Terms of Use

Version 1.0 · Prepared 19 September 2026 · Effective on publication

Terms for buyers, sellers and visitors using the Aurelua marketplace.

1. About these Terms

These Terms are an agreement between you and Aurelua, registration number 2026/344331/07 (“Aurelua”, “we”, “us” or “our”), for use of https://aurelua.com, Aurelua accounts, seller stores, checkout, Buyer Protection and related services (the “Platform”).

Aurelua operates a marketplace. A seller offers and supplies products to a buyer. Aurelua supplies the Platform and related marketplace services. Where the law treats Aurelua as the supplier of a particular service or imposes a duty on Aurelua, these Terms do not avoid that duty.

The Privacy Policy, Cookie Notice, Refunds, Returns and Buyer Protection Policy, and Prohibited and Restricted Products Policy form part of these Terms. If they conflict, a specific policy governs the specific issue. Mandatory law always prevails.

2. Definitions

• Buyer. A person who places or receives an order through the Platform.
• Buyer Protection. Aurelua’s contractual dispute and refund support described in section 12, which is additional to statutory rights.
• Content. Text, images, video, branding, product information, messages, reviews and other material uploaded or supplied through the Platform.
• Order. A request to buy a product through the Platform.
• Payment Provider. A third party that processes, routes, verifies, settles, reverses or refunds a payment.
• Product. Any goods or other item offered by a Seller through the Platform.
• Seller. The person or business identified on a store or listing as the supplier of a Product.
• User. A visitor, Buyer, Seller or other person using the Platform.
• Verified Seller. A Seller that has completed the checks Aurelua specifies for a particular verification level. Verification is not a guarantee of identity, solvency, conduct, authenticity or product quality.

3. Accepting the Terms

You accept these Terms when you tick an acceptance box, create an account, list or buy a Product, or continue to use the Platform after the Terms are presented to you. If you act for a business, you confirm that you may bind it.

You must read the risk, liability and indemnity provisions before accepting. Aurelua will make the current Terms available electronically. Keep a copy for your records. The version of this document is shown at the top of this page.

4. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 and legally able to contract. A business user must be properly established and authorised to trade.
• Give complete, current and accurate information. Aurelua may request identity, business, banking, address, tax, licence, ownership or product-source evidence.
• Keep login details and one-time codes secure. Tell Aurelua immediately if an account, device, email address or bank detail may be compromised.
• One person may not create duplicate or misleading accounts to evade checks, restrictions, fees, disputes or enforcement.
• You remain responsible for activity performed through your account unless the activity resulted from Aurelua’s failure to meet a non-excludable legal duty.

5. What Aurelua does

Aurelua provides technology for Sellers to create stores, publish listings, receive Orders, use supported payment methods, manage delivery information and participate in Buyer Protection. Aurelua may facilitate communications, payment instructions, refunds and disputes.

Aurelua is not the manufacturer, importer or owner of a Seller’s Product merely because it appears on the Platform. The sales contract is between Buyer and Seller. This allocation does not exclude any responsibility that applicable law places on Aurelua because of what Aurelua actually does.

Verification, moderation and Buyer Protection reduce risk but cannot eliminate it. A badge, approval or check is not an endorsement, warranty or guarantee.

6. Seller stores and listings

A Seller must ensure that every listing:

• is lawful, genuine, safe, in stock or capable of being supplied, and not prohibited or restricted without approval;
• correctly identifies the Seller and describes the Product, condition, price, delivery cost, delivery estimate, quantity, material limitations, warranty and return position;
• clearly identifies used, reconditioned, grey-market, personalised, perishable or age-restricted Products where permitted;
• uses only Content, names, logos and images the Seller owns or may lawfully use; and
• does not mislead through keywords, hidden terms, fake reviews, copied images, manipulated scarcity or an unavailable headline price.

The Seller is responsible for product safety, labelling, instructions, warnings, licences, taxes, recalls and legal compliance. Aurelua may ask for invoices, serial numbers, authorisation letters, certificates or samples and may hide or remove a listing while checking it.

7. Orders and contracts

A listing invites a Buyer to place an Order. Unless checkout clearly says otherwise, the Buyer’s Order is an offer to the Seller. The sales contract between Buyer and Seller forms when the Platform confirms acceptance of the Order after successful payment authorisation.

