These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Epiloca application, website, and services (collectively, the "Service"). Epiloca is a community-driven book sharing platform designed to connect home bookshelves with local Little Free Libraries and neighborhood drop sites. Please read these Terms carefully before using our Service.

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of the terms, you may not access the Service.

1. Accounts & Eligibility

When you create an account with us, you agree to provide accurate and current information. You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for any activities or actions conducted under your account. You must notify us immediately upon becoming aware of any unauthorized use or security breach.

2. Community Guidelines & Acceptable Use

Epiloca is built on mutual neighborly trust, reciprocity, and respect for physical community spaces. You agree not to use the Service in any way that is unlawful, disruptive, or harmful. In particular, you agree:

• Legitimate Book Listings: You may only list physical books that you personally possess and are genuinely willing to drop off at a local community drop site if requested by a user.
• Prohibited Content: You will not list or distribute unlawful, defamatory, infringing, sexually explicit, hate-speech-promoting, or hazardous materials.
• Drop Integrity: You will only confirm drop-offs that you have physically fulfilled.
• Respect for Drop Sites: You will treat physical drop sites and Little Free Libraries with care. Do not damage, vandalize, or overcrowd drop boxes, and respect any posted rules or instructions established by box stewards or property owners.
• Platform Security: You will not reverse engineer, decompile, crawl, datamine, scrape, or attempt to bypass any rate-limiting or security mechanism of the Service.

3. Communications & Notifications

By creating an account, you agree to receive essential transactional notifications regarding book requests, drop-off confirmations, waitlist updates, and account security alerts. These communications may be delivered via email or device push notifications. You may adjust your notification preferences or opt out of non-essential communications at any time in your profile settings.

4. Device Permissions

Epiloca is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that may request specific device permissions to power its core features:

• Camera: Used to scan ISBN and UPC barcodes on physical books for rapid cataloging. Barcode recognition is processed directly on your device.
• Location (GPS): Used to calculate neighborhood distances to available books, help you select nearby community drop sites, and verify your proximity when confirming a book drop-off.
• Push Notifications: Used to send timely alerts when a user requests your book, when a requested book has been dropped off for pickup, or when a waitlisted book becomes available.

You can grant, deny, or revoke these permissions at any time through your browser or device settings. Disabling certain permissions may limit your ability to use corresponding features (e.g., in-app barcode scanning or drop verification).

5. Tokens, Subscriptions, and Payments

• Free Community Sharing: Epiloca is free for neighborhood book sharing. Users who maintain an active book inventory to qualify for (Community Tier) or who fulfill drop requests earn access to book requests without payment.
• Token Economy: Tokens are internal exchange credits used to request books from users or jump waitlists. Tokens can be earned for free by fulfilling drop requests for others, or purchased through optional pay-as-you-go packs. Tokens have no monetary cash value, are non-transferable outside the Service, and are non-refundable. Tokens do not expire as long as your account remains active.
• Supporter Subscriptions: We offer optional recurring Supporter subscriptions that provide unlimited requests and waitlist perks without token requirements. Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly basis and renew automatically unless cancelled in your dashboard prior to the renewal date.
• Payment Processing: All payment transactions are securely handled by our third-party processor, Stripe. We do not receive, store, or process credit card numbers on our servers.
• Pricing Changes: We reserve the right to modify subscription fees or token prices with reasonable advance notice.

6. Physical Drop Sites & Real-World Disclaimers

Our Service facilitates the exchange of books at public drop boxes, Little Free Libraries, and other community locations. You acknowledge and agree that Epiloca does not own, control, supervise, or maintain these physical locations and is not responsible for the conditions, safety, weatherproofing, accessibility, or security of any drop box or surrounding area.

Little Free Library® Disclaimer: Little Free Library® and LFL are registered trademarks of Little Free Library, LTD. Epiloca is an independent web application and community initiative. Epiloca is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or formally associated with Little Free Library, LTD or individual volunteer stewards.

Assumption of Risk: Your visits to physical drop sites and interactions with public book boxes are entirely at your own risk. Epiloca expressly disclaims liability for any property damage, loss of items, personal injury, or other harm resulting from real-world visits or book fulfillment. Because drop boxes are public and accessible to anyone, Epiloca cannot guarantee that a dropped book will remain in a drop box until you arrive to pick it up.

7. Intellectual Property & Bibliographic Data

The Service and its original software, design, and branding are the property of Epiloca and its licensors. Book covers, titles, descriptions, and author information displayed within the app are provided for informational identification purposes via public bibliographic databases and catalogs, and remain the property of their respective copyright holders.

8. Termination & Account Deletion

You may terminate your account at any time directly through the "Danger Zone" in your dashboard Profile settings. Upon account deletion, your active listings, drop history, and account profile will be permanently removed. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, manipulate drop verifications, or abuse community trust.

9. Limitation of Liability

In no event shall Epiloca, nor its directors, employees, partners, agents, suppliers, or affiliates, be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses resulting from your access to or inability to use the Service.

10. "As Is" Warranty

The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

11. Changes

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. If revisions are material, we will provide reasonable notice before new terms take effect. By continuing to use the Service after revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the updated terms.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please reach out to us at support@epiloca.com.