ShopCaribe is an online e-commerce platform for authentic fashion, art, jewellery, craft, home and beauty products, where you can sell your Caribbean-made goods, directly to buyers around the world. We want to make sure that you and your buyers have a positive experience on ShopCaribe.  

Through ShopCaribe you have access to the following:

• Online Store, product pages and shopping cart;
• Upload of products
• An account to manage your online store
• Tech support
• Coupon Codes & Gift Cards to encourage sales
• Reporting and Analytics

Payment for your eStore – A Registration fee of TT$350 (US$53) and a 20% Commission on items sold through the site.

Please read on to find out more about your rights, as well as what is expected of you, as a seller/vendor.

This policy is a part of our Terms of Use. By opening a ShopCaribe shop, you’re agreeing to this policy and our Terms of Use.

1. What Can be Sold on ShopCaribe
2. What Cannot be Sold on ShopCaribe
3. Representing Yourself, Your Shop, and Your Listings Honestly
4. Communicating with Other ShopCaribe Members
5. Privacy and Protecting Personal Information
6. Creating and Uploading Content
7. Building a Positive Reputation Through our Reviews System
8. Providing Great Customer Service
9. Responding to Requests for Cancellations, Returns, and Exchanges
10. Ineligible Transactions
11. Changes in Policy

1. What Can be Sold on ShopCaribe

ShopCaribe is a unique online marketplace for Caribbean made products. Customers come to ShopCaribe to purchase items that they might not find anywhere else. Everything listed for sale on ShopCaribe must be Caribbean-made by a Caribbean resident.

Caribbean-made items are items that are made and/or designed and enhanced by Caribbean residents in the Caribbean or persons of Caribbean descent.

If you sell Caribbean-made items, you agree that:

1. All Caribbean-made items are made or designed by you. If you work with a production partner, you must disclose that production partner in your relevant listings.
2. You accurately describe every person involved in the making of an item in your shop in your About section.
3. You are using your own photographs to which own the copyright—not stock photos, artistic renderings, or photos used by other sellers or sites. Read more about using appropriate photographs in this Help article.

If you are selling personalized or made-to-order items in the Caribbean-made category, you agree that:

1. All listings are available for purchase at a set price.
2. If you are using photographs of previous work with options for customization (like color choices) included in the listing, it should be clear in your description that the photos shown are just examples.

2. What Can’t be Sold on ShopCaribe

Even if they otherwise meet our marketplace criteria, prohibited items, services, and items that violate our intellectual property policies are not allowed to be sold on ShopCaribe.

Reselling is not allowed on ShopCaribe. Reselling refers to listing an item as Caribbean-made when you were not involved in designing or making that item.

Vendors shall not list for sale any CBD products or products that contain CBD in any quantity.

Note that members may flag listings that appear to violate our policies for ShopCaribe’s review. ShopCaribe may remove any listings that violate our policies. Note that merchant fees are non-refundable. ShopCaribe may also suspend or terminate your account for any violations. Further you will be liable to pay any outstanding fees on your ShopCaribe statement. You can find more information in our Fees & Payments Policy.

Vendors agree to indemnify the owners, employees and representatives of ShopCaribe from any legal or civil action taken as a result of the listing, sale or shipment of any prohibited products.

3. Representing Yourself, Your Shop, and Your Listings Honestly

At ShopCaribe, authenticity is a key value. Authenticity means that you honestly and accurately represent yourself, your items, and your business as Caribbean.

By selling on ShopCaribe, you agree that you will:

1. Provide honest, accurate information in your About section.
2. Honor your Shop Policies.
3. Accurately represent your items in listings and listing photos.
4. Respect the intellectual property of others. If you feel someone has violated your intellectual property rights, you can report it to ShopCaribe.
5. Not engage in fee avoidance.
6. Not create duplicate shops or take any other action (such as manipulating clicks, carts or sales) for the purpose of manipulating search or circumventing ShopCaribe’s policies.
7. Not coordinate pricing with other sellers.

4. Communicating with Other ShopCaribe Members

Interference
Interference occurs when a member intentionally interferes with another member’s shop in order to drive away their business. Interference is strictly prohibited on ShopCaribe. Examples of interference include:

1. Contacting another member via ShopCaribe to warn them away from a particular member, shop, or item;
2. Posting in public areas to demonstrate or discuss a dispute with another member;
3. Purchasing from a seller for the sole purpose of leaving a negative review;
4. Maliciously clicking on a competitor’s Promoted Listings ads in order to drain that member’s advertising budget, also known as “click fraud.”

Harassment
Any use of the ShopCaribe platform to harass other members is strictly prohibited. Similarly, Conversations may not be used to support or glorify hatred or otherwise violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy. If you receive a outreach that violates this policy, please let us know right away.

