Terms of service

Last Updated: May 10, 2026

Terms of Service

Overview

Welcome to TheShelf! The terms "we", "us" and "our" refer to TheShelf. TheShelf operates this ebook store and website, including all related information, content, features, tools, digital products and services, in order to provide you, the customer, with a curated digital reading experience (the "Services"). TheShelf is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you.


The below terms and conditions, together with any policies referenced herein (these "Terms of Service" or "Terms"), describe your rights and responsibilities when you use the Services. Please read these Terms of Service carefully, as they include important information about your legal rights and cover areas such as the licensing of digital content, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability.


By visiting, interacting with, or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy [LINK]. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, you should not use or access our Services.


Section 1 — Access and Account

By agreeing to these Terms of Service, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, and you have given us your consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use the Services on devices you own, purchase, or manage.


To use the Services, including browsing our store, purchasing ebooks, or accessing your digital library, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your email address, billing, and payment details. You represent and warrant that all information you provide is correct, current, and complete, and that you have all rights necessary to provide this information.


You are solely responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activity on your account. You may not transfer, sell, assign, or license your account or any ebook purchased through your account to any other person. Sharing account credentials to grant unauthorised access to purchased digital content is a violation of these Terms.


Section 2 — Our Digital Products

TheShelf offers ebooks and other digital content for purchase and download. We make every effort to provide accurate descriptions of our products, including title, author, edition, format, file size, and compatible devices or applications.


Please be aware of the following:

  • Ebook files are delivered in one or more standard digital formats (e.g. EPUB, PDF, MOBI). It is your responsibility to ensure your device or reading application supports the format before purchasing.
  • Cover images, previews, and product descriptions are provided for illustrative purposes. The visual rendering of an ebook may vary depending on your device, screen settings, or reading application.
  • All product descriptions are subject to change at any time without notice at our sole discretion. We reserve the right to discontinue any title or digital product at any time.
  • Once access to a purchased ebook has been granted, we are not responsible for your inability to open or read the file due to incompatible hardware, software, or device settings.


We encourage you to review the product description fully and, where available, read the free sample chapter before purchasing.


Section 3 — Orders and Digital Delivery

When you place an order, you are making an offer to purchase a licence to access and read the selected digital content. TheShelf reserves the right to accept or decline your order for any reason at its discretion. Your order is not accepted until TheShelf confirms acceptance and your payment has been successfully processed.


Upon order acceptance:

  • Access to your purchased ebook(s) will be granted to your TheShelf account, typically immediately or within a short period following payment confirmation.
  • A download link or in-account access will be provided via email and/or your account dashboard.
  • You are responsible for downloading and storing your purchased files in a timely manner. We cannot guarantee indefinite availability of download links.


Please review your order carefully before submitting, as all sales are final in accordance with our Sales & Refund Policy [LINK]. TheShelf may be unable to accommodate cancellation requests after an order is accepted and download access has been granted.


In the event that we do not accept, modify, or cancel an order, we will attempt to notify you by contacting the email address provided at the time of purchase.


You represent and warrant that your purchases are for your own personal, non-commercial reading use and not for resale, redistribution, or export.


Section 4 — Prices and Billing

Prices, discounts, and promotions are subject to change without notice. The price charged for a digital product will be the price in effect at the time the order is placed and will be set out in your order confirmation email.


Unless otherwise expressly stated, posted prices do not include applicable taxes. No shipping or handling charges apply to digital purchases.


We may offer promotions on the Services from time to time that affect pricing, governed by separate terms and conditions. Where there is a conflict between promotional terms and these Terms, the promotional terms will govern.


You agree to provide current, complete, and accurate payment information for all purchases. You represent and warrant that: (i) the payment information you provide is true, correct, and complete; (ii) you are duly authorised to use the payment method provided; (iii) charges incurred will be honoured by your payment provider; and (iv) you will pay all charges at the posted prices, including any applicable taxes.


Section 5 — Digital Licence

Upon completing a purchase, TheShelf grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, personal licence to access, download, and read the purchased ebook for your own personal, non-commercial use, subject to these Terms.


This licence does not include the right to:

  • Copy, reproduce, or duplicate the ebook file beyond what is necessary for personal use backup purposes.
  • Distribute, share, upload, resell, sublicense, or otherwise make the ebook available to any third party.
  • Modify, translate, adapt, or create derivative works based on the ebook content.
  • Remove, circumvent, or tamper with any digital rights management (DRM) technology or copy protection applied to the file.
  • Use the ebook or its content for any commercial purpose, including training machine learning or AI models.


Purchased ebooks are licensed, not sold. Title to the ebook file and underlying content remains with TheShelf or the respective publisher or rights holder at all times.


