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Perchway Legal

Seller Terms

Last updated October 17, 2026

On this page
  1. 1. How selling works: you're the seller
  2. 2. Approval to sell
  3. 3. Your Stripe and PayPal accounts
  4. 4. Prices, fees and what you receive
  5. 5. Payouts
  6. 6. Taxes
  7. 7. Listings, delivery and refunds
  8. 8. Physical items and shipping
  9. 9. Card disputes
  10. 10. Money you owe
  11. 11. Your Clients' information
  12. 12. Selling outside Perchway

The short version. When you sell through Perchway, you're the seller. Clients pay you directly, into your own Stripe account, which you open when you set up your shop, or with PayPal into your own PayPal account, if you connect one. Perchway gives you the shop, checkout, invoices and delivery, and keeps 5% of the price of each sale on Free, 4.25% on Flight or 3.5% on Soar, not counting shipping or tax, taken automatically as each payment is made. Stripe charges its card processing fee to your Stripe account, and pays your money out to your bank on your Stripe payout schedule. PayPal does the same for PayPal payments. Perchway never holds your money. You're responsible for your work, for shipping any physical items you sell, for your refunds and card disputes, and for your taxes, including any sales tax or VAT on your sales. For now, selling is open to freelancers based in the US, physical items ship only to US addresses, and we review sellers, with help from automated checks including AI, before their shop goes live.

These Seller Terms are part of our Terms of Service and apply when you use Perchway to sell, send invoices or take payments. Words like "Freelancer", "Client" and "Content" mean what the Terms say they mean. "You" means you as a Freelancer, and a "sale" means any payment a Client makes to you through Perchway, whether at shop checkout, on an invoice or through a payment link.

1. How selling works: you're the seller

  • You sell directly to your Clients. You're the seller, or merchant of record, for every sale through Perchway. The Client buys from you, pays you, and sees your business name on their card statement, as set in your Stripe account.
  • Perchway provides the tools: your shop, checkout, invoices and payment links, client portals, file delivery, and order tracking for items you ship. Perchway isn't a party to your sales, and never handles physical items.
  • Payments go to your own accounts. Stripe processes card payments and puts them in your Stripe account. If you connect PayPal, PayPal puts PayPal payments in your PayPal account. Perchway never receives or holds your sales money.
  • You handle the work: you create and deliver what you sell, as described and on time, including packing and shipping physical items, and you're responsible for its quality, for having the rights to it, and for your communication with the Client.
  • Your agreements with Clients are yours. Your product descriptions, proposals and contracts set what the work includes and what the Client may do with it. Contracts for custom work are between you and the Client.

2. Approval to sell

  • US sellers only, for now. To sell through Perchway, you must be an individual living in the United States, or a business based there, with a US Stripe account or US PayPal business account, a US bank account and a US tax ID (a Social Security Number or an EIN). We plan to open selling to other countries later.
  • Anyone can set up a shop. Before your shop goes live, or you take your first payment, we review your account.
  • Your details first. Before you can use your dashboard, you give us your business details and details of the person responsible for the account, who must be 18 or older. We check them, and may ask you to change something.
  • Asking to open your shop. Before you can ask us to review a shop, we've checked your details, and you add something to sell, connect Stripe or PayPal, publish the shop and agree to these Seller Terms. Your dashboard has a checklist of these, for each shop.
  • What we check. Stripe and PayPal verify your identity and bank details when you set up your accounts with them. We may also ask you to check your ID with Stripe Identity, with a photo ID and a selfie, and the name and date of birth on it must match your details. We look at the business details you give us, at what you plan to sell and at your work, such as your portfolio, website or social profiles. We also check whether your details match other Perchway accounts, including ones we've closed. We may ask you for more.
  • Automated checks. To help us review you, we use automated checks, some of which use AI and machine learning. Some are ours, like a risk score from your details, what you sell and how your details compare with other accounts, and some are Stripe's and PayPal's, like Stripe Identity checking that your ID is genuine and that your selfie matches it. Your shop can't be approved until its checks pass. A person on our team decides whether to approve, limit or decline it, and you can ask for another look by emailing [email protected]. The Privacy Policy explains these checks.
  • Keep your details true. The business details you give us must be accurate, and you must keep them up to date. If they're false, we may decline your application or close your account.
  • Our decision. We may approve, approve with limits, ask for changes, or decline an application, at our discretion and without having to give a reason.
  • Limits. While you're new, we may limit how much you can sell through Perchway in total or in a single sale, and raise those limits as you build a track record.
  • We can review again. We may review your account again at any time, for example if your refunds or disputes change or our checks flag something, and pause your shop's checkout while we do.

