Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions govern the rights and obligations arising from the purchase of personalized children's books through the Hero of the Book web application.

1. Introductory provisions and contact details

These terms and conditions (hereinafter the "Terms") govern, in accordance with Section 1751(1) of Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code (hereinafter the "Civil Code"), the mutual rights and obligations of the contracting parties arising in connection with or on the basis of a purchase contract concluded between the seller and the buyer through the web application operated at heroofthebook.au (hereinafter the "website").

For buyers in Australia, nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies the consumer guarantees, rights and remedies under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010). A term that purported to do so would be void (section 64), and those rights apply even though these Terms choose Czech law (section 67). The Australian version of the website currently sells the digital book and the audiobook. Printed books and gift add-ons are not currently delivered to Australia; the provisions of these Terms on them apply only once the website offers them for delivery to Australia.

The operator and seller is:

• Name: Lukáš Kantor
• Company ID (IČO): 03177009, VAT ID (DIČ): CZ9109235410
• Registered office: Milíkov 244, 739 81 Milíkov
• Contact e-mail: contact@heroofthebook.au
• Registration: registered in the Trade Register maintained by the competent municipal trade licensing office; a self-employed natural person not registered in the Commercial Register.

(hereinafter the "seller"). The buyer is a consumer or an entrepreneur who concludes a contract with the seller through the website (hereinafter the "buyer").

An order may be placed and a user account may be set up only by a person over 18 years of age with full legal capacity. Where the book is to be a gift for a child, or where a child is to appear in it, the order is placed by the child's legal guardian, or by a person who has the consent of the legal guardian (see Art. 9).

2. Definition of the product

The subject of the purchase is a personalized children's book created to order on the basis of the data entered by the buyer (in particular the child's name, the uploaded photograph and an optional dedication), in the form of:

• a digital book — an electronic file in PDF format made available in the user account; and/or
• a printed book — a physical A4 hardcover copy, produced according to the selected and approved content.

An audiobook may be ordered together with the digital book — an audio recording of the text of the created book, narrated by a synthetic voice and made available in the user account. In the gift workshop, the seller further offers gift add-ons made from the illustrations of the buyer's book (see Art. 14) and gift vouchers (see Art. 13).

The illustrations are created using artificial intelligence tools. Given the nature of the generation process, the resulting appearance of the character may differ from the uploaded photograph; it is an artistic rendering, not a faithful reproduction of the photograph.

3. User account

A book can be started without registration. To save books, edit them and order a print, it is advisable to set up a user account. The buyer is obliged to provide correct and truthful data and to protect the account access credentials. The seller may cancel the account, in particular if the buyer breaches their obligations under these Terms.

4. Creation process and conclusion of the contract

The book is created in the following steps:

• the buyer chooses a theme for the book, enters the child's name and uploads a portrait photograph of the child; the book may have up to five characters (for example a sibling, a friend, a parent or a grandparent) and for each of them a name may be entered and a portrait photograph uploaded,
• the system creates, free of charge, variants of a story draft (a title and a brief outline), of which the buyer selects one and may adjust its title; no illustrations and no appearance of the characters are created at this step,
• to generate the complete book (all pages and illustrations), the buyer places an order and pays for it.

The presentation of the products on the website is of an informative nature and does not constitute a proposal to conclude a contract within the meaning of Section 1732(2) of the Civil Code. The contract is concluded at the moment the buyer completes the order and pays the price; the seller confirms acceptance of the order to the buyer by e-mail. The buyer acknowledges that generation of the entire book begins after payment.

5. Price and payment terms

Prices on the website are stated including all taxes. The price of the digital book is stated with the product (currently A$11.99). The price of the printed book and any postage is communicated to the buyer as part of the print order, or confirmed by e-mail before its binding acceptance. Prices in the Australian version are stated in Australian dollars and are final. The seller is not registered for Australian goods and services tax (GST), so no GST is added; registration is required only once the seller's GST turnover reaches AUD 75,000 (sections 23-5 and 23-15 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 and section 23-15.01 of the GST Regulations 2019).

The buyer chooses the payment method when completing the order. In the Australian version of the website the seller offers card payment; bank transfer is not offered. The list of payment methods shown in the order is always the binding one.

Card payment is processed through the Stripe payment gateway. The seller does not store payment card details.

