Terms of Use

Acceptance of the Terms of Use

It is important that you read all the terms and conditions of the following Terms of Use (“Terms”) carefully as they form a binding agreement between you and us. Except as otherwise provided in the section titled “Arbitration Agreement,” for purposes of these Terms, the words “Audiobooks.com,” “we” and “us” refer to Storytel Audiobooks USA LLC.

The following specifies the terms and conditions under which you may use any Audiobooks.com website or mobile application that includes a link to these Terms (“Application”) or any product, service or content provided through such website or Application (collectively, the “Services”). By using, visiting, browsing or downloading the Audiobooks.com website, the Application or any Services, you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you should not use the Audiobooks.com website, Application or Services. Audiobooks.com may revise these Terms at any time by updating the Terms on our site and any applicable Application. Continued use of the Audibooks.com website, Application or Services following such posting constitutes your acceptance of the revisions to the Terms. You should visit this page periodically to review the Terms.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE, APPLICATION OR SERVICES.

ARBITRATION NOTICE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER: AS FURTHER EXPLAINED IN THE SECTION OF THESE TERMS TITLED “ARBITRATION AGREEMENT,” YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND US WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND YOU AND WE WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION.

Audiobooks.com Requirements

You must be at least 18 years old, or have parental permission to use the Services.

You agree that you are the credit card holder for your account, or have express permission of the cardholder to use their card if using it as a payment method.

You agree to provide accurate and up-to-date essential personal information, and agree to maintain the currency of said information on your “My Account” page.

The Services are available internationally; however, the library of available content will vary by region based on distribution rights on a per-title basis.

Copyright Laws and Intellectual Property Rights

Content from the Services may be used and played for your personal, non-commercial use only. You agree not to modify, reproduce, retransmit, transfer, distribute, sell, broadcast, make available to third parties or circulate the content to anyone or to exploit any such content for commercial or non-commercial purposes without the express prior written consent of Audiobooks.com. Any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of this site or its contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another merchant; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools is prohibited.

PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

It is Audiobooks.com's policy to terminate membership privileges of any member who repeatedly infringes copyrights upon prompt notification to Audiobooks.com by the copyright owner or the copyright owner's legal agent. Without limiting the foregoing, if you believe that your work has been copied and posted on the Services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our Copyright Agent with the following information: (a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest; (b) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed; (c) a description of the location on the Services of the material that you claim is infringing; (d) your address, telephone number and e-mail address; (e) a written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and (f) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf. Contact information for Audiobooks.com's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement is as follows: [email protected]

Subscriptions

Audiobooks Subscription members agree to pay a recurring monthly fee, permitting us to charge membership dues and any applicable tax, until the account is cancelled online or by phone. Membership dues, including promotional pricing and limited time offers, are subject to change at a pre-specified time, or at Audiobooks.com's discretion, with notice to you.

Pre-Authorization Charge on Sign-Up

New customers may see a pre-authorization charge for $14.95 (USD) show up on their PayPal or credit card account, depending on their method of payment provided on sign-up. This is our system's way of checking to make sure your billing information is valid. The pre-authorization is voided instantly, but may take between 2-6 business days before PayPal or your credit card company shows the transaction as canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Promotional Free Trials, Corporate Gifts and Limited Time Offers

In the case of a promotional free trial (via an affiliate, corporate gift card, or promo code) your subscription will automatically renew and your credit card (or other payment method) will be charged on the day after your trial expires. You must cancel before the end of your free trial if you do not wish to be charged. The day your account is activated is considered day one of your free trial.

Membership dues, including promotional pricing and limited time offers, are subject to change at a pre-specified time, or at Audiobooks.com's discretion with notice to you.

Free trials will only be offered once to any individual or household. Some promotions and offers may only be available to new subscribers creating an Audiobooks.com account for the first time.

Audiobooks.com Plan Terms

Audiobooks.com members agree to pay a recurring monthly fee by credit card (or other payment method), permitting us to charge membership dues and any applicable tax, until the account is cancelled online or by phone. Membership fees, including promotional pricing and limited time offers, are subject to change at a pre-specified time, or at Audiobooks.com's discretion, with notice to you.

