The Puzzle Vault

Terms of Service — The Puzzle Vault

Last updated: 6 September 2026

These terms are the agreement between you and us about using The Puzzle Vault. Please read them; they are short and they matter, particularly section 5 about the marketplace.

App Store distribution uses Apple's standard EULA; these Terms apply in addition to it.

1. Acceptance

The Puzzle Vault ("the app") is provided by byhim.nl, a personal, non-commercial project of Mark Keulen, a private individual living in the Netherlands ("we", "us"). There is no company behind the app and no Chamber of Commerce (KvK) registration.

By creating an account or otherwise using the app you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the app.

We may update these terms. The current version always lives at https://byhim.nl/puzzlevault/terms with its date at the top; if a change materially affects you we will tell you in the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the new version.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to use The Puzzle Vault. If you use the app on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are allowed to bind it to these terms.

3. Your account

  • You are responsible for your account and for everything done through it. Keep your password and your Apple/Google sign-in secure, and tell us immediately if you think someone else has access.
  • Give accurate information. One person, one account; do not impersonate anyone else and do not create an account to evade a block or a suspension.
  • You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Danger Zone → Delete Account. The effect of that deletion is described in the Privacy Policy — it is immediate and irreversible.

4. Community content and catalog contributions

Your content stays yours. You keep all rights in the collection entries, reviews, photos, listings, messages and catalog contributions you create.

The licence you give us. So that the app can function, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display your content inside The Puzzle Vault, and to make the parts that are public by design visible to other users. This licence lasts as long as your content is in the app and ends when you delete it or your account — except for catalog data described below.

Catalog contributions are different. The puzzle catalog is a shared community reference. When a puzzle entry or an edit you propose is accepted by community voting, that factual catalog data becomes part of the catalog and stays there even if you later delete your account; your attribution is removed but the entry itself remains. Do not submit catalog data you are not free to contribute, and do not paste in copyrighted text or photographs you do not own.

You warrant that you have the rights to everything you post, and that it does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights.

Moderation. We may review, hide, edit or remove any content, and may refuse or reverse a catalog change, if we reasonably believe it breaks these terms or the law. We are not obliged to monitor content, and we do not pre-screen it.

5. The marketplace is a venue, not a party to your deal

This is the most important section in these terms.

  • The Puzzle Vault provides listings, chat and reviews. That is all. We are not a party to any sale, trade or auction between users.
  • No payments happen in the app. There is no checkout, no escrow, no payment processing and no wallet. Buyers and sellers agree on price, payment method and shipping between themselves, off-app, and carry all the risk of doing so.
  • We do not verify puzzles, sellers, buyers, condition, authenticity, provenance, price or the ability of anyone to complete a deal. Ratings, trust scores and badges are community signals, not guarantees by us.
  • Winning an auction or marking a listing sold creates whatever obligation the two of you agreed on between yourselves. We do not enforce it, mediate it, refund it or insure it.
  • You are responsible for complying with the law that applies to you: consumer law if you sell as a business, import/export rules, customs, and any income or VAT tax you owe. Do not list anything you may not lawfully sell or ship.

Safety tips. Use a payment method that gives you buyer protection. Do not move a conversation off the app before you have reason to trust the other person. Ask for extra photos. Insure and track valuable shipments. Be sceptical of anyone who pressures you to pay quickly, pay by irreversible methods, or ship before payment clears. If something feels wrong, stop and report it.

6. Prohibited conduct

Do not:

  • Post anything unlawful, hateful, harassing, threatening, sexually explicit or targeted at a private individual.
  • Impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your affiliation with a designer, maker or brand.
  • Scam, defraud, shill-bid, manipulate auctions, post fake reviews or manipulate trust scores.
  • List counterfeit puzzles, stolen goods, or anything you may not legally sell.
  • Spam, advertise unrelated products, or scrape, bulk-export or resell the catalog or user data.
  • Reverse-engineer the app, probe or attack our infrastructure, bypass rate limits or access another user's account or data.
  • Use the app to collect personal data about other users beyond what the app shows you, or use another user's contact details for anything other than the trade you are discussing.
  • Evade a block or a suspension.

7. Reporting and blocking

Every profile, listing, review and message thread has a report action, and you can block any user. Reports go to our moderators; blocking hides you and the other user from each other throughout the app. We aim to review reports promptly. We may act on a report by removing content, warning, suspending or permanently blocking an account. We do not disclose the outcome of a report about someone else beyond confirming that we looked at it.

8. Termination

You may stop using the app and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access, with notice where reasonably possible, if you break these terms, if we are legally required to, or if your use puts other users or the service at risk. Sections 4 (catalog data), 5, 9, 10 and 11 survive termination.

We may also change, suspend or discontinue any part of the app. If we discontinue the service as a whole we will give you reasonable notice and a chance to export your data.

Some features have a usage allowance. Photo recognition ("Scan a puzzle") currently comes with a monthly number of scans per account; we may change that allowance, and it may in future become part of a paid plan. If that happens we will tell you in the app before it takes effect — nothing you already have in the app changes because of it.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

The app is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind beyond those that cannot be excluded by law. We do not warrant that the app will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that the catalog is accurate or complete, or that any listing, user or transaction is genuine or safe. An estimated value shown for a puzzle or for your collection is derived from past marketplace sales in the app and is indicative only — it is not an appraisal, a valuation for insurance, or advice to buy or sell.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits the statutory rights you have as a consumer under Dutch and EU law.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, nor for loss of profit, data, goodwill or opportunity — and in particular we are not liable for any loss arising out of a transaction between users, including payment fraud, non-delivery, misdescription or damage in shipping.

Our total liability arising out of or relating to the app is limited to EUR 100, or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, whichever is greater. These limits do not apply to liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or to any liability that cannot be limited by law.

11. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the Netherlands. Disputes go to the competent court in the Netherlands. If you are a consumer resident in the EU, you keep the protection of the mandatory law of your own country and may bring a claim before your local competent court. EU consumers can also use the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform.

12. Contact

puzzlevault@byhim.nl byhim.nl — Mark Keulen, private individual, the Netherlands