Terms of Service


Effective Date: July 25, 2025
Last Updated: February 15, 2026


These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Tertulia for Authors website builder platform, including ecommerce and email tools (the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. These Terms constitute a binding legal agreement between you and Tertulia. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.


1. Relationship of the Parties

Tertulia provides software tools and infrastructure only. Websites created using the Service are independently operated by authors. Authors are solely responsible for the content, products, customer data, legal compliance, and policies of their websites, including compliance with ecommerce, email marketing, tax, privacy, and consumer protection laws.

Tertulia is not the merchant of record for any transaction conducted through an author's website and does not take title to, own, or control any products offered for sale.


2. Eligibility and Account Responsibilities

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information and to keep such information updated.


3. Your Content and Data

You retain ownership of all content you upload to the Service. You grant Tertulia a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, store, process, display, and reproduce your content solely as necessary to operate and provide the Service.

You are responsible for ensuring that your content:

  • Does not infringe the intellectual property or other rights of third parties
  • Does not violate any contractual obligation, including publishing, distribution, or exclusivity agreements
  • Complies with applicable laws and regulations
  • Does not include unlawful, harmful, offensive, or deceptive material

Tertulia reserves the right to investigate violations of these Terms and to suspend or remove content or accounts that violate them.

Some websites created through the Service may be pre-populated with publicly available author information. You may edit or remove such content at any time through your administrative tools.

You represent and warrant that you are the sole author, copyright owner, or authorized rights holder of all books, manuscripts, digital files, cover art, descriptions, metadata, and related materials you upload or sell through the Service; or you have obtained all necessary licenses, permissions, and contractual rights to distribute and sell such materials.

You further represent and warrant that:

  • The sale, distribution, and marketing of your books or other products through your website does not violate any publishing agreement, distribution agreement, exclusivity arrangement (including marketplace exclusivity programs), or other contractual obligation;
  • You have fully deconflicted any exclusive distribution agreements prior to offering the content for sale through the Service;
  • Your products do not infringe any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, moral right, or other proprietary right of any third party.

Tertulia does not review or verify ownership rights and relies entirely on your representations. Upon reasonable request, you agree to provide documentation sufficient to demonstrate your ownership or rights to distribute the content offered for sale.

You are solely responsible for any claims, disputes, or legal actions arising from your sale or distribution of content through your website.


4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

  • Violate any applicable law or regulation
  • Infringe intellectual property, privacy, or other rights
  • Upload or distribute malware or malicious code
  • Engage in deceptive, fraudulent, or abusive practices
  • Send spam or unauthorized bulk communications
  • Interfere with or disrupt the Service, servers, or networks
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to systems or accounts

5. Billing and Payment

Tertulia for Authors is offered as a subscription-based service. By subscribing, you authorize Tertulia (or its third-party payment processor) to charge your selected payment method on a recurring basis in accordance with your chosen plan.


6. Free Trial and Subscription Activation

Tertulia for Authors may offer a 14-day free trial. During the trial:

  • A draft website may be created using public information and content you provide
  • You will not be charged unless you activate a paid subscription
  • Custom domains cannot be connected or registered

You may activate a paid subscription at any time by selecting a plan and providing valid payment information. Once activated, your subscription will renew automatically unless cancelled.


7. Refunds

Domain registration purchases are final and non-refundable. Subscription fees are non-refundable and are not prorated. You may cancel at any time, and your subscription will remain active through the end of the current billing period.


8. Auto-Renewal

Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle unless cancelled before the renewal date. Domain registrations renew annually unless auto-renewal is disabled in your account settings.


9. Domain Management

A. Domain Registration on Your Behalf

Tertulia may register and manage domains through third-party registrars. You remain the beneficial owner of any domain registered on your behalf and may request transfer subject to registrar policies. Failure to maintain valid payment information may result in loss of the domain.

B. Connecting or Transferring Domains

You may connect or transfer domains you own. You are responsible for managing registrar settings. Tertulia is not responsible for downtime or misconfiguration caused by changes outside its control.

