Terms of Service

These Terms are an agreement between you and StellaBase (“StellaBase,” “we,” “us”). “You” means the business, and the person signing up for it, that creates an account. By creating an account, or by using StellaBase, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy and our Acceptable Use Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use the service.

Please read section 15. It says most disputes are settled by individual arbitration, not in court or as a class action, and explains how to opt out.

1. The service

StellaBase lets businesses build a website and use tools such as an online store, booking, quotes and order forms, menus, events, memberships and donations, invoices, email campaigns, analytics and a CRM. Features differ by plan and change over time.

2. Your account

• You must be at least 18 and able to form a contract, and you must use StellaBase for a business, nonprofit or professional purpose.
• Give accurate information and keep it current. If your profession is licensed (for example real estate or mortgage), the license details you enter must be accurate; they are shown on your site.
• Keep your login link and connected accounts secure. You are responsible for everything done through your account, including by teammates you add. Tell us right away if you think your account was misused.
• The account owner controls the account. Teammates act on the owner’s behalf, and the owner is responsible for them.

3. License to use the software

While your account is in good standing, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to use StellaBase for your business. You may not: copy, resell or sublicense the service; reverse engineer it, except where the law allows; use it to build a competing product; get around its limits or security; or access it by automated means other than the features we provide. We and our licensors own the service, its software, templates and designs, and our trademarks. Feedback you give us may be used freely.

4. Plans, fees and billing

• Plan fees and automatic renewal. Paid plans are billed monthly in advance at the price shown when you subscribe, through Stripe. Your plan renews automatically every month and your card is charged until you cancel. We email a confirmation with the price and how to cancel when you subscribe.
• Free accounts. While StellaBase is free for new accounts, nothing is charged and no card is needed. Before billing starts for your account we’ll email you at least 30 days ahead, and you’re only charged if you choose to subscribe and add a card.
• Price changes. We may change plan prices. We’ll email you at least 30 days before a new price applies to you; it takes effect at your next renewal after that notice, and you can cancel before then.
• Platform fee on card sales. When your customers pay you by card or bank transfer through StellaBase, we charge a platform fee (currently 0.5% of the sale amount, not including shipping), collected automatically by Stripe. Payment processing fees charged by Stripe are separate. Payments your customers send you directly (cash, check, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal) carry no StellaBase fee. We may change the platform fee with at least 30 days’ notice.
• Cancellation. You can change plans or cancel anytime online in Settings → Plan, with no call or form. Cancelling stops future charges; your plan stays active until the end of the month you paid for.
• Refunds. Plan fees already paid are not refunded, including for partial months, except where the law requires or if we close your account without cause (then we refund the unused part of the month). Refunds to your own customers are up to you; see section 5.
• Late payment. If a payment fails, we may limit paid features until it is fixed. Your content is not deleted because of a failed payment.
• Taxes. Prices don’t include taxes. You are responsible for taxes on your plan, and for collecting and paying taxes on your own sales.
• Domains. A domain we register for you is registered in your name and included in your plan: we renew it at no extra cost while your plan is active. If your plan ends, we stop renewing it; you can transfer it to another domain company anytime, and after it expires it may become available to others.

Done-for-you setup (“We build it”)

• If you buy our one-time setup service, we build your site from the information, photos and logo you send, and include one round of changes after you review it. Extra rounds or new features are separate.
• Delivery times we mention are estimates that start once we have everything we asked for; we aim for 72 hours but don’t guarantee a date.
• You confirm you own or have permission to use everything you send us. The finished site and its content are yours to change; our templates and software remain ours, as section 3 says.
• We set your site up so search engines can find it, but no one can guarantee rankings, traffic or sales.
• The setup fee is refundable in full until we start work, and not after we deliver the site, except where the law requires. Your monthly plan is separate and follows the rest of section 4.

5. Payments to your business (Stripe)

Payment processing services for businesses on StellaBase are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (together, the “Stripe Services Agreement”). By agreeing to these Terms or continuing to operate as a business on StellaBase, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as it may be modified by Stripe from time to time. As a condition of StellaBase enabling payment processing services through Stripe, you agree to provide StellaBase accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you authorize StellaBase to share it and transaction information related to your use of the payment processing services provided by Stripe.

• You are the seller. Your customers buy from you, not from StellaBase. You are responsible for your products and services, prices, descriptions, delivery, refunds, cancellations, warranties, customer service, disputes and chargebacks, and for following the laws that apply to what you sell.
• Direct payments. Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, cash and checks go straight to you. StellaBase never holds that money and can’t refund, trace or recover it. Confirm a payment arrived before you mark it paid.
• StellaBase is not a bank, money transmitter or payment processor, and never holds your customers’ card numbers.

