Seller Terms

These Seller Terms are an agreement between Made Responsively Ltd (trading as Around, "we", "us") and the person or business that creates a seller account ("you"). They apply whenever you use Around to sell food. Our Acceptable Use & Prohibited Items policy and Privacy Notice form part of these terms.

You are running your own food business. Around gives you the tools to sell, but you are responsible for your food, your customers and following the law. Please read these terms carefully, especially the sections on your responsibilities, liability and indemnity.

1. About us

Made Responsively Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14933187, VAT number GB 212 7362 35). Our registered office is 1 St Mary's St, Town Centre, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5HT, UK. Contact: support@around.co.uk.

2. Our role

• Around is an online marketplace and software service. We provide a storefront, ordering, payment collection through Stripe, customer messaging, and reporting tools.
• You are the seller of everything you list. Each sale is a contract between you and your customer. We are not the seller, manufacturer, packer or distributor of your food, and we do not take ownership of it at any point.
• You are an independent business. Nothing in these terms makes you our employee, agent or partner, and you can't make commitments on our behalf.

3. Who can sell

To sell on Around you must:

• be at least 18 and able to enter a binding contract (if you register for a company, you confirm you're authorised to bind it);
• be based in the UK and sell food made in the UK;
• give us accurate and complete information, and keep it up to date;
• complete our food business checks and connect a Stripe account in your name or your business's name.

We can refuse an application, or ask for more information at any time, at our discretion.

4. Your food safety and legal responsibilities

You are solely responsible for complying with all laws that apply to your food business. Our checks don't replace or reduce your obligations, and they are not an approval or guarantee of your food. In particular, you must:

Registration and hygiene

• Register as a food business with your local council at least 28 days before you start trading, and keep your registration up to date (including telling the council about changes to your premises or activities).
• Comply with the Food Safety Act 1990, the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland), and retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs.
• Have a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles (such as the FSA's Safer food, better business), and follow it.
• Make sure anyone handling food has suitable food hygiene training.
• Keep a food hygiene rating of 3 or above where you have been rated. If your rating drops below 3, or your council takes enforcement action, you must tell us straight away. We will pause your selling until it is resolved.

Allergens and food information

• Give accurate, complete and up-to-date allergen information for every item, covering all 14 major allergens, and update it before you change a recipe or supplier.
• Make allergen information available to customers before they buy (through your Around listings) and when they collect (on labels or in writing), as required for distance selling.
• Label food correctly under the Food Information Regulations 2014, including the full ingredients list with allergens emphasised for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food under "Natasha's Law".
• Respond promptly and honestly to customer questions about ingredients and allergens. If you can't be sure an item is free from an allergen, say so.
• Never make health, nutrition or "free-from" claims that you can't fully support.

Handling, storage and collection

• Store, cook, cool, chill and transport food safely, at the correct temperatures, and give customers clear storage, reheating and use-by information.
• Make sure collection points are safe and that food is handed over in a hygienic way, at the time and place you advertised.
• Don't sell anything listed in our Acceptable Use & Prohibited Items policy, and hold any extra licence or approval your products need (for example a premises licence for alcohol, or approval for certain products of animal origin).

Recalls and incidents

• If you discover that food you sold may be unsafe or mislabelled, stop selling it immediately, contact affected customers, tell your local council where required, and tell us.
• Cooperate fully with us, customers and any authority investigating a complaint or incident.

Insurance

You must hold suitable public and product liability insurance for your food business, and show us evidence if we ask. We recommend cover of at least £1 million. Around's insurance does not cover you or your products.

Tax and other laws

• You are responsible for your own tax affairs, including income tax, VAT (if you're registered) and keeping records.
• We are required to report information about sellers to HMRC under the digital platform reporting rules (the Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023). You must give us the tax details we request, such as your National Insurance number or UTR and date of birth. If you don't, we must stop you selling. We'll tell you what we report.
• You must comply with consumer protection law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. That includes accurate descriptions and prices and no fake or incentivised reviews.

5. Your customers

• You are responsible for your relationship with your customers, including answering questions, handling complaints, refunds and fixing problems with orders.
• You must honour every order you accept, unless you cancel and refund it.
• You must give customers your legal name and contact details. We show these on your storefront from the details you give us.
• Your customers' legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are against you as the seller. If a customer complains to us, we may pass it on to you and expect you to deal with it promptly and fairly.

6. Payments

• Card payments are processed by Stripe. To sell, you must connect a Stripe account and accept the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which forms part of your agreement with Stripe. Stripe, not Around, holds your funds and pays them out to you.
• Most card payments are made directly to your Stripe account. You are the merchant of record, and Stripe's processing fees are deducted from your Stripe balance.
• When collaborations are enabled and you take part in a shared drop, the customer pays Around's Stripe account and we transfer your share (the amount due to you, less the Around fee) to your Stripe account.
• If you accept cash or bank transfer, the customer pays you directly and you are responsible for collecting it. We don't charge an Around fee on those orders.
• You are responsible for refunds, chargebacks and disputes on your sales, including any Stripe dispute fees. If we or Stripe have to cover an amount you owe, you must repay it and we may deduct it from amounts due to you.
• You authorise us to give Stripe instructions on your account to process sales, refunds, application fees and transfers in line with these terms.