C. DNS Support

At your request, Tertulia may assist with DNS configuration. DNS changes involve inherent risks, and Tertulia is not responsible for resulting downtime, data loss, or email disruption.


10. Email Services

Tertulia may provide basic email forwarding services and, depending on your subscription plan, tools to upload contact lists and send email communications.

You represent that you have obtained all necessary consents to collect and email contacts and that you will comply with all applicable email and data protection laws, including CAN-SPAM, CASL, and GDPR. You acknowledge that you are the data controller (where applicable under law) with respect to contact data collected through your website, and Tertulia acts solely as a service provider or processor.

You are solely responsible for managing your contact lists, including:

  • honoring unsubscribe requests and opt-out preferences in a timely manner,
  • maintaining list hygiene to ensure accurate, consented email addresses, and
  • complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding email marketing, data protection, and privacy.

Tertulia does not provide full email hosting, deliverability guarantees, or monitoring of compliance with these obligations, and is not responsible for any emails sent or for violations of email or privacy laws.


11. Ecommerce and Payments

Authors may sell digital and physical products using the Service. Authors are the merchant of record for all transactions. Payments are processed through Stripe. Tertulia does not handle customer service, refunds, chargebacks, taxes, or customer disputes. Tertulia does not control, process, or store full payment card information and is not responsible for payment processor performance, chargebacks, fraud, or transaction failures.


12. Taxes and Tax Responsibility

You are solely responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, and remitting any applicable taxes arising from your use of the Service or sales made through your website, including sales tax, VAT, GST, or digital goods taxes.

Tertulia does not calculate, collect, remit, or provide advice regarding taxes. Transaction reporting is provided through Stripe, and you are responsible for using those reports to meet your tax obligations. We recommend consulting a qualified tax professional.


13. User-Installed Tracking Technologies

If you connect third-party analytics or advertising tools to your website, you are solely responsible for compliance with applicable privacy, data protection, and cookie laws and for providing appropriate disclosures to site visitors.


14. Referral Program

Tertulia may offer a referral program allowing users to earn promotional credits or free service months by referring new users. Eligibility requirements, reward limits, and anti-fraud rules apply. Tertulia may modify or discontinue the referral program at any time.


15. Termination

You may cancel your account at any time. Tertulia may suspend or terminate your access for violations of these Terms or misuse of the Service. Upon termination, your right to access the Service will immediately cease. Tertulia may delete your content after a commercially reasonable retention period.


16. Intellectual Property Complaints

Tertulia respects intellectual property rights and expects users of the Service to do the same. If any person or entity believes that material hosted through the Service infringes their copyright, they may submit a written notice to authors@tertulia.com that includes:

  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed;
  • Identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location;
  • Contact information for the complaining party;
  • A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief the use is not authorized; and
  • A statement that the information provided is accurate and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the rights holder.

Upon receipt of a notice that appears facially valid, Tertulia may remove or disable access to the identified material. Tertulia may notify the user who uploaded the material and may restore access upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, in accordance with applicable law.

Tertulia does not independently verify ownership of content hosted through the Service and assumes no obligation to monitor user content for infringement.

Users are solely responsible for ensuring that their content does not infringe the rights of others and agree to indemnify Tertulia for any claims arising from their content.


17. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Tertulia, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, penalties, fines, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

  • Your content or products;
  • Your breach of these Terms;
  • Your violation of any law or regulation;
  • Your infringement of intellectual property or other rights;
  • Any dispute between you and your customers.

18. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, Tertulia disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and uninterrupted availability.


19. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tertulia shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages. Tertulia's total liability shall not exceed the fees paid by you in the preceding 12 months. These limitations apply regardless of legal theory and even if advised of the possibility of damages.


20. Force Majeure

Tertulia shall not be liable for delay or failure to perform due to causes beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, internet outages, payment processor failures, registrar failures, governmental actions, labor disputes, or infrastructure disruptions.


21. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law principles.


22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted or communicated. Continued use of the Service constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.


23. Contact Information

For questions about these Terms, contact us at authors@tertulia.com.

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