1, 2, and 3 Book Membership Plans:

The 1, 2, and 3 Book Membership Plans receive credits that may be used to purchase Audiobooks.com content. The 1, 2, and 3 Book Membership Plans are subject to the following terms: Rollover: 1, 2, and 3 Book Members are allowed to rollover unused credits each month however, monthly subscription credits will expire 3 months after they have been issued by Audiobooks.com and any additional credits purchased will also expire 3 months after purchase.

InstaCredit:

The InstaCredit feature allows users to purchase additional books instantly within mobile apps. The cost of an InstaCredit will be immediately applied to the credit card or other payment method attached to the user's Audiobooks.com account. As of September 1st, 2014 InstaCredits cost $14.95 (USD). The price of an InstaCredit may be changed at the sole discretion of Audiobooks.com. InstaCredits are subject to the same refund policy as regular subscription or top-up credits. Only members with an active subscription can purchase books using InstaCredit. The user's ability to purchase InstaCredits can be disabled by the user at any time.

Cancellation of Audiobooks.com Plans

To cancel your subscription, please visit the My Account section of the website while you're logged in or contact our Customer Service Team. Cancellations are immediate upon confirmation.

Upon cancellation, all purchased content will remain in your My Books but all Audiobooks.com VIP Rewards program books will be removed from your account. If you are the primary account holder of a family plan, upon cancellation all purchased content will be removed from your family members' accounts.

Audiobooks.com grants refunds at our sole discretion. We do not offer refunds on any subscription charges.

If you stream an audiobook and find its content faulty, please contact our Customer Service Team. If the file is determined to be flawed, we will replace the file. If the file is determined to be sound and the problem has occurred on the user end, we will attempt to help resolve the problem.

Gift Subscriptions Terms of Use

Subscriptions purchased as gifts ("Gift Subscriptions") will be presented to the recipient in the form of a gift code redeemable for the Gift Membership. Gift codes for Gift Subscriptions must be redeemed at Audiobooks.com and may be used only for Audiobooks.com memberships. Prior to being redeemed by a recipient, gift codes for Gift Subscriptions do not expire and are not subject to any dormancy fee or other fees for non-use. Gift Subscription recipients must have or open an Audiobooks.com account to redeem the gift code for a Gift Subscription. To view Gift Subscription balances and status, gift members should visit their "My Account" section of the Audiobooks.com site. Audiobooks.com may, in its discretion, advise the purchaser when the Gift Subscription has been redeemed by the recipient.

Limitations

Gift codes for Gift Subscriptions cannot be used to purchase other Gift Subscriptions or a la carte audio content. Gift codes for Gift Subscriptions cannot be resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash or applied to any other Audiobooks.com account, except where required by law. Gift Subscriptions may not be transferred. Promotional Codes Terms of Use Promotional codes ("Promo Codes") are for promotional use only and are void where prohibited by law. Promo Codes must be redeemed at Audiobooks.com and are only redeemable for the promotion outlined in the promotional offer (which may include discounts on Audiobooks.com trial offers, subscriptions or audiobook purchases). Promo Codes expire as indicated on the terms transmitted with the Promo Code. Promo Codes may be subject to additional terms and conditions presented with the Promo Code. Promo Codes recipients must have or open an Audiobooks.com account to redeem Promo Codes.

Limitations

Promo Codes cannot be used to purchase other Promo Codes or Gift Subscriptions Promo Codes are only valid for one time use. Promo Codes cannot be resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash except where required by law. Resale of a Promo Code or use for unauthorized advertising, marketing, sweepstakes or other promotional purposes is strictly prohibited.

General Terms

Risk of Loss

The risk of loss and title for Gift or Promo Codes for Gift Subscriptions and a la carte purchases pass to the purchaser upon Audiobooks.com's electronic transmission to the purchaser or recipient, whichever is applicable. Audiobooks.com is not responsible if a Gift or Promo Code for an Audiobooks.com Gift Subscription or a la carte purchase is lost, stolen, destroyed or used without your permission.

