Terms of Service

Verhaler. Verhaler Interactive, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK) under number 42059039, BTW-id NL005463670B29, with its registered address at Keizersgracht 452, 1016 GD Amsterdam, the Netherlands. References to "we," "us," and "our" mean Verhaler Interactive.

Service. The Verhaler website at verhaler.com and any mobile applications, APIs, or other software we make available.

Reader. A user who reads, plays, or purchases interactive stories on the Service.

Writer. A user who creates, publishes, or sells interactive stories on the Service.

Book. An interactive story published on Verhaler, which may include chapters, characters, choices, dice rolls, dialogue, combat, and other interactive components.

Expansion. A discrete, sequentially-numbered release of a Book. Expansions are sold individually; purchase of Expansion N requires ownership of Expansions 1 through N-1.

AUP. Our Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

By creating an account, accessing the Service, or making a purchase, you confirm that you have read these Terms and the AUP and agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms together with the AUP, the Privacy Policy at /privacy, and (if you are a Writer who sells priced Books) the Stripe Connected Account Agreement at stripe.com/legal/connect-account form the entire agreement between you and Verhaler.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or make a purchase. We reserve the right to ask for proof of age. If we learn that an account belongs to a person under 16, we will close it and refund any purchase made through it where required by law.

You may not use the Service if you are located in, ordinarily resident in, or a national of a country subject to comprehensive economic sanctions by the European Union, the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control, the United Kingdom, or the United Nations.

You agree to comply with the Stripe Restricted Businesses list at stripe.com/restricted-businesses, which is incorporated by reference and applies to all activity on the Service.

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for all activity that takes place under your account. Notify us at [email protected] immediately if you suspect unauthorised use.

We may suspend or close your account if you breach these Terms or the AUP, or if we are required to do so by law or by our payment partners. Suspensions and closures are subject to the statement-of-reasons procedure in section 12.

You may close your account at any time from your account settings. When you close your account, we scrub personal information from our systems as described in the Privacy Policy. Purchase records are retained as long as required by Dutch tax law (currently seven years).

Verhaler hosts interactive, branching fiction with light RPG mechanics. Writers compose the prose, build the characters and choices, and publish to Readers.

Verhaler is for human-authored stories. The text of a Book - its chapters, its dialogue, its scene descriptions - is written by the Writer. Verhaler does not offer AI prose-writing assistance. Fully AI-generated Books - Books in which the prose has been pasted from a chatbot without meaningful human authorship - are not permitted and result in account ban and content deletion. See the AUP for details.

We do not use your content to train AI models. Content you upload - manuscripts, characters, choices, media, and anything else - is never used to train AI models operated by Verhaler or by any third party. This applies whether or not your account is active.

The one place we rely on a third-party automated service is content moderation: to screen uploaded media for prohibited material we may send it to a moderation provider engaged under paid, business-tier terms that prohibit the provider from using it to train, develop, or improve its own models. Each such sub-processor is engaged under a Data Processing Agreement; the current list is published in our Privacy Policy.

Prices are shown in the seller's currency. Each Writer's Books are priced in EUR (for Eurozone sellers), GBP (United Kingdom), or USD (everywhere else). EU consumer prices in EUR include VAT; other applicable taxes are calculated at checkout and shown on the receipt. Where the price you see is not in your local currency, your card issuer performs the conversion at its published foreign-purchase rate.

When you purchase an Expansion of a Book on the Service, you enter into a sales contract with Verhaler. Verhaler sells the Expansion in its own name and for its own account and is the merchant of record for that sale. As the platform facilitating the sale, Verhaler is treated as the supplier for VAT purposes (the "deemed supplier" rule) and accounts for VAT on the full sale price. The Writer grants Verhaler the right to distribute their Book; Verhaler sets the terms of sale, including pricing rules, refund policy, payment methods, dispute handling, and customer support.

Expansion ownership is sequential. To purchase Expansion N of a Book, you must already own Expansions 1 through N-1. Once purchased, an Expansion remains in your owned set even if the Writer later publishes new Expansions, modifies the Book, or removes it from sale.

Your licence. A purchased Expansion grants you a personal, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-commercial licence to read and play the Book on any device on which you are logged in to your Verhaler account. You may not resell, share, or redistribute purchased content.

Customer service for Book purchases is handled by Verhaler, not by the Writer. If you have a question, a problem with a Book, or wish to request a refund, contact [email protected].