An automated acknowledgement is not acceptance if it says that review is pending. Aurelua or the Seller may reject or cancel an Order before acceptance for stock, pricing, compliance, fraud, payment or delivery reasons. Any captured amount must then be released or refunded as required by law and the Payment Provider’s processing times.

The order record, these Terms, the listing and any mandatory legal terms make up the sale contract. The Seller may not impose a later term that conflicts with them or reduces a Buyer’s statutory rights.

8. Prices, fees and tax

• The total payable by the Buyer, including the Product price, Buyer Protection fee, delivery and tax where applicable, must be shown before the Buyer confirms payment.
• Aurelua currently does not deduct a sales commission from the Product price unless checkout or the Seller dashboard clearly states otherwise.
• A cash-out fee may apply to a Seller payout. The current fee is shown in the dashboard before a payout request. The published pricing page currently states R10 per payout, waived where the payable balance is R10 or less.
• Aurelua may change future fees on reasonable notice. A change does not alter a completed Order.
• Each Seller is responsible for its own tax registration, tax invoices and taxes. Aurelua is responsible for tax on its own fees. Prices must state whether VAT is included where the supplier is VAT-registered.

If an obvious pricing or system error occurs, the Seller or Aurelua may cancel before fulfilment and refund the Buyer. This does not permit bait marketing or arbitrary cancellation.

9. Payments and customer funds

Payments are processed through supported Payment Providers. Their terms, authentication and processing rules may also apply. Aurelua does not receive or store a Buyer’s full card number or CVV where the Payment Provider collects it directly.

The exact handling of funds depends on the payment method, provider arrangement and Seller payout status. Funds may remain with a Payment Provider pending settlement, may be reserved against refund or fraud risk, or may be released early to an eligible Verified Seller. Aurelua will not describe funds as escrow unless the legal and operational arrangement supports that description.

Aurelua may delay, cancel or reverse a payment instruction where reasonably necessary for security, sanctions, fraud, a dispute, legal compliance, provider rules, duplicate payment or manifest error. It will not withhold funds arbitrarily.

10. Seller payouts and bank details

Aurelua may set different payout timing for different risk or verification levels. Unless an early-payout rule is shown in the Seller dashboard, payout becomes eligible after recorded delivery and expiry of the stated dispute window. The current platform rule is release when the Buyer confirms receipt or, if no dispute is opened, seven days after the delivery event used by the Platform.

The early-payout rule currently in force. Identity verification affects when you are paid, not whether you are paid. A Seller who has completed identity verification, and whose bank details have passed any account check we carry out, is paid when the Buyer pays. Until verification is complete, funds follow the ordinary rule above and are released when delivery is confirmed or the applicable hold period expires. Verification is optional, it is done once, and no sale is forfeited by declining it.

• Aurelua may deduct disclosed fees, refunds, reversals, chargebacks, taxes it must withhold, negative balances and amounts the Seller owes under these Terms.
• Aurelua may maintain a proportionate reserve or hold while a dispute, fraud review, bank-detail change, legal request or provider investigation is open.
• An early payout does not remove the Seller’s responsibility for delivery, returns, refunds, defects, fraud or chargebacks. The Seller must repay a recoverable amount on demand and authorises set-off against later payouts where lawful.
• The Seller must supply a bank account it owns or is authorised to use and must verify any change through the required security steps. Aurelua may pause payouts for five business days after a material bank-detail change, or longer only while a documented verification or risk review reasonably requires it.
• If Aurelua follows the Seller’s authenticated instruction and sends a payout to incorrect details supplied by the Seller, Aurelua will take reasonable steps to help recall it but cannot promise recovery. The Seller bears the resulting loss to the extent caused by its incorrect or compromised details, except to the extent caused by Aurelua’s or its provider’s fault.

Your bank details are your responsibility. You must provide bank-account details that are accurate, current, and in your own name or that of your registered business, and update them before requesting a payout if they change. Where a payout reaches the wrong person because the details you supplied were wrong or out of date, Aurelua cannot recover that money for you and is not liable for that loss, although we will provide the transaction records you need to pursue it with your bank.

We may verify your bank account. Before or at the time of a payout, and again whenever you change your bank details, we may confirm that the account belongs to you by submitting your account number, account-holder name, and identity or business registration number to our Payment Provider. We are not obliged to carry out this check. Not running it does not make us responsible for details you have supplied.

