Terms of Use
This is a translation provided for your convenience. The French version is the reference text and prevails in the event of any discrepancy. This does not affect the mandatory consumer protections available to you under the law of your country of residence.
These terms govern the use of Kotsu. By creating an account, you accept them.
They are supplemented by our Terms of Sale, which govern makers' subscriptions, and by our Privacy policy.
1. What Kotsu is, and what it is not
Kotsu is an online service published by Anis Rahimi, sole trader (entrepreneur individuel, EI). See the Legal notice.
Kotsu offers two things:
- To makers, craftspeople who make costumes to order: a tool to run their business (listings, requests, build tracking, payment schedules) and a public maker page.
- To clients: a place to discover these makers and send them a commission request.
Kotsu is not a party to the contracts entered into between a maker and their client. We make nothing, we sell no costumes, we collect no payment for commissions and we charge no fee on them.
In practical terms, this means that:
- The commission contract is entered into directly between the client and the maker, on the terms the maker publishes
- The price, timescales, payment terms and cancellation terms are set by the maker
- Payment is made directly to the maker, by the means the client and the maker choose. Kotsu records that a payment has taken place, but never processes it
- Proper performance of the commission is the maker's sole responsibility
- In the event of a dispute over a commission, Kotsu is neither judge nor arbitrator. We can provide what the service has recorded (accepted terms, milestone approvals, history) but we do not settle the disagreement
The only contract you enter into with Kotsu is the one covering your use of the service and, for makers, the subscription.
2. Who can use Kotsu
You must be 16 years of age or older to create an account.
The service is open:
- To clients, free of charge. Browsing Discover and viewing maker pages requires no account. Creating one becomes necessary to send a commission request, to follow its progress and to leave a review
- To makers, whether or not they are registered as a business, on the terms set out in our Terms of Sale
A maker may be a trader or a private individual. This information is displayed on their maker page, because it has important consequences for you: when you place a commission with a trader, you benefit from the legal guarantees provided by consumer law. When you place a commission with a private individual, those guarantees do not apply.
You undertake to provide accurate information and to keep it up to date. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for any activity carried out from your account.
3. What you can publish, and what is prohibited
You remain the owner of everything you publish on Kotsu: photographs, descriptions, illustrations, reviews, messages.
By publishing content, you grant us the royalty-free, non-exclusive right to host it, display it and resize it as part of running the service, for as long as it remains published. We acquire no ownership right in your creations and we do not use them for any other purpose without your agreement.
You warrant that you hold the necessary rights to what you publish. This is a sensitive point in our field: many costumes reproduce characters protected by copyright. You alone are responsible for obtaining the permissions you need.
What is prohibited on Kotsu
- Content that is unlawful under applicable law
- Sexually explicit content, and any content that sexualises minors or characters depicted as minors
- Gratuitous violence, hateful content, harassment, threats
- Impersonating another person, another maker or Kotsu
- Publishing someone else's work presented as your own
- Fraud, scams, phishing attempts
- Requesting payment outside the publicly announced terms, or applying pressure to circumvent the protections of a payment method
- Fake reviews, bought reviews, manipulation of ratings
- Spam, unsolicited marketing, abusive automation of the service
- Any attempt at unauthorised access, mass data extraction or circumvention of technical limitations
On the authenticity of the work
Kotsu is a service intended for craftspeople. Photographs published in a portfolio must show creations actually made by the maker. Presenting someone else's work as your own is grounds for immediate suspension.
4. Reviews
Only a client who has actually placed a commission on Kotsu and received it may leave a review. Reviews may not be bought, imported from another site, or solicited in exchange for consideration.
The maker may reply publicly to a review concerning them, and may report a review whose authenticity they dispute, giving their reasons.
We do not remove a review solely because it is negative. Full details are set out in our Review policy.
5. How we moderate
5.1 Reporting content
Anyone, whether or not they have an account, may report content they consider unlawful or contrary to these terms, using our reporting form, accessible from every page of the site, or by email to contact@kotsu.shop.
We acknowledge receipt of every report without undue delay, we examine it in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and we inform its author of the decision taken and the means of redress available.
5.2 How decisions are made
Our moderation decisions are taken by a human being. We use automated means solely to detect and block spam, fraudulent access attempts and files whose format is not permitted. No content is removed and no account is suspended by an automated system alone.
5.3 What we may decide
Depending on the seriousness of the breach and whether it is repeated, we may: remove content, restrict its visibility, temporarily suspend an account, or terminate it.
Whenever we take such a decision, we tell you and we set out: the measure taken and its scope, the facts that led to it, the provision of these terms or the legal basis relied on, and the means of challenging it.
5.4 Challenging a decision
You may challenge any moderation decision by writing to contact@kotsu.shop within six months. We re-examine the decision and give you a reasoned reply. In any event, you retain the option of bringing the matter before a court.
6. Suspension and termination of your account
6.1 By you
You may delete your account at any time from your settings. If you are a maker with a subscription, the conditions for cancelling your subscription are set out in our Terms of Sale.
6.2 By us
We may restrict, suspend or terminate your access in the event of a breach of these terms.
If you are a maker:
- In the event of a restriction or suspension, we give you the reasons on a durable medium, before or at the time the measure takes effect
- In the event of termination of your account, we give you at least thirty days' notice, together with the reasons for it
This thirty-day notice period does not apply where we are bound by a legal obligation, in the event of repeated and demonstrable breaches of these terms, or where an overriding security reason requires it.
In all cases, you may give us further explanation by writing to contact@kotsu.shop.
6.3 What happens to your data
You may export your data from your settings before your account is closed. After deletion, your data is erased or anonymised on the terms and within the periods set out in our Privacy policy. Some data is kept for longer where the law requires us to do so.
Commissions in progress are not cancelled by the closure of an account. The contract between you and your maker or your client continues to exist outside Kotsu, and it is up to you to see it through.
7. Availability of the service
We do our best to keep Kotsu working properly, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. The service may be temporarily unavailable for maintenance, for an update or because of a technical incident.
We may change the features of the service. If a significant change affects the way you use it, we will inform you.
8. Our liability
Kotsu provides a tool and a space for intermediation. We do not guarantee the quality, safety or lawfulness of the services offered by makers, nor the accuracy of the information they publish, nor the solvency or good faith of clients.
We cannot be held liable for damage resulting from:
- The non-performance or poor performance of a commission by a maker
- The non-payment of a commission by a client
- Content published by users
- Use of the service contrary to these terms
None of these provisions excludes or limits our liability where the law prohibits it, in particular in the event of gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or towards consumers for personal injury.
9. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms. We will inform you of any change at least fifteen days before it takes effect, by email or by a notification in the service. This period is extended where the change requires you to make technical adaptations.
During this period, you may terminate your account if the change does not suit you. Continuing to use the service after the change takes effect constitutes acceptance.
This notice period does not apply where the change results from a legal obligation or is intended to address a security, fraud or malware risk.
10. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by French law.
If you are a consumer, you retain the benefit of the more protective mandatory provisions under the law of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings before the courts of your place of residence.
Before taking any action, please contact us at contact@kotsu.shop: most disagreements are settled through a conversation.
If the disagreement persists, you remain free to bring the matter before the competent court.
11. Contact us
contact@kotsu.shop
Point of contact for recipients of the service and for authorities, within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services. Languages accepted: French, English.