Payment by bank transfer (not currently offered in the Australian version of the website; this paragraph applies only once it is offered). If the buyer chooses a bank transfer, the seller issues a payment request stating the account number, the amount, the payment reference (variabilní symbol) and the due date, and sends the same details to the e-mail address given in the order. The payment reference is the only detail by which an incoming payment is matched to the order, so the buyer states it in the payment instruction. The price is paid at the moment the amount is credited to the seller's account; only then is the condition under Art. 4 met. If an amount other than the one in the payment request arrives, the payment is not matched automatically: the seller contacts the buyer by e-mail, the buyer pays any shortfall and the seller returns any overpayment to the account from which the payment came. If the amount is not credited within the period stated in the payment request, the request lapses and the order remains unpaid; the buyer may request a new payment request at any time and pay for the order again.

The seller issues a receipt for each purchase and sends it to the buyer's e-mail. It is a tax document under Czech law and also serves as proof of the transaction under section 100 of the Australian Consumer Law.

6. Delivery

The digital book is delivered by being made available in the user account, or by sending a download link, usually immediately after the generation is completed (typically within minutes). The printed book is usually dispatched within 5 working days of confirmation of the order and payment; the buyer is informed by e-mail when it is handed over to the carrier. If a product is not supplied within the period stated here or, where no period applies, within a reasonable time, the seller cancels the order at the buyer's request and refunds the price in full (see also section 36(4) of the Australian Consumer Law).

Where the order is paid by bank transfer, the periods under this Article start to run only when the amount is credited to the seller's account (Art. 5), not when the order is completed — until then the seller starts neither the creation nor the production.

7. Change of mind and cancellation

Australian law gives no general right to cancel an online purchase because of a change of mind. The cooling-off period under section 82 of the Australian Consumer Law applies only to unsolicited consumer agreements, that is, agreements negotiated by telephone or in person away from the supplier's premises without the consumer having invited the contact (section 69). An order the buyer places on the website is not one of them.

A book is created individually for the buyer from the data they enter, and its creation begins straight after payment at the buyer's request. The seller therefore does not accept cancellation of a book (including the audiobook accompanying it) or of a gift add-on from the workshop (Art. 14) for a change of mind once its creation has begun.

This does not limit the buyer's rights under the Australian Consumer Law. In particular:

• if a product is not supplied within the period stated in Art. 6 or, where no period applies, within a reasonable time, the buyer may cancel the order and the seller refunds the price in full;
• if a product has a major failure, the buyer may reject it and choose a refund or a replacement (sections 259, 260 and 263, and for services sections 267 and 268), see Art. 8;
• if the buyer was induced to order by a misleading statement of the seller, the remedies for a contravention of sections 18 and 29 of the Australian Consumer Law are available.

Gift vouchers are treated differently: a buyer may cancel the purchase of a voucher within 14 days without giving a reason, see Art. 13.

8. Consumer guarantees and complaints

Under the Australian Consumer Law the products sold to a consumer come with guarantees that cannot be excluded, in particular that goods are of acceptable quality (section 54) and correspond with their description (section 56), and that services are rendered with due care and skill (section 60). The remedies for a failure to comply with them are set out in sections 259 to 263 for goods and in sections 267 and 268 for services, and they are available also to a person who received the product as a gift (section 266). A term that purported to exclude or limit them would be void (section 64).

What quality is agreed. The book is illustrated. The photograph is a model for the illustrations, not something to be traced, so the characters are an artistic rendering and not an exact likeness of the photograph. Before ordering, the buyer sees the story draft free of charge; the illustrations are created only after payment. A digital book is measured as an illustrated book created from the data entered by the buyer. A printed book, where offered, is measured against the appearance the buyer confirmed before printing, and its colours may differ slightly from the screen because of digital printing. The seller draws these matters to the buyer's attention before the purchase (section 54(3)(a) and (d) and section 54(4), section 56).

What is a defect, for example:

• a name, dedication or text different from the one the buyer entered,
• a missing, blank, misordered or damaged page,
• illegible, garbled or cut-off text,
• a printed book that does not match the appearance the buyer confirmed,
• a damaged, soiled or incomplete copy,
• a PDF, online flipbook or audiobook that does not work.

The list is not exhaustive and does not limit the buyer's rights. A product does not fail to be of acceptable quality where the buyer damaged it after receipt by abnormal use (section 54(6)).