Fraud

Audiobooks.com will have the right to close customer accounts and bill alternative forms of payment if a fraudulently obtained Gift or Promo Code is redeemed and/or exchanged for Audibooks.com products and services.

Limitation on Liability

Audiobooks.com disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to Gift Subscriptions and Promotional Codes, including, without limitation, any express or implied warranty of merchant ability or fitness for a particular purpose. In the event a Gift Subscription or Promotional Code is non-functional, your sole remedy, and our sole liability, shall be the replacement of such Gift Subscription or Promotional Code. Certain state laws do not allow limitations on implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. If these laws apply to you, some or all of the above disclaimers, exclusions or limitations may not apply to you, and you might have additional rights.

Arbitration Agreement

Please read the following arbitration agreement in this Section (“Arbitration Agreement”) carefully. It requires you to arbitrate disputes with us and limits the manner in which you can seek relief from us.

Applicability of Arbitration Agreement.

You agree that any dispute or claim between you and us relating in any way to the these Terms, the Audiobooks.com website, the Application, the Services or any Audiobooks.com advertising will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that (1) you or we may assert claims in small claims court if the claims qualify and remain in such court; and (2) you or we may seek equitable relief in court for infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights (such as trademarks, trade dress, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents). For purposes of this Arbitration Agreement, the terms “we,” “us” and “Audiobooks” mean Storytel Audiobooks USA LLC and any of its predecessors, successors, assigns, parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees and agents, and “you” means you and any users or beneficiaries of the Services. viii. Arbitration Rules and Forum. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement. To begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your claim to us at the following address: 935 Sheldon Ct Burlington Ontario L7L 5K6 Canada. The arbitration will be conducted by JAMS, an established alternative dispute resolution provider. Disputes involving claims and counterclaims under $250,000, not inclusive of attorneys' fees and interest, shall be subject to JAMS's most current version of the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and procedures available at https://www.jamsadr.com/rules-streamlined-arbitration/; all other claims shall be subject to JAMS's most current version of the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures, available at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-comprehensive-arbitration/. Any arbitration of a dispute relating to your use of the Services primarily for personal, family or household purposes shall also be subject to the allocation of arbitration costs and other requirements of the JAMS' policy regarding Consumer Arbitrations Pursuant to Pre-Dispute Clauses Minimum Standards of Procedural Fairness available at https://www.jamsadr.com/consumer-minimum-standards/. JAMS's rules are also available at www.jamsadr.com or by calling JAMS at 800-352-5267. If JAMS is not available to arbitrate, the parties will select an alternative arbitral forum. If the arbitrator finds that you cannot afford to pay any applicable JAMS's filing, administrative, hearing and/or other fees and cannot obtain a waiver from JAMS, Audiobooks.com will pay them for you. In addition, Audiobooks.com will reimburse all such JAMS's filing, administrative, hearing and/or other fees for claims totaling less than $10,000 unless the arbitrator determines the claims are frivolous. If you are a consumer user of our Services residing in California, we waive any rights to recover costs or attorney's fees as a prevailing party in arbitration.