Payouts may be held. We may delay or withhold a payout where we are unable to confirm the account is yours, where the details appear incorrect, where a verification check is unavailable, where there is an open dispute or refund request on an associated Order, or where we reasonably suspect fraud or unlawful activity or a legal obligation requires it. Where we hold a payout we will tell you why and release it once the issue is resolved. The money remains yours during any hold, and nothing here permits Aurelua to retain money you have earned once the applicable hold reason no longer applies.

11. Delivery

The Seller must dispatch on time, package safely, use the agreed delivery method, provide valid tracking where tracking is promised, and deliver to the address confirmed in the Order. Delivery risk and title pass as required by applicable law and the sale contract. A Seller may not transfer risk earlier than the law allows.

A Buyer must provide a correct, accessible delivery address and reasonable receipt cooperation. If a Buyer changes an address outside the Platform or refuses delivery without a lawful reason, reasonable additional cost may be charged where disclosed and permitted.

If no delivery date is agreed, the Seller must perform within the period required by ECTA. A Buyer may cancel where the Seller fails to perform within that period or an agreed extended period, subject to applicable law.

12. Buyer Protection

Buyer Protection is Aurelua’s additional process for eligible Orders. It may assist where a Product is not delivered, is materially different from the listing, is counterfeit, arrives materially incomplete or damaged, or another covered event is shown in the Refunds, Returns and Buyer Protection Policy.

Buyer Protection does not replace CPA, ECTA or other legal rights. A Buyer must open a case within the published time, provide honest evidence, preserve the Product and packaging, avoid unauthorised repair or use, and return the Product when reasonably required.

Aurelua may request information, place a temporary payout hold, facilitate a return, decide the contractual Buyer Protection outcome, or issue a refund. This does not prevent either party from using an external remedy available by law.

13. Cancellations, returns and refunds

The separate Refunds, Returns and Buyer Protection Policy explains the process and who pays return costs. In summary:

• many electronic consumer transactions carry ECTA’s seven-day cooling-off right, subject to statutory exclusions;
• the CPA provides separate rights for certain returns and for unsafe, defective or poor-quality goods, including the six-month implied warranty where applicable;
• the CPA’s five-business-day direct-marketing cooling-off rule does not replace ECTA where ECTA section 44 applies; and
• Aurelua’s voluntary Buyer Protection can be broader operationally, but cannot narrow statutory rights.

Refunds are made to the original payment method where reasonably possible. Provider processing times may affect when the Buyer sees the credit. A Seller must not require a private side agreement, off-platform refund or waiver of statutory rights.

14. Disputes, reversals and chargebacks

Buyers and Sellers should use the Platform dispute process first so evidence and funds can be managed consistently. Users must respond within the stated time and must not submit altered tracking, false identity documents, staged photographs or duplicate claims.

A chargeback is a separate process controlled by card-scheme, bank and provider rules. Buyer Protection does not guarantee that a chargeback cannot occur. If a chargeback, reversal, refund or associated fee results from a Seller’s breach, non-delivery, misdescription, fraud or legal responsibility, Aurelua may recover the amount from the Seller or future payouts. Double recovery is not permitted.

15. Prohibited products and conduct

The Prohibited and Restricted Products Policy is binding. In particular, Users may not list, buy or facilitate counterfeit, stolen, unlawful, unsafe, recalled, infringing or deceptively described Products, or route a transaction off-platform to avoid controls or fees.

Users may not manipulate reviews, scrape the Platform without permission, introduce malware, test security without authorisation, harass others, misuse personal information, launder money, impersonate another person or interfere with a dispute or investigation.

16. Content and intellectual property

A User keeps ownership of its Content. The User gives Aurelua a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, reproduce, resize, format, moderate and display that Content only as reasonably needed to operate, secure and promote the User’s store or the Platform. The licence ends when the Content is deleted, except for backups, evidence and material already used lawfully.

The User warrants that it has the necessary rights and that the Content is accurate and lawful. If Aurelua offers an AI-assisted description or image tool, the Seller must review and approve the result before publication and remains responsible for the final listing. Aurelua may label AI-assisted material.

A rights-holder may send a sufficiently detailed infringement notice to info@aurelua.com. Aurelua may remove or disable material while investigating and may share the notice with the affected User where lawful. A counter-notice must explain the lawful basis and include supporting evidence.

17. Personal information

Aurelua processes personal information as described in the Privacy Policy. A Seller that receives Buyer information may use it only to accept, fulfil, support, refund or lawfully record the relevant Order. A Seller may not add a Buyer to marketing, sell the data, enrich a profile or use it for an unrelated purpose without a separate lawful basis and notice.