Section 6 — Intellectual Property

Our Services — including but not limited to all trademarks, brands, text, displays, images, graphics, product reviews, video, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof — are owned by TheShelf, its affiliates, or licensors and are protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.


The ebook content available through the Services is owned by the respective publishers, authors, or rights holders and is made available to you under licence. Nothing in these Terms grants you any ownership rights in the content of any ebook purchased through the Services.


TheShelf's names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of TheShelf or its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such trademarks without our prior written permission. Shopify's name, logo, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of Shopify. All other names, logos, and slogans on the Services are the trademarks of their respective owners.


Section 7 — Optional Tools

You may be provided with access to third-party tools or integrations as part of the Services (for example, reading applications, annotation tools, or account integrations), which we neither monitor nor have any control over. You acknowledge and agree that we provide access to such tools "as is" and "as available" without any warranties or endorsements. We shall have no liability arising from or relating to your use of optional third-party tools.


Any use of optional tools is entirely at your own risk and discretion. We may also offer new features through the Services in the future; such features shall form part of the Services and shall be subject to these Terms.


Section 8 — Third-Party Links

The Services may contain links to third-party websites, including author websites, publisher pages, or reading community platforms. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content, accuracy, or practices of any third-party sites. If you choose to leave the Services to access third-party content, you do so at your own risk.


Complaints, claims, or questions regarding third-party products or services should be directed to the relevant third party.


Section 9 — Relationship with Shopify

Note: This section accurately characterises Shopify's relationship with your store and should not be removed or modified.


TheShelf is powered by Shopify, which enables us to provide the Services to you. However, any sales and purchases you make through our store are made directly with TheShelf. By using the Services, you acknowledge and agree that Shopify is not responsible for any aspect of any sales between you and TheShelf, including any injury, damage, or loss resulting from purchased digital products and services. You hereby expressly release Shopify and its affiliates from all claims, damages, and liabilities arising from or related to your purchases and transactions with TheShelf.


Section 10 — Privacy Policy

All personal information we collect through the Services is subject to our Privacy Policy [LINK]. Certain personal information may also be subject to Shopify's Privacy Policy, which can be viewed at https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy/app-users. By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read these privacy policies.


Because the Services are hosted by Shopify, Shopify collects and processes personal information about your access to and use of the Services in order to provide and improve the Services for you. Review our Privacy Policy [LINK] for more details.


Section 11 — Feedback

If you submit, upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any ideas, suggestions, feedback, reviews, proposals, plans, or other content (collectively, "Feedback"), you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, sublicensable, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, and display such Feedback in any medium for any purpose, including for commercial use, to operate, enhance, and promote the Services.


You represent and warrant that: (i) you own or have all necessary rights to all Feedback; (ii) you have disclosed any compensation or incentives received in connection with your submission; and (iii) your Feedback complies with these Terms and does not violate any third-party rights.


We may, but have no obligation to, monitor, edit, or remove Feedback that we determine in our sole discretion to be unlawful, offensive, threatening, defamatory, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable. You are solely responsible for any Feedback you make and its accuracy.


Section 12 — Errors, Inaccuracies and Omissions

Occasionally there may be information on or in the Services that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions that may relate to product descriptions, pricing, promotions, offers, or availability. We reserve the right to correct any such errors and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information is inaccurate at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order).


Section 13 — Prohibited Uses

You may access and use the Services for lawful purposes only. You may not access or use the Services, directly or indirectly:

  • For any unlawful or malicious purpose, or to violate any applicable laws or regulations.
  • To infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others, including the copyright of ebook authors and publishers.
  • To reproduce, distribute, upload, share, or resell any ebook or digital content purchased through the Services, whether in whole or in part.
  • To circumvent, remove, alter, or tamper with any DRM protection, encryption, or access control applied to any digital content.
  • To harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or harm any of our employees or any other person.
  • To transmit false or misleading information, or to impersonate or attempt to impersonate any other person or entity.
  • To transmit any advertising or promotional material, including any "junk mail", "chain letter", "spam", or similar solicitation.
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone's use or enjoyment of the Services, or which may harm TheShelf, Shopify, or users of the Services.


In addition, you agree not to:

  • Upload or transmit viruses or any other type of malicious code that may affect the functionality or operation of the Services.
  • Reproduce, duplicate, copy, extract, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Services.
  • Collect or track the personal information of others, or spam, phish, pharm, or pretext the Services.
  • Use any robot, spider, scraping, data gathering and extraction tool, automated device or process, or AI tool (including agentic AI) to access the Services without our express written permission.
  • Interfere with, bypass, or circumvent any security or authorisation features of the Services.


We reserve the right to suspend, disable, or terminate your account and revoke access to your digital library at any time, without notice, if we determine that you have violated any part of these Terms.


