Terms of Service

1. Who we are

ReadySFX ("ReadySFX", "we", "us") is an online marketplace for sound effects, operated from Manitoba, Canada. You can reach us at readysfx@gmail.com.

2. Accepting these terms

You accept these terms when you tick the box to accept them (when you create an account, check out, or publish), or by using ReadySFX. We keep a record of which version you accepted and when. If you don't agree, please don't use ReadySFX.

These terms include the documents they link to: the Privacy Policy, the licences, the Refund Policy, the Copyright & DMCA Policy and, for creators, the Creator Agreement.

3. Who can use ReadySFX

• •You must be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live. If you're younger, you may only use ReadySFX with a parent or guardian who accepts these terms for you and is responsible for your use.
• •Creators, and anyone who receives payouts, must be at least 18.
• •You must give accurate information and keep it up to date.
• •One person or studio per account. You may not use ReadySFX if the law, or a previous suspension by us, bars you from it.

4. Your account

Keep your password safe; we strongly recommend turning on two-factor login. Once it's on, money actions (such as paying out, releasing or changing an order, refunds and pack changes) and downloads of paid files need your two-factor code, not just your password. You're responsible for what happens under your account. Tell us right away if you think someone else has accessed it. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms, put other users or the site at risk, or are used for fraud. Notices about your account always appear in the bell on the site. Emails about them come as one summary a day at most, and on very busy days a summary may arrive a day or more later, so check the bell for anything time-sensitive. Receipts, security and payout emails are always sent first.

5. Buying sounds

• •Prices are in US dollars. Taxes may be added at checkout where the law requires.
• •Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card details.
• •When your payment succeeds, the sound (or every sound in a pack at the time you buy it) is added to your library with the licence shown for it — Personal or Commercial. What each licence allows is set out on the licence pages.
• •You're buying a licence to use the sound, not ownership of it. Copyright stays with the creator.
• •Some sounds are free. A free sound is added to your library the same way, with the licence shown for it, and that licence applies just as it does to a paid sound — for example, you may not resell or share the file itself. You need a free account to get one, and there is nothing to refund on a free sound.
• •We may correct pricing mistakes. If we discover a clear error after you pay, we'll refund you or ask whether you still want the sound at the right price.

6. Your library and downloads

You can re-download what you've bought from your library at any time while your account is in good standing and ReadySFX operates. If a creator updates a sound's file (for example to fix its volume), your library gives you the updated version, and your licence covers every version you downloaded. Each purchased sound has a License Certificate in your library with a License ID; anyone can check a License ID at readysfx.com/verify. A refunded purchase's certificate shows it is no longer valid. Please keep your own backups. If we ever close ReadySFX, we'll give at least 30 days' notice where we reasonably can, so you can download your purchases.

7. Refunds and chargebacks

Refunds follow our Refund Policy. Because sounds are delivered instantly, a purchase can't be refunded once it's been downloaded, except as that policy describes. If you file a chargeback for an order you received, please contact us first: an unjustified chargeback may lead us to suspend your account and cancel the licences in that order. When a payment is taken back through a chargeback (or refunded outside ReadySFX), the sounds in it are removed from your library and their licences end, the same as a refund; a custom order paid that way is treated as refunded. Any review you left on a refunded or charged-back sound is removed, since only current owners can review a sound.

8. Custom sound requests

• •You can ask a creator to make a sound for you. When you fund a request, ReadySFX holds your payment (through Stripe) until you accept the delivery, as shown in the request.
• •ReadySFX keeps a platform fee (25%, or 20% for Trusted Creators); the creator receives the rest. The exact amounts are shown before you pay.
• •Your order includes the number of revisions shown. If the creator completes the work but you don't accept it after your revisions are used, Creator Payment Protection applies: after our review, at least 25% of the price may be paid to the creator and the rest refunded to you.
• •When you send a request you choose how many days the creator gets. Those days start when you pay into escrow, not when you send the request, so the due date is shown before you pay and set on the day you pay.
• •Before you pay, you can cancel a request and the creator can decline it, at no cost. A declined or cancelled request is closed for good; if a payment for it still goes through (for example from a payment page left open), it is refunded in full.
• •While the creator is still within the agreed timeframe, cancelling early carries a 50% cancellation fee. If the creator misses the deadline, or you decline their request for more time, you can get a full refund.
• •If the creator accepts a lower price you proposed, or you agree to more time for a reduced price, the difference is refunded to your original payment method, usually within a day.
• •After a request is completed you can rate the creator. Your stars and written review are shown publicly on their profile as from a "Verified customer", without your name. Reviews must be honest and about the work; we may hide review text that contains personal details, abuse or anything unrelated, but we don't change your stars.
• •While you review a delivery you hear a watermarked preview (up to the first 5 minutes) that can't be downloaded. The clean, full-quality file becomes available to download once you accept it and your payment is released to the creator. Audio the creator sends in messages before then is watermarked too.
• •You can attach reference files (such as video clips, example sounds or images) to a request or a message. Only share files you have the right to share; the creator may use them only to make your sound.
• •Order files (deliveries, attachments and reference files) are deleted 30 days after the order closes (when the payment is released or refunded, or a dispute is resolved). Download your sound before then; we can't recover deleted files. Reference files of a request that's declined or cancelled before payment are deleted after 7 days.
• •Without an exclusive buyout, the creator may also sell the sound to others, including in their ReadySFX store from 30 days after you accept it. It's listed like any other sound, never with your name or project. With an exclusive buyout it is never sold to anyone else.
• •Once you accept a delivery, you receive a perpetual, worldwide commercial licence to use that sound in your projects. With an exclusive buyout, the creator may not sell or license it to anyone else. The creator keeps the copyright unless you both agree otherwise in writing.
• •All communication and payment for custom requests must stay on ReadySFX.