EU 14-day right of withdrawal for digital content. Under Dutch law implementing the EU Consumer Rights Directive (art. 6:230o jo. 6:230p sub e BW), EU consumers ordinarily have a 14-day right to withdraw from a distance contract. For digital content delivered without a tangible medium, this right does not apply if (a) you have expressly consented that delivery begins immediately and (b) you have acknowledged that you therefore lose your right of withdrawal (art. 6:230p sub e BW, implementing CRD art. 16(m)).

At checkout for each Book or Expansion purchase, we ask you to tick a box expressly consenting to immediate delivery and acknowledging the loss of withdrawal. If you do not tick it, we do not begin delivery and you retain the 14-day withdrawal right.

Book purchases

Book Expansion purchases are subject to the immediate-delivery waiver, so a change of mind after delivery has begun does not carry a statutory refund right. We may still, at our discretion, issue a goodwill refund within 14 days of purchase - for example for an accidental purchase. If the content is materially different from what was described or does not function properly, that is not a goodwill matter: it is a non-conformity claim under "Your statutory rights are preserved" below, and the 14-day goodwill window does not limit it.

Your statutory rights are preserved

Nothing in this section limits the rights you have under Dutch consumer law for non-conformity of digital content (art. 7:50aa et seq. BW, implementing Directive (EU) 2019/770). If a Book or other paid digital content does not conform with the contract, you may be entitled to bring it into conformity (repair or replacement), a proportionate price reduction, or termination with refund. Contact us at [email protected] to start a non-conformity claim.

How to request a refund

Email [email protected] with your order number and a description of the issue. We aim to respond within five business days.

If you publish a Book on Verhaler, additional terms apply. These terms supplement the rest of these Terms and are intended for commercial use.

Your licence to us

You retain ownership of the copyright in your Book. You grant Verhaler a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-bearing licence to host, display, reproduce, distribute, and commercially exploit your Book on and in connection with the Service. This licence includes the right to sell Expansions of your Book to Readers in Verhaler's own name and for Verhaler's own account, in accordance with section 7.

The licence is non-exclusive - you may publish your Book elsewhere in parallel, subject to any first-negotiation right we have requested under "Adaptations" below.

We do not use your Book or any other content you upload to train AI models, and we do not licence your content to third parties for that purpose.

Monetisation eligibility

Selling Books requires a payout-supported country. The ability to set a non-zero price on a Book is available only to Writers in countries Verhaler can send payouts to through our payment partner, Stripe Connect. Writers in other countries may still use Verhaler for free - they may create, publish (at zero price), and share their Books, but cannot charge for them. The current list of supported countries is published at verhaler.com/docs/payout-setup and may change over time.

Commission and royalty

When a Reader buys an Expansion of your Book, Verhaler is the deemed supplier of that sale and accounts for the VAT or other transaction taxes actually due on it (see section 7). From the VAT-exclusive amount - the price the Reader paid minus the tax actually charged on that sale - Verhaler retains a flat commission of 20% and pays you the rest: your royalty is 80% of every sale's VAT-exclusive amount. Because the tax depends on the buyer's country, the royalty on the same listed price varies with where your reader lives. Worked examples on a $4.99 sale: a buyer in the United States (no VAT) pays you $3.99; in Germany (19% VAT), $3.35; in Hungary (27% VAT), $3.14.

When a Reader buys through one of our mobile apps, the app store that routed the purchase charges a service fee on it. That fee is deducted from your share, not from Verhaler's commission, and the exact amount is shown on the affected sale in your Sales page. Verhaler's commission stays at 20% either way. The fee is set by the store and applies only to purchases the store routed; a Reader who buys on the website is unaffected.

Settlement happens in two automatic steps within the same sale: a base amount reaches your Stripe balance the moment the payment succeeds, and the remainder up to your full 80%, less any store service fee described above, follows once the sale's exact tax is confirmed - normally moments later. Your monthly statement shows the combined figure. The 20% commission is the same for every Writer, whatever you sell and however much of it, and it covers payment processing and the merchant-of-record work Verhaler performs on the sale. Royalty calculations already applied to completed sales are not changed retroactively.

Self-billing and payouts

If you provide a VAT identification number (btw-id), you authorise Verhaler to issue self-billed invoices in your name for the royalties you earn (self-billing). Under Dutch invoicing rules (art. 35 and 35a Wet OB), self-billing is permitted where the recipient (you) agrees and retains the right to object; adding a VAT id in Settings → Payouts is how you give that agreement. For self-billed Writers we raise one self-billed royalty invoice per calendar month, covering all of your royalties for that month in a given currency. If you earned no net royalties in a month, no invoice is issued for it; if refunds in a month exceed your earnings, we issue a credit note instead. If you do not provide a VAT id (most Writers), no self-billed invoice is issued - instead we provide a VAT-free monthly earnings statement for your own records.