Section 14 — Agents

14.1 Applicability

This section ("Agent Terms") applies if you use, allow, enable, or cause the deployment of an Agent to access, use, or interact with any Services. "Agent" means any software or service that takes autonomous or semi-autonomous action on behalf of, or at the instruction of, any person or entity and that can be executed without direct supervision.


14.2 Restrictions

No Agent may access, use, or interact with the Services unless it at all times identifies itself and operates in strict accordance with the requirements in section 14.4. No Agent may access or use the Services if we have requested that it refrain from doing so.


14.3 Limitations

We may limit, including by technical measures, whether and how any Agent accesses, uses, and interacts with the Services.


14.4 Requirements

Agents must:

  • In all HTTP/HTTPS requests, identify that the request is from an Agent and disclose the name of the Agent by including the following in the request's user agent string: "Agent/[agent name]".
  • Not conceal or obfuscate that any access, use, or interactions are from an Agent, such as by mimicking human behaviour or completing CAPTCHAs.
  • Respond truthfully to any question or prompt seeking to determine if interactions are coming from a human or a computer.
  • Not circumvent or avoid any measure intended to block, limit, modify, or control whether and how Agents access, use, or interact with the Services.


Section 15 — Termination

We may terminate this agreement or your access to the Services (or any part thereof) at any time without notice at our sole discretion, and you will remain liable for all amounts due up to and including the date of termination. Upon termination, your licence to access purchased ebooks through the Services will cease; you are responsible for retaining any downloaded files you are entitled to keep.


The following sections will survive termination: Digital Licence, Intellectual Property, Feedback, Disclaimer of Warranties, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Severability, Waiver; Entire Agreement, Assignment, Governing Law, and Privacy Policy.


Section 16 — Disclaimer of Warranties

The information presented on or through the Services is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.


EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED BY THESHELF, THE SERVICES AND ALL DIGITAL PRODUCTS OFFERED THROUGH THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, COMPATIBILITY WITH ANY SPECIFIC DEVICE OR READING APPLICATION, DURABILITY, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE, REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT OR DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED OR OTHER WARRANTIES SO THE ABOVE DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.


Section 17 — Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO CASE SHALL THESHELF, OUR PARTNERS, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS, OR THOSE OF SHOPIFY AND ITS AFFILIATES, BE LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY, LOSS, CLAIM, OR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST SAVINGS, LOSS OF DATA, REPLACEMENT COSTS, OR ANY SIMILAR DAMAGES, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF ANY OF THE SERVICES OR ANY DIGITAL PRODUCTS PROCURED USING THE SERVICES, OR FOR ANY OTHER CLAIM RELATED IN ANY WAY TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES OR ANY DIGITAL CONTENT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT, ANY FAILURE OR DELAY IN DIGITAL DELIVERY, ANY INCOMPATIBILITY OF AN EBOOK FILE WITH YOUR DEVICE OR SOFTWARE, OR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF THE SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT POSTED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE SERVICES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THEIR POSSIBILITY.


Section 18 — Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless TheShelf, Shopify, and our affiliates, partners, officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, licensors, and service providers from any losses, damages, liabilities, or claims, including reasonable legal fees, payable to any third party due to or arising out of: (1) your breach of these Terms of Service or any policies incorporated by reference; (2) your violation of any law or the rights of a third party, including any infringement of ebook copyright or DRM protections; or (3) your access to and use of the Services.


We will notify you of any indemnifiable claim, provided that a failure to promptly notify will not relieve you of your obligations unless you are materially prejudiced. We may control the defence and settlement of such claim at your expense, but will not settle any claim requiring non-monetary obligations from you without your consent.


Section 19 — Severability

In the event that any provision of these Terms of Service is determined to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, such provision shall nonetheless be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and the unenforceable portion shall be deemed severed from these Terms. Such determination shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other remaining provisions.


Section 20 — Waiver; Entire Agreement

The failure of us to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. These Terms of Service, together with any policies or operating rules posted by us on this site, constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and us and govern your use of the Services, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications, and proposals, whether oral or written.


Section 21 — Assignment

You may not delegate, transfer, or assign this Agreement or any of your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent, and any such attempt will be null and void. We may transfer, assign, or delegate these Terms and our rights and obligations without consent or notice to you.


Section 22 — Governing Law

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction where TheShelf is headquartered. You and TheShelf consent to the venue and personal jurisdiction of such courts.


Section 23 — Headings

The headings used in this agreement are included for convenience only and will not limit or otherwise affect these Terms.


Section 24 — Changes to Terms of Service

You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time on this page. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to update, change, or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates to our website. We will notify you of any material changes in accordance with applicable law. Your continued use of or access to the Services following the posting of any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.


Section 25 — Contact Information

Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to us at:


TheShelf