Each Seller is responsible for its own POPIA compliance for processing it determines. It must protect the data, limit staff access, notify Aurelua immediately of a security compromise, assist with rights requests and delete or de-identify data when no longer lawfully needed.

18. Platform availability and third parties

Aurelua will use reasonable care and skill in supplying its Platform services. The Platform may be unavailable for maintenance, security, provider failure, connectivity or events outside reasonable control. Aurelua does not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Links, couriers, Payment Providers, identity services and other third parties may have their own terms. Aurelua remains responsible for duties that the law places on it and will use reasonable care when selecting and managing providers acting on its instructions.

19. Suspension and termination

A User may close an account subject to pending Orders, disputes, lawful record retention and amounts due. Aurelua may restrict a listing, feature, payout or account where reasonably necessary to investigate or prevent fraud, illegality, harm, repeated complaints, security risk or a material breach.

Where practicable and safe, Aurelua will explain the reason and allow a response. It may act immediately where delay creates material risk. A permanent termination decision will be proportionate and may be reviewed on request. Closing an account does not cancel accrued rights, refunds, chargebacks, repayment duties or lawful evidence retention.

20. Warranties

A Seller warrants that it has good title or authority to sell each Product and that each Product and listing comply with law and the sale contract. Statutory warranties remain in force.

Aurelua warrants that it will supply its own services with the quality and care required by law. Subject to those rights, it does not warrant a Seller’s Product merely because the Product is listed, the Seller is verified or a payment is processed.

21. Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Aurelua is not liable for indirect, special or consequential loss that was not reasonably foreseeable when the relevant contract was made, or for a Seller’s Product, description or conduct where Aurelua is not legally responsible for it.

For direct loss caused by Aurelua’s breach of its Platform-service obligations, Aurelua’s aggregate liability to a User in a rolling 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the Aurelua fees paid by that User during that period and (b) R2,000. This cap does not apply to fraud, wilful misconduct, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, a security failure for which liability cannot lawfully be limited, an amount Aurelua must return, or any other liability that law does not permit Aurelua to limit.

Nothing excludes rights under the CPA, ECTA or other applicable law. A User must take reasonable steps to avoid or reduce loss. Each party remains responsible only to the extent its conduct caused or contributed to the loss.

22. Indemnities

A Seller indemnifies Aurelua and its personnel against a third-party claim, loss, penalty or reasonable legal cost to the extent caused by the Seller’s Product, Content, infringement, unlawful conduct, tax obligation or material breach. Aurelua must give prompt notice where lawful, allow reasonable participation in the defence, mitigate loss and not settle an admission against the Seller without reasonable consultation.

A Buyer indemnifies Aurelua only against a third-party claim to the extent caused by the Buyer’s unlawful use, fraud, deliberate infringement or material breach. No indemnity applies to loss caused by Aurelua’s own fault or to the extent prohibited by law.

23. Complaints and notices

Contact Aurelua at info@aurelua.com, +27 21 879 6453, or 282 Tryall Road, Milnerton Rural, Cape Town, 7441, South Africa. Include the Order number, account email, a plain description, the outcome requested and supporting evidence. Aurelua will acknowledge and handle complaints within a reasonable time, considering urgency and legal deadlines.

A notice to a User may be sent to the email, mobile number or in-account address most recently supplied. A User must keep those details current. This does not replace a legally prescribed service method where one applies.

A consumer may use any external complaint or enforcement route available by law, including the relevant ombud, the National Consumer Commission or a court. Aurelua’s internal process is not a waiver or mandatory arbitration requirement.

24. Changes and general terms

• Aurelua may change these Terms for legal, security, product or operational reasons. Material changes will be notified before they take effect where reasonably possible. A change will not retrospectively remove an accrued right.
• If a provision is invalid or unenforceable, it is limited or removed only to the extent necessary. The rest remains effective.
• A delay in enforcing a right is not a waiver. No User may transfer an account or agreement without consent. Aurelua may transfer its agreement as part of a genuine restructuring or sale if user rights are not materially reduced and notice is given.
• These Terms and incorporated policies are the entire agreement about the Platform, without excluding a representation or right that law protects.
• South African law governs. South African courts have jurisdiction, subject to any forum or consumer right that cannot lawfully be restricted.

Questions