The VAT treatment shown on each self-billed invoice depends on your country and tax status. For example, Dutch Writers are invoiced with Dutch VAT, while VAT-registered businesses elsewhere in the EU and Writers outside the EU are generally invoiced under the reverse-charge mechanism, with no VAT charged by us. We determine the correct treatment from the tax details you provide at onboarding.

You may object to any self-billed invoice or credit note within 30 days of its issue date by emailing [email protected]; objection does not relieve you of the underlying obligation. Self-billing governs how your royalties are invoiced; it is separate from payout timing, which is handled by Stripe as described below.

Payouts are made through Stripe Connect to the bank account or other payout method you connect during onboarding. Verhaler does not see or store your bank account number - only Stripe does. Payouts settle in the currency assigned to your country bucket (EUR for Eurozone, GBP for the United Kingdom, USD elsewhere) - the same currency your books are priced in, so no in-platform FX is applied to your share. Your earnings land in your Stripe balance immediately per sale; bank payouts run on Stripe's schedule once your accumulated balance reaches a minimum of 3.00 in your payout currency (for example €3, £3 or $3). Balances below the minimum are not forfeited - they roll forward and pay out once the minimum is reached. Payout fees are controlled by Stripe.

Withholding, offset, and recovery

If we reasonably suspect that sales of your Books are connected to a breach of these Terms or the AUP - for example infringing or prohibited content, or manipulated reviews or rankings - we may withhold the related royalties while we investigate, and for up to 90 days after removal of the content unless a longer hold is required by law or by an ongoing proceeding. We may offset against your unpaid royalties any refunds, chargebacks, amounts you owe us under the indemnity in this section, and royalties already paid on sales of content removed for a strict-rule or intellectual-property violation. Where a Book is removed for such a violation, royalties on its sales are forfeited to the extent we refund the affected Readers or are charged back. We will tell you what we are withholding and why, in the statement of reasons under section 12.

Stripe and your obligations to Stripe

To receive payouts, you must complete onboarding with Stripe and accept the Stripe Connected Account Agreement at stripe.com/legal/connect-account. Stripe is the regulated entity that processes payments and pays out funds to you.

Stripe may, independently of Verhaler, suspend onboarding, hold funds, delay or block payouts, or terminate your connected account for compliance, fraud, or risk reasons. These actions are governed by your agreement with Stripe and are outside Verhaler's control.

You must comply with the Stripe Restricted Businesses list at all times.

You indemnify Verhaler for any chargebacks, refunds, reversals, fines, penalties, or other charges Stripe (or another financial partner) imposes on Verhaler in connection with transactions on your connected account or content you publish.

Data sharing with Stripe. To process payments and run payouts, we share data with Stripe - your identity and contact details, your transaction history on Verhaler, and limited Reader data tied to your sales (for example, country of purchase, for tax and fraud purposes). This data flow is described in our Privacy Policy and in Stripe's own Privacy Policy. By using the Service as a Writer, you agree to this data sharing on the terms described in those policies.

Customer service for Book sales. Because Verhaler sells Books to Readers as the merchant of record (see section 7), Verhaler - not the Writer - is the Reader's first point of contact for refund requests, complaints, and customer support relating to a Book purchase. We may consult you on a complaint that concerns the substance of your Book, but the Reader-facing handling is ours.

Tax information (DAC7)

We collect tax-residence and identity information from Writers as part of onboarding (legal name, address, country of tax residence, tax identification number where applicable, business registration number where applicable, and your financial-account identifier as held by Stripe). This information supports compliance with the EU DAC7 directive (Council Directive 2021/514) and Dutch tax law. By onboarding as a paid Writer, you consent to this collection and to its disclosure to the relevant tax authority where required. We also use your country of tax residence and VAT status to determine the VAT treatment of the self-billed royalty invoices we issue in your name (see "Self-billing and payouts" above).

