not appealed here. If a business user disagrees with a decision Make an Offer itself made (such as a suspension or listing removal) and it can’t be resolved directly with us, we are willing to engage an independent external mediator to help resolve it, in addition to, not instead of, any right to pursue the matter through the courts. The mediators we are willing to engage with for this purpose are:

• the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Centre for ADR; and
• the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).

Both are established, independent providers of commercial mediation, not part of Make an Offer. Naming them here reflects our willingness to engage them in good faith, it isn’t a standing contract with either body, and mediation fees, where applicable, would typically be shared between the parties per that provider’s own rules. As with the rest of these terms, no binding platform decisions are made during the pilot phase (see the pilot programme notice above), so this section describes how appeals will work once Make an Offer is operated by a formally registered entity, not a process available today.

10. Changes to these terms

[Placeholder] The operator may update these terms at any time; material changes will be communicated to registered users where practicable.

11. Contact

Questions about these terms: alisontichelaarpalma@gmail.com.