The buyer may report a problem through the "Complaint" button with the book in the user account or at the contact e-mail address; the procedure is set out in the Complaints Policy. The seller deals with a complaint no later than within 30 days; this is the seller's own commitment and does not shorten any right under the Australian Consumer Law. A failure that is not a major failure is remedied within a reasonable time, for a digital book usually by correcting the text or regenerating the affected page (section 259(2)). If the seller does not remedy it, or if the failure is a major one, the buyer may choose a refund or a replacement (sections 259(3) and 263(4), and for services section 267(3)), and may also recover reasonably foreseeable loss caused by the failure (sections 259(4) and 267(4)).

9. License and intellectual property

By uploading a photograph, the buyer declares that they are entitled to use it for the purpose of creating the book or a gift add-on. This applies to the photograph of every character — in the case of a child, the buyer declares that they are the child's legal guardian or have the consent of the legal guardian; in the case of an adult, that they have that person's consent — and likewise to the buyer's own photograph uploaded into a gift card and printed on it. The buyer grants the seller a non-exclusive licence to use those photographs to the extent necessary to create the book and the ordered gift add-ons.

For the created book, the buyer obtains a license for personal, non-commercial use (printing for own use, viewing, giving as a gift). The story templates and the illustration style remain the intellectual property of the seller, or of its providers.

The seller does not depict characters from television series, films, games or books. These are works protected by copyright, or signs protected as trade marks, and the seller holds no licence to them. A book that is sold is not covered by the exception for a reproduction for personal use (Section 30(1) of Act No. 121/2000 Coll., the Copyright Act), and owning a plush toy, a toy or a picture is not a licence either (Section 9(3) of the same Act); the buyer's consent makes no difference, because it is the seller who publishes the book.

If the seller finds a protected character or brand in the book brief (on an uploaded photograph, in a character's name or description, in the title, in the story outline or in the dedication), it replaces it with an original character, or where appropriate with its own rendering, and describes the change to the buyer before payment. The buyer may accept the proposal, adjust it, remove the affected character or part of the brief, or mark the finding as a mistake. The original character keeps the name, the kind, the colour and the other properties the buyer entered and appears in the book in the same role, but it will not resemble the protected original; for a real person or animal only the clothing changes, while the face, hair and figure follow the photograph. If a protected character or brand only appears while the book is being created, the seller adjusts it in the same way. The buyer may also replace the character with a different photograph or remove it from the book. If the buyer insists on the protected character being depicted, the seller is entitled to refuse the order and to refund the price already paid in full.

10. Liability and limitations

The buyer may not upload content that is unlawful, infringes the rights of third parties or good morals. The seller is not liable for damage caused by incorrectly or unlawfully uploaded data. Outputs generated by artificial intelligence are creative in nature and their exact form is not guaranteed. Nothing in this Article limits the consumer guarantees or the buyer's rights under the Australian Consumer Law, and the seller does not rely on it in any misleading way (sections 18, 29 and 64).

11. Personal data protection

The processing of personal data, including the handling of the uploaded photograph of the child, is described in detail in the Privacy Policy.

12. Resolving a dispute

There is no out-of-court body competent to decide a consumer dispute with us. The Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce), which handles such disputes for us at home, accepts them only from consumers resident in the European Union (Article 2(1) of Directive 2013/11/EU), and the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform no longer exists (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228). We would rather say that plainly than send you somewhere that cannot help.

What is open to you:

• Write to us first at contact@heroofthebook.au. Most problems with a book can be put right by correcting it or by a refund.
• The consumer protection agency of your state or territory, which gives free advice and can take the matter up with us, for example NSW Fair Trading (13 32 20), Consumer Affairs Victoria (1300 55 81 81), the Queensland Office of Fair Trading (through 13 QGOV, 13 74 68), Consumer and Business Services in South Australia (131 882) or Consumer Protection in Western Australia (1300 30 40 54). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission publishes information about your rights at accc.gov.au.
• A chargeback with your card issuer, typically if a book was not supplied or was not as described. It rests on the card scheme rules.
• The civil and administrative tribunal of your state or territory, for example the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (consumer claims up to AUD 100,000), the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (consumer disputes up to AUD 25,000). Please bear in mind that we are established in the Czech Republic, so an order made against us would have to be enforced abroad.

Our terms choose Czech law, but that choice cannot take away the protection the Australian Consumer Law gives you: its consumer guarantees cannot be excluded or limited by contract (section 64) and they apply even where a contract chooses foreign law (section 67 of the Australian Consumer Law, Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010).

13. Gift vouchers

The seller sells gift vouchers entitling the holder to draw products from the website's offering. After payment, the seller sends the voucher by e-mail in the form of a unique code; the code is applied in the order.

