Platform Services Agreement

1. Parties and purpose

This Platform Services Agreement (the "Agreement") is between Auction Arkansas ("Auction Arkansas," "we," "us"), the operator of auctionarkansas.com (the "Platform"), and the auction company identified at registration (the "Auctioneer," "you"). It governs your use of the Platform to conduct online auctions, and supplements the Terms of Use, which also bind you.

By registering an auction company, publishing a sale, or continuing to use seller features after the effective date, you accept this Agreement on behalf of the company, and you represent you have authority to do so.

2. The marketplace relationship

The Platform is auction software and a marketplace venue. You — not Auction Arkansas — are the auctioneer of record for every sale you run and the seller (or the consignor's agent) of every lot in it. The contract of sale for each lot forms directly between you and the winning bidder.

Auction Arkansas is not an auctioneer, does not conduct your auctions, does not take title to or possession of items, does not set your prices, reserves, premiums, or terms, and is not a party to your contracts with buyers or consignors.

Nothing in this Agreement creates a partnership, joint venture, franchise, employment, or agency relationship. You are an independent business.

3. Licensing and eligibility

You must hold and maintain a current, valid Arkansas auctioneer or auction-house license at all times while selling on the Platform. You will provide your license number and expiration at registration, keep them current, and notify us promptly of any suspension, revocation, or lapse.

We verify license details before your first sale may be published, and the Platform blocks publication while a license is unverified or expired. Verification is not legal advice and does not transfer any compliance obligation to Auction Arkansas: you are solely responsible for your licensure and for conducting sales in compliance with Arkansas law, including the Arkansas auctioneer licensing statutes and regulations.

You are responsible for everyone who operates your account, and for your employees' and contractors' compliance with this Agreement.

4. Platform fees

Platform fees are: (a) a monthly membership fee of $79, and (b) a final sale fee of 2% of hammer gross — the sum of winning hammer prices on each settled sale, excluding buyer's premium and sales tax. Current rates are also published on the About page; fee changes follow §15.

The final sale fee is invoiced per settled sale and payable within 30 days of invoice. The membership fee is billed monthly in advance once subscription billing is available; sales may not be published while platform fees are more than 60 days past due.

Platform fees are owed by you to Auction Arkansas and are never collected from your buyers by us. There are no per-bid, per-card-authorization, or listing fees.

5. Payments from buyers — you are the merchant of record

You collect all amounts owed by buyers — hammer price, buyer's premium, sales tax, and any disclosed convenience fee — directly, through payment methods you control: your own connected payment processor (such as Stripe or Square), your own payment link, or cash/check at pickup. Auction Arkansas never collects, holds, or transmits buyers' purchase money and is not in the flow of funds.

You are solely responsible for payment collection, refunds, chargebacks and payment disputes, uncollected invoices, and your processor relationship (including its fees and terms). A card convenience fee, if you set one, is capped by the Platform at 5% and must comply with card-network rules and applicable law — surcharge compliance is your responsibility.

Where you use saved-card charging (when available), you may charge a winning bidder's saved card only as authorized by the bidder Terms of Use — after settlement, after the disclosed notice window, never for cash-flagged buyers — and you are responsible for the resulting charges, declines, refunds, and disputes as the merchant of record.

Sales and use tax: you are solely responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, and remitting all taxes on your sales. Tax rates you configure on a sale are your representation, not ours.

6. Your sales: listings, conduct, and fulfillment

You are responsible for the accuracy of your listings — titles, descriptions, photographs, and categories — and for having the right to sell every item you list. Items sold as-is must be disclosed as such in your sale terms; descriptions must not be deceptive.

You may not list items that are unlawful to sell, that infringe others' rights, or that require licenses you do not hold (e.g., certain firearms transfers).

You set and are bound by each sale's disclosed terms: buyer's premium, sales tax rate, pickup dates and address, and any special conditions. The Platform locks money terms and schedule once a sale is published, because bidders bid in reliance on them.

You are responsible for fulfillment: conducting pickup as disclosed, releasing items to paying winners, and resolving buyer complaints about items and sale conduct. Pickup addresses are shared by the Platform only with winning bidders after settlement.

7. Auction integrity

You will not engage in shill bidding, bid on your own sales directly or through any person acting for you, misuse knowledge of bidders' maximum bids, or manipulate prices. The Platform enforces some of this in software: seller accounts cannot bid anywhere on the Platform, and every time you view the leading maximum bids on your own sale, that access is recorded in a permanent audit log.

You may withdraw a lot before it closes (the high bidder is notified); you may not cancel a completed sale to a paying winner except for cause consistent with your disclosed terms and applicable law.

Auction Arkansas may investigate suspected integrity violations, cancel affected bids or sales, and suspend or remove your company from the Platform. Shill bidding or bidding on your own sales is grounds for immediate termination.

8. Buyer data and marketing tools

Information about bidders and buyers that you receive through the Platform — names, paddle numbers, contact details on invoices, pickup interactions — may be used only to conduct and settle your sales and for your own auction business's ordinary customer relations. You may not sell, rent, or share Platform-derived buyer data with third parties.

Contact lists you import are your responsibility: you represent you have the right to contact those people. Marketing campaigns you compose and send through the Platform are your content; you are the advertiser responsible for their truthfulness and for honoring unsubscribes.

You will handle buyer personal information consistent with the Platform's Privacy Policy and applicable law.

9. Consignors

Your agreements with consignors — commissions, settlement timing, reserves, unsold-item handling — are yours alone. Auction Arkansas is not a party to them, owes consignors nothing, and platform reports (such as the sale report) are provided as a convenience without warranty of their fitness for your consignor settlements.

10. Content license

You grant Auction Arkansas a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display, reproduce, and promote your listings, photographs, company name, and logo on and off the Platform (including search results, social previews, and marketing of your sales). This license survives for historical sale records but ends for promotional use when this Agreement terminates.

11. Disclaimers

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. We do not guarantee continuous operation, that every bid will be received or recorded in every circumstance, any level of bidder participation or prices, or the conduct or payment of any bidder.

12. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, AUCTION ARKANSAS WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS OR LOST SALES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE PLATFORM FEES YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE.

Nothing in this Agreement limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

13. Indemnification

You will indemnify and hold Auction Arkansas harmless from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: your sales and listings; items you sell; your licensure or its lapse; payment collection, refunds, chargebacks, and taxes; your consignor relationships; your marketing content; and your breach of this Agreement or the Terms of Use.

14. Term, suspension, and termination

This Agreement runs month to month. You may stop using the Platform at any time; accrued platform fees remain payable, and you must settle and fulfill any published sales (or withdraw them before close, honoring notified bidders' rights under your terms).

We may suspend publishing or terminate this Agreement for material breach, integrity violations, license lapse, or nonpayment of platform fees. For live sales at the time of suspension, we may allow them to close in the ordinary course to protect bidders. Sections 4 (accrued fees), 5, 9, and 10–13 survive termination.

15. Changes

We may update this Agreement and platform fees prospectively with at least 30 days' notice (posted on this page and sent to your account email). Fee changes never apply to sales already published. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance.

16. Governing law; disputes; general

This Agreement is governed by Arkansas law. Venue for any dispute lies in the state or federal courts located in Saline County, Arkansas, and the parties consent to their jurisdiction.

This Agreement, the Terms of Use, and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Auction Arkansas about seller use of the Platform. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder stands. We may assign this Agreement in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets; you may not assign it without our consent. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.