1. Introduction

These Seller Terms govern seller registration, product listing, order handling, stock management, delivery, customer service, and related seller activity on Ruhunu Market. By registering as a seller, logging in, listing products, or accepting orders, you agree to these Seller Terms, the Customer Terms, Privacy Policy, and any written instructions issued by admin.

2. Seller account approval

Seller registration is not automatic. New seller accounts remain pending until admin reviews and activates the account. Admin may approve, reject, suspend, reactivate, or delete seller accounts at its discretion, especially where information is incomplete, misleading, unlawful, high-risk, abusive, or inconsistent with the platform’s standards.

3. Account expiry and product visibility

Admin may set an expiry date for each seller account. After expiry, the seller may not be able to log in and the seller’s published products may be automatically hidden or unpublished until admin extends the expiry date. It is the seller’s responsibility to renew or contact admin before expiry if continued access is required.

4. Product listing limit

Admin may set the maximum number of products a seller may list. The seller must not attempt to bypass product limits by creating duplicate accounts, duplicate products, misleading variations, or multiple incomplete listings. Admin may remove duplicate or low-quality listings.

5. Seller information

The seller must provide accurate business name, owner name, email, phone numbers, address, city, district, and other required information. The seller must keep this information updated at all times. The seller is responsible for all activity under their account and must keep login details secure.

6. Independent seller responsibility

Each seller is an independent seller and is responsible for their own products, stock, descriptions, photos, prices, promotions, delivery fees, delivery arrangements, warranties, returns, refunds, customer communications, tax obligations, business licences, and legal compliance.

Ruhunu Market provides the technology platform and admin tools. The seller must not represent that they are an employee, agent, partner, or official representative of Ruhunu Market unless admin gives written permission.

7. Product listing standards

Every product listing must be honest, lawful, clear, and complete. Product titles, descriptions, images, prices, discounts, delivery fees, stock quantities, local district, and promotional information must be accurate and not misleading. Sellers must not use stolen images, copied descriptions, false brand names, fake reviews, exaggerated claims, hidden charges, or bait-and-switch tactics.

8. Product images and intellectual property

The seller confirms that they own or have permission to use all uploaded product images, logos, descriptions, and other content. By uploading content, the seller gives Ruhunu Market permission to display, resize, store, promote, and use that content for operating and marketing the marketplace.

9. Prohibited and restricted products

Sellers must not list products that are illegal, counterfeit, stolen, unsafe, misleading, infringing, age-restricted without proper controls, regulated without proper licence, hazardous, obscene, defamatory, or otherwise unsuitable for the platform. This includes, without limitation, products that violate consumer protection, intellectual property, import/export, health, safety, taxation, advertising, data protection, or criminal laws.

Admin may remove any product without prior notice where the product appears risky, prohibited, misleading, poorly presented, out of stock, expired, duplicated, or harmful to the reputation of the platform.

10. Pricing, discounts, and delivery fees

The seller is responsible for setting correct product prices, discount prices, local delivery fees, and outstation delivery fees. Sellers must honour confirmed prices unless there is a genuine error and the customer agrees to the corrected price before fulfilment. Hidden charges must not be added after order confirmation unless clearly disclosed and accepted by the customer.

11. Stock management

The seller must maintain accurate stock quantities. When an order is placed, the system may deduct stock automatically. If stock becomes unavailable, the seller must promptly contact the customer and admin where necessary. Sellers must not accept orders for products they cannot reasonably supply.

12. Order handling

When an order is placed, the relevant seller may receive the order through the seller dashboard and email. The seller must review the order promptly, contact the customer where needed, confirm availability, arrange delivery, and update order status honestly. Sellers must handle only the orders assigned to them and must not access or misuse another seller’s order information.

13. Delivery responsibility

The seller is responsible for safe packaging, delivery arrangements, delivery updates, courier coordination, and customer communication unless admin has separately agreed to handle delivery. Sellers must avoid unreasonable delays and must inform customers of delivery problems as soon as possible.

14. Cash on Delivery and receipt WhatsApped payments

The platform mainly supports Cash on Delivery and Cash Paid / Receipt WhatsApped order types. If a seller accepts advance payment directly from a customer, the seller is fully responsible for giving correct payment instructions, verifying the payment, supplying the product, issuing any required receipt, and resolving payment disputes.

Unless an official platform payment gateway is introduced, Ruhunu Market does not hold seller funds, collect card payments, or guarantee settlement of direct payments between customers and sellers.

15. Returns, exchanges, refunds, and after-sales service

The seller must provide a fair and lawful return, exchange, refund, and warranty process. If a product is defective, damaged before delivery, wrong, materially different from the listing, or otherwise in breach of applicable law, the seller must take reasonable corrective action. Sellers must not ignore genuine customer complaints.

16. Customer data protection

Customer names, addresses, phone numbers, order details, and payment notes are provided to sellers only for order fulfilment, delivery, customer support, dispute handling, accounting, and legal compliance. Sellers must not sell, publish, misuse, spam, harass, or share customer data except as needed for delivery or lawful business records.

17. Communication standards

Sellers must communicate politely and professionally with customers, admin, couriers, and other sellers. Abusive language, threats, harassment, discrimination, deception, spam, or pressure tactics may result in suspension or termination.

18. Seller fees, subscriptions, advertisements, and promotions

If admin charges seller subscription fees, listing fees, commission, advertisement fees, renewal fees, or promotional fees, those commercial terms must be agreed separately or published clearly by admin. Paid home-page advertisements may be published with an expiry date and may be refused, removed, or paused if the advertisement is misleading, unlawful, expired, or unsuitable.

19. Taxes, licences, and legal compliance

The seller is solely responsible for tax registration, tax payment, invoices, receipts, business registrations, licences, import permits, product approvals, labelling, warranties, and all legal obligations that apply to the seller’s products and business. Sellers should obtain professional tax and legal advice where required.

20. Platform monitoring and moderation

Admin may review, edit formatting, unpublish, suspend, delete, or restrict products, advertisements, orders, or seller accounts to protect customers, comply with law, maintain quality, prevent fraud, or protect the platform’s reputation. Admin may also preserve records needed for audit, dispute handling, and lawful requests.

21. Suspension and termination

Admin may suspend or terminate a seller account without prior notice if the seller breaches these terms, lists prohibited products, receives repeated complaints, fails to deliver products, misuses customer data, commits fraud, abuses the platform, fails to renew an expired account, or creates legal/reputation risk.

22. Indemnity

The seller agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Ruhunu Market, its owner, admin, employees, contractors, and service providers from claims, losses, damages, penalties, costs, or expenses arising from the seller’s products, listings, order handling, customer disputes, legal non-compliance, intellectual property infringement, data misuse, fraud, tax issues, or breach of these terms.

23. Limitation of platform liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Ruhunu Market is not liable for seller losses, lost sales, loss of profit, deleted products, account suspension, system downtime, delivery failures, customer non-payment, chargebacks, courier issues, or indirect damages. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.

24. Changes to these terms

Admin may update these Seller Terms from time to time. Continued use of the seller account after the updated terms are published means the seller accepts the updated terms.

25. Governing law

These Seller Terms are governed by the laws of Sri Lanka. Any dispute that cannot be resolved amicably may be referred to the competent courts or authorities in Sri Lanka.

26. Contact

For seller support or questions about these terms, contact the website admin using the admin email configured for Ruhunu Market.