• The voucher is issued for a specific product or a number of books (e.g. a digital book, an audiobook, a printed book, a bundle of several books), not for a monetary amount — its value therefore does not decrease if prices rise later. We also offer a voucher for free credit in a chosen amount, which can be applied to any product.
• The voucher can be used for at least 3 years from the day it is supplied to the buyer. The seller does not shorten this period and charges no fees after the voucher is supplied (sections 99B, 99D, 99E and 99F of the Australian Consumer Law). After it expires, the voucher can no longer be applied.
• The voucher may also be applied in parts (in the case of a bundle of several books); it cannot be exchanged for money nor can cash be paid out from it.
• Applying the voucher gives rise to a separate contract for the delivery of a book, which is governed by these Terms including Art. 7.
• For a voucher for a printed book, postage is not included, unless the buyer expressly paid extra for it when purchasing the voucher (the "pay for shipping as well" option); in that case, the voucher holder pays nothing extra when ordering the print. Otherwise, postage is paid by the voucher holder when ordering the print according to the price list valid at the time of the order.

Cancelling the purchase of a voucher. Australian law gives no cooling-off period for an online purchase, but the seller grants one for vouchers under these Terms: a buyer who is a consumer may cancel the purchase of a voucher within 14 days of buying it without giving a reason. The function for doing so is on the Cancelling an Order page and is available throughout that period; the seller confirms the content of the notice and the day and time it was received by e-mail straight away. A notice sent by e-mail or by letter is equally effective. The seller refunds the amount paid within 14 days of the cancellation, to the card used for payment. If the voucher has been applied in the meantime, the book already supplied is governed by Art. 7 and only the unused part of the voucher's value is refunded.

14. Gift add-ons from the workshop

Within the "gift workshop", the seller offers gift add-ons (e.g. a greeting card, a coloring page, a canvas print), made to order from the illustrations and characters of the buyer's already created book.

• The add-on is ordered and paid for separately, independently of the book from which the illustrations originate.
• These are goods made individually to the buyer's requirements (see Art. 7), so the seller does not accept their return for a change of mind once production has begun. This does not limit the buyer's rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
• The agreed quality is a print of illustrations from the buyer's existing book, whose colours may differ slightly from the screen. A defect is, for example, a text different from the one entered, an add-on that does not match the preview the buyer confirmed, or a damaged, soiled or incomplete product. Rights in the case of a defect are governed by Art. 8 and the Complaints Policy.
• The delivery period and shipping are governed by the same rules as for the printed book (Art. 6).
• Information about the manufacturer and the safety notices for the physical add-ons are set out in Art. 15.

15. Information about the manufacturer and product safety

Physical goods (the printed book, an additional copy of the book, a gift card, a canvas print and other gift add-ons from the workshop) are produced to order according to the buyer's input and the seller places them on the market under its own name and brand. Within the meaning of Article 3(8) of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety, the manufacturer is therefore the seller:

• Name: Lukáš Kantor
• Postal address: Milíkov 244, 739 81 Milíkov
• Electronic address: contact@heroofthebook.au

The seller is established in the European Union, so its own responsibility under that Regulation applies and there is no need to designate a responsible person under Article 16 thereof. Printing and finishing are carried out for the seller by contractual production partners.

In the offer, the product is identified by its name, description, image and the dimensions stated with the offer; the particular item produced is identified by the order number stated in the order confirmation.

Safety notice: the goods offered are not toys and are not intended for play. Hand the product to children under three years of age only under the supervision of an adult. The canvas print is stretched on a wooden frame — hang it out of the reach of small children.

If the seller establishes that a product it has supplied presents a risk, it will inform the affected buyers without undue delay and take corrective action under Articles 35 and 36 of that Regulation. Product safety enquiries and reports may be sent to contact@heroofthebook.au. If the seller becomes aware that a product it supplied in Australia has been associated with death, serious injury or illness, it notifies the Commonwealth Minister in writing within 2 days (section 131 of the Australian Consumer Law).

16. Final provisions

Matters not governed by these Terms are governed by the law of the Czech Republic. If the buyer is a consumer with their habitual residence in another country, the choice of Czech law does not deprive them of the protection afforded by the mandatory provisions of the law of their own country (Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008). For a consumer in Australia this means in particular the Australian Consumer Law: its consumer guarantees cannot be excluded or limited by contract (section 64) and they apply even though these Terms choose Czech law (section 67). The seller is entitled to amend the wording of the Terms; for contracts already concluded, the wording effective at the time of conclusion of the contract applies. If any provision is invalid, this does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.