5. Privacy and Protecting Personal Information

You are responsible for protecting members’ personal information you receive or process, and you must comply with all relevant legal requirements. This includes applicable data protection and privacy laws that govern the ways in which you can use ShopCaribe user information. These laws may require that you post and comply with your own privacy policy, which must be accessible to ShopCaribe users with whom you interact. Your privacy policy must be compatible with this policy and ShopCaribe’s Terms of Use.

In particular, when you sell using our Services (subject to this Policy) or use ShopCaribe’s API (also subject to the ShopCaribe API Terms of Use), you may receive and determine what to do with certain personal information, such as when communicating with users and entering into transactions with buyers. This means you process personal information (for example, buyer name, email address, and shipping address) and, to the extent you do so, under EU law, you are an independent controller of data relating to other users that you may have obtained through the Services. You are responsible for protecting user personal information you receive or process and complying with all relevant legal requirements when you use the Services. This includes applicable data protection and privacy laws that govern the ways in which you can use a user’s information. Such laws may require that you post, and comply with, your own privacy policy, which must be accessible to ShopCaribe users you interact with and compatible with this policy and ShopCaribe’s Terms of Use. For more information on the General Data Protection Regulation, see more resources at https://gdpr-info.eu and http://gdprandyou.ie. As a data controller (that is someone who decides what personal data is collected and the purpose you’ll use the data for) to the extent that you process user personal information outside of the Services, you may be required under applicable data protection and privacy laws to honor requests received from such users for data access, portability, correction, deletion, and objections to processing. Also, if you disclose personal information without the buyer’s proper consent, you are responsible for that unauthorized disclosure. This includes, for example, disclosures you make or unintentional data breaches. For example, you may receive a buyer’s email address or other information as a result of entering into a transaction with that buyer. This information may only be used for ShopCaribe-related communications or for ShopCaribe-facilitated transactions. You may not use this information for unsolicited commercial messages or unauthorized transactions. Without the buyer’s consent, and subject to other applicable ShopCaribe policies and laws, you may not add any ShopCaribe member to your email or physical mailing list, use that buyer’s identity for marketing, or obtain or retain any payment information. Please bear in mind that you’re responsible for knowing the standard of consent required in any given instance. If ShopCaribe and you are found to be joint data controllers of personal information, and if ShopCaribe is sued, fined, or otherwise incurs expenses because of something that you did in your capacity as a joint data controller of buyer personal information, you agree to indemnify ShopCaribe for the expenses it occurs in connection with your processing of buyer personal information.

In particular, when you sell using our Services (subject to this Policy) or use ShopCaribe’s API (also subject to the ShopCaribe API Terms of Use), you may receive and determine what to do with certain personal information, such as when communicating with users and entering into transactions with buyers. This means you process personal information (for example, buyer name, email address, and shipping address) and, to the extent you do so, under EU law, you are an independent controller of data relating to other users that you may have obtained through the Services.

You are responsible for protecting user personal information you receive or process and complying with all relevant legal requirements when you use the Services. This includes applicable data protection and privacy laws that govern the ways in which you can use a user’s information. Such laws may require that you post, and comply with, your own privacy policy, which must be accessible to ShopCaribe users you interact with and compatible with this policy and ShopCaribe’s Terms of Use. For more information on the General Data Protection Regulation, see more resources at https://gdpr-info.eu  and http://gdprandyou.ie .

As a data controller (that is someone who decides what personal data is collected and the purpose you’ll use the data for) to the extent that you process user personal information outside of the Services, you may be required under applicable data protection and privacy laws to honor requests received from such users for data access, portability, correction, deletion, and objections to processing. Also, if you disclose personal information without the buyer’s proper consent, you are responsible for that unauthorized disclosure. This includes, for example, disclosures you make or unintentional data breaches. For example, you may receive a buyer’s email address or other information as a result of entering into a transaction with that buyer. This information may only be used for ShopCaribe-related communications or for ShopCaribe-facilitated transactions. You may not use this information for unsolicited commercial messages or unauthorized transactions. Without the buyer’s consent, and subject to other applicable ShopCaribe policies and laws, you may not add any ShopCaribe member to your email or physical mailing list, use that buyer’s identity for marketing, or obtain or retain any payment information. Please bear in mind that you’re responsible for knowing the standard of consent required in any given instance.

If ShopCaribe and you are found to be joint data controllers of personal information, and if ShopCaribe is sued, fined, or otherwise incurs expenses because of something that you did in your capacity as a joint data controller of buyer personal information, you agree to indemnify ShopCaribe for the expenses it occurs in connection with your processing of buyer personal information.

6. Creating and Uploading Content

As a member of ShopCaribe, you have the opportunity to create and upload a variety of content, like listings, Convos, text, photos, and videos. In order to keep our community safe and respectful, you agree that you will not upload content that is:

1. Abusive, threatening, defamatory, harassing, or otherwise in violation of our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
2. Obscene or vulgar;
3. In violation of someone else’s privacy or intellectual property rights; or
4. False, deceptive, or misleading.

