Terms of Service

The short version: your shelf is yours, be decent to other readers, and these terms are governed by Dutch law.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of https://shelfd.cormacberkery.com and related services (the “Service”), operated by Cormac Berkery (“Shelfd”, “we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to use Shelfd. By using the Service you confirm you meet this requirement and can form a binding agreement.

2. Your account

You are responsible for your account and for keeping your login credentials secure. You may sign in with an email and password or through a third-party provider (Google or TikTok); if you use a third-party login, that provider’s terms also apply. Notify us promptly of any unauthorised use of your account.

3. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• break the law, infringe others’ rights, or violate these Terms;
• post content that is unlawful, harassing, hateful, deceptive, or infringing;
• upload photos or import data you do not have the right to use;
• attempt to disrupt, reverse-engineer, scrape at scale, or gain unauthorised access to the Service;
• abuse, spam, impersonate, or manipulate ratings, reviews, or other users.

We may remove content or suspend accounts that breach these Terms.

4. Your content and library

You own your content. You retain all rights to the reviews, lists, photos, notes, and other content you create (“Your Content”), and to your library data. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, store, and display Your Content only as needed to operate and provide the Service (for example, showing your public reviews to other users). This licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies retained transiently or as required by law.

Your shelf is yours. Consistent with how Shelfd works, you can export your full library at any time, and we do not sell your reading data to advertisers. You are responsible for Your Content and confirm you have the rights to share it.

5. Feedback

If you send us ideas, suggestions, or feedback about the Service, you agree we may use them freely to improve Shelfd, with no obligation to you and without treating them as confidential. You never have to send feedback — but if you do, we can act on it.

6. Reviews and community

Reviews and posts reflect their authors’ views, not ours. To keep the community healthy, we may moderate, rate-limit, hide, or remove content and may restrict features such as comments. Automated agents that appear on the Service are clearly identified as such.

7. Book data and third-party content

Book metadata, covers, and catalogue information may come from third-party sources such as Open Library and are subject to their terms and licences. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of catalogue data.

8. Third-party services

The Service integrates with third parties (for example Google, TikTok, and the import sources you choose). We are not responsible for those services, and your use of them is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

9. Intellectual property

The Service itself — its software, design, branding, and the content we provide (excluding Your Content and third-party content) — is owned by us or our licensors and protected by intellectual-property laws. You may not copy, modify, or create derivative works from it except as allowed by law or with our permission.

10. Copyright and infringement complaints

We respect intellectual-property rights and expect our users to do the same. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright or other rights, email us at cormacberkery@gmail.com and include: your contact details; a description of the work and of the allegedly infringing content, with a link or enough detail for us to find it; a statement that you believe the use is not authorised by the rights-holder, its agent, or the law; and a statement that the information in your notice is accurate. We review valid notices and may remove or disable access to the content, and we may pass your notice to the person who posted it. We may terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

11. Fees

The Service is currently free to use. If we introduce paid features, we will make the price and terms clear before you choose to buy, and we will give you reasonable notice before charging for something you currently use for free.

12. Availability and changes

The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue features at any time. We may update these Terms; if we make material changes we will post the new version here and update the date, and where appropriate notify you in the app or by email. Continued use after changes means you accept them.

13. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that catalogue data or recommendations will be accurate.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Shelfd will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, profits, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law (such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud).

15. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to cover Shelfd and Cormac Berkery for any third-party claims, losses, or reasonable costs (including legal fees) that arise from Your Content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms or of someone else’s rights. This does not apply to the extent a claim is caused by our own wrongdoing, and nothing here limits any mandatory rights you have as a consumer where you live.

16. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms or to protect the Service or other users. On termination, the licence in section 4 ends and your personal data is handled as described in the Privacy Policy.

17. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands, and the courts of the Netherlands have jurisdiction — without prejudice to any mandatory consumer-protection rights you have where you live.

18. General

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and replace any earlier understanding on the subject. If any part of these Terms is held unenforceable, the rest stays in force. If we do not enforce a right straight away, that is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our consent; we may transfer ours to a successor — for example if the Service is acquired or reorganised — and your rights will be preserved. Neither of us is responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

19. Contact

Shelfd, operated by Cormac Berkery in the Netherlands — cormacberkery@gmail.com. A postal address is available on request.