Adaptations

If you negotiate or enter into an agreement to adapt your Book into film, television, streaming, podcast, audiobook, print, or any other medium ("Adaptation"):

• First negotiation right. Before entering into binding negotiations with a third party for an Adaptation, you will notify Verhaler in writing and offer Verhaler an exclusive 30-day window to negotiate the Adaptation rights with you in good faith. If we decline or do not respond within 30 days, you are free to negotiate with third parties.
• Credit. You will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that any Adaptation credits Verhaler as the originating platform of the Book in the opening or closing credits or, where credits are not customary, in equivalent promotional materials.

These obligations apply only to Books originally published on Verhaler. They do not transfer to any later work that is not based on a Verhaler-published Book.

All content you upload, post, publish, or otherwise make available on the Service ("User Content") is subject to the Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

You are responsible for User Content you upload. You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to upload and licence it to us, and that it does not violate the law or the rights of any third party.

We operate a notice-and-action mechanism as required by article 16 of the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065). To report content you believe is illegal under EU or national law, email [email protected] or use the in-app reporting tool on any Book. Please include:

• a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why you consider the content illegal;
• a clear indication of the exact location (URL or Book identifier);
• your name and email address (unless the report relates to alleged child sexual abuse material);
• a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge.

We acknowledge valid notices without undue delay and act on them within 24 business hours (48 hours on weekends).

Verhaler moderates content to keep the Service safe and lawful. Our approach is primarily reactive, in line with the hosting-provider framework of the EU Digital Services Act:

• Automated screening of uploaded media. Images and other media uploaded to the Service are automatically screened by a third-party moderation service for prohibited material, including child sexual abuse material (see AUP). Flagged media is removed and, where the law requires it, reported to the authorities.
• Notice and takedown. We act on reports of illegal or infringing content submitted under section 11 and on prohibited material we otherwise become aware of. We do not screen the text of Books before publication; instead we remove content that violates the law or this agreement once it is reported or detected.

Statement of reasons. Whenever we restrict the visibility of your content, suspend or terminate your account, or otherwise take a moderation action that affects you, we will provide you with a clear and specific statement of reasons, as required by article 17 of the EU Digital Services Act. The statement will include the action taken, the facts and circumstances relied on, the contractual or legal ground, and, where applicable, the means you have to challenge the decision.

Strict-rule violations. Adult, sexual, or sexually explicit content of any kind, and fully AI-generated Books (as defined in the AUP), result in an immediate account ban and removal of the content from sale and from public view, without prior warning. Other violations are ordinarily handled with graduated warnings, but we may act immediately - including removal, suspension, or termination - where a violation is serious (for example illegal content, threats, doxxing, malware, or fraud), where the law requires it, or where waiting would put users or third parties at risk.

Takedown service level. Verified illegal content, verified IP infringement, and verified violations of the strict-rule clauses are removed from sale and from public view within two business days of verification. Access already granted to purchasers of a removed Book is handled as described in section 18.

Writers retain copyright in their Books. Readers retain rights in content they create within the Service (for example, reading history). Verhaler retains all rights, title, and interest in the Service itself, the Verhaler name, logo, software, and platform features.

No AI training. Verhaler does not use Writer or Reader content to train AI models, and does not licence Writer or Reader content to third parties for that purpose. This is a standalone commitment, separate from any licence granted in section 9.

IP infringement reports. If you believe content on the Service infringes your IP rights, email [email protected] with (a) identification of the allegedly infringing material, (b) identification of the right you claim has been infringed, (c) your contact details, and (d) a statement that the information is accurate. We will act on valid notices within the takedown service level in section 12.

We aim to make the Service available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or always-available access. Scheduled maintenance, third-party outages (including our payment, moderation, and hosting providers), and events beyond our reasonable control may cause temporary unavailability.

We may modify, add, or remove features of the Service over time. If we make a change that materially and negatively affects you, we will give you reasonable advance notice on a durable medium (email or in-app notification), as required by article 7:50an BW. Your statutory rights in respect of digital content you have already purchased are unaffected (see section 22).

If the Service is shut down or becomes unavailable for a prolonged period, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to:

• give you reasonable advance notice on a durable medium;
• make Books you have published or purchased available for download in a portable, machine-readable format for a reasonable period after notice;

These commitments are without prejudice to your statutory rights under article 7:50ao BW.

You may close your account at any time from your settings. Closure takes effect immediately.

Personal information. We will scrub personal information from our systems as described in the Privacy Policy. Invoice, payout, and tax records are retained for the period required by Dutch law (currently seven years under article 52 of the Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen).