3. Your Stripe and PayPal accounts

  • To take card payments, you open a US Stripe account for your shop from your Perchway dashboard. If you already use Stripe, you can sign in and reuse the details you've given Stripe before, but your shop still gets its own Stripe account. Your Stripe account is between you and Stripe, under Stripe's own terms. Section 8 of the Terms explains what you allow Perchway to do with it.
  • Stripe decides whether to approve your account, what it needs from you, and whether to restrict it, under its own terms. Perchway doesn't control those decisions and isn't responsible for them.
  • To take PayPal too, or instead, you connect your own PayPal business account from your Perchway dashboard. You sign in to PayPal, or open a business account there, and give Perchway permission to take payments for you. You can connect the same PayPal account to more than one of your shops. Your PayPal account is between you and PayPal, under the PayPal User Agreement. Section 8 of the Terms covers it too.
  • PayPal decides whether your PayPal account can receive payments and whether to limit it, under its own terms. Perchway doesn't control those decisions and isn't responsible for them.
  • Keep them in good standing. If your Stripe or PayPal account is restricted or disconnected, your shop can't take payments through it until it's fixed.
  • Disconnecting. You can disconnect your Stripe account from Perchway at any time, and withdraw Perchway's permissions in your PayPal account at any time. Your shop then stops taking payments through that account. Money already in your accounts stays there.

4. Prices, fees and what you receive

  • You set your prices, and your shipping prices for physical items, in US dollars.
  • Perchway's fee is 5% of the price on the Free plan, 4.25% on Flight and 3.5% on Soar, at the rate for your plan when the sale is made. During a free trial of Flight or Soar, it's the rate for the plan you're trying. It's worked out on the price of what you sell, not on shipping or on tax you add, and taken automatically from each payment. You'll see it for each sale in your dashboard and your Stripe account.
  • Stripe's fees for processing the payment, and any others, are charged by Stripe to your Stripe account, at the rates in your agreement with Stripe. They don't go to Perchway.
  • PayPal's fees for PayPal payments are charged by PayPal to your PayPal account, at the rates in your agreement with PayPal. They don't go to Perchway. Perchway's fee on a PayPal sale is the same as on a card sale, taken from the payment as it's made.
  • What you receive for each sale is the price, plus any shipping and tax you add, minus Perchway's fee and Stripe's or PayPal's fees.
  • Section 7 of the Terms covers fee changes and fees on refunds and disputes. Your Flight or Soar subscription is billed separately, as section 6 of the Terms describes.

5. Payouts

  • Stripe pays you out, from your Stripe account to your bank, on the payout schedule set in your Stripe account. You can change the schedule in Stripe.
  • PayPal payments stay in your PayPal account, and you move them to your bank as PayPal allows.
  • Perchway doesn't hold your money, set payout minimums or charge for payouts.
  • Pausing your shop. If your refund or dispute rate is high, we suspect fraud, we're reviewing your account, you've broken these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, or the law, Stripe or a card network requires it, we may pause your shop's checkout or limit your sales through Perchway. We'll tell you when we do, unless the law or safety reasons prevent it.

6. Taxes

  • Taxes on your sales are yours. You decide whether you need to register for, charge and pay sales tax, VAT or similar taxes on what you sell, and you file and pay them. Where available, Perchway's checkout can add tax to your prices using the tax settings in your Stripe account. The tax is paid to you with the sale, for you to pay to the tax authorities.
  • Physical items and shipping. Physical goods are taxable in most US states, usually based on where they're shipped to, and some states tax shipping charges too. If you use Stripe Tax, it works the tax out from the shipping address the Client gives at checkout.
  • Your income is yours too. You're responsible for income tax, self-employment tax and any other taxes on your business.
  • Tax forms. Any payment tax forms for your Stripe account, such as Form 1099-K in the US, come from Stripe, and for your PayPal account from PayPal, as the law requires.
  • Perchway's fee. Where the law requires, we add tax to Perchway's own charges to you, such as your subscription and premium templates.

