Terms of Service

Last updated: 7 October 2026. These terms govern your use of ArtExchange.app.

1. Who you are contracting with

ArtExchange.app is operated by Sylvan James Smit, 12059 Berlin, Germany (“we”, “us”). Full details are in our Impressum. Subscriptions themselves are sold by Paddle.com Market Ltd as Merchant of Record; see section 5.

2. What the service is

ArtExchange is a portfolio site built on the AT Protocol. Your artwork and the records describing it are stored in your own Personal Data Server (PDS), not in a database we own. We read those records to render your public portfolio, and write them back when you edit your work in the studio. If you stop using ArtExchange, your records remain in your PDS and are yours.

3. Your account

You sign in with an ATProto identity: one you already have, at any host, or one you create when you sign up, at one of the hosts we offer. You are responsible for keeping access to that identity secure; we cannot recover it for you, because we do not hold it. You must be at least 16 years old, or the age of digital consent in your country if that is higher.

4. Your content

You keep every right in the work you upload. We claim no ownership and no licence beyond what is technically required to run the service: storing, transmitting and displaying your work so that your portfolio can be shown to the people you share it with, including the resized copies of your photos that our delivery network makes so that your portfolio loads quickly. That permission ends when you remove the work or delete your profile, and those copies expire from the network's cache within a day after that.

You confirm that you have the rights to the work you publish, and that it:

• does not infringe anyone else's copyright or other rights
• is not unlawful, defamatory, or in breach of another person's privacy
• does not depict the sexual abuse or exploitation of minors
• is not used to harass, threaten or incite violence against anyone

A public portfolio is public, and so is everything else you upload. Your work is stored in your ATProto repository, which anyone can read who knows where to look, and which other services on the AT Protocol network can read and copy independently of us. ArtExchange cannot make a record private. What it does decide is what your portfolio shows: uploading a piece does not put it there, adding it to a project does.

5. Subscription, trial and billing

A Studio subscription is required to upload work and to create, arrange and edit your projects and pieces. Your profile never needs one: creating it, changing its name, its introduction and what it leads with, and deleting it are free. The subscription is offered monthly or annually, with a free trial of seven days. Current prices are on the pricing page.

Payments are processed by Paddle.com Market Ltd as Merchant of Record. Paddle is the seller for the transaction, issues your receipt, and is responsible for charging and remitting VAT. Your purchase is therefore also subject to Paddle's buyer terms.

Unless you cancel, the subscription renews automatically at the end of each period at the price then published. You can cancel at any time; see the refund policy for what happens to the period you have already paid for.

6. If your subscription ends

Your portfolio stays online and your work stays in your own PDS. What closes is the studio: you can no longer edit or upload. Taking your portfolio offline is free and always available, whether you are subscribed or not — you never have to pay us in order to leave.

7. Availability

We work to keep the service running but do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. Maintenance, faults, and outages at your PDS or at our hosting provider can all interrupt it. Because your work lives in your own PDS, an outage here does not put it at risk.

8. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the service at any time. We may suspend or close an account that breaches section 4, that is used unlawfully, or that we are legally required to act against — proportionately, and with notice wherever it is possible to give it. Closing your account here does not delete anything from your PDS; only you can do that.

9. Liability

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and for injury to life, body or health. For ordinary negligence we are liable only where a material contractual obligation is breached, and then only for damage that was foreseeable and typical for this kind of contract. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, and your statutory rights as a consumer are unaffected.

10. Changes

We may change these terms where there is a valid reason — a change in the law, or in how the service works. We will give you reasonable notice of any change that materially disadvantages you, and you may cancel before it takes effect.

11. Governing law

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer resident in the EU, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory law of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings there.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms: contact@artexchange.app