Terms of Service

These terms are entered into with Hefei Kouchui E-commerce Co., Ltd., acting through its curated marketplace studio and brand EssencePick. The company is a computer systems design and integrated commerce services provider whose registered place of business is Rm 1403 Bldg 7 Xinda Xishan Yinxing, Huaining Road Bijiashan Subdistrict, Shushan District, Hefei - 230000, China (CN). References in these terms to EssencePick, to us or to our studio all mean that company operating through EssencePick.

EssencePick selects, tests and presents durable everyday goods, and it offers curation, sourcing, quality testing, listing and matching services to makers and to buyers. You are contracting with the company named above, not with any individual staff member, and each engagement under these terms is a single agreement between you and that company.

By using this website, by requesting a service, by placing an order or by otherwise engaging with EssencePick you agree to be bound by these terms of service. If you do not accept these terms you should not use the services or complete an order. Where you act on behalf of a company or another legal body, you confirm that you have the authority to bind that body to these terms.

These terms replace any earlier understanding about the services unless we have signed a separate written agreement with you. Where such an agreement exists for a particular engagement, that agreement governs the engagement and these terms apply to everything else, including ordinary use of the website. We may update these terms from time to time as described in the section on changes.

EssencePick offers curation services in five broad areas plus a care desk. We source candidate goods and vet their makers. We test passing candidates against clear quality benchmarks and record the results on a score sheet. We write genuine product descriptions for goods that clear their test. We pair approved makers with buyers who fit their working style. And we plan tight seasonal collections timed to real demand.

After a purchase we operate a post purchase care desk that stands between the buyer and any issue that arises with the good. The precise scope of a given engagement is confirmed in writing before work begins, so that you always know which services you are buying. Nothing in these terms obliges us to accept a request, to offer a particular good or to enter into a particular relationship.

You may use the services only if you are of legal age in your own region and able to form a binding agreement. If you are below that age you may browse our pages for information but you may not place an order or enter a contract. When you register or place an order you confirm that the details you give are true, complete and current.

Where you act for a business, that business must be lawfully registered and, where the law requires, must hold any licences needed to offer its goods across borders. We may ask for evidence of registration or authorisation before we take on a maker, and we may decline to work with a party that cannot provide it. Our vetting steps are meant to protect every party in the chain.

Some parts of the service may give you an account. You are responsible for keeping your sign in details safe and for everything done through your account. If you believe another person has gained access to your account, tell us at once so that we can help you protect it. You must not share your password or allow an unauthorised person to use your account.

You agree to provide accurate contact and order information and to update it when it changes, because we rely on it to confirm orders, plan deliveries and send service messages. An address or email that is out of date can delay your order and may incur costs for which you are responsible. We will treat an instruction sent from your registered details as coming from you.

When you ask us to curate a good or to build a listing, your request is an offer to engage us. We confirm that we can help before any commitment. Our confirmation, together with a statement of scope and fee, forms the agreement for that engagement. If we cannot take on the work for any reason we will say so plainly and we will not charge you.

A curation engagement normally begins with a short list of candidate goods, moves to benchmark testing of approved items and ends with the writing and placing of listings you approve. Dates shown are estimates made in good faith. Where a delay is caused by events outside our reasonable control, we will let you know and will adjust the plan with you rather than promise an impossible target.

Our fees are agreed in writing for each engagement. A quote we issue is valid for the time stated on it, usually thirty days, and is based on the scope we have described. If you change the scope after a quote, the price may change and we will confirm the new figure before you are committed to it. There are no hidden charges and no fee appears after the fact that we did not name up front.

Payment terms, which may include a deposit before testing and settlement before a listing is published, are set out in the written confirmation for your engagement. We accept the payment methods we advertise at the time. Where a maker is due settlement for goods sold, we release payment on the schedule we agree, subject to the buyer having paid and to any return period having passed.

Testing follows a defined and repeatable routine. For each class of good we set the actions an ordinary owner repeats, we run them in a fixed order and we record the outcome on a score sheet with clear marks. The score sheet is our working record and we share the relevant part of it with you when you are the client ordering the test.

Testing is carried out with reasonable skill and care, but no test can predict every possible use. We report honestly what the benchmark showed and we mark clearly where a reservation remains. A good that clears its benchmark is offered with the confidence that record supports. A good that fails is not offered, and we will explain the reason so that the maker can improve rather than guess.

Goods we present have cleared the benchmark described in their records, and we present them only on that basis. We stand behind the accuracy of the description we write, which reflects our testing. That means the material, the finish and the care routine you read are the facts we measured, not decoration.

Any physical warranty on a specific good is given by its maker and is set out on the listing or in the maker warranty that accompanies the order. Our role is to confirm the maker performs as described and to help you claim under the warranty through the care desk. Nothing in these terms removes a right that the law of your region gives you and that cannot be waived.

If you are a maker offering goods through EssencePick, you promise that the goods are genuine, lawfully made, correctly described by you and free of any claim by another party that would stop us from representing them. You promise that the material and safety information you give us is true and that the goods match their samples for the whole run you supply.

You agree to supply enough samples for us to test, to keep production at the standard of the tested sample and to give us notice of any change to materials or factory that might affect quality. If a change lowers the quality below the tested sample, you accept that we may suspend offers of that good until it is retested, and that we will tell you the reason.

