Dispute policy
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Vernissaria is the discovery layer between buyers and independent makers. We do not stand between you and the maker. When you purchase through Vernissaria, payments are processed by Stripe on behalf of the maker's connected account — Vernissaria is not the seller of record and does not hold your funds. We do not ship items or mediate individual disputes. This page explains what that means when something goes wrong — and what your remedies are.
1. Vernissaria's role
When you find a piece on Vernissaria, you are buying directly from the maker — not from us. Payments go to the maker's own Stripe account. Shipping is arranged by the maker. Returns and refunds follow the maker's own terms.
Vernissaria is not the seller or merchant of record in your transaction. Payments are processed by Stripe on behalf of the maker's account — Vernissaria does not hold your money, does not decide your refund, and does not arrange your shipping. We do not mediate individual disputes between you and the maker.
This is a deliberate choice. It keeps you closer to the maker and keeps the platform from inserting itself into your relationship with them. It also means your direct remedies are with the maker, your bank, and your local consumer-protection authority — not with us.
2. Each maker sets their own terms
Every maker on Vernissaria publishes their own commerce terms — shipping windows, payment methods accepted, returns and refunds policy, handling fees, and rules for custom or commissioned work. These terms are linked from every artwork page and shown to you at checkout when payment runs through Stripe.
Before buying or reserving a piece, read the maker's terms. What you agree to is between you and them.
3. If a problem arises — step 1: contact the maker
Almost every issue resolves with a direct conversation. If your piece has not arrived, is not as described, or you have any other concern, write to the maker first. Their email is on every confirmation and every notification we send you.
Most makers want to fix the problem. Give them a fair window — at least 7 days for a first response.
4. Step 2 (payment): chargeback through your bank
If you paid by card and the maker has not delivered, has misrepresented the piece, or has stopped responding, you can dispute the charge with your bank. This is called a chargeback and it works the same regardless of where the maker is based.
Card-issuer dispute guidance:
- Visa — How to dispute a charge
- Mastercard — Disputing a transaction
- American Express — Disputing charges
Most card-issuing banks also have a dispute form inside their app or online banking. That is usually the fastest path.
6. Step 3: report the problem to Vernissaria
Reports do not result in individual mediation — see step 1 above. They help us identify patterns. Right now, enforcement signals come primarily from Stripe data — chargeback rates, Connect account health, and bank-level flags — reviewed manually by our team. Email reports supplement that picture and are logged for review.
We log every report we receive and follow up on patterns. When the /report form ships, submitted reports will be subject to the standing and acknowledgement rules described in this policy.
7. How we act on reports — the enforcement ladder
We publish this ladder verbatim because transparency is the credibility mechanism. The thresholds below are the standard we hold ourselves to. Until enforcement automation ships, tier assessments are reviewed and applied manually by our team. Observable signals — chargeback rates from Stripe, bank-level account status, and accumulated reports — drive those assessments; individual transaction judgment does not.
| Tier | Trigger (any of) | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 0 — Clean | Default | No restrictions. |
| 1 — Warning | First lost payment dispute; or 2 buyer reports unacknowledged > 14 days; or the maker's Stripe account has past-due requirements | Private email to the maker and a banner in their dashboard. No effect visible to buyers. |
| 2 — Search demotion | Payment dispute rate > 2% over 90 days (minimum 5 transactions); or 3+ unacknowledged reports; or a repeat Tier 1 within 90 days | The maker is removed from featured placements, "near you" bands, and homepage editorial slots. Direct artwork URLs and the maker's catalogue still work. |
| 3 — Buy now suspension | Payment dispute rate > 5% over 90 days (minimum 5 transactions); or Stripe has disabled charges on the account; or 5+ unacknowledged reports | The Buy now button is hidden across the maker's catalogue. Reserve / Inquire still works so existing buyers can still reach the maker. |
| 4 — Full suspension | Payment dispute rate > 10%; or Stripe has disabled the account for fraud or terms violation; or a confirmed pattern of fake listings | The maker's public catalogue is hidden. The maker retains admin access to export their data and to appeal. |
| 5 — Removal | Tier 4 after appeal denied; or criminal activity confirmed by a competent authority | The maker is removed from Vernissaria. We keep the minimum records required by GDPR. |
When enforcement automation ships: Tier 1–2 transitions will execute automatically; Tier 3 and above will require sign-off from our team. Until then, all tier assessments are applied manually.
8. Buyer misuse and platform access
Vernissaria does not require buyers to create an account to browse, inquire, reserve, or complete a purchase. Anonymous and low-friction access is by design.
We may restrict access to some platform features — including reservations, the inquiry form, and Stripe Checkout — when observable signals indicate misuse. These are platform-access decisions, not judgments about any individual transaction. Vernissaria does not adjudicate who was right in a dispute; that is for the relevant bank, consumer authority, or court.
Examples of buyer behaviour that may result in access limits include: placing reservations without any intention to follow through; sending abusive or harassing messages via the Reserve / Inquire form; patterns of refusing delivery or failing to pay under an agreed arrangement; filing chargebacks that are subsequently found to be without merit by the issuing bank; submitting reports against a maker in bad faith or in a coordinated way; and attempting to circumvent a restriction by using different email addresses or payment details.
A legitimate chargeback is a consumer right — winning one, or filing one in good faith, is not buyer misuse and carries no adverse consequences on Vernissaria. The same applies to genuine complaints submitted through the process described in section 6.
Where buyers have transacted through Stripe Checkout, we may use payment-side data from Stripe — including chargeback outcomes and payment-risk indicators — to inform access decisions. We may also use observable platform signals such as reservation patterns. We do not publish the specific thresholds used.
Makers do not currently have a self-serve channel to report abusive buyers. For serious cases — sustained harassment, coordinated reservation griefing, or suspected fraud — contact us at support@vernissaria.com with the relevant reservation IDs and a description of the pattern. When the maker-report channel launches, verified maker reports will become a formal input to buyer-access assessments.
Restrictions that prevent a buyer from completing a purchase or submitting a reservation include a notification to the buyer's verified email address and a route to appeal. To appeal a restriction, write to support@vernissaria.com from the email address associated with your activity on Vernissaria. We aim to respond within 14 days.
9. If you are a maker and disagree with a tier change
Any enforcement action can be appealed by writing to support@vernissaria.com from your registered email address. We aim to respond within 14 days.
The appeal reviews whether the signal-to-tier mapping was correctly applied — not the underlying transactions. For example: if a payment dispute was confirmed fraudulent by Stripe, it should not count toward your rate. That is a correct appeal. Asking us to overturn a buyer report on its merits is not — we do not adjudicate those.
10. Data we keep about reports — and for how long
When you send us a report by email, we keep: the artwork or reservation it concerns; the email address you wrote from; the description of the issue you provided. When the /report form ships, we will also record the category field and whether the maker acknowledged the report.
We keep this for 24 months from the date of the report so we can detect patterns. You can request earlier deletion of your personal data under GDPR — write to support@vernissaria.com.
We do not share reports with the maker except as needed for them to respond. We do not share reports outside Vernissaria except where required by law.