You agree to allow ShopCaribe to use, repost, share, redistribute any content you upload to ShopCaribe in order to promote your product; your store; and/or ShopCaribe, in social media posts and online advertising.

7. Building a Positive Reputation Through our Reviews System

Reviews are a great way for you to build a reputation on ShopCaribe. Buyers can leave a review, including a one to five star rating and a photograph of their purchase, within 100 days after their item’s estimated delivery date. If an estimated delivery date is not available, the review window opens after the order’s processing time and shipping time have elapsed. Buyers can edit their review, including the photograph, any number of times during that 100 day period.

On the rare occasion you receive an unfavorable review, you can reach out to the buyer or, if the review is less than 3 stars, leave a response.

Reviews and your response to reviews may not:

1. Contain private information;
2. Contain obscene, racist, or harassing language or imagery;
3. Violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy;
4. Contain prohibited medical drug claims;
5. Contain advertising or spam;
6. Be about things outside the seller’s control, such as a shipping carrier, ShopCaribe or a third party;
7. Contain threats or extortion;
8. Include shilling or otherwise falsely inflate a shop’s review score; or
9. Undermine the integrity of the Reviews system.

8. Providing Great Customer Service

We expect our sellers to provide a high level of customer service. By selling on ShopCaribe, you agree to:

1. Honor your shipping and processing times. Sellers are obligated to ship an item or otherwise complete a transaction with a buyer in a prompt manner, unless there is an exceptional circumstance. Please be aware that legal requirements for shipping times vary by country. Read more in our Shipping Policy.
2. Respond to Conversations in a timely manner.
3. Honor the commitments you make in your shop policies.
4. Resolve disagreements or disputes directly with the buyer. In the unlikely event that you can’t reach a resolution, our Dispute Resolution team can help through our case system.
5. If you are unable to complete an order, you must notify the buyer and cancel the order.
6. As a seller, you must provide great customer service and maintain trust with your buyers. These requirements are called our Seller Service Level Standards.
7. ShopCaribe also provides limited protection to sellers who meet the requirements of our Seller Protection Program.

9. Responding to Requests for Cancellations, Returns, and Exchanges

Please be aware that in addition to this policy, each country has its own laws surrounding shipping, cancellations, returns, and exchanges. Please familiarize yourself with the laws of your own country and those of your buyers’ countries.

Cancellations

If you are unable to complete a transaction, you must notify the buyer via ShopCaribe Conversations and cancel the transaction. If the buyer already submitted payment, you must issue a full refund. You are encouraged to keep proof of any refunds in the event a dispute arises.

ShopCaribe’s Case System

We ask buyers to contact sellers directly and attempt to resolve any outstanding issues before opening a case on ShopCaribe. For this reason, it is important that you fill out your shop policies and regularly respond to Conversations from your buyers.

Buyers may file a case for a non-delivery or a not-as-described item. You must respond to any open cases within three days or the time frame noted by ShopCaribe in the case. ShopCaribe may request your assistance in resolving a case opened against your shop. ShopCaribe reserves the right to escalate a case early for circumstances such as seller inactivity, harassment, refusal of service, case manipulation, and undermining the integrity of the case system.

By using ShopCaribe’s case system, you understand that ShopCaribe may use your personal information for the purpose of resolving disputes with other members. Cases can be filed in the following circumstances:

Non-Delivery

A non-delivery occurs when a buyer places an order but does not receive the item. The following are examples of non-delivery cases:

1. There is no proof that the item was shipped to the buyer.
2. An item was not sent to the address provided on ShopCaribe.

Not as Described

An item is not as described if the buyer can demonstrate that it is significantly different from your listing description or your photos. The following are examples of not as described cases:

1. The item received is a different color, model, version, or size.
2. The item has a different design or material.
3. The seller failed to disclose that an item is damaged or is missing parts.
4. The buyer received the incorrect quantity of items (e.g., the buyer purchased three items but only received two).
5. The item was advertised as authentic but is not authentic.
6. The condition of the item is misrepresented (e.g., the item is described as new but is used).

Not as Described cases can also be filed for late delivery. In order to qualify as late delivery, the buyer must provide proof that all of these conditions have been met:

1. The item(s) were ordered for a specific date or event.
2. The item(s) are rendered useless after that date.
3. The seller did not ship the item(s) according to their processing time or the date agreed upon in

Conversations.

If ShopCaribe determines that an item is not as described, you will be required to refund the order, including original shipping and return shipping.

10. Ineligible Transactions

When a dispute is ineligible for our case system, we encourage both parties to work together to come to an amicable solution.

11. Changes to this Policy

This Vendor Policy was published on 4 November 2021 by ShopCaribe.

Vendors understand that ShopCaribe reserves the right to change this policy from time to time. Vendors shall be notified of any changes within the announcements section of their control panel or via email.