Terms of use

Lithos is for businesses and professionals operating in the mineral supply chain: mines, exporters, importers, wholesalers, manufacturers, museums and dealers.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract in your country of residence. Organisation accounts must represent a real, contactable business and must be operated by someone authorised to act for it.

Verification records that we have reviewed the evidence an organisation submitted about its identity, registration and trade activity at a point in time. It is not a guarantee of solvency, performance, product quality, legal title or export compliance. We may grant, decline, suspend or withdraw verification at our discretion, including where evidence is found to be inaccurate.

You are responsible for the accuracy of everything you publish: material identification, locality, treatment disclosure, quantities, dimensions, pricing, lead times and availability.

You may not publish synthetic or treated material without clear disclosure, material that is misrepresented as natural, or any material whose sale, extraction or export would breach applicable law — including protected fossils and controlled or restricted specimens.

Lithos introduces organisations and provides tools to record negotiations. Lithos is not a party to any contract of sale between members and does not take title to material. Contract terms, inspection, payment terms, shipping, customs, duties, insurance and export licensing are matters between the transacting parties.

Where a transaction was arranged through Lithos, either party may report a problem to us. On request we will provide the documented record held on the platform — messages, agreed terms and status history. Lithos does not hold funds, does not provide escrow, does not arbitrate or determine legal liability, does not underwrite, insure or guarantee transactions, and does not commit to refund, reimburse or compensate any party. Resolution remains a matter between the transacting parties.

We may act on what we learn — including restricting features, suspending or removing an organisation, or withdrawing verification — as a matter of platform governance. Such action is not a finding of legal fault and does not affect the parties' rights against each other.

No circumvention of fees on transactions initiated through Lithos, no misrepresentation of your organisation or its material, no harassment of other members, no misuse of contact details obtained through an introduction for unsolicited bulk marketing, and no automated scraping of the network.

Where Lithos processes a payment for a transaction, a platform fee of 1% of the transaction value applies. The fee is payable by the seller and is shown before the payment is confirmed. Charges made by our payment provider are separate from the Lithos platform fee. Any change to applicable fees will be communicated to affected members in advance.

The service is provided as-is. We work to keep it reliable but do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability to you is limited to the fees you paid to Lithos in the twelve months preceding the claim. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

You may close your account at any time from your account settings. We may suspend or terminate access where these terms are breached, where verification evidence proves false, or where continued access would expose other members or Lithos to legal risk.

We may update these terms as the network develops. Material changes will be announced by email to active members before they take effect.

Questions about these terms: hello@lithosmarket.com.