6. Your content and your customers

• You own what you put into StellaBase: your words, photos, products, listings, contacts and records (“Your Content”). You give us a worldwide, royalty-free license to host, copy, display, adapt for different screens, and send Your Content only to run, secure and improve the service for you, and to show your public site to the public.
• You confirm you have the rights to everything you publish, including photos and reviews, and that reviews and testimonials are genuine customers’ words, used with permission (FTC rules apply).
• Your customers’ information. For information your customers give through your site (orders, bookings, forms, sign-ups), you decide how it is used and StellaBase processes it for you. You are responsible for having a lawful basis and any consent you need, for honoring unsubscribe, privacy and deletion requests, and for any privacy notice your business must give. Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with it.
• You can download your contacts anytime (bottom of Settings). Deleting your account is immediate and permanent, so download what you need first. Copies in our backups are erased within 90 days. Cancelling a plan without deleting keeps your data.
• When you delete a contact, we also delete their activity history, saved searches, sent-email log and bookings or sign-ups. Orders, invoices, payments and donations are kept for your records.

7. Rules you agree to follow

You agree to follow our Acceptable Use Policy and all laws that apply to your business, including email marketing law (CAN-SPAM), calling and texting rules (TCPA and Do-Not-Call), consumer protection, advertising, accessibility, and, if you’re in real estate or lending, fair housing, RESPA and licensing rules.

8. Third-party services

Some features connect to services we don’t control, such as Stripe, Google, Microsoft, Meta, MLS feeds and domain registries. Your use of them is governed by their terms, and we aren’t responsible for their outages, changes or decisions.

9. Estimates, AI and information

Home values, county records, calculators, analytics, AI-written drafts and other generated information are estimates for convenience. They are not appraisals, financial, tax or legal advice, and may be wrong. Review AI drafts before you send or publish them.

10. Sample and demo sites

Demo sites marked as samples are examples. Their businesses, products, prices and reviews are illustrative unless the site says otherwise, and orders placed on them are not fulfilled. Some samples are made for a real business with its permission and may quote that business’s own public reviews; those say so on the page.

11. Suspension and ending

You can stop using StellaBase anytime. We may suspend or close an account, or remove content, if we reasonably believe it breaks these Terms or the law, creates risk or possible liability for us, our users or the public, or if required by a payment partner or authority. Where possible we’ll tell you first and give you a chance to fix it. Sections that by their nature should survive (fees owed, ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity, disputes) survive the end of this agreement.

12. Disclaimers

StellaBase is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We don’t promise the service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that it will bring you customers or sales, or that data will never be lost. Keep your own copies of important information.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows: (a) StellaBase and its owners, employees and suppliers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill or business, even if told they were possible; and (b) our total liability for all claims relating to the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or $100. Some places don’t allow some of these limits, so they apply only as far as the law permits.

14. Indemnity

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless StellaBase and its owners, employees and suppliers from claims, losses, fines and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from Your Content, your products and services, your sales and your dealings with your customers, your use of StellaBase, or your breach of these Terms or the law.

15. Disputes, arbitration and class action waiver

• Talk to us first. Before filing a claim, email us a description of the dispute and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally.
• Arbitration. Any dispute that isn’t resolved will be settled by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, in North Carolina or by video, instead of in court. Either party may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either party may ask a court to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property.
• No class actions. Claims may be brought only individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, consolidated or representative proceeding.
• Opting out. You can opt out of this section by emailing us within 30 days of creating your account, with your name, business and a statement that you opt out of arbitration.

16. Copyright complaints

If you believe content on a site we host infringes your copyright, send a notice with: your contact details; the work you believe is infringed; the URL of the material; a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn’t authorized; and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner, with your signature. Send it to the contact below. We remove infringing material, tell the business, accept counter-notices, and close the accounts of repeat infringers. The full process is in our Copyright (DMCA) Policy.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For material changes we’ll give at least 30 days’ notice by email or in the app. Continuing to use StellaBase after changes take effect means you accept them.

18. General

These Terms are governed by the laws of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and subject to section 15. They, together with the policies linked above, are the whole agreement between you and us about StellaBase. If a part is unenforceable, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a right isn’t a waiver. You may not transfer this agreement without our consent; we may transfer it as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control.