Resale Buyer Policy

This Buyer Policy sets out the rules for buying on the Rare Bindings marketplace. It is part of our Terms of Service, and our Terms and Privacy Policy also apply. If you break this policy, we may restrict or remove your account.

1. About Rare Bindings

Rare Bindings is a marketplace where independent collectors resell collector books to other buyers. It is operated by Rare Bindings Oy (Finnish Business ID 3657428-4), with its postal address at Marinkallio 8 A 24, 02320 Espoo, Finland ("we", "our", "us"). You can reach us at support@rarebindings.net.

We are not a party to the sale. A sale is a contract directly between you and the seller. We do not list our own items, do not compete with sellers, do not pre-screen listings, and do not endorse or guarantee any item, listing, condition grade, or seller.

2. How payment works right now

Please read this before you order.

• We do not process payments, hold funds, or provide escrow. When you place an order, this reserves the item and opens an order conversation with the seller. You pay the seller through their PayPal account (Goods and Services), using the details in the order.
• We charge you no fee. Buying is free.
• We do not provide buyer protection of our own. Payment goes through the seller's PayPal, so your protection is PayPal's Buyer Protection (Goods and Services), under PayPal's terms. Keep your conversation on Rare Bindings so there is a record.
• Do not send friends-and-family or gift payments; use PayPal Goods and Services so you keep PayPal's Buyer Protection.
• Because we never hold your money, we cannot refund, reverse, or step into a payment dispute. Those are resolved between you, the seller, and your payment provider.

3. Buying an item

• Read the whole listing before you order. Check the condition grade (we use the standard rare-book scale: As New, Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, with dust jackets graded separately), the notes, the photos, the included and missing parts, the handling time, and any returns the seller offers in the notes. If anything is unclear, message the seller first.
• Give an accurate delivery address. Accuracy matters for delivery and for any protection your payment method offers, and a seller may cancel an order whose details do not match.
• What the seller sees. To ship your order we show the seller your name, your delivery address, and the delivery phone number you gave at checkout, and the order conversation shows them your display name. The seller may use those details only to complete your order, as their Seller Policy requires. We do not pass your email address to the seller ourselves; what PayPal shows them is governed by PayPal's terms. The delivery details you give at checkout also go to the shipment-tracking services we use, as described in our Privacy Policy.
• You are responsible for any customs, import, or other charges that arise after an order ships.
• Pay on time. When you place an order — whether you buy it now or the seller accepts your offer — the item is reserved for you and you have 7 calendar days to pay the seller through their PayPal, or the order may be cancelled and the item relisted. Until you mark the payment as sent, either you or the seller can cancel the order from the order page.
• Keep the order on Rare Bindings. Arrange and confirm the order through the order conversation. "Off the Service" means arranging, negotiating, or communicating about an order anywhere other than the order conversation (for example by email, Discord, social media, or phone), or completing a sale that started here without placing the order here. Paying the seller through the PayPal details shown in the order, and a PayPal dispute, are part of the intended flow and are not off the Service. Moving an order off the Service to avoid our rules, our records, or any fees we introduce later is prohibited.
• Use the order messaging for all communication about an order, and be courteous. We cannot review messages sent off-platform.

4. Buyers in the EU, EEA, and UK

• Our sellers declare themselves to be private collectors, meaning individuals selling outside any trade or business. We do not verify or vouch for that status, and we tell you before you order that you are buying from a private collector.
• Whether a seller is in fact a trader is decided by their conduct, not their declaration (for example, volume, regularity, or buying to resell). If a seller's activity makes them a trader, EU, EEA, and UK consumer protections such as the legal guarantee and the right to withdraw apply to them regardless of the label, and you can tell us at support@rarebindings.net if you believe a seller is trading.
• For genuinely private sales, buyers are usually not covered by the statutory legal guarantee or right to withdraw. A seller may choose to offer returns in their listing notes, so check the listing.

5. If there is a problem with your order

Most problems are solved by contacting the seller first and, if needed, your payment provider. We cannot judge disputes about an item's condition or shipping, because we do not hold or inspect the items and do not process the payment.

Some problems are not the seller's responsibility, including items that were altered after you received them, were damaged by the carrier when packaged properly, arrived late through no fault of the seller, were returned without telling the seller first, were accurately described but did not meet your expectations, or are prohibited on Rare Bindings.

Raise an issue no later than 60 calendar days after the order ships. Support after that is limited. Any protection window your payment method offers runs separately.

To resolve an issue:

• Open an issue on the order (damaged, wrong item, not as described, or not received) and give the seller 4 calendar days to respond.
• If the seller does not respond in 4 days, the order is flagged Seller Not Responding and they get a further 4 days. If they still do not respond, their account is automatically suspended until they do.
• If you cannot agree, or the seller does not respond, open a PayPal dispute under PayPal's Buyer Protection (Goods and Services).

6. Reviews

After a completed order you may leave one review of the seller, within 90 calendar days of the order being completed. Reviews should describe the transaction, not personal behaviour, and paid or incentivized reviews are not allowed. You may report a review that breaks our guidelines by emailing support@rarebindings.net with a link to it, and we aim to handle removal requests within 14 days. Reviews of a book or edition are a separate feature from seller reviews.

7. Fees and taxes

The Service is free to buyers for now. Pay the seller directly within the applicable window using the details they give you in the order. You are responsible for any customs, import, or VAT charges after shipment. If we introduce platform-processed payments or fees later, this policy and the protection wording above will change, with notice.

8. Account restriction and closure

If we act against your account, we will give you a statement of reasons by email at or before the action takes effect, and tell you how to contest it. For account termination we aim to give at least 30 days' notice, unless the law restricts notice or immediate action is warranted.

Prohibited practices include diverting a transaction off the Service to avoid our rules, records, or future fees, or paying in a way that strips your payment protection; buying prohibited items (counterfeits, forgeries, misidentified editions, or items that break copyright or our policies); and breaking our Terms. You can close your account at any time; if you object to this policy, that is your remedy.

9. Disputes with Rare Bindings

Disputes about your relationship with Rare Bindings are governed by our Terms of Service and the laws of Finland, heard in the courts of Helsinki. If you are a consumer, nothing here affects your rights under the consumer law of the country where you live, and there is no arbitration requirement.

10. Contact

support@rarebindings.net. You can also contact a seller from their profile page.