Cloutal Media Terms of Service

These Terms govern your use of Cloutal Media — the service photographers, studios and other creators (“Sellers”) use to deliver and sell their work, and that their customers use to view and buy it. Cloutal Media is operated by Cloutal, Inc. (“Cloutal”, “we”).

These Terms do not cover Cloutal Photo Tether, which is software Cloutal writes and sells itself under its own Terms of Service and the licence agreement shown in the app’s Legal & Licenses screen.

Cloutal Media is a marketplace

When you buy photographs, video or related goods through Cloutal Media, you are buying from the Seller — not from Cloutal. Cloutal provides the storefront, hosting and delivery infrastructure the Seller uses to make and fulfil their own sales, as a technology provider to that Seller.

Cloutal is not the seller or supplier of a Seller’s work, is not a party to the contract of sale between a Seller and their customer, and does not take title to or resell a Seller’s work. Cloutal charges the Seller a fee for this software and infrastructure; that fee is consideration for Cloutal’s service to the Seller, not a share of or an interest in the sale.

What Cloutal does sell here

Cloutal is the supplier and merchant of record for the services it sells in its own name on Cloutal Media — subscriptions, storage and file preservation. Those are Cloutal’s own charges, invoiced by Cloutal, and are not a Seller’s supply. Everything else in these Terms about Sellers does not apply to them. Cancellation and refunds for them are in the Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Preservation

Preservation is a paid Cloutal service that keeps your own copies of media you bought or were given access to, independently of the Seller. It exists because a Seller can archive or remove their media at any time; a preserved copy survives that.

• A preservation term runs for a fixed period or as a subscription, priced by how much is preserved. The term, the price and the renewal date are shown before you pay and in My Cloud afterwards.
• Preservation covers the media included when the term is bought. It is not a general backup service, and it does not extend a Seller’s download period for anything not preserved.
• Recovery is a separate, one-off charge to bring already-archived media back for a limited window of access. It buys access, not storage; preserving that media afterwards is an ordinary purchase at the ordinary price. Recovery is not always possible — media the Seller has removed cannot be recovered at all.
• When a term ends and is not renewed, the preserved copies are removed after a short grace period. You are notified before that happens.

Storage, preservation and recovery are not refundable — see the Refund & Cancellation Policy. Keep your own copies of anything irreplaceable; no service here is a substitute for your own backups.

Accounts

You are responsible for your account and for activity under it, subject to the limits and terms of your plan. Keep your credentials secure.

Sellers

• The Seller decides what to offer, sets their own prices and currency, and authorises each sale.
• The Seller sets their own terms of sale, which govern the purchase. These are published on the Seller’s storefront and are separate from these Terms.
• The Seller owns the customer relationship and is responsible for fulfilment, delivery of the correct files, licensing of their work, cancellations and refunds.
• The Seller is responsible for their own tax obligations — see Taxes below.
• The Seller warrants that they hold the rights necessary to sell and license the work they offer, and that doing so infringes no one else’s rights.

Payments

Payments for Cloutal Media sales are processed by Stripe and paid directly into the Seller’s own Stripe account. Cloutal does not receive, hold or disburse the purchase price of a Seller’s sale. Cloutal’s fee is collected from the Seller in connection with that payment. Sellers are also subject to Stripe’s own agreements for their Stripe account.

Taxes

The Seller is responsible for determining, collecting and remitting any sales tax, VAT, GST or similar tax due on their sales, and for any registration and filing that requires. Where tax calculation is enabled, it is performed by Stripe using the tax registrations held on the Seller’s own Stripe account. Cloutal does not register for, file or remit tax on a Seller’s behalf, and does not determine whether tax is due on a Seller’s sales. Nothing on Cloutal is tax advice. This concerns a Seller’s sales; tax on Cloutal’s own charges is Cloutal’s to account for.

If you are buying

The Seller supplying your purchase is identified on the storefront, at checkout and on your receipt. That Seller’s terms of sale govern what you buy — delivery, how long files stay available, the licence you receive, and their refund and cancellation policy. Questions about an order, a download, fulfilment or a refund go to the Seller, whose contact details appear on your receipt and storefront.

Cloutal operates the storefront and delivers the files, and applies its own technical limits to that delivery — for example signed, short-lived download links and caps on repeated download attempts. Those are properties of the software, not the Seller’s commercial terms.

How long a purchase stays downloadable is the Seller’s term, not ours. The period is shown at checkout and on your receipt, and where the Seller has published none, the files stay available for as long as they keep the gallery online. Two things end it sooner: the Seller archiving the album, which moves it to long-term storage and requires a retrieval before anything can be downloaded again, and the Seller removing the media, which they may do at any time. If a Seller’s account ends, purchased files may stop being available through Cloutal.

Download your files promptly and keep your own copies. Where the Seller offers it, preservation is the way to keep your copies independently of them.

Disputes between Sellers and customers

Because Cloutal is not a party to the sale, disputes about a purchase are between the customer and the Seller. Cloutal may, but need not, provide order records to either party, and may act on notices of infringement or unlawful content under the applicable process.

Acceptable use

Do not misuse the service, interfere with its operation, or attempt to circumvent access or security controls. Do not upload, sell or distribute content you do not have the right to, or that is unlawful. Cloutal may remove content or suspend accounts for breach.

Disclaimers, liability, termination, governing law

Cloutal Media is provided “as is”. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Cloutal disclaims warranties and limits liability. Cloutal does not warrant the work, conduct or terms of any Seller. Cloutal may suspend or terminate access for breach. Governing law, the company’s notice address and dispute-resolution terms will be finalized on approval.

Changes and contact

We may update these Terms; the document version above changes when we do, and continued use after an update means you accept the revised Terms. For help, or to reach us about these Terms, use the support page.