Legal → Marketplace
Marketplace rules
The Market opens in Phase 2. This page is not the agreement — it is a plain-language statement of the rules the marketplace is being built around, published now so they can be read and argued with before anyone builds on them.
Not the terms of service. The marketplace terms are in drafting and have not been reviewed by counsel. They will be published here, in force and dated, when the Market opens — and nothing on this page creates an agreement before then.
What Status Post is in a transaction
A directory and a connector between independent sellers and buyers. Status Post is not a party to the sale, does not guarantee that a transaction will go well, and does not manufacture, prepare, inspect, perform or deliver anything listed.
Badges state facts. They never endorse.
- A seller badge states a credential — "Verified RN", "NC-BC Certified". It is never a claim about quality or safety.
- An "Insured" badge states that a current certificate of liability insurance is on file, and says so in exactly those words — "Insured" or "Insurance on file". Never "Verified Safe", and never anything implying we inspected the work. It disappears the moment the certificate lapses.
- Category filters organise, they do not curate. They are a way to browse, not a ranking and not an endorsement of one listing over another.
Three levels of listing, by risk
- Certificate required. Some categories — inflatable and attraction rentals, mobile food service, in-person personal training, and anything offering an in-person physical service to minors — cannot go live at all without a current certificate of liability insurance naming Status Post. A lapsed certificate unpublishes the listing automatically, with a short grace period to renew.
- Permit required. Others need the permit or licence the law already requires — a state cottage-food permit for home baking, for instance. Insurance is encouraged, not required.
- Neither. Digital courses, virtual coaching, shipped handmade goods with no in-person component.
Sellers are responsible for holding every licence, permit and certification their own listing requires by law. That is on them, and saying so plainly is part of the deal.
Pricing, and why you can see the discount before signing in
Every listing shows its public price. Where a seller has set a member discount, the listing shows that too — the real amount, in the open, to anyone browsing. You only need an account to check out at it. A discount you cannot see until you sign up is a lure; this is a perk, so it is visible.
Sellers set their own prices and their own member discounts. Status Post is not part of that decision.
Browsing needs no account
The Visitors Lounge, the category pages and every listing can be read by anyone. Signing in is required only to claim a member price at checkout.
The same fact, from the seller's side: listing is not pseudonymous. A listing is public, accountless to read, and carries the seller's page and verification badge. Selling is therefore a deliberate step out of pseudonymity, and the product treats it as one — no listing requires a claimed story, so nothing written in a pseudonymous room has to be attached to a seller's name.
What gets a listing removed
A lapsed certificate, a breach of the rules, fraud, or a good-faith safety concern. Where circumstances allow, a seller gets notice and a chance to fix it first.
The room where people talk about what they are building is Moonlighting. It stays a room — the listings live in the Market, on purpose.