Terms of Use

1. What Snowtographer is

Snowtographer is a platform for photographers to mint their work as limited edition collectible cards, and for collectors to acquire, trade, and auction those cards. Every card carries a permanent provenance record — a chain of ownership that begins at mint and cannot be altered.

By creating an account you become part of that chain. Your actions — minting, trading, selling, shredding — are recorded permanently.

2. Eligibility

Snowtographer is an 18+ platform. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or use any part of the platform. By creating an account you confirm that you are 18 or older and that you will not use the platform to mint, collect, or distribute images depicting minors in any context. If we discover an account belongs to someone under 18, or that an account has been used to mint or distribute images of minors, we will terminate it immediately without notice or compensation.

3. Your account

You are responsible for all activity under your account. Choose a strong password. Do not share your credentials. If you suspect your account has been compromised, change your password and contact us immediately.

You may hold one account. Creating duplicate accounts to circumvent suspensions or gain signup bonuses is prohibited and will result in permanent termination of all associated accounts.

Your username, once set, may not be changed for 90 days. Display names may be updated at any time within the character limit.

4. Minting — your rights and obligations

When you mint a card on Snowtographer, you assert that:

• You created the photograph and hold all intellectual property rights to it.
• The image does not depict any person in a manner that violates their rights.
• The image does not contain copyrighted third-party material used without licence.
• You have the right to distribute the image in the manner the platform permits.

You retain copyright to your photographs. Minting a card does not transfer copyright to Snowtographer or to collectors. What collectors acquire is the card — the collectible record of your work — not the underlying intellectual property.

You grant Snowtographer a limited, non-exclusive licence to display your image on the platform, generate card thumbnails, and include your image in the provenance record attached to that card.

Minting is permanent. Once a card exists in the platform, its provenance record cannot be deleted, though you may void a mint event (see Section 6).

5. Collecting — what ownership means

Owning a Snowtographer card means you hold the record of that card in the platform's provenance ledger. It does not transfer copyright, commercial rights, or any rights beyond the right to display, trade, auction, or shred the card within the platform.

Cards are platform-native assets. They exist within Snowtographer's infrastructure and cannot be exported to other platforms or converted into other asset types.

Snowtographer cannot unilaterally reassign your card. Platform actions that affect a card's status — such as a creator voiding a mint or an admin DMCA takedown — follow the rules set out in Sections 6 and 9. In those cases you are notified and compensated per the applicable rule.

6. Voiding and shredding

Creator void: A photographer may void an entire mint event at any time. All cards from that mint — regardless of who holds them — are voided. Collectors who hold voided cards receive 1 Arctic Dollar (₣1) per card as compensation. The card record remains in the collector's possession in a voided state; they may keep, trade, auction, or trash it at their discretion. Snowtographer will not compensate collectors beyond the ₣1 shred credit — purchasing a card is an acknowledgment that creators retain this right.

Collector shred: A card owner may shred any card they own that is not locked in an active auction. Shredding permanently voids the card. Collectors receive ₣1 per card shredded, except when shredding their own minted work (creators receive no credit for destroying their own cards). Shredding is irreversible.

Trash: A collector who holds a voided card may trash it — permanently erasing all evidence the card existed. Trashing is total and irreversible. No compensation is provided for trashing.

7. Arctic Dollars

Arctic Dollars (₣) are the in-platform currency. They are purchased via Stripe using real money at a rate of ₣1 = $0.10 USD. Arctic Dollars are non-refundable once spent within the platform. Unspent Arctic Dollars are non-withdrawable — they cannot be converted back to fiat currency.

Arctic Dollars have no monetary value outside the Snowtographer platform. They are not a financial instrument, cryptocurrency, or investment. Snowtographer is not a financial services provider.

Arctic Dollar balances are forfeited upon account termination. We will not compensate users for unspent balances on suspended or deleted accounts.

8. Auctions

When you place a bid, the bid amount is held in escrow and deducted from your available balance. If you are outbid, your escrow is released. If your bid wins, the escrow is transferred to the seller.

Bids are binding. You may not retract a bid once placed. If an auction closes and you are the winning bidder, the card is transferred to you and the Arctic Dollars are transferred to the seller.

Sellers may cancel an auction only if no bids have been placed. Once a bid exists, the auction must run to completion.

Anti-sniping is active on all auctions. Any bid placed in the final 60 seconds extends the auction by 60 seconds.

9. Prohibited conduct

The following are prohibited and will result in suspension or permanent termination:

• Minting photographs you do not own the rights to.
• Minting images of identifiable people without their consent.
• Minting, distributing, collecting, or trading any image that depicts a person under the age of 18, regardless of context or artistic intent.
• Bid manipulation — coordinating with others to artificially inflate or suppress auction prices.
• Harassment of other users via the trade, collab tagging, or reporting systems.
• Attempting to circumvent the platform's rate limits, access controls, or financial safeguards.
• Using the platform to launder or obscure the origin of funds.
• Creating accounts on behalf of suspended users.
• Automated minting, bidding, or trading without prior written approval from Snowtographer.

10. DMCA and intellectual property

If you believe a card on Snowtographer infringes your copyright, contact us with a DMCA notice. Include: your contact information, identification of the copyrighted work, identification of the infringing card, a statement of good faith belief, and your signature.

Upon receiving a valid DMCA notice, we will remove the infringing card, notify the creator, and void any cards in circulation. Holders of voided cards receive ₣1 per card. Repeat infringers will have their accounts permanently terminated.

Counter-notices may be submitted by creators who believe a DMCA notice was filed in error. We will reinstate removed content 10 business days after a valid counter-notice unless the complainant files a court action.

11. Termination

You may delete your account at any time via Settings. Deletion is permanent — your profile, collections, and unspent Arctic Dollars are removed. Provenance records referencing your account (as creator or past owner) remain — they are the permanent historical ledger of cards you created or held.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, without notice in cases of serious or repeated violations. We will provide notice and an opportunity to respond for less serious first offences wherever practical.

12. Disclaimers and liability

Snowtographer is provided "as is." We make no warranty that the platform will be available without interruption or error. We are not responsible for losses arising from platform downtime, data loss, or third-party service failures.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Snowtographer's liability to any user is limited to the amount of Arctic Dollars held in that user's account at the time of the claim.

13. Changes to these terms

We will notify users of material changes to these terms via the platform's notification system at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree with the revised terms, you may delete your account before they take effect.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: legal@snowtographer.com