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Terms of Service

Last updated: May 2026

These Terms of Service form a binding agreement between you and RTwelve Technologies LLC, a Hawaii limited liability company doing business as SpareAGrade ("SpareAGrade," "we," "us," "our," or the "Company") for the SpareAGrade website, related services, and any future mobile app (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms.

1. About the Service; No Official Grading or Appraisal

The Service enables users to submit collectibles (currently comic books and trading cards) for non-binding, crowdsourced opinions ("Community Grades") and to comment on, vote on, and annotate other users' grades. Community Grades are opinions, for entertainment and informational purposes only. They are not official grading, authentication, professional appraisal, or investment advice. Community Grades do not predict and are not equivalent to results from CGC, PSA, BGS, SGC, CBCS, or any other official grading service.

2. Eligibility & Accounts

  • Minimum age is 13 (or the higher digital-consent age where you live — for example, 16 in some EEA member states without parental consent).
  • Users under 18 should have a parent or guardian review these Terms.
  • If we ever introduce paid programs, those will require 18+.
  • Provide accurate registration information and keep it current. You are responsible for activity on your account and must promptly notify us at support@spareagrade.com of unauthorized use.
  • One person, one account. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate duplicate or sock-puppet accounts.

3. User Content & License

You retain ownership of photos, descriptions, comments, grades, annotations, and other content you submit (your "User Content").

You grant the Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, display, perform, distribute, and create derivative works from your User Content for the purposes of operating, improving, securing, and promoting the Service. This includes, without limitation:

  • Displaying User Content in feeds, search, item pages, leaderboards, and marketing materials about the Service;
  • Generating derivative metadata via AI extraction and classification (e.g., title, publisher, image classifications, evidence annotations);
  • Computing community grades, leaderboards, accuracy stats, and aggregated insights;
  • Sharing User Content with sub-processors necessary to deliver the Service (see the Privacy Policy for the current list).

You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to submit your User Content, and that your User Content does not violate any law or any third party's intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights.

The license you grant survives termination of your account with respect to (i) User Content that has been incorporated into community averages, grading history, evidence annotations, or aggregated datasets, and (ii) anonymized or de-identified derivatives of your User Content.

We may remove or refuse to display User Content that violates these Terms or our policies, but we have no obligation to monitor User Content.

4. Community & Grading Rules

By using the Service, you agree to:

  • Be respectful — no harassment, hate, threats, or doxxing.
  • Not post counterfeit items, stolen goods, or content you do not have rights to share.
  • Provide grades that are honest and independent. No collusion, no rating rings, no manipulation. Disclose any material connection (e.g., you sold the item to the owner) per FTC Endorsement Guides.
  • Follow our Community & Grading Guidelines, which are incorporated by reference and may be updated from time to time.

5. Prohibited Uses

You may not:

  • Use the Service for illegal activities or to infringe others' IP rights.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service except as permitted by law.
  • Scrape, crawl, or otherwise extract data from the Service via automated means; interfere with normal operation; or circumvent rate limits or access controls.
  • Bypass authentication, payment mechanisms (if any), or invite gating.
  • Use the Service to train AI/ML models on User Content or community data without our express written permission, except for your own personal, non-commercial use of your own User Content.

6. Optional Feature Modules: Payments, Marketplace, Advertising

We currently do not offer paid features, a user-to-user marketplace, or targeted advertising. If we introduce any of these in the future, the corresponding terms will be added to these Terms and will take effect on the date stated in our notice and in the relevant checkout, listing, or consent screens.

7. Mobile Platform Terms (Reserved)

We do not currently offer a native mobile app. If we publish one through Apple's App Store or Google Play, the platform-specific terms (including Apple's status as a third-party beneficiary of your license, and your obligation to comply with App Store / Google Play policies) will apply.

8. Intellectual Property; UGC; DMCA / DSA / OSA

We respect intellectual property rights. The mechanisms below describe how to report alleged infringement or illegal content.

DMCA (United States) — 17 U.S.C. §512

To submit a copyright takedown notice, send a notice that includes all elements required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) to our Designated Agent:

DMCA Agent, RTwelve Technologies LLC
[STREET ADDRESS — TBD]
[CITY], HI [ZIP], United States
dmca@spareagrade.com

We accept counter-notices under §512(g)(3); restoration after 10–14 business days unless suit is filed. We maintain a repeat-infringer policy and accommodate standard technical measures.

EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and UK Online Safety Act (OSA)

EU and UK users may submit notices for illegal content (URLs, basis in law, contact details, good-faith and accuracy statements) to abuse@spareagrade.com. We will provide a Statement of Reasons for any restriction or removal, allow internal complaint and out-of-court settlement options where required, and publish an annual transparency report if required by law.

9. Sanctions, Export & Geographic Restrictions

You represent and warrant that you (a) are not located in, ordinarily resident in, organized under the laws of, or controlled by any comprehensively sanctioned country or region (currently including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, as updated by law) and will not access the Service from such regions; (b) are not a Sanctioned Person (e.g., listed on the U.S. OFAC SDN or SSI Lists, the U.S. BIS Entity / Denied Persons / MEU Lists, the UK OFSI list, or the EU consolidated list), and are not owned or controlled by any Sanctioned Person; and (c) will not use the Service for the benefit of, or to circumvent restrictions on, any Sanctioned Person, or in violation of U.S., UK, EU, or other applicable export-control or sanctions laws.

We may block access, suspend or terminate accounts, withhold or reverse payments (if any), and report suspicious activity where required. Access is void where prohibited.

10. Consumer Rights (EU/UK and Other Jurisdictions)

If we offer paid digital services in the future, EU and UK consumers may have a 14-day withdrawal right; we will provide pre-contract information and a model withdrawal form. Local mandatory consumer protections prevail over conflicting provisions of these Terms.

11. Accessibility

We aim to meet WCAG 2.1 AA where practicable. Send accessibility feedback to accessibility@spareagrade.com.

12. Email & Messaging Compliance

We comply with CAN-SPAM (U.S.), CASL (Canada), and PECR / UK e-Privacy for commercial communications. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time via the unsubscribe link or by emailing support@spareagrade.com. Transactional messages (account, security, legal notices) may still be sent.

13. Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability

The Service and Community Grades are provided "as is" and "as available." We disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Community Grades are not a guarantee of any official grading service's slab outcome, are not financial advice, and are not to be relied upon for commercial transactions. SpareAGrade is not responsible for monetary decisions or transactions you or others enter into based on Community Grades.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill.

Our total liability arising out of or related to the Service will not exceed the greater of US$100 or the amount you paid us, if any, in the 12 months before the claim.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company, its officers, directors, members, and agents from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your User Content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms.

15. Dispute Resolution

Informal Resolution First

Before filing any formal action, you and we agree to try to resolve any dispute informally for at least 30 days. Contact legal@spareagrade.com.

United States — Binding Arbitration; Class Action Waiver

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules, in Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi (or by remote / written submissions where permitted). The arbitrator may award any relief that a court could award, but only individual relief — class arbitrations and class actions are waived to the extent permitted by law, as are jury trials. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Section.

30-Day Opt-Out

You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending a written notice to legal@spareagrade.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating that you opt out of the arbitration clause and including your name and the email associated with your account.

EEA / UK Consumers

EEA and UK consumers may bring claims in their local courts, and mandatory consumer rights are unaffected by this Section.

16. Governing Law; Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Hawaiʻi, United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. For disputes not subject to arbitration above, the exclusive venue is the state and federal courts located in Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi, except where federal law preempts. Non-U.S. consumers retain the benefit of mandatory local protections as required.

17. Changes; Termination

We may modify these Terms by posting an updated version with a new effective date. For material changes, we will provide reasonable notice (e.g., in-app banner or email). Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

We may suspend or terminate accounts for violations of these Terms or applicable law, or where required by legal process. You may delete your account from Settings or email privacy@spareagrade.com for help. Account deletion removes your login and profile identity but preserves submitted items under an anonymized deleted-user account, including grades other users added to those items, as described in the Privacy Policy. Sections 3 (license survival), 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, and any section that by its nature should survive will survive termination.

18. Contact

RTwelve Technologies LLC
[STREET ADDRESS — TBD]
[CITY], HI [ZIP], United States