7. Fees

• We charge an Around fee on each card order. Unless we agree otherwise with you in writing, it is 5% of the order's food subtotal (after discounts) plus 50p per order. The current fee is always shown in your portal.
• You choose how much of the fee you pay yourself and how much is added to your customer's total as a service fee (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%). To comply with UK price transparency law, the prices customers see on Around include their share of the service fee, with any fixed per-order part shown beside each price, and the basket shows a running total including it.
• If you advertise your Around prices anywhere else (for example on social media or your own website), you must quote the price including the service fee customers pay, or show the fee as clearly as the price itself. You are responsible for prices you publish outside Around.
• On card orders, the fee is deducted automatically when the customer pays. If you refund an order, we refund the Around fee in proportion to the amount refunded.
• We don't charge a fee for gift card sales, or on orders paid by cash or bank transfer.
• Our fees include VAT. We are VAT registered (see the VAT number above), and the VAT is part of the fee, not added on top.
• We may change our fees by giving you at least 30 days' notice by email. If you don't agree, you can close your account before the change takes effect.

8. Your content and storefront

• You keep ownership of the photos, text, logos and other content you upload ("your content").
• You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, copy, display, adapt (for example resize) and share your content to run Around and to promote you and Around, for as long as it is on Around and for a reasonable time afterwards for marketing already made.
• You confirm that you own or have permission to use your content, that it is accurate, and that it doesn't infringe anyone else's rights.
• We can remove content that breaks these terms or the law.

9. Customer data and privacy

• You and Around are each independent controllers of the personal data of customers who order from you. We share customer order and contact details with you so you can fulfil orders.
• You must use customer data only to fulfil orders, provide customer service and (where the customer has agreed) send marketing, and you must comply with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
• Only send marketing to customers who have opted in, and honour unsubscribes. The consent shown in your portal is the only consent we record. Don't add customers to mailing lists outside Around unless they have separately agreed.
• Keep customer data secure, don't sell it, and delete it when you no longer need it. If you export data from Around, you are responsible for it.
• Tell us without delay if you become aware of a personal data breach involving Around customer data.
• You may need to register with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and pay the data protection fee.

10. Your account, team and security

• Keep your login details secure, and use two-step verification where we ask you to. You are responsible for everything done through your account.
• If you invite team members, you are responsible for what they do and for giving them only the permissions they need. Only you, as owner, can close the business account.
• Our staff may access your account to provide support, investigate a problem or meet a legal obligation. This access is limited, time-bound and logged.

11. Suspending selling and closing accounts

We may pause your selling, hide listings, cancel and refund open orders, or suspend or close your account, with or without notice, if:

• we reasonably believe there is a risk to food safety or public health;
• your hygiene rating falls below 3, your registration lapses, or a council or other authority takes action against you;
• you break these terms or our Acceptable Use policy, or we receive repeated complaints;
• we are required to by law, HMRC rules, Stripe or another authority; or
• we reasonably suspect fraud or misuse.

Where it's appropriate, we'll tell you why and give you a chance to respond. You can close your account at any time from your portal once your open orders, drops and refunds are complete. We'll keep certain records after closure, as described in our Privacy Notice.

12. Liability

• Around is provided "as is". We work hard to keep it reliable, but we don't promise it will always be available or free of errors.
• You are responsible for all claims, losses and liabilities arising from your food and your business, including illness, injury or allergic reactions caused by your food, mislabelling, and claims by your customers.
• We are not liable for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill or data, or for any indirect or consequential loss.
• Our total liability to you under or in connection with these terms in any 12-month period is limited to the Around fees you paid us in that period.
• Nothing in these terms limits any liability that can't legally be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

13. Indemnity

You will indemnify Made Responsively Ltd, its directors and staff against all claims, losses, damages, fines, penalties and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

• the food you sell, including any illness, injury or allergic reaction;
• your breach of these terms, our policies or any law;
• your content, or any claim that it infringes someone else's rights;
• your use of customer data; and
• any dispute between you and a customer.

14. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. For material changes we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email and in your portal, unless the change is required sooner by law or for safety. You'll be asked to accept the new terms when you next sign in. If you don't agree, you can stop selling and close your account before the changes take effect. If you continue to sell after the effective date, the new terms apply.

15. General

• We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another business, for example if Around is sold. You can't transfer yours without our written consent.
• If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
• If we don't enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• These terms are the whole agreement between us about your use of Around. Nobody else has rights under them.
• We'll send notices to the email address on your account. You can send notices to support@around.co.uk.
• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.