You may choose to have the arbitration conducted by telephone, based on written submissions, or in person in the country where you live or at another mutually agreed location. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Authority of Arbitrator. The arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to (a) determine the scope and enforceability of this Arbitration Agreement and (b) resolve any dispute related to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of this Arbitration Agreement including, but not limited to any claim that all or any part of this Arbitration Agreement is void or voidable. The arbitration will decide the rights and liabilities, if any, of you and Audiobooks. The arbitration proceeding will not be consolidated with any other matters or joined with any other cases or parties. The arbitrator shall have the authority to grant motions dispositive of all or part of any claim. The arbitrator shall have the authority to award monetary damages and to grant any non-monetary remedy or relief available to an individual under applicable law, the arbitral forum's rules, and the Terms (including the Arbitration Agreement). The arbitrator shall issue a written award and statement of decision describing the essential findings and conclusions on which the award is based, including the calculation of any damages awarded. The arbitrator has the same authority to award relief on an individual basis that a judge in a court of law would have. The award of the arbitrator is final and binding upon you and us.
Waiver of Jury Trial. YOU AND AUDIOBOOKS.COM HEREBY WAIVE ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A TRIAL IN FRONT OF A JUDGE OR A JURY FOR CLAIMS COVERED BY THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT. You and Audiobooks.com are instead electing that all such claims and disputes shall be resolved by arbitration under this Arbitration Agreement, except as specified above. An arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court and must follow this Agreement as a court would. However, there is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is subject to very limited review. Waiver of Class or Other Non-Individualized Relief. ALL CLAIMS AND DISPUTES WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT MUST BE ARBITRATED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT ON A CLASS, REPRESENTATIVE OR COLLECTIVE BASIS. ONLY INDIVIDUAL RELIEF IS AVAILABLE, AND CLAIMS OF MORE THAN ONE CUSTOMER OR USER CANNOT BE ARBITRATED OR CONSOLIDATED WITH THOSE OF ANY OTHER CUSTOMER OR USER. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Arbitration Agreement, if a decision is issued stating that applicable law precludes enforcement of any limitations stated in this subsection titled “Waiver of Class or Other Non-Individualized Relief” as to a given claim for relief, then that claim and only that claim for relief must be severed from the arbitration and brought in the United States district court for the District of Maryland or a court of competent of jurisdiction in Prince George's County Maryland. All other claims shall be arbitrated. 30-Day Right to Opt Out. You have the right to opt out of the provisions of this Arbitration Agreement by sending written notice of your decision to opt out to the following address: 935 Sheldon Ct Burlington Ontario L7L 5K6 Canada, within 30 days after first becoming subject to this Arbitration Agreement. Your notice must include your name and address, the email address you used to set up your account, and an unequivocal statement that you want to opt out of this Arbitration Agreement. If you opt out of this Arbitration Agreement, all other parts of this Agreement will continue to apply to you. Opting out of this Arbitration Agreement has no effect on any other arbitration agreements that you may currently have, or may enter in the future, with us.
Severability. Subject to the severability provision specified in the subsection headed “Waiver of Class or Other Non-Individualized Relief,” if any part or parts of this Arbitration Agreement are found under the law to be invalid or unenforceable, then such specific part or parts shall be of no force and effect and shall be severed and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
Survival of Agreement. This Arbitration Agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with Audiobooks.com.
Modification. Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement to the contrary, we agree that if Audiobooks.com makes any future material change to this Arbitration Agreement, you may reject that change within thirty (30) days of such change becoming effective by writing Audiobooks.com at the following address: 935 Sheldon Ct Burlington Ontario L7L 5K6 Canada.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to the conflict of laws provisions thereof, and the United States of America, including the Federal Arbitration Act. You agree that, with the exception of claims subject to arbitration, any dispute between you and us arising from or relating to the subject matter of these Terms of Use must be brought in the United States district court for the District of Maryland or the state courts of Prince George's County, Maryland, and you and we submit to the personal jurisdiction of the foregoing federal and state courts.

Prohibitions and Restrictions

You may only use the Services for your own individual, personal and noncommercial purposes and you agree that you will not:

Use the Audiobooks.com Services or related content to reproduce copyrighted materials
Copy, store, edit, change, prepare any derivative work of or alter in any way the Audiobooks.com Services or related content
Auto-scrape the Audiobooks.com website or Application
Download content by means other than the Audiobooks.com proprietary software
Make the Audiobooks.com Services or related content available over a network (other than Audiobooks.com's network) where it could be used by others
Provide your password to any other person
Share audio content with another person
Translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify or create derivative works based on content available through Audiobooks.com Services, or any portion of them for your own personal or commercial use, except as expressly allowed under applicable law and these Terms
Rent, lease or sublicense, sell, transfer, distribute or publicly perform the Audiobooks.com content in any manner and you will not exploit it commercially Improperly interact with Customer Service employees over email, telephone or in-app live chat; these include but are not limited to: verbal or written harassment, sexual solicitation, and uttering threats
Use the Audiobooks.com Services in any way that violates these Terms.
Privacy and Security
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer. View our Privacy Policy here.

Limitations on Liability

We reserve the right to terminate or restrict your use of our Services, without notice or further liability, as set forth in these Terms of Use or if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have breached or will likely breach any of these Terms of Use, including failure to pay your invoice on time, not following Customer Service instructions, or otherwise in our sole discretion. If we do terminate the provision of Services, we also reserve the right to refuse you as a customer, in our sole discretion, if you attempt to subscribe to our Services subsequently.

We make no representations or warranties of any kind on the Audiobooks.com Services, web site, Application and related content. In no event will we be liable to you for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind.

Audiobooks.com is not responsible for any outside charges that may be incurred while using our Services. This includes, but is not limited to, NSF charges for automatic withdrawals, foreign transaction fees, or any other charge that is not processed directly by Audiobooks.com.

Purchases of Audiobooks.com Content

When you purchase Audiobooks.com content, Audiobooks.com grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to download or stream Audiobooks.com content to your device(s) solely for your personal non- commercial use. You will not sell, transfer, lease, modify, distribute or publicly perform the Audiobooks.com content in any manner and you will not exploit it commercially. You agree to not decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer the Audiobooks.com content, or modify the Audiobooks.com content or create any derivative works therefrom. The license to the Audiobooks.com content you purchase will continue for as long as your copy of Audiobooks.com content exists pursuant to these Audiobooks.com Purchase Terms and Conditions.

With respect to all "A La Carte" purchases, except where noted otherwise, any list price displayed represents the full retail price listed on the Audiobooks.com content itself, as determined by Audiobooks.com, or as suggested by the manufacturer or supplier, or estimated in accordance with standard industry practice; or the estimated retail value for a comparably featured item offered elsewhere. Prices of all Audiobooks.com content are subject to change at any time in Audiobooks.com's sole discretion. All such pricing changes will be posted to the Audiobooks.com site.

You bear all risk of loss for completing the download of Audiobooks.com content after purchase, once we have made such content available to you (in your "My Books" area or otherwise) and for any loss of Audiobooks.com content you have downloaded, including any loss due to a file corruption or a computer or hard drive crash. Purchased Audiobooks.com content will generally continue to be available in your "My Books," but may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions or other reasons and Audiobooks.com will not be liable to you if Audiobooks.com content becomes unavailable for further download.

Audiobooks.com's price for audiobooks that have not yet been released can fluctuate ahead of the release date; the following Pre-order Pricing Policy governs how customers will be charged:

If the price of an item you have pre-ordered is higher on the release date, Audiobooks.com will honor the pricing of the order at the time it was originally placed, so you will be charged the lower order-date price.
If the price of an item you have pre-ordered is lower on the release date, you will be charged the lower release-date price.
The Pre-order Pricing Policy only applies to not-yet-released items available for pre-order. The Pre-order Pricing Policy does not apply to other items that have already been released and are available for purchase and download. All pre-orders appearing on your "My Pre-orders" page will have the Pre-order Pricing Policy implemented.

If you pre-order an audiobook and choose to use an audiobook credit, the credit is claimed immediately. If you pre-order an audiobook and choose to be charged a la carte pricing for the purchase rather than use an audiobook credit, your method of payment will not be charged until the item is available for download.

Active pre-orders can be cancelled by logging in to My Account and visiting the "My Pre-orders" page. If a pre-order was made using a credit, cancelling the pre-order will return the credit to your account with the original days left (at the time of placing the pre-order) to the life of the credit before expiry. Completed pre-orders are non-refundable. Audiobooks.com reserves the right to modify or cancel pre-orders, with notice to you.

Audiobook Reviews Policy

We encourage all of our customers to write a review of their recent listens. In order to keep discussions respectful and to guard against spam and abuse, our team evaluates every review. We have zero tolerance for any reviews that are deemed threatening or offensive in any way (e.g. sexist, racist, profane, graphic, violent, derogatory, defamatory, etc.). We will also remove reviews that are not pertinent to the audiobook at hand or serve merely as non-constructive insults to authors, narrators, or Audiobooks.com. Our intention is never to censor opinions, but inappropriate or non-constructive reviews will be removed at the sole discretion of the Audiobooks.com team. If your review is approved, it will appear live on the Audiobooks.com website and app within three (3) business days.