Published Books. If you have published Books that Readers have purchased, those Books remain available to those Readers after closure - we are required to honour Reader purchases. Your author byline on those Books will be replaced with a generic placeholder ("Deleted account"), and you will no longer be able to publish updates, edits, or new Expansions for them. Closing your account does not waive royalties already earned but not yet paid out; the final payout will be made under the standard Stripe Connect payout terms, subject to the withholding, offset, and recovery rights in section 9 - closing your account does not cut an investigation short. A balance below the regular minimum-payout threshold is not forfeited at closure - it rolls into your final payout once any applicable hold ends. We will also issue a final self-billed invoice (or credit note) covering your royalties for the closing partial month, and retain it with your other invoice records for the period required by Dutch law.

Free or unpublished content. Books that you have not published, or that you have published at zero price with no Reader purchases, are deleted on closure.

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if you (a) breach these Terms or the AUP, (b) are the subject of confirmed strict-rule violations as set out in section 12, (c) cause us to be in breach of our agreement with Stripe or any other regulator or financial partner, or (d) where we are required to do so by law. We will provide a statement of reasons in accordance with section 12 unless prohibited by law.

Effect on published Books. Books removed under a strict-rule or takedown decision (section 12) are withdrawn from sale and from public view. Whether Readers who already purchased a removed Book keep access to it is decided per case: we may end access - refunding the affected purchases where appropriate - where the content is illegal, infringes third-party rights, or where we are required to end it. Where the reason for termination is otherwise compatible with continued Reader access - for example, a payments-partner issue unrelated to Book content - Books you have published may remain available to Readers who have purchased them, with your author byline replaced as described in section 17.

Except as expressly stated in these Terms and as required by mandatory consumer law, the Service is provided "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Nothing in this section limits your statutory consumer rights, including the non-conformity rights under article 7:50aa et seq. BW.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Verhaler's aggregate liability to you for all claims arising under or in connection with these Terms or your use of the Service is limited to the greater of (a) €500 or (b) the fees you paid to Verhaler in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

What this limitation does not cover. Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by Verhaler;
• intent ("opzet") or conscious recklessness ("bewuste roekeloosheid") of Verhaler or its directing officers;
• breach of statutory consumer-protection rights, including the non-conformity rights under article 7:50aa et seq. BW;
• any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

We are not liable for indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, except to the extent such limitation is not permitted by applicable law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Verhaler from claims, damages, liabilities, and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) arising from (a) content you upload, publish, or distribute that violates these Terms, the AUP, applicable law, or the rights of a third party; (b) your breach of these Terms; and (c) for Writers, chargebacks, refunds, fines, or penalties imposed on Verhaler by Stripe or another financial partner in connection with your transactions or content.

Nothing in these Terms limits your rights as a consumer under mandatory law, including the rights under article 7:50aa to 7:50ap BW (digital content and digital services) and the rights under Title 9A of Book 6 BW (general consumer-protection rules). Where any term of these Terms conflicts with mandatory consumer law in your country of residence, the mandatory consumer law prevails.

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes on a durable medium (email or in-app notification) at least 30 days before they take effect. If you do not agree with a material change, you may stop using the Service and close your account before the change takes effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. Non-material changes (for example, clarifications or typographical fixes) take effect on publication.

Previous versions of these Terms are available on request from [email protected].

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands. For users acting in the course of a trade, business, or profession, disputes arising under or in connection with these Terms are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Rechtbank Amsterdam (Amsterdam District Court), the Netherlands - the court of Verhaler's seat.

Consumer carve-out. If you are a consumer, the exclusive-forum sentence above does not apply to you: you may bring proceedings in the courts of your own country of residence, and proceedings against you may only be brought there, as provided by mandatory jurisdiction rules (including Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, "Brussels I recast"). If you are a consumer ordinarily resident in another European Union Member State, you also retain the protection of the mandatory consumer-protection rules of your country of residence (article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008, "Rome I"). The choice of Dutch law does not deprive you of that protection.

Alternative dispute resolution. We are not obliged to use, and do not commit to using, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body. For most disputes, contacting us first at [email protected] is the fastest route to resolution; you also remain free to bring any dispute before the competent courts.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect, and the invalid provision is replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to the intent of the original.

These Terms, together with the AUP, the Privacy Policy, and (for Writers) the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, are the entire agreement between you and Verhaler regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements on the same subject.

Verhaler Interactive
Keizersgracht 452, 1016 GD Amsterdam, the Netherlands
KvK: 42059039
BTW-id: NL005463670B29
General contact: [email protected]
Reports and takedowns: [email protected]