9. Publishing sounds

Creators also agree to the Creator Agreement, which covers what you may upload (your own work only — no stolen or infringing sounds, and AI material only as allowed there), the licence you give ReadySFX, earnings, payouts and your responsibility for what you publish.

Sounds on ReadySFX are made and uploaded by independent creators, not by ReadySFX. Each creator is solely responsible for the sounds they publish, including having the right to sell them. ReadySFX hosts and sells creators' sounds, but doesn't make them, doesn't own them, and doesn't verify who owns them before they go live. To the fullest extent the law allows, ReadySFX isn't responsible for a creator's content or for any claim that it infringes someone else's rights.

10. If a sound is removed

We may remove any sound, for example after a valid copyright complaint, or if it breaks these terms or the Creator Agreement. If a sound you bought is removed because it infringed someone else's rights, we'll try to let you know, and we may refund you. You must then stop using it in new work, and remove it from existing work where the rights holder is entitled to require that.

11. What you may not do

• •Record, rip or reuse previews, or remove or get around the watermark. The one exception: a watermarked preview you download with "Try it in your edit" on a sound's page may be used only to try that sound out in drafts and work in progress — never in finished, published or shared work, and never shared with others. To use the sound for real, buy it.
• •Resell, share or give away sound files except as your licence allows.
• •Upload anything you don't have the rights to, or sounds that are mostly or entirely AI-generated (the Creator Agreement says when AI material may be used).
• •Move custom-request payments or communication off ReadySFX to avoid fees, including sharing or asking for emails, phone numbers, links, social media or messaging usernames, or payment details. These are hidden automatically in requests, messages, notes, reviews and profiles, and repeated attempts can lead to suspension.
• •Use bots or scrapers, overload the site, test or attack its security, or access other people's accounts.
• •Harass, impersonate or deceive others, or post unlawful, hateful or sexual content involving minors.
• •Use ReadySFX for fraud, money laundering, or anything illegal.

12. Reports and copyright complaints

Use the report button on any sound, or follow our Copyright & DMCA Policy. We act on valid complaints and close the accounts of repeat infringers.

When we receive a valid copyright complaint about a sound, we hide it from the store and send the complaint to the creator who published it. Hiding isn't deleting: the sound stays in the creator's account and can be restored, for example after a valid counter-notice.

ReadySFX doesn't decide who owns a sound. A copyright dispute is between the person complaining and the creator who published the sound, and the creator is responsible for it under the Creator Agreement.

13. ReadySFX's own content

The ReadySFX name, logo, site design and software belong to ReadySFX. Using the site doesn't give you any rights in them.

14. Other services we use

ReadySFX relies on services such as Stripe (payments), PayPal (creator payouts), Google (optional sign-in), and our hosting and email providers. Their own terms may apply when you use them, and we aren't responsible for their outages or actions.

15. Changes to ReadySFX

We're always improving ReadySFX, so features may change, be paused, or be removed. We aim to keep the site available but can't promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free.

16. Disclaimer

ReadySFX and every sound on it are provided "as is" and "as available". Sounds are made by independent creators. We check uploads, but we can't guarantee that every sound is error-free, suits your purpose, or will never be the subject of a third party's claim. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

17. Limit on our liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, ReadySFX (including its owner) won't be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or goodwill. Our total liability for all claims relating to ReadySFX is limited to the greater of the amount you paid ReadySFX in the 12 months before the claim, or US$100. This doesn't limit creator earnings that are owed under the Creator Agreement.

18. Your responsibility to us

You agree to defend and compensate ReadySFX (including its owner) for any claim, loss or cost — including reasonable legal fees — that arises from content you upload, your breach of these terms or a licence, or your violation of any law or anyone else's rights.

19. Your consumer rights

Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under consumer protection laws that can't be waived, including those of Manitoba or of the place you live. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.

20. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of Manitoba and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. The courts of Manitoba have exclusive jurisdiction, except where your local consumer law lets you bring a claim where you live. Before starting any formal claim, please contact us so we can try to resolve it within 30 days.

21. Ending your account

You can stop using ReadySFX at any time and ask us to delete your account from Account → Settings → Your data. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms. Licences you paid for continue unless the order was refunded or charged back, or the licence was breached. Sections that by their nature should continue — licences already granted, payment obligations, sections 16 to 20 — survive.

22. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For material changes we'll tell you by email or on the site and ask you to accept the new version before you continue using ReadySFX. The version and date at the top of this page always show which version is current.

23. Everything else

These terms, and the documents in section 2, are the whole agreement between you and ReadySFX about the site. If we don't enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later. We may transfer these terms to a company that takes over ReadySFX, including a company we form to run it; you may not transfer them without our permission. If these terms are translated, the English version governs.