Delivery windows are agreed when orders are confirmed and are estimates made in good faith. We and our partner makers work to the promised window and we tell you as early as possible if a delay is expected. A modest delay does not cancel an order, but a delay that goes well beyond the agreed window allows you to choose a revised date or, where the law provides, to cancel and be refunded.

Risk in sealed goods passes to you at the point delivery is made or collected, in line with the trade rules we state on the order. If goods arrive damaged or missing you should note this on the delivery record and tell us within a reasonable time so that we can investigate with the carrier. Your right to a remedy for lost or damaged goods is not affected by that notification step.

Where the law of your region grants a right to cancel an order within a fixed period, that right stands and is not reduced by these terms. To exercise a cooling off right you should tell us within the time allowed and before the good is used beyond reasonable inspection. We will arrange the return and issue a refund once the good is received in a condition consistent with that brief handling.

For goods that arrive faulty or that fail to match their tested description, we arrange a return at no cost to you and offer a repair, a replacement or a refund as you prefer, subject to the maker warranty. Perishable, custom-made or sealed hygiene goods are exempt from cooling off only where the law allows. Refunds are made to the original payment method within a reasonable time after the return is accepted.

The design of this website, its text, its trade marks including the EssencePick name and leaf mark, and any material we produce such as score sheets and collection plans are owned by or licensed to Hefei Kouchui E-commerce Co., Ltd. You may view these for your own lawful use but you may not copy, distribute or reuse them for a commercial purpose without our written permission.

When you supply photographs or other material for a listing, you grant us the right to use that material to carry out the services, including displaying it across the small number of storefronts and marketing channels we use for your goods. This right ends when our engagement ends, except for material already in a live catalogue that we agree to remove in a reasonable time.

You agree to use the services only for lawful purposes and in a way that does not interfere with their safe operation for others. You must not attempt to gain access to parts of the service or systems you are not authorised to reach, nor send disruptive or automated traffic, nor introduce harmful code, nor try to discover the details of other users.

Curation relies on honesty between parties. You agree not to submit false information, not to misrepresent a good or its maker and not to use the service to test or collect information for a competitor in a way that harms us. If we have reasonable grounds to believe you have acted against these rules we may suspend or end your use, as described in the section on termination.

Our handling of personal information is set out in the privacy policy, which forms part of these terms. That policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, who may see it and the rights you hold over it. When you use the services you agree to that policy and to the practices described there.

The privacy policy and these terms are meant to be read together. Where these terms describe an activity that involves personal information, such as taking an order or running a delivery, the privacy policy governs how that information is treated. If a conflict ever appears, the more protective of your data rights, as a matter of local law, will govern the point of personal data.

Nothing in these terms limits our liability where the law does not allow it, including liability for death or injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or for a breach that a consumer cannot lawfully be asked to accept. We offer the services with reasonable skill and care and we take reasonable steps to keep them available and secure.

To the fullest extent the law allows, neither we nor our partners are liable for indirect or consequential loss, for loss of profit or data, or for damage that was not a foreseeable result of a breach. Where a business client makes a claim, our total liability under an engagement is limited to the fees paid for that engagement, unless the law says otherwise. This section does not reduce statutory rights of consumers.

Either party may end an engagement by written notice within the terms of their agreement. If you end an engagement we will fairly account for work done up to that point. We may suspend or end your use of the services if you seriously breach these terms, if you give the service parts that fail vetting in a way that risks others, or if your conduct endangers other users.

Ending an engagement does not end obligations that were meant to survive it, such as payment for completed work, our confidentiality and intellectual property duties and any restriction on sharing the information of others. We will always explain the reason for a suspension in honest terms and give you a fair chance to put right a fixable breach where that is reasonable.

We may update these terms when our services change, when the law changes or when a new practice needs a clear rule. When we make a change we update the effective date at the top of this page and note the reason in plain language. For changes that affect your rights we will give you reasonable notice, including a note on the homepage where that is practical.

The terms that apply to a given engagement are the ones in force when that engagement is confirmed. If you continue to use the services after a change is posted for a new engagement, you accept the updated terms for that later use. If you disagree with an update you may decline further orders and, where you have an existing engagement, we will complete it under the terms that applied when it began.

These terms are governed by the law that applies to the jurisdiction where the engaging party sits, insofar as consumer rules of that region require their law to apply to you. Before any legal claim we ask that the parties exchange a full written account of the dispute, which gives us the best chance to settle it fairly and without cost.

Where a settlement is not reached, disputes with a consumer may be taken to the courts that protect that consumer under local law. Disputes between business parties are governed by the written agreement for the engagement, or failing that by the law of Hefei, China. Nothing in this section stops either party from seeking an urgent order to protect its rights from harm.

Notices under these terms should be sent to the address below and are treated as given when we confirm receipt. You may also reach us by email or by telephone for ordinary questions, but for anything that changes a legal position we ask for it in writing so that the record is clear.

Thank you for reading these terms. The point of recording them clearly is to let a maker and a buyer work together with few surprises and with a fair rule for the rare case where one arises. If any part of an engagement is unclear, ask us before it begins and we will answer honestly.