7. Listings, delivery and refunds

  • Describe your work honestly and completely, including the price, what's included, how and when you'll deliver it, and any license that comes with it. For a physical item, also say what it's made of, its size, the shipping price and how long you take to ship it.
  • Deliver what you sold, when you said you would. If you can't, tell the Client and refund them.
  • Your refund policy. Show it on your shop. It can be more generous than the minimum in our Refunds and Cancellations policy, but not less. That policy explains when Clients must be refunded whatever your policy says, for example when work isn't delivered.
  • Refunding a Client. You can refund a sale in full or in part from your Perchway dashboard, or from your Stripe or PayPal account, whichever the Client paid through. Refunds come out of that account's balance.
  • When we refund for you. If a Client is owed a refund under our refund policy and you haven't given it after we've asked, we may refund them on your behalf from your Stripe or PayPal account, after letting you respond where we can. You authorize us to do that for sales made through Perchway.
  • Perchway's fee isn't returned on refunds, unless we decide otherwise or the law requires it. Whether Stripe or PayPal returns its own fees is up to their terms.
  • Pay-to-unlock delivery. When you attach files to an invoice, you tell Perchway to share watermarked previews and to release the full files automatically once the payment succeeds. Watermarks discourage misuse, but they can't stop someone copying what they can see.

8. Physical items and shipping

  • You can sell physical items you make or have the right to sell, like prints, originals, stickers and merchandise, and ship them yourself. Some items can't be sold at all. Our Acceptable Use Policy lists them.
  • US addresses only, for now. Physical items can only be shipped to addresses in the United States, and checkout only accepts US shipping addresses. Clients anywhere can still buy your digital work.
  • Show shipping before they buy. Set a shipping price and how long you take to ship for each physical item. Checkout adds the shipping to the price.
  • You ship it. Pack items so they arrive safely, send them with a carrier you choose within the time you showed, and mark the order shipped in your dashboard, with a tracking number whenever your carrier gives you one. Perchway never picks up, stores, insures or ships anything, and isn't a carrier.
  • It's yours until it arrives. If an item is lost on the way or arrives damaged, replace it or refund the Client, as our refund policy describes. Consider insuring valuable items.
  • Returns. Your refund policy says whether you take returns when a Client changes their mind. When an item is damaged, faulty or not as described and you ask for it back, you pay for the return.
  • Follow the rules for what you sell, such as product safety, labeling and testing rules, including those for children's products, and your carrier's rules for what it will carry.
  • Shipping addresses are for shipping. Use a Client's shipping address only to ship their order and sort out problems with it, keep it secure, and don't add it to mailing lists.

9. Card disputes

  • Disputes come to you. When a Client disputes a payment with their bank, Stripe tells you, and you respond from your Stripe account. Stripe's dispute fee, and the disputed amount if you lose, come from your Stripe balance under Stripe's terms.
  • PayPal disputes and claims about a PayPal payment go through PayPal, and you respond in your PayPal account. Any fees, and the disputed amount if you lose, come from your PayPal balance under PayPal's terms.
  • We'll help with evidence. Perchway keeps records you can use, like delivery and download logs, shipping and tracking details, messages and signed contracts. Ask us, and we'll send what we have.
  • Ship with tracking. If a Client says a parcel never arrived, tracking that shows it was delivered is usually what wins the dispute.
  • Talk to the Client. Many disputes can be avoided with a quick reply or a refund.

10. Money you owe

Perchway's fee on each sale is taken automatically. If you owe Perchway anything else, for example an unpaid subscription, we may charge your payment method on file, and you agree to pay any remaining amount within 30 days of our request. We may use a collection agency, or take legal action, for amounts that stay unpaid.

11. Your Clients' information

  • Your sales, your customers. As the seller, you get each buyer's name, email address and what they bought, and for physical items their shipping address, so you can deliver, ship and support the sale. Perchway keeps a copy to run checkout and delivery, collect its fee, prevent fraud and meet legal obligations, as our Privacy Policy describes. Don't send Clients marketing they haven't agreed to receive.
  • The rest is yours to manage. Information you add about your Clients yourself, like client records, messages, files and contracts, is yours, and Perchway handles it for you under our Data Processing Addendum. You're responsible for having the right to collect it and for answering your Clients' privacy requests about it.

12. Selling outside Perchway

You can work with your Clients and be paid outside Perchway. Money you collect outside Perchway carries no Perchway fee, and Perchway has no part in those sales. But don't use Perchway to find or check out a buyer and then take their payment elsewhere to avoid our fees.