Terms of use
What you agree to by using Caribbein: our role as an intermediary, your obligations, how bookings and payments work, and the limits of our liability.
Courtesy translation. The French version is the original and the only legally binding text. If the two differ, the French version prevails. Read the French version.
- Publisher
- Purpose and scope
- Definitions
- Our role — intermediary, not seller
- Eligibility and accounts
- Acceptable use
- Providers
- Bookings, pricing and payments
- User-generated content
- Intellectual property
- Our commitments (société à mission)
- Availability and liability
- Force majeure
- Suspension and termination
- Data protection
- Consumer mediation
- Governing law
- Changes
- Contact
0. Publisher
Publisher of the Platform: Caribbein SAS (in formation), a French société par actions simplifiée, registered office address to be completed on registration, 97150 Saint-Martin, France. Share capital: to be completed on registration (a €40,000 in-kind contribution of intangible assets is acquired; the total amount remains to be set). Registration: no SIREN yet — the company is in formation. Legal representative (President): Steven Calder. Publication director: Steven Calder. Contact: welcome@caribbein.fr.
The Platform is hosted within the European Union. Name, address and legal contact details of the host to be completed on registration.
Caribbein operates under the Saint-Martin Tax Code (CGI-SM), by virtue of the fiscal autonomy of the collectivity (Art. 74 of the French Constitution) — Saint-Martin is outside the EU VAT territory.
1. Purpose and scope
1.1 These Terms of Use (the "Terms") govern access to and use of the Caribbein platform: the consumer app at app.caribbein.fr and all associated websites, mobile apps and provider tools (together, the "Platform"), operated by Caribbein SAS ("Caribbein", "we").
1.2 Caribbein operates a multi-sided marketplace and operating ecosystem for Caribbean islands. The Platform lets Users discover, contact and book local services, and lets Providers (local businesses and independent operators) list their offering, receive bookings and manage operations using Caribbein's "OS" tools.
Pre-launch notice. The Platform is in formation. The public beta has been open since 5 October 2026 and the official launch is targeted for 1 November 2026. Product screens, demos and feature lists may be illustrative and available services may vary by island and over time.
1.4 By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.
2. Definitions
- User — anyone accessing the Platform to discover or book services (resident/islander or visitor/tourist).
- Provider — a business or independent operator listing services and/or using a Caribbein OS tool.
- Booking — a request and/or confirmed booking of a service made by a User with a Provider through the Platform.
- Content — any information, text, image, review, rating, listing or item posted on the Platform by a User or Provider.
- Branch — Caribbein's local operating entity for a given island.
- OS — a Caribbein operating tool for a given vertical (e.g. PropertyOS, YachtOS, RestoOS, FleetOS, EducationOS), supplied to Providers under separate subscription terms.
3. Our role — intermediary, not seller
3.1 Caribbein is a technical intermediary that facilitates connection, booking and payment between Users and Providers. Caribbein is not the seller, supplier or operator of the services booked through the Platform. The contract for any service is formed directly between the User and the Provider.
3.2 Each Provider is solely responsible for the description, price, availability, quality, safety, legality, insurance, licensing and delivery of its own services, and for compliance with all laws applicable to its activity.
3.3 Caribbein is responsible for the Platform itself — its availability, the integrity of the booking and payment flow it provides, and its own obligations under these Terms and applicable law.
3.4 Booking funds are collected into the Provider's own connected payment account (Stripe Connect); Caribbein only receives its commission as an application fee and does not hold the service price on the Provider's behalf.
4. Eligibility and accounts
4.1 Capacity. You must have legal capacity to enter into a contract to use the Platform in your own name.
4.2 Minimum age. You must be at least 16 to hold a Caribbein account. Users aged 16–17 are minors and may only use the Platform through an account linked to a parent or legal guardian, verified via a payment card in their own name (a symbolic €0.01 authorisation). Services delivered inside schools and clubs (EducationOS, SportsOS) follow a separate guardian-consent regime described in the privacy policy.
4.3 Account information. You must provide accurate information and keep it current. You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for activity under your account.
4.4 One person, one account. Accounts are personal. You may not impersonate another person or create an account for someone excluded from the Platform.
5. User obligations and acceptable use
5.1 You agree to use the Platform lawfully and in good faith. You must not:
- post Content that is false, misleading, defamatory, hateful, discriminatory, violent or unlawful;
- post a review that does not reflect a genuine experience, or manipulate ratings;
- infringe another's intellectual property, image or privacy rights;
- upload malware, scrape data, overload, probe or attempt to bypass the Platform's security or access controls;
- use the Platform to harass, defraud, or solicit outside the intended booking flow to bypass Provider verification or commission;
- use the Platform for any purpose unlawful under the law applicable to you.
5.2 Caribbein may remove any Content and suspend or terminate accounts that breach these Terms (§13). Serious misconduct may result in immediate exclusion without refund of any Caribbein credits.
6. Providers
6.1 Verification. Providers must complete Caribbein's verification process (business documents, identity, and where applicable KYC/AML and sector licensing) before receiving bookings. Caribbein may approve, decline, suspend or revoke a Provider's access.
6.2 Provider responsibility. Providers warrant that they hold all required permits, insurance and authorisations, that their listings are accurate, and that they will honour confirmed Bookings. The detailed provider relationship (commission tier, OS subscription, payouts) is governed by a separate Provider Agreement, given to each Provider at onboarding.
6.3 No employment relationship. Nothing in these Terms creates an employment, agency, partnership or joint-venture relationship between Caribbein and any Provider or User.
7. Bookings, pricing and payments
7.1 Pricing. Prices are set by Providers and shown inclusive of applicable local taxes where required. Currency depends on the island and is shown at booking.
| Provider tier | Caribbein commission |
|---|---|
| Free | 10% |
| Pro | 5% |
| Premium | 2% |
7.2 Commission. Caribbein charges Providers a commission on completed Bookings per the table above. Depending on the Provider's setup, commission may be added to the price shown to the User or deducted from the Provider's proceeds. Caribbein does not charge Users a separate marketplace fee.
7.3 Payment processing. Payments are handled by third-party payment providers (e.g. Stripe, or local processors depending on the island) into the Provider's connected account. By paying, you also accept the applicable payment provider's terms. Caribbein never stores full card numbers.
7.4 Cancellations and refunds. Cancellation, change and refund terms are set by each Provider and shown before you book. Since the service contract is between you and the Provider, refund requests are handled per the Provider's policy and applicable consumer law.
7.5 Caribbein credits/vouchers. Where Caribbein issues credits or vouchers, they are personal, non-transferable, usable only with Platform Providers, valid for 24 months from issue, and not redeemable for cash.
8. User-generated content
8.1 Your rights. You retain ownership of Content you post.
8.2 Licence to Caribbein — narrow, service-only. You grant Caribbein a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce and adapt (e.g. resize) your Content solely to operate the Platform — showing your photo on your own booking, your review under the relevant Provider's listing — for as long as the Content remains on the Platform and for a reasonable period afterward for backups and legal archives. This licence does not cover promotional reuse (advertising, social media, Caribbein marketing materials). Any promotional use of your Content will be asked for separately, case by case, and stays optional — consistent with Caribbein building infrastructure for islands rather than extracting value from them (§10).
8.3 Reviews. Reviews must be genuine and may be tied to a completed Booking. Caribbein may moderate, decline or remove reviews that breach §5 or applicable law.
8.4 Provider content. Providers grant Caribbein the licence needed to display their listings on the Platform; any promotional use beyond the listing itself follows the same separate-consent rule as §8.2. Providers warrant they hold the rights to all images and text they upload.
9. Intellectual property
9.1 The Platform, the Caribbein brand, the "Étoile de Mer" mark, OS names (YachtOS, PropertyOS, RestoOS, etc.), software, design and databases are owned by Caribbein SAS and protected by intellectual property law. Trademark filing with INPI is planned but has not yet been made.
9.2 You have a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to use the Platform under these Terms. You may not copy, modify, resell, decompile or create derivative works from the Platform, except as permitted by mandatory law.
10. Our commitments (société à mission)
Caribbein is being incorporated as a société à mission (mission-driven company). The following commitments are meant to be auditable, not marketing copy:
- We never sell the person. We do not sell individual identity. Where we sell insight, it is aggregated and anonymised.
- Community contribution. Caribbein returns 20% of every commission it earns to local community funds, on projects proposed by islanders and voted on in the app.
- No lock-in. Providers can leave at any time and take their data with them; we do not hold data hostage.
- Transparency. We publish operating information as described in our mission documents.
These commitments do not create individually enforceable monetary rights in favour of any User or Provider beyond what is stated here and in the company's mission governance.
11. Availability, "as is" and limitation of liability
11.1 Availability. We work to keep the Platform available but do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation, particularly during the pre-launch period.
11.2 Provider services. Caribbein is not responsible for the acts, omissions, quality, safety or delivery of any Provider's services, which are the Provider's sole responsibility (§3).
11.3 Liability cap. To the extent permitted by law, Caribbein's liability for operating the Platform is capped, per claim, at the greater of (a) the commission Caribbein actually received on the relevant Booking(s) in the 12 months before the claim, and (b) €300 — a floor that stops a cap computed on a very small commission from becoming, in effect, a full exclusion.
This cap never applies to liability for gross negligence, wilful misconduct, fraud, or bodily injury, nor to any liability the law does not allow to be excluded or limited — including mandatory consumer rights. For a User acting as a consumer, this cap only restricts what consumer law actually permits limiting by contract.
12. Force majeure (including hurricanes)
Neither party is liable for a failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including hurricanes, tropical storms, floods and other natural events common in the Caribbean, fire, strikes, war, epidemics, failures of telecommunications, power or third-party infrastructure, or acts of public authority. Affected obligations are suspended for the duration of the event.
13. Suspension and termination
13.1 You may stop using the Platform and close your account at any time.
13.2 We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice depending on severity, if you breach these Terms, create a risk to Users, Providers or the Platform, or where the law requires it. Where proportionate, we will give notice and a chance to fix the breach.
13.3 Termination does not affect rights or obligations that arose before termination. Provisions that by their nature should survive (IP, liability, governing law, data) survive.
14. Data protection
Caribbein processes personal data under the GDPR and our privacy policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms. The CNIL is the supervisory authority for the Saint-Martin (French side) entity.
15. Consumer mediation
Under Art. L612-1 of the French Consumer Code, a consumer may submit an unresolved dispute, free of charge, to a consumer mediator after first contacting Caribbein. The consumer mediator Caribbein will use is still to be appointed, before launch. EU consumers may also use the European online dispute resolution platform: ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.
16. Governing law and jurisdiction
16.1 These Terms are governed by French law, as applicable in the Collectivité de Saint-Martin.
16.2 The parties will first seek an amicable resolution. Failing that, disputes fall under the jurisdiction of the courts competent for Saint-Martin, subject to any mandatory rule giving a consumer the right to bring proceedings before the court of their own domicile.
17. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. Material changes will be notified through the Platform or by email before taking effect. Continued use after the effective date means acceptance of the updated Terms. The version and date appear at the top of this document.
18. Contact
Questions about these Terms: welcome@caribbein.fr — Caribbein SAS (in formation), 97150 Saint-Martin, France. See also the legal notice.