Legal
Last updated 18 August 2026
These terms cover how Shelfmates actually works today and what we expect from you while using it. By creating an account or using Shelfmates, you agree to them.
Shelfmates is an active work in progress. Features may change, break, or be removed with little notice, and we make no guarantee of uptime or that any particular feature will keep working the same way. We'll try to give notice of anything that affects your data.
Shelfmates is a social platform for readers. Through it, you can:
You must be 16 or older to use Shelfmates. You're responsible for keeping your password secure and for everything that happens under your account. Give us accurate information when you sign up, and don't create an account to impersonate someone else or to evade a ban.
Shelfmates only works if people feel safe using it. You agree not to:
If you see content or behaviour that breaks these rules, report the specific comment, review, or account directly in the app, or use our contact page.
You keep ownership of the reviews, comments, messages, and photos you post. By posting them, you give Shelfmates a license to store and display them as needed to operate the features you're using — for example, showing your review to other readers, or delivering your message to the person you sent it to.
A book you add to the shared catalogue, or an event you host, may be seen and built on by other readers (their own reviews, favourites, or RSVPs), so it isn't removed just because you delete your account — see our Privacy Policy for exactly what happens to your data when you delete your account, including the one case (moderating a group) where deleting your account does remove shared content for everyone in it.
If you create a group, you're its moderator: you can edit its details, approve or decline join requests up to the 50-member limit, and are expected to keep it reasonably on-topic and free of the conduct described above. Group membership and chat history are visible to other members of that group.
If you submit a book through a publisher account, it's checked against our existing catalogue and reviewed by our staff before approval. We may reject a submission at our discretion, including for incomplete information or a broken purchase link.
Shelfmates+ is a paid monthly subscription that removes the free-tier limit on connection requests. Payment is processed by Stripe. You can cancel or manage your subscription at any time through the billing portal linked from the Premium page; cancelling stops future billing but doesn't retroactively refund the current billing period unless we say otherwise.
We review reports about accounts and comments through a staff moderation queue. If you break these terms, we may remove the specific content, suspend, or permanently remove your account, depending on severity. We try to be proportionate, but decisions about what breaks these rules are ultimately ours to make.
You can delete your own account at any time from Edit profile. We may suspend or remove an account that breaks these terms. Either way, see our Privacy Policy for what actually happens to your data.
Shelfmates is provided "as is", especially given its beta status. We don't guarantee it will be error-free, uninterrupted, or fit for any particular purpose. Purchase links to third-party retailers (Bookshop.org, Amazon, ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, and similar) are provided for convenience; we're not responsible for those retailers' own listings, pricing, or fulfilment.
We may update these terms as Shelfmates changes. We'll update the date at the top of this page when we do; continuing to use Shelfmates after a change means you accept the update.
Questions about these terms can be sent through our contact page.
