Terms & conditions

1. Who these terms are between

These terms (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Sustaplates Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales (“Sustaplates”, “we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the Sustaplates marketplace, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

2. The service

Sustaplates is an online marketplace connecting UK food sellers (restaurants, bakeries, grocers, and similar) with buyers and registered charities, with the goal of reducing food waste. We do not own, hold, or sell food ourselves; we provide the platform on which sellers list surplus food and buyers / charities transact with them.

3. Eligibility & accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old to create a Sustaplates account.
• Sellers and charities must be lawfully constituted entities operating in the UK and complete our identity-verification (KYC) process before listing or receiving donations.
• You’re responsible for keeping your login credentials and TOTP backup codes secure. Two-factor authentication is mandatory.
• You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date.

4. Listings, orders & donations

• Sellers are responsible for the accuracy of every listing (description, price, quantity, allergens, expiry / use-by) and for handling, storing, and providing food in accordance with UK food safety law (including the Food Safety Act 1990 and Food Information Regulations 2014).
• Buyers form a contract directly with the seller when an order is placed. Sustaplates is not a party to that contract; we facilitate it.
• Charitiesmay accept donated listings. When a donation is accepted, Sustaplates generates a PDF acceptance certificate that the seller may submit with their tax return for HMRC tax-relief purposes. We do not file with HMRC on the seller’s behalf.
• Listings remain active until withdrawn, sold out, or expired. We reserve the right to remove listings that breach these Terms.

5. Payments

• Payments are processed by Stripe via Stripe Checkout. Sustaplates never sees, stores, or processes your card details.
• Sellers receive payouts to their nominated bank account on the schedule published in their dashboard, less applicable platform fees and any refunds / chargebacks.
• Platform fees, payout schedules, and any minimum-payout thresholds are listed in your seller dashboard and may be changed on 30 days’ notice.

6. Refunds & cancellations

Refunds are governed by our separate refund policy(when published). In summary: orders that aren’t collected within the seller’s pickup window, or that arrive in a condition unfit for consumption, are eligible for a full refund. We act as facilitator; the seller remains the primary party responsible for goods.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• List or transact in items that are not food, or that breach UK law.
• Misrepresent the contents, condition, or origin of any listing.
• Circumvent the platform to take payment off-system (this defeats consumer protection and may breach AML / tax law).
• Scrape, reverse-engineer, or attempt to disrupt the service, including bypassing rate limits, bot challenges, or authentication.
• Upload content you don’t own or have rights to publish.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these rules, and report suspected fraud to the relevant authorities.

8. Intellectual property

The Sustaplates name, logo, and platform are owned by Sustaplates Ltd. Listings you upload remain yours; you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to display them on the platform for the purpose of operating the marketplace.

9. Liability

Sustaplates provides the platform “as is.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all implied warranties and limit our aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with your use of the service to the greater of (a) the total platform fees you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) £100. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law (including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud).

10. Termination

You may close your account at any time from your profile. We may suspend or terminate your account for breach of these Terms, suspected fraud, or as required by law. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (liability, intellectual property, dispute resolution) will survive.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified by email and will take effect 30 days after notice. Your continued use of the service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing law & jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of England & Wales. Disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England & Wales, except that consumers may have additional rights under their local law.

13. Contact

Email hello@sustaplates.com for general queries, or privacy